Philipsburg Manor House

Last updated
Philipsburg Manor
Philipsburg Manor, Sleepy Hollow, New York.JPG
The manor
Philipsburg Manor House
Interactive map showing the location of Phillipsburg Manor House
Location Sleepy Hollow, New York
Nearest city White Plains
Coordinates 41°05′18.7″N73°51′49″W / 41.088528°N 73.86361°W / 41.088528; -73.86361
Built1693
NRHP reference No. 66000584
NYSRHP No.11960.000094
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966 [1]
Designated NHLNovember 5, 1961 [2]
Designated NYSRHPJune 23, 1980

Philipsburg Manor House is a historic house in the Upper Mills section of the former sprawling Colonial-era estate known as Philipsburg Manor. Together with a water mill and trading site the house is operated as a non-profit museum by Historic Hudson Valley. It is located on US 9 in the village of Sleepy Hollow, New York.

Contents

Although an English-deeded tract, it is listed by some sources with the patroonships of New Netherland since it incorporated part of that previously owned by Dutch Jonkheer Adriaen van der Donck.

History

The main house. Philipsburg Manor 3.JPG
The main house.
Phillipseburg Manor appears on this 1814 map as Philipsburg. 5 boros of NYC in 1814.jpg
Phillipseburg Manor appears on this 1814 map as Philipsburg.

The manor dates from 1693, when wealthy Province of New York merchant Frederick Philipse was granted a charter for 52,000 acres (21,000 ha) along the Hudson River by the British Crown. He built a facility at the confluence of the Pocantico and Hudson Rivers as a provisioning depot for the family Atlantic sea trade and as headquarters for a worldwide shipping operation. For more than thirty years, Frederick and his wife Margaret, and later his son Adolph shipped hundreds of African men, women, and children as slaves across the Atlantic. [3]

By the mid 18th century, the Philipse family had one of the largest slave-holdings in the colonial North. [4] The family seat of Philipsburg Manor was Philipse Manor Hall in Yonkers

The manor was tenanted by farmers of various European backgrounds, and operated by enslaved Africans. [5] (In 1750, twenty-three enslaved men, women, and children lived and worked at the manor.)[ citation needed ]

At the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, the Philipses supported the British, and their landholdings were seized and auctioned off. [6] The manor house was used during the war, most notably by British General Sir Henry Clinton during military activities in 1779. It was there that he wrote what is now known as the Philipsburg Proclamation, which declared all Patriot-owned slaves to be free, and that blacks taken prisoner while serving in Patriot forces would be sold into slavery. [7]

Named a National Historic Landmark in 1961, [2] [6] [8] the farm features a stone manor house filled with a collection of 17th- and 18th-century period furnishings, a working water-powered grist mill and millpond, an 18th-century barn, a slave garden, [9] and a reconstructed tenant farm house. Costumed interpreters re-enact life in pre-Revolutionary times, doing chores, milking the cows, and grinding grain in the grist mill. In 2016, historic restoration work sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts was completed on the grist mill to rebuild the entire wooden waterwheel and flume. [10]

Further reading

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sleepy Hollow, New York</span> Village in Mount Pleasant, Westchester County

Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States. The village is located on the east bank of the Hudson River, about 30 miles (48 km) north of New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line. To the south of Sleepy Hollow is the village of Tarrytown, and to the north and east are unincorporated parts of Mount Pleasant. The population of the village at the 2020 census was 9,986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yonkers, New York</span> City in New York, United States

Yonkers is a city in Westchester County, New York, and a suburb of New York City. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enumerated in the 2020 United States Census. It is classified as an inner suburb of New York City, located directly to the north of the Bronx and approximately 2.4 miles (4 km) north of Marble Hill, Manhattan, the northernmost point in Manhattan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philipse Manor station</span> Metro-North Railroad station in New York

Philipse Manor station is a commuter rail stop on the Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line, located in the Philipse Manor area of Sleepy Hollow, New York, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfert Acker</span>

Wolfert Acker (1667–1753) was a colonial-period American who is featured in Washington Irving's short story collection Wolfert's Roost and Miscellanies (1855). His name was recorded in all combinations of Wolfert or Wolvert as given name, and Acker, Echert, Eckar, or Ecker as surname. He was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York and died at his sizable home, "Wolfert's Roost" near the site of what is now Irvington, New York in Westchester County, New York. On December 20, 1692, on land belonging to Frederick Philipse, he married Maretje Sibouts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinkster</span> African American spring cultural festival

Pinkster is a spring festival, taking place in late May or early June. The name is a variation of the Dutch word Pinksteren, meaning "Pentecost". Pinkster in English almost always refers to the festivals held by African Americans in the Northeastern United States, particularly in the early 19th century. To the Dutch, Pinkster was a religious holiday, a chance to rest, gather and celebrate religious services like baptisms and confirmations. It also had a long tradition as a day of dance and merriment. For their enslaved Africans, Pinkster was a time free from work and a chance to gather and catch up with family and friends.

Philipse Manor may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saw Mill River</span> River in the United States of America

The Saw Mill River is a 23.5-mile (37.8 km) tributary of the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York, United States. It flows from an unnamed pond north of Chappaqua to Getty Square in Yonkers, where it empties into the Hudson as that river's southernmost tributary. It is the only major stream in southern Westchester County to drain into the Hudson instead of Long Island Sound. It drains an area of 26.5 square miles (69 km2), most of it heavily developed suburbia. For 16 miles (26 km), it flows parallel to the Saw Mill River Parkway, a commuter artery, an association that has been said to give the river an "identity crisis."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow</span> Historic church in New York, United States

The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow (Dutch: Oude Nederlandse Kerk van Sleepy Hollow), listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Dutch Reformed Church (Sleepy Hollow), is a 17th-century stone church located on Albany Post Road (U.S. Route 9) in Sleepy Hollow, New York, United States. It and its three-acre (1.2 ha) churchyard feature prominently in Washington Irving's 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". The churchyard is often confused with the contiguous but separate Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Philipse</span> American colonial slave trader

Frederick Philipse, first Lord of the Manor of Philipseborough (Philipsburg) and patriarch of the Philipse family, was a Dutch immigrant to North America of Bohemian heritage. A merchant, he arrived in America as early as 1653. In 1662, he married Margaret Hardenbrook de Vries, a wealthy and driven widow. Together, and variously in league with slavers, pirates, and other undesirables, the couple amassed a fortune.

Jacobus van Cortlandt (1658–1739) was a wealthy Dutch-born American merchant, slave owner, and politician who served as the 30th and 33rd Mayor of New York City from 1710 to 1711 and again from 1719 to 1720.

Historic Hudson Valley is a not-for-profit educational and historic preservation organization headquartered in Tarrytown, New York. The organization runs tours and events at five historic properties in Westchester County, in the lower Hudson River Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philipsburg Manor</span> Manor in the Province of New York

Philipsburg Manor was a manor located north of New York City in Westchester County in the Province of New York. Netherlands-born Frederick Philipse I and two partners made the initial purchase of land that had been part of a Dutch patroonship owned by Adriaen van der Donck. Philipse subsequently bought his partners out and added more land before being granted a royal charter in 1693 for the 52,000 acres (21,000 ha) estate, becoming its first lord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyatt-Livingston House</span> Historic house in New York, United States

Hyatt-Livingston House was an historic home located at Dobbs Ferry, Westchester County, New York, at the corner of Colonial Avenue and Broadway. Originally constructed as part of the Philipsburg Manor around 1690 by land baron Frederick Philipse, the house was at first a smaller tenant-farmer's dwelling home to the John Hyatt family. In 1705, Hyatt's daughter Elizabeth married neighbor John Dobbs, who originally brought that family name to the area and perhaps started the ferry for which the village is named. In the early 18th century, the house was enlarged to a five-bay, 2+12-story dwelling that then formed the central part of the house. It was of wood-frame construction, with a gable roof, and sat on a fieldstone foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site</span> Historic house in New York, United States

Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site is a historic house museum located in the Getty Square neighborhood of Yonkers, New York. Originally the family seat of Philipse Manor, it is Westchester County's second oldest standing building after the Timothy Knapp House. Located near the Hudson River at Warburton Avenue and Dock Street, it is owned and operated by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Westchester County</span>

The history of Westchester County, a county in the state of New York, can be traced back to the founding of a settlement between the Hudson River and Long Island Sound in the 17th century. The area now known as Westchester County had seen human occupation since at least the Archaic period, but significant growth in the settlements that are now incorporated into the county did not occur until the Industrial Revolution.

There are numerous nationally and locally designated historic sites and attractions in Westchester County. These include architecturally significant manors and estates, churches, cemeteries, farmhouses, African-American heritage sites, and underground railroad depots and waystations. There are sites from pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary times, as well as battlegrounds. Westchester County also played an important role in the development of the modern suburb, and there are many associated heritage sites and museums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Philipse II</span> American merchant, landowner, and politician

Frederick Philipse II, was a colonial American merchant, landowner, and politician. Philipse was the only son of Maria Sparkes, daughter of the Governor of Barbados, and Philip Philipse, eldest son of Frederick Philipse I, 1st Lord of the Philipsburg Manor. Philip predeceased his father, and family lands passed on to younger son Adolphus Philipse. Upon his uncle's death Frederick II inherited his share of Philipse lands and commercial interests, thereafter becoming the elder Philipse male and 2nd Lord of Philipsburg Manor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Philipse III</span> American politician

Frederick Philipse III was the third and last Lord of Philipsburg Manor, a 52,000 acres (21,000 ha) hereditary estate in lower Westchester County, New York, and a Loyalist during the Revolutionary War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Philipse</span>

Mary "Polly" Philipse (1730–1825) was the middle daughter of Frederick Philipse II, 2nd Lord of Philipsburg Manor of Westchester County, New York. Of Anglo-Dutch extraction, she was a wealthy heiress, possible early love interest of George Washington, and New York City socialite. Married to an ex-British army colonel, her Loyalist sympathies in the American Revolution reshaped her life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County</span>

The African American Heritage Trail of Westchester County in New York was created in 2004 to help preserve and interpret the historic landmark places that help tell the narratives of women and men of African descent who have made significant contributions to an American identity. The initial list had 13 sites. Westchester County historian and Schulman History Honoree Dr. Larry Spruill was lead consultant and researcher for the project.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. 1 2 "Philipsburg Manor". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. 2007-09-18. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06.
  3. Lewis, Tom (2007). The Hudson: A History. Yale University Press. pp. 109–112. ISBN   978-0-300-11990-9.
  4. "Local History: Colonial Yonkers," http://www.enslavedafricansraingarden.org/history.shtml
  5. "Philipsburg Manor, The Early Years," http://www.hudsonvalley.org/education/philipsburg-manor/early-years
  6. 1 2 ""Philipsburg Manor", January 1975, by James Dillon". National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination. National Park Service. January 1975.
  7. Kelley, Robin; Lewis, Earl (2005). To Make Our World Anew: Volume I: A History of African Americans to 1880. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 120. ISBN   978-0-19-518135-7.
  8. "Philipsburg Manor--Accompanying 5 photos, exterior, from 1967 and 1974". National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Photos. National Park Service. January 1975.
  9. "Enslaved Africans' Rain Garden," http://www.enslavedafricansraingarden.org/index.shtml
  10. Historic Hudson Valley, "Work Begins on Large Restoration Project at Philipsburg Manor", 10-14-2016.