History
Wildercliff is a large house with Federal style details situated on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River. Built in 1799, it was the home of the Reverend Freeborn Garrettson (1752-1827), an early circuit riding Methodist minister, and his wife, Catherine Livingston (1752–1849). She was a daughter of Judge Robert and Margaret Beekman Livingston of Clermont, New York, and sister to "Chancellor" Livingston.
The location of Wildercliff was originally part of the Artsen-Kip Patent, one of the Colonial era land patents granted by the British Crown. It subsequently became a farm owned by John Van Wagenen. Garrettson met Catherine Livingston in 1792 while visiting her brother-in-law, Dr. Thomas Tillotson at his estate, "Linwood". They were married the following year and took up residence in the Town of Rhinebeck in a small house near the Milan town line. In September 1799, Garrettson purchased 160 acres from Van Wagenen. The sale also included an exchange of land provided by Mrs. Garrettson. [4] The name "Wildercliff" is an Anglicized version of the Dutch "Wilder Klippe" and refers to a petroglyph, first reported in 1877, depicting an Indian with a tomahawk in one hand and a peace pipe in the other carved on a rock at the shoreline of the property,. [5] (The area was first occupied by the Mohican.)
In 1802 Garrettson sold eight acres on the northern portion of the property to his brother-in-law, Morgan Lewis. This was in addition to a small riverfront parcel sold the year before. These portions subsequently became part of the "Ellerslie" estate, later home of Vice-President Levi P. Morton. [4]
Later history
In 1853, Mary Garrettson sold the north pasture to Thomas H. Suckley, the son of George Suckley, a friend of her father's. (Freeborn Garrettson had died at Suckley's home in New York City.) Thomas Suckley then built a country house, Wilderstein. Mary Garrettson died unmarried, celebrated for her kindness and generosity. Suckley purchased Wildercliff from the executors. It then passed to his son, Robert Bowne Suckley, who, however, continued to live at Wilderstein. [10]
Wildercliff remained with the Suckleys until sold in 1958 to Professor and Mrs. Frederick Dupee, who, in turn, sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Richard Rockwell in 1971. Writer Sam Hall, and his wife, the actress Grayson Hall, purchased the estate in 1979. [11] In 2012, journalist Fareed Zakaria and his wife jewelry designer Paula Zakaria Throckmorton purchased Wildercliff and completed a substantial restoration of the residence. [12] In 2021, the property was purchased by Wildercliff LLC.
Wildercliff is one of twenty-one contiguous estates along the east bank of the Hudson River between Stratsburg and Tivoli, New York. [13]
Clermont is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 2,058 at the 2020 census. The name of the town is French for "Clear Mountain", in reference to the mountain views in the town.
Wappingers Falls is a village in the towns of Poughkeepsie and Wappinger, in Dutchess County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 5,522. The community was named for the cascade in Wappinger Creek. The Wappingers Falls post office covers areas in the towns of Wappinger, Poughkeepsie, Fishkill, East Fishkill, and LaGrange. This can result in some confusion when residents of the outlying towns, who do not live in the village, give their address as "Wappingers Falls".
Rhinebeck is a village in the town of Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 2,657 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Connecticut.
The Clermont State Historic Site, also known as the Clermont estate, the Clermont Manor or just Clermont, is a New York State Historic Site in southwestern Columbia County, New York, United States. It protects the former estate of the Livingston family, seven generations of whom lived on the site over more than two centuries.
Rhinecliff is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located along the Hudson River in the town of Rhinebeck in northern Dutchess County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Rhinecliff was 425.
Thomas Tillotson was an American physician and politician.
The Staatsburgh State Historic Site preserves a Beaux-Arts mansion designed by McKim, Mead, and White and the home's surrounding landscape in the hamlet of Staatsburg, Dutchess County, New York, United States. The historic site is located within Ogden Mills & Ruth Livingston Mills State Park. The mansion, a New York State Historic Site, is considered a fine example of the great estates built during the Gilded Age.
Wilderstein is a 19th-century Queen-Anne-style country house on the Hudson River in Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is a not-for-profit house museum.
The Hudson River Historic District, also known as Hudson River Heritage Historic District, is the largest Federally designated district on the mainland of the contiguous United States. It covers an area of 22,205 acres extending inland roughly a mile (1.6 km) from the east bank of the Hudson River between Staatsburg and Germantown in Dutchess and Columbia counties in the U.S. state of New York. This area includes the riverfront sections of the towns of Clermont, Red Hook, Rhinebeck and part of Hyde Park. This strip includes in their entirety the hamlets of Annandale, Barrytown, Rhinecliff and the village of Tivoli. Bard College and two protected areas, Margaret Lewis Norrie State Park and Tivoli Bays Unique Area, are also within the district.
Wyndcliffe is the ruin of a historic mansion near Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York. The records at the Library of Congress state that the brick mansion was originally named Rhinecliff and constructed in 1853 in the Norman style. The mansion was built for New York City socialite Elizabeth Schermerhorn Jones (1810-1876) as a weekend and summer residence. The design is attributed to local architect George Veitch. A master mason, John Byrd, executed the highly varied ornamental brickwork using only rectangular and few molded bricks.
Barrytown is a hamlet within the town of Red Hook in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is within the Hudson River Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and contains four notable Hudson River Valley estates: Edgewater, Massena, Rokeby, and Sylvania.
Freeborn Garrettson was an American clergyman, and one of the first American-born Methodist preachers. He entered the Methodist ministry in 1775 and travelled extensively to evangelize in several states. He was called Methodism's "Paul Revere". Garrettson was an outspoken abolitionist.
The Benner House is located on Mill Street in the village of Rhinebeck, New York, United States, just off U.S. Route 9. It was built by a German immigrant, Johannes Benner, in the 1730s. It is the oldest house in the Village of Rhinebeck.
Grasmere is a national historic district and estate located at Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York. It was built by Janet Livingston Montgomery, widow of General Richard Montgomery.
Locusts on Hudson is a 76-acre (31 ha) estate in Staatsburg, New York, owned by hotelier André Balazs. The property has both an operating farm and manor. The historic estate now acts as an events venue due in part to its naturalistic landscape. A portion of the produce and animals of the farm are sent to The Standard Grill, The Standard, High Line Hotel, and Narcissa at The Standard, East Village Hotel, also owned by Balazs, in New York City, New York. Designed by architect John Churchill in the early 1940s, the estate's manor is of a neo-baroque style. Beside the manor, there are many grey and white antique remnants of dairy barns on the property.
Ferncliff Forest is a 200-acre (0.81 km2) old-growth forest preserve of deciduous and hemlock trees located in Rhinebeck, a town in the northern part of Dutchess County, New York, USA. The property had been bought in 1900 by John Jacob Astor IV and remained in the Astor family until 1964, when it was donated as a forest preserve and game refuge.
Morgan Lewis Livingston, was an American heir and member of the prominent Livingston family from New York.
Ferncliff Farm was an estate established in the mid 19th century by William Backhouse Astor Jr. (1829–1892) in Rhinebeck, New York. Not far from his mother's estate of Rokeby, where he had spent summers, Ferncliff was a working farm with dairy and poultry operations, as well as stables where he bred horses. In 1902, his son and heir John Jacob Astor IV commissioned Stanford White to design a large sports pavilion, which included one of the first indoor pools in the United States. The sports pavilion was later converted into a residence for his son, Vincent Astor.
Henry Beekman was a prominent colonial American politician and landowner.
The Hermitage was a historic home located at Linlithgo in Columbia County, New York. It was built about 1774 by Robert Livingston for his eldest surviving son, Peter Robert Livingston. It wasn't completed until 1939 by then owner Ida Helen Ogilvie. After her death in 1963, the house remained vacant until 1982 when it was purchased by Margaret Rockefeller and torn down the following year.
