History
Constructed in 1799, Wildercliff is a large house with Federal style details situated on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River. It was the home of the Reverend Freeborn Garrettson (1752-1827), an early circuit riding Methodist minister, and his wife, Catherine (1752–1849), a daughter of Judge Robert and Margaret Beekman Livingston of Clermont, and sister to "Chancellor" Livingston.
The location of Wildercliff was originally part of the Artsen-Kip Patent. 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]
Description
The house was two stories covered with clapboard, with a gambrel roof. Benson Lossing described it as "modest" in comparison with others in the area, and in keeping with the simple tastes of the owners. [6] The Garrettsons were known for their hospitality to Methodist circuit riders and others. A practice continued by their daughter. According to her father's will, the house was to be the home for a young Methodist clergyman for the first two years of his ministry. [7] Preachers for Rhinecliff and Hillside lived at Wildercliff, which was midway between the two. President of Union College Eliphalet Nott, author Susan Warner, and Edward Eggleston visited. Frequent visitor Francis Asbury called it "Traveler's Rest". [8] This necessitated periodic construction to create more room. A third, dormered story was at some point added.
A veranda was added around 1850; additions were later added to the east and west sides. The property was inherited by the Garrettson's only child, Mary Rutherford Garrettson (1794-1879). Needing more water for the household, Mary Garrettson had a well dug in the lawn north of the house. The water was both pure and cool, and workers on the railroad would climb the long hill up from the river to draw from the well. [9]
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 (1921 – 2014), and his wife, actress Grayson Hall (1922 - 1985) , purchased the estate in 1979. [11] In 2012, journalist Fareed Zakaria and his wife jewelry designer Paula Zakaria Throckmorton purchased Wildercliff. [12]
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 1,965 at the 2010 census. The name of the town is French for "Clear Mountain", referring to the mountain views in the town.
Wappingers Falls, officially the Village of Wappingers Falls, is a village 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–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area.
Robert Robert Livingston, also called The Judge, was a prominent colonial American politician, and a leading Whig in New York in the years leading up to the American Revolution.
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.
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 such 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.
Margaret Lynch Suckley was a sixth cousin, intimate friend, and confidante of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as an archivist for the first American presidential library. She was one of four women at the Little White House with Roosevelt in Warm Springs, Georgia, when he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945.
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 of the Hudson River Valley estates: Edgewater, Messena, 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.
Sixteen Mile District was a national historic district located near Clermont and Rhinebeck in Columbia County, New York. The district includes 233 contributing buildings that are associated with estates located along the east side of the Hudson River. A number of the buildings are located on the campus of Bard College, notably those associated with the estates of Blythewood and Ward Manor. Other notable intact estates within the district are Montgomery Place, Teviot, the Pynes, Callendar House, Edgewater, Rokeby, Mandara, Wilderstein, and Wildercliff. The Ferncliff estate includes a "casino" or tennis court building designed by Stanford White.
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.
Edward De Peyster Livingston was an American lawyer and society leader during the Gilded Age.
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.
David Augustus Clarkson was a Hudson River valley landowner and member of several prominent families.
Henry Beekman was a prominent colonial American politician and landowner.
Col. Hendrick "Henry" Beekman JP, was a colonial American judge and politician.
