Author: clermontstatehistoricsite
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"A Very Rainbow of Girls:" New Year\'s Day in Victorian New York City
The etiquette of New-Year\’s calls is very simple. The hospitalities of the day devolve entirely upon the ladies who remain at home to receive any gentleman friends that call to pay the compliments of the season. —Harper\’s Bazar, January 1, 1870 Sure. It all seems simple. The girls stay at home to put out a…
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"One Horse open Sleigh": Winter Fun at Clermont
Dashing through the snowIn a one-horse open sleighO\’er the hills we goLaughing all the way!Bells on bobtail ringMaking spirits brightOh what sport to ride and singA sleighing song tonight. I hate to be the one to tell you if no one else has, but \”Jingle Bells\” is not a Christmas song. Or maybe that\’s good…
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“Salleys of his turbulent temper”: Henry Beekman Livingston, Black Sheep of the Livingston Clan
By Geoff Benton Geoff Benton is the Historic Site Assistant at Crailo State Historic Site and the Deputy Town Historian for the town of Livingston. He is the author of several articles on the Revolutionary War as well as a history of the Kinderhook Reformed Church. The quote in the title of this article comes…
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Family Portrait
Well it\’s the holiday season, and a whole lot of us will be taking advantage of family gatherings to get a family picture taken. You know the ones I mean: Gramdma, Mom & Dad, Uncle So-and-So, and maybe even the family dog. Although many American families of the later 18th and 19th centuries got group…
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Safe Refuge: the Livingstons\' Home-Away-from-Home in 1777-78
A fellow Livingston historian and friend was all dressed up as Chancellor Livingston for our Halloween program when he began to wonder just where Margaret Beekman took her family when she fled the burning of the mansion in 1777. We just had to know the answer… On October 18, 1777, Livingston in-law William Smith recorded…
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Mere Mortals: Lifespans and the Livingstons
This all started when I heard someone say it: \”She died at 76, and that was old back then.\” Oh no! Another senseless generalization, growing ominously into an historic house myth. I know you\’ve heard it said, \”Life in the old days was nasty, brutish, and short,\” but as usual this generalization blurs the truth. …
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Imagining Arryl House: Piecing Together an Architectural Masterpiece
Over and over again, I get questions about \”the ruin at the end of the parking lot.\” Poor Arryl House! Once it was the Chancellor\’s shining beacon of an American villa, perched above the the Hudson River where all could see. Now it is a stabilized ruin–a curiosity nestled in the trees. I have spent…
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The Livingstons in a Duel!?
So I was hastily whipping through one of my old favorite books Under Their Fig and Vine Tree, a travel journal written by Polish revolutionary Julian Ursyn Niemcevicz in the late 1790s. And then I came across this passage: \’Did you know,\’ Mr. Law asked him [Washington], \’Mr. Jones, who was recently killed in a…
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From Our Fellow Bloggers: Deciphering Color from Black & White
After our last post involved looking at so many historic photographs, I happened upon this interesting blog (link below) through a friend. Turns out that historic black & white photography created a very different grayscale than the one we are familiar with today. While rich purples in modern film may look dark gray or even…
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Growing up Livingston, Part 1: Photographic Timelines for a Few Livingston Women
There is something so interesting about watching the Livingstons grow up in their photographs. When you\’ve gotten to know them through their letters and stories, it is fun to watch their faces and clothes change over the years, like checking in with them as their lives progress. This is easiest with Honoria and Janet Livingston,…
Clermont State Historic Site 