Author: clermontstatehistoricsite
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A Ghostly Preview: Legends by Candlelight 2012
As the weather chills, Clermont is diving headlong into Halloween. And we are just thrilled. Okay–at least I am just thrilled. Legends by Candlelight is my favorite annual event around here, and I love to put my all into it. The Legends by Candlelight Spook Tours are on October 19 & 20, 26 & 27…
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Getting Around: Travel in the 18th Century
We\’ve all heard it; we all know it. Travel in the 18th century was just not what it is today. But the details of what it was like are usually obscured. Blurry images of dirty taverns, idyllic horseback rides, or \”Lord of the Rings\” style treks through the mountains kind of get mixed together in…
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Exotic Beauties
I\’ve recently been drawn to Clermont\’s more exotic artifacts, and it seems we have more than I realized. While assisting with photography for the Friends of Clermont\’s upcoming art publication, I realized that the glittering gold of the tea set in the drawing room was in fact distracting me from some very Chinese-style ornamentation (seen…
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Wheat Farming in New York
Lots of people ask me how the Livingstons got their money. It\’s a good question, but there really isn\’t a short answer. The Livingstons had their fingers in many pies, which was not uncommon for the 18th and early 19th centuries. However at least a portion of their money came from land. Prior to the…
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Rambling and Drawing Around Clermont
Clermont has many things to offer on its 500 acres of historic grounds. Many of our neighbors (and I\’m talking everyone within a ten minute drive) have made us their regular spot for watching sunsets, walking their dogs, and generally taking in the peace and quiet of the landscape. Conrad Hanson–who is not only our…
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That "Witty Boy": Robert Livingston, the Builder of Clermont
I have posted little regarding the Builder of Clermont–one of many Livingstons named Robert–on this blog, but it is largely because I\’ve had few opportunities to study him. Since no portrait survives of him, probably having been burnt in the 1777 fire, we do not even have a face to put with his name. Nevertheless,…
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Deciphering the Cipher Chair
The Livingston Cypher Chairs are an unusual set of eighteenth-century furniture that has long been the source of some curiosity at Clermont. Their high quality and exceedingly rare style and poor condition seem at odds with one another. What happened to these high-style beauties? In 1742, pretty young heiress Margaret Beekman married her distant cousin…
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Mrs Livingston, I Presume: Part 3
So Louise settled in with Edward Livingston as the new Mrs. Livingston, and Edward opened his arms to her family. And the D\’Avezac family responded by moving in with the newlyweds. Louise\’s grown brother Auguste and little Anglea (the sister whom she had carried across the Caribbean Sea two years before would now have been at least…
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Being a teen during the Revolution: Alida Livingston
Budding historian and Clermont tour guide Susan Naramore has developed a deep personal connection with Clermont over the years. Growing up, she attended our history day camps, most events, and every single Old-Fashioned Independence Day for her entire eighteen-year life. As our guest blogger, she uses this connection to develop Alida Livingston Armstrong (daughter of…
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Mrs. Livingston, I Presume: part 2
So there was Louise D’Avezac de Castera Moreau, 17 or 18 years old, and a sodden refugee on an English Frigate and headed towards Jamaica with a handful of other displaced wealthy women from her family at her side. It appears that whatever friends she had made in Jamaica during her three years there were…
Clermont State Historic Site 