Category: Uncategorized
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History Comics Club: Connecting Students to the Heritage One Panel at a Time
Clermont is an inspiring place. On any given summer morning, you’ll find painters in the parking lot, carefully unloading their oil paints and easels, trekking down the sheep fold to capture views of the Hudson that have inspired artists for centuries. Countless couples choose the views of the mountains and gardens as the backdrop for…
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The Boy in the Solider\'s Coat: Eugene Livingston and the Civil War
The American Civil War was hell. Per the American Battlefield Trust there were more than a million casualties during the war. 620,000 men died because of battle or disease. Most of these men didn’t die the quick, painless, glorious deaths so often seen in paintings and movies. They died screaming for…
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Harry\'s Hairy Time on Long Island
Henry Beekman Livingston In the summer of 1776 Lt. Col. Henry Beekman Livingston was sent with three companies of the 2ndNew York Regiment to guard the Eastern end of Long Island. In July Henry wrote to George Washington to explain the disposition of his troops. He had assigned one company to Montauk Point, one to…
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Animated in the Hour of Danger: Edward Livingston at the Battle of New Orleans
Major Livingston is depicted to the right of General Jackson under the flag. The Battle of New Orleans was one of the few highlights in the otherwise embarrassing War of 1812. It also created the legend of Andrew Jackson and led to his presidency and the entire “Age of Jackson.” By his side throughout the…
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The Vanderbilt Forgery
Narrator: It was not in fact him. Every so often, when working at a museum, you are asked a question that you’ve never had to consider before. Recently the question was posed to me; “Did John Henry Livingston ever do time in state prison?” Of course not. I mean John Henry…
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Searching for Emily Evans Livingston
When you visit Clermont, one of the first things you learn is that Alice Livingston was the matriarch of Clermont from 1906 to her death in 1964. Some twenty years younger than her husband, Alice was actually John Henry Livingston\’s third wife. See below in the Documents of the Assembly of the State of New…
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Aid For Tall Men Sought By Mc Vitty
Today we have a guest author for the blog. Rex McVitty, husband of Honoria Livingston, wrote this article for his Florida newspaper after trying to test drive a car in 1959. Rex McVitty (Right) and Honoria Livingston I can’t very well remember any time in my life, that I wasn’t conscious of being too tall.…
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Do Not Expose Yourself Needlessly
Margaret Beekman Livingston, a real person Margaret Beekman Livingston was a strong woman. There is no denying that. She raised ten children, nine of whom turned out pretty well. She was known as a competent business woman, running her massive estate for twenty-five years after the unexpected death of her husband, Judge Robert Livingston. When…
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The Chancellor and the Ditch
The First Lord of Livingston Manor 2017 marks the bicentennial of the beginning of construction of the Erie Canal. It was the canal that turned New York into the Empire State. Of course, it took a long time to arrive at the first shovel of dirt. In fact, Robert Livingston, First Lord of Livingston Manor…
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How to Blow Up a Gunpowder Mill
I recently received a few letters I had requested from the Gilder Lehrman Center and immediately answered a question that has nagged me for years. We know that in late 1775 the mill exploded. But why? I mean, yes, it was a gunpowder mill and if you make it right, gunpowder will explode. But…
Clermont State Historic Site 