Category: Uncategorized
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Picturing Clermont in the Early Victorian Period
At almost 275 years old, Clermont has been a lot of things to a lot of people. Here at the museum on on the blog, we talk a lot about the estate during the tumultuous years of the American Revolution or the last generation and the quiet family life of the early 20th century. But…
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Growing up Livingston: Part 2, Getting to know John Henry Livingston
I started this series of entries after a day of discovery in Clermont\’s historic photo files. It turns out looking into the faces of the Livingstons, whose letters and intimate lives I am always reading, adds a whole new dimension to \”getting to know\” them. In fact, after looking at enough photos, it\’s almost like…
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"A True and Perfect Inventory": Inside Clermont in 1844
In November of 1843, Edward Philip Livingston, the Chancellor\’s son-in-law and the master of Clermont, died at age 64. He was survived by his second wife Mary C. Broome Livingston (b. 1810) and four children ages 31 to 21. Edward Philip (a grandson of Philip the Signer) had married the Chancellor\’s daughter Betsy, and the…
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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…
Clermont State Historic Site 