Historical Societies in the Towns of Dutchess County

The Grove, near Rhinebeck, was built by Philip J. Schuyler in 1795 as a brick two story house. An 1858 woodcut shows the house in Greek Revival dress with service wings. Stanford White added comprehensive decorative details to cover his attic addition and produced a tour de force entrance of glass and iron and mirrors. Recently, descendants conveyed the place to Bard College for use as a dormitory. Robert Sands House, built in 1796 by Mrs. Schuyler's stepfather across the Landsmans Kill, remains singularly unmarked by later fashions. Its wooden frame still houses beautifully marbled panelling and painted floors. Current remodellings do not yet obscure the character of the original. This property is owned by descendants of its founders. Second generation properties include:

Eugene Livingston's Gothic Revival Teviot, John Watts DePeyster's Tuscan Villa, Rose Hill, Margaret Livingston Browne's porticoed Edgewater, General Charles S. Wainwright's The Meadows for his Tillotson wife (now Leacote), Maturin Livingston's Ellerslie (with a Latrobe house replaced by R.M. Hunt's half-timbered mansion for Levi P. Morton replaced by a set of brick campus buildings), and Julia Tillotson Lynch's Glenburn, still on property which has never been sold. The Greek Revival Ankony, named after the Sepasco Chief who sold Kipsbergen, sustained the Kip family on original patent land. Third generation properties include:

Laura Astor Delano's Steen Valetje, still the best built house on the river; William Astor's Ferncliff, now without mansion but with Louis Augustus Ehler's landscaping and Stanford White's Recreation Building; Thomas Suckley's 1852 Wilderstein by John Warren Ritch with its 1888 additions by Arnout Cannon, interiors by Tiffany and landscaping by Calvert Vaux; Elizabeth Schermerhorn Jones' Linden Grove which frightened Edith Wharton and now frightens visitors with its castle -like ruined state; and Lydig Hoyt's The Point by Cal. vert Vaux at Staatsburg. Ehlers' own Marienruh became the Alice Obolensky place; Dr. Federal Vanderburg's Linden Hill (Davis' Gothic Cottage No. 1) became Foxhollow; Ravenswood's owner, desiring to clean his chimneys, destroyed the house while a protesting butler fled and now Orlot traces its name to a small iron mine only. This generation produced the founding, by Dr. John Bard, of Bard College in 1860 at Annandale. Here are Richard Upjohn's 1860 Ludlow-Willinck Hall, Charles C. Haight's 1885 Stone Row and an 1896 fireproof Greek Temple library.

HISTORICAL SOCIETIES IN THE TOWNS OF DUTCHESS COUNTY

AMENIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY Mrs. Helen McEniff, President Amenia, N.Y. 12501 DOVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY Mrs. Richard Reichenberg, Jr.,

President McCarthy Road Dover Plains, N.Y. 12522 EAST FISHKILL HISTORICAL SOCIETY Mrs. William Hauptman,

President Stormville, N.Y. 12582 FISHKILL HISTORICAL SOCIETY Mr. Louis Ahlbach, President 22 Chelsea Ridge Road Beacon, N. Y. 12508 HYDE PARK

HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Miss Beatrice Fredriksen,

President Hyde Park, N.Y. 12538 HYDE PARK HISTORY STUDY GROUP Virginia Cookingham, President Hyde Park, N.Y. 12538 LAGRANGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY Mr. Michael Griffin, President Lois Lane Poughkeepsie, N.Y. 12603

LITTLE NINE PARTNERS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Mr. Henry Grant, President Rte. 82 Pine Plains, N.Y. 12567