Rethinking Hoogebergh: Early Rensselaerswijck’s Most Elusive Farm by Rudy VanVeghten
Hudson River Landmark—Perched at the foot of a low promontory about five miles below Albany, the Staats house on the Hudson River has been known for over three centuries as Hoogebergh. That name, however, originated with one of Rensselaerswijck’s earliest farms several miles to the north.
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HERE IS A historic home about five miles south of Albany gracing the east shore of the Hudson River. Located at the lower end of Papscanee Island at the foot of a forty- to fifty-foot knoll, the farm and homestead have been known for over three centuries by the intriguing Dutch name Hoogebergh. Owned for many generations by the Staats family, the farm and its owners are the topic of a relatively recent book by the late William L. Staats titled Three Centuries on the Hudson River: One Family . . . One House–The story of Hoogebergh (1696–2009) and the eleven generations of the Staats family who have lived there. But Hoogebergh (Dutch for “high hill”) Rudy VanVeghten, a former community newspaper editor, is a frequent contributor to de Halve Maen as well as serving as the journal’s copy editor. This essay is a supplement to a series arising from Mr. VanVeghten’s research on Gerrit Teunisse van Vechten and his family that appeared in the Winter and Spring 2018 issues of de Halve Maen.
existed both as a farm and as a geologic feature several decades before it found a permanent residence along New York’s principal river in the late seventeenth century. Tracking Hoogebergh’s history and original location provides an exercise in the importance of studying resources critically, that is by scrutinizing primary source materials and analyzing how errors often occur in the composition, duplication, transcription, publication, and understanding processes. Hoogebergh in the Sources. There are a number of references to Hoogebergh in the record books. Listed below are a selection that are especially useful in determining the original geographic location of the farm: Reference 1: In the winter of 1651, Rensselaerswijck Director Brant van Slichtenhorst, also serving as sheriff and head prosecutor, charged Jacob Lambertse with assaulting and failing to show proper respect to the director. During the previous October when he and other farm hands observed Slichtenhorst’s party approaching
below, Lambertse strapped a sword to his side and marched down the hill to intercept Slichtenhorst. “Jacob Lambertsz, being armed with a sword on his side, dared by word and deed, on the Hoogen Berch, in the highest manner to insult the director,” reads the court account of the incident.1 Reference 2: By the summer of 1651, Rensselaerswijck Director Brant van Slichtenhorst was detained by New Netherland Director-General Pieter Stuyvesant, and a Captain Slijter was temporarily in charge of the patroonship. He compiled a list of working farms in the colony, including one leased to Gysbert Cornelisse van Breuckelin located “aende Hooge barch Van Cristal (on the high hill of crystal).”2 An explanation of this “crystal” is included later in this essay. Reference 3: On June 23, 1654, Jan Baptist van Rensselaer, who replaced SlichtenA. J. F. Van Laer, trans. and ed., Minutes of the Court of Rensselaerswijck 1648–1652 (Albany, 1922), 142 [hereafter MCR].
1
A. J. F. Van Laer, trans. and ed., Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts (Albany, 1909), 741 [hereafter VRBM].
2
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