[Illustration: The Old Verplanck Homestead at Fishkill, Hudson River, in
which the Society of the Cincinnati originated.]
The Verplanck homestead stands on the lands granted by the Wappinger
Indians, in 1683, to Gulian Verplanck and Francis Rombout, under a
license given by Governor Thomas Dongan Commander-in-Chief of the
Province of New York, and confirmed, in 1685, by letters patent from
King-James the II. The purchase included "all that Tract or Parcell of
land Scituate on the East side of Hudson's river, beginning from the
South side of a Creek called the fresh Kill and by the Indians
Matteawan, and from thence Northward along said Hudson's river five
hundred Rodd beyond the Great Wappin's Kill, and from thence into the
woods fouer Houres goeing"; or, in our speech, easterly sixteen English
miles. There were eighty-five thousand acres in this grant, and the
"Schedull or Perticuler" of money and goods given to the natives, in
exchange, by ffrancis Rumbout and Gulyne Ver Planke sounds oddly to-day:
One hundred Royalls,
One hundred Pound Powder,
Two hundred fathom of white Wampum,
One hundred Barrs of lead,
One hundred fathom of black Wampum,
Thirty tobacco boxes, ten holl adzes,
Thirty Gunns, twenty Blankets,
Forty fathom of Duffils,
Twenty fathom of stroudwater Cloth,
Thirty Kittles, forty Hatchets,
Forty Hornes, forty Shirts,
Forty pair stockins,
Twelve coates of B.C.,
Ten drawing Knives,
Forty earthen Juggs,
Forty Bottles, Fouer ankers Rum,
Forty Knives, ten halfe Vatts Beere,
Two hundred tobacco pipes,
Eighty pound tobacco.
The purchasers were also to pay Governor Dongan six bushels of good and
merchantable winter wheat every year. The deed is recorded at Albany in
Vol. 5 of the Book of Patents.
Before 1685 Gulian Verplanck died, leaving minor children, and
settlements on his portion of the land were thus postponed. Divisions of
the estate were made in 1708, in 1722, and again in 1740. It is not
accurately known when the Homestead, the present low Dutch farm-house
was built, but we know that it stood where it now stands, before the
Revolutionary War, and the date commonly assigned to the building is a
little before 1740.
The house stands on a bluff overlooking the Hudson, about a mile and
one-half north of Fishkill Landing. It is one-story and one-half high,
of stone, plastered. The gambrel roof is shingled, descends low and has
dormer windows. The house has always been occupied and is in excellent
preservation. Baron Steuben chose it for his headquarters, no doubt for
its nearness to Washington's headquarters across the river, and for the
beauty and charm of the situation. It is made still further famous by
the fact that under its roof was organized in 1783 the Society of the
Cincinnati. The room then used is on the right of the hall, and is
carefully preserved. In fancy we can picture the assembly of officers
grouped about Washington, in that west room overlooking the river,
pledging themselves to preserve the memories of the years during which
they had struggled for their country's being.
The whole neighborhood, especially the village of Fishkill which was the
principal settlement in the county at that date, has many revolutionary
associations. The interior army route to Boston passed through the
village; this was a depot of army stores, and workshops and hospitals
were established. Here was forged the sword of Washington, now in the
keeping of the United States Government, and exhibited in the late
Centennial collection. It is marked with the maker's name, J. Bailey,
Fishkill.
The New York Legislature, retiring before the approach of the British,
after the evacuation of the city, came at last to Fishkill, and here the
constitution of the State was printed, in 1777, on the press of Samuel
Loundon, the first book, Lossing says, ever printed in the State.
Some years after peace was restored, the Verplanck family appear to have
occupied the Homestead from time to time. Philip Verplanck, a grandson
of Gulian the original grantee, was a native of the patent, but his
public life was spent elsewhere. He was an engineer and surveyor, and an
able man. Verplanck's Point in Westchester County, where Fort Lafayette
stood during the Revolution, was named for him, and he represented that
Manor in the Colonial Assembly from 1734 to 1768. Finally, Daniel
Crommelin Verplanck with his large family--one of his sons being the
well-known Gulian C. Verplanck, born here in 1786--came to live in the
old home permanently. He had led an active life in New York, served in
Congress and on the bench, and now retired to the quiet of the country.
It was he who planted the fine old trees which now shade the lawn; among
them the coffee-tree so much admired. About 1810 the north end, built of
wood, was added to the old house. Architects were not numerous,
apparently, in those days, so the Dutch type was lost in making this
large addition, though the interior is quaint, dignified and
interesting. It was from under its roof that Daniel C. Verplanck was
carried to his last resting-place as his father before him, and
generations after him lived and still live in the old Homestead.
For the above description, prepared with no little painstaking, of an
interesting house and demesne, as well as for the loan of the photograph
from which I made my pen-and-ink sketch of it, I am wholly indebted to a
member of the Verplanck family and a mutual friend.