Guy Park, also known as Guy Park State Historic Site or Guy Park Manor, is a house built in 1774 in the

Georgian style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Geor ...

for

Guy Johnson Guy Johnson ( 1740 – 5 March 1788) was an Irish military officer and diplomat. He served on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War, having migrated to the Province of New York as a young man and worked with his uncle, Sir Wi ...

, the Irish-born nephew and son-in-law to

Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland. As a young man, Johnson moved to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Royal Na ...

, the British Superintendent for Indian Affairs in colonial New York. Built of limestone, the house was originally situated on a square mile of land on the north side of the Mohawk River and near it for access to water transportation.

Guy Johnson

Born in Ireland, Guy Johnson emigrated to New York as a young man, moving to the Mohawk Valley where his uncle had his base. Johnson married Mary (also known as Polly), one of the senior Johnson's daughters with his first common-law wife, Catherine Weisenberg. In 1773 the senior Johnson gave his nephew and daughter a square mile of land near the Mohawk River as a wedding present. They built their first house there but it burned the next year after being struck by lightning. Guy Johnson commissioned a limestone house in the Georgian architectural style, which was built in 1774. After his uncle William Johnson died in 1774, Guy was appointed by the Crown to succeed him as British Superintendent for Indian Affairs. His priority was to keep the powerful

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

nations on the side of the British in the face of increasing colonial tensions. As a Loyalist Johnson risked imprisonment, because of the hostility of local settlers who favored independence in the coming

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. He gathered allies and friends and left the area in 1775 for Canada, abandoning his mansion. His wife Polly died in Oswego, New York during the journey. From 1776 to 1778 Johnson lived in British-occupied New York City. By 1779, he had established headquarters in Niagara, Ontario, from where he directed military forces against the rebels in the Mohawk Valley. After the war, he returned to London, where he died in 1788."Guy Johnson"
Tryon County, NY, Rootsweb, accessed 10 October 2011

Description

The house was built in 1774 of limestone in the Georgian architectural style. It is two stories tall.

History

In 1779 the new governments of the United States and New York declared as traitors those Loyalists who had gone to Canada, and the state confiscated their properties. The state sold Guy Park to a private owner. A steady flow of migrants moved along the road in the plain by the Mohawk River as part of the European-American settlement of former Iroquois lands. At this time, the state and speculators were selling millions of acres of land to the west; thousands of migrants from New England crossed the state seeking such lands; some veterans were awarded grants of land in lieu of pay. Guy Park was used for years in the early nineteenth century as a

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern t ...

and stagecoach stop, as it was on the Mohawk Turnpike next to the river, the two main transportation routes across the state. The Erie Canal was completed in 1825, and a lock is located near the house. Later, the house was sold and served again as a private residence for many years. In 1907 the mansion was purchased by the state for preservation as a historic site. In the early 21st century, it was adapted for use as a local history museum, the

Walter Elwood Museum The Walter Elwood Museum is a museum of local history in Amsterdam, New York Amsterdam is a city in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 18,219. The city is named after Amsterdam in ...

. Elwood, a history teacher, began collecting in the 1930s. The museum has featured exhibits from his large collection of local artifacts, ranging from historic objects crafted by the

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

and other

tribes of New York, to items related to the development and history of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

, the local carpet industry, and the city of Amsterdam. In August 2011, shortly after being occupied by the museum, the house was severely damaged by flooding of the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...

in the aftermath of

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 ...

. Half of two floors were destroyed and its contents soaked and scattered. The state has struggled to stabilize the building.Liz Leyden, "Manor That Has Stood for Centuries Teeters in Storm's Wake"
''New York Times'', September 1, 2011 The museum has moved to a new location. Since 2016 work has been done to stabilize the nearby canal walls to ensure flooding is mitigated. Renovation and restoration work on home will commence after canal walls is completed with the goal to see the home become the headquarters for

New York State Canal Corporation New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

. The house is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

References

Notes Bibliography * Thomas, Earle, ''The Three Faces of Molly Brant'', 1996,

External links

History of Guy Park
{{Protected areas of New York Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Houses in Montgomery County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, New York Houses completed in 1774

Guy Johnson

Description

History

See also

References

External links