The Van Wyck Homestead Museum or Van Wyck-Wharton House (pronounced Van Wike) is an early 18th-century

Dutch colonial Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house. Modern versions built in the early 20th century are more accurately referred to as "Dutch Colonial Rev ...

house in the Town of Fishkill,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. It served as a headquarters to a major military supply depot during the

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 ...

and has been 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 v ...

since April 13, 1972; the adjoining Fishkill Supply Depot Site has been listed on the NRHP since January 21, 1974. It is located on

US 9 U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a north–south United States highway in the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in the Northeastern United States. It is one of only two U.S. Highways with a ferry connection (the Cape May–Lewes Ferry, betwe ...

just south of Interstate 84. Excavations during the construction of a nearby gas station and the Dutchess Mall in the early 1970s unearthed many artifacts at the site, particularly

materiel Materiel (; ) refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context. In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specifi ...

Background

The Van Wycks were an aristocratic family originally from Holland who were a prominent part of Dutchess County history. Members of the Van Wyck family served in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and also held both local and national political positions. In 1732, Cornelius Van Wyck (1694–1761), a surveyor, built a house with three rooms on 959 acres (approximately 3.88 km²) of land he had purchased from

Catheryna Rombout Brett Catheryna Rombout Brett (also Catherina, Catherine, and Catharyna) was the daughter of New York City mayor and land baron Francis Rombouts and Helena Teller Bogardus Van Ball. She inherited a one-third interest in the sprawling Rombout Patent i ...

, the daughter of

Francis Rombouts Francis Rombouts (22 June 1631 – 1691) was the 12th Mayor of New York City, (formerly New Amsterdam), from 1679 to 1680. He was one of three proprietors of the Rombout Patent, and father of pioneering Colonial businesswoman Catheryna Rombout Br ...

, who was one of the grantees of the original patent to the land in the area issues by King

James II of England James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Gloriou ...

."Van Wyck Homestead Museum", Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area
/ref> Later (before the year 1757) the house was extended and the original structure became the east wing of the enlarged house. Since then, the building has remained a

construction featuring a characteristic central hall with two identical doors.

Revolutionary War and afterward

During the

, the property was the home of Isaac Van Wyck. However, because of its strategic location with regard to the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

and major roads, the Old Albany Post Road (later

) running north–south and the road running east–west (later

NY 52 New York State Route 52 (NY 52) is a state highway in the southeastern part of the state. It generally runs from west to east through five counties, beginning at the New York–Pennsylvania border, Pennsylvania state line in the Delawa ...

and Interstate 84), it was requisitioned by the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

. The building became the headquarters of the Fishkill Supply Depot, which was created on the orders of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

in 1775. The Fishkill Supply Depot was the major logistical center for the Revolutionary War in the north. The depot was a military camp and storage yard which became the main provider of artillery and food for about 4,000 troops stationed in the area to prevent the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

forces from passing

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and capturing the Hudson Valley (the latter a major strategic goal of the British at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War). 70 acres (28 ha) of land surrounding the house were used for a large encampment of over 2,000 soldiers and many facilities such as an artillery park for repairing cannons, a blacksmith shop, barracks, a storehouse, and stables were set up. Thousands of Continental troops, militia, and their families lived at the Depot complex until April 1783. Its position in the Hudson River Valley prevented enemy advances.Farrell, Mara. "Revolutionary War Era Fishkill Supply Depot Threatened", The Cultural Landscape Foundation
/ref> The depot complex consisted of barracks for thousands of soldiers, officer housing, hospital, magazine, prison, parade grounds, blacksmith shops, stables and store houses. Established by General George Washington and serving at varying times as a headquarters and nexus point for General Israel Putnam, General Alexander McDougall, General Horatio Gates, Alexander Hamilton and General Lafayette, it played an essential role in the Continental Army's victory over British forces. The Depot provided logistic operations for all of

's operations in the Hudson Valley during the war. According to retired Army colonel James Johnson, a 1969 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a former West Point military history professor, the food, clothing and armaments the depot provided to Washington's soldiers helped them keep the redcoats from gaining control of the strategic Hudson Highlands. It served as headquarters to General

Israel Putnam Israel Putnam (January 7, 1718 – May 29, 1790), popularly known as "Old Put", was an American military officer and landowner who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). He als ...

and was visited by revolutionary leaders such as

, the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...

Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben (born Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Louis von Steuben; September 17, 1730 – November 28, 1794), also referred to as Baron von Steuben (), was a Prussian military officer who p ...

Alexander McDougall Alexander McDougall (1732 9 June 1786) was a Scottish-born American seaman, merchant, a Sons of Liberty leader from New York City before and during the American Revolution, and a military leader during the Revolutionary War. He served as a m ...

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

, and

John Jay John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the first ...

. Inside the house,

courts-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

were held in the home's parlor. Although under British surveillance, the Depot was never attacked, hundreds died there of wounds, hypothermia, dysentery, and smallpox. Periods of starvation were also endured by troops during the Depot's seven years of service. It is the largest burial ground of American Revolutionary War soldiers identified in the United States. A walnut tree, which stood in front of the house until 1898 when it was toppled by a storm, served as a

whipping Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on an ...

tree for punishing soldiers. An iron claw which was attached to the tree for this purpose was recovered from the tree and is now on display in the house. The mock trial of

Enoch Crosby Enoch Crosby (1750–1835) was an American spy and soldier during the American Revolution. His life may have been the basis for the character Harvey Birch in James Fenimore Cooper's novel '' The Spy''. Early life Crosby was born in Harwich, Mas ...

, who had infiltrated a loyalist group and is considered as the first secret agent of the United States, was held in the building. The house is therefore the likely setting for

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

's novel, "The Spy" which is based on Enoch Crosby's story. The Van Wyck house also served as the Quartermaster Department in charge of clothing the troops. In addition to its military functions, it also housed the printing press for the newspaper " New York Packet", which was relocated to the Van Wyck homestead from British-occupied New York City. Besides the newspaper, orders for the Army were also printed and the newspaper's publisher,

Samuel Loudon Samuel Loudon (1727–1813) was a Early American publishers and printers, colonial American printer, publisher and merchant who emigrated from Ireland some time prior to 1753. Loudon founded ''The New-York Packet and The American Advertiser'' a ...

, was appointed Postmaster for the State of New York with Fishkill becoming the first official New York State Post Office. Poughkeepsie Journal, July 4, 1976, p. 37 After the Revolutionary War, the house was given back to the Van Wyck family and remained the family's home until the suicide of Sidney Van Wyck in 1882. Following the death of Sidney Van Wyck, two more families, the Hustis and the Snook families, owned the property. For a time, a tea room was operated in the house and was frequented by

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

when she was on her way to her estate in

Hyde Park, New York Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Frankl ...

Recent years

With the construction of I-84 and its exit ramps in the immediate vicinity of the homestead, the Snook family donated the house and to the Fishkill Historical Society, which was founded in 1962 to preserve the house from demolition and has since continued to restore and to operate it as a museum. However, much of the Depot site was developed in the 1970s, causing the loss of many artifacts from the period. The Van Wyck Homestead is the last remaining structure of the supply depot, which now contains a vast Continental Army Burial Complex. The to the east and west of the homestead, including the exit ramps from I-84, were added to the

as the Fishkill Depot Supply Site on January 21, 1974. In 2007, a team of archaeologists using ground penetrating radar discovered hundreds of graves at the southern end of the property.Carola, Chris (AP). "Revolutionary War burial site besieged by growth", USA Today, July 5, 2009
/ref> Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot and United States Senator

Charles Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...

are leading a project to save the site under the Battlefield Protection Act and to create a

National Park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

on the site. In 2016 developer Domenic Broccoli proposed taking eight acres of land to develop Continental Commons, an "18th century colonial village,". Lance Ashworth, president of Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot, asserted that this development would "destroy an authentic historical site for the sake of building a cheap replica." He noted that Broccoli told the town planning board he wants to include an International House of Pancakes location as part of the complex. A spokesperson for Broccoli responded that the IHOP would not be located on actual burial grounds. IHOP said that no plans for a restaurant at that location has been approved.Balsamini, Dean. Developer wants to sell pancakes on historic burial ground. ''New York Post'', August 28, 2016, Retrieved September 9, 2016

Archeological site

Most of the area of the Fishkill Supply Depot was developed for the Dutchess Mall, which opened in 1974. During the construction of the mall and archaeological excavations on the site many artifacts, such as cannonballs, muskets, utensils, and uniform buttons have been unearthed and the Fishkill Historical Society holds about 10,000 pieces. It is also believed, that many soldiers of the Continental Army who died in battle or from

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

are buried in the area, but the location of the burials remains unknown. For that reason, the same year the mall opened the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

, which oversees the National Register, separately added the south of I-84 and bisected by Route 9 to the Register as the Fishkill Supply Depot Site. Much of that land, particularly on the east of the home, remains undeveloped and unexcavated, awaiting future investigation.

References

Notes Sources * Lee-Adrian, Jenny. "Historian Makes Aid Pitch in DC", ''Poughkeepsie Journal'', July 17, 2009 * Coulter, Kristine. "Schumer Visits Revolutionary War Gravesite", ''Southern Dutchess News'', June 3, 2009
"25 soldiers in Revolutionary War-era cemetery in Fishkill identified", ''Daily Freeman'', December 16, 2012

by Peter Applebome, ''New York Times'', April 18, 2009
NY Growth Besieges Revolutionary Patriots' Graves
by Chris Carola, Associated Press, July 3, 2009 *

External links