MID HUDSON

Clermont 

http://www.friendsofclermont.org/  

87 Clermont Avenue

Germantown, NY 12526

Hours: Thurday to Sunday, and Monday holidays. Tours leave on the hours, from 11 AM to 4 PM.

Admission: Adults $10, Seniors/Students/Group Tours $8, Children under 12 are free.

Phone (call or text): 518-537-6622 Email: [email protected]

    

Historical Description:                                                                            

Clermont was the Hudson River seat of the politically and socially prominent Livingston family of New York for more than 230 years. The most notable resident of Clermont was Judge Robert Livingston's eldest son, Robert R. Livingston, Jr. (1746-1813) who was one of the five men responsible for drafting the Declaration of

Independence in 1776. Robert also earned the title of "the Chancellor," when he became Chancellor of New York State. British Major General John Vaughan would burn Clermont and the Chancellor's own Belvedere during his ill-fated advance up the Hudson in October 1777 to take the pressure off of the doomed Lieutenant General John Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga. Livingston’s mother, Margaret Beekman Livingston, would rebuild Clermont between 1779 and 1782. Seven generations left their mark through the architecture, furnishings, and landscape.           

 

The Site:                                                                                                  

Today the 485-acre historic site appears much as it did in the early twentieth-century, when the estate was the home of the last two Livingston generations to occupy the property: Mr. and Mrs. John Henry Livingston and their daughters, Honoria and Janet. Clermont is fully handicap accessible. New York State Access Passes are accepted. Most visitors take an hour and a half to tour the Gardens and the House.