LOWER HUDSON

Phillipsburg Manor

http://www.hudsonvalley.org/historic-sites/philipsburg-manor

381 N Broadway

Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591

Hours: Philipsburg Manor is open May to December. See website for admission rates and specific hours.

Phone: (914) 366-6900 Email: [email protected]

 

Historical Description:

Philipsburg Manor was a commercially successful property owned and operated by the Philipse family. The original land was purchased by Frederick Philipse I in 1672. The estate grew over the years, encompassing a grist mill, farm land, bake house, wharf, and workshops for blacksmiths, carpenters, and coopers. It became one of the most commercially developed properties in colonial New York. The Manor is also significant for the great number of slaves who worked there. Though most Hudson River Valley families owned around 2 or fewer slaves, the Philipse family owned between 23 and 40 at the height of the manor's production. The slaves were responsible for almost every task at the Manor, from tending the fields to working in the gristmill. Resentment at working conditions resulted in two slave disturbances, in 1712 and 1741. A committed Loyalist during the Revolution, Fredrick Philipse III lost his manor after signing the Declaration of Dependence in 1776 and being arrested by General Washington. He eventually fled to England where he died a poor, broken man, showing how political views cost him and his fellow Loyalists their possessions and positions in society as well.

 

The Site:

The Philipsburg Manor is a late seventeenth, early eighteenth century milling, farming, and trading complex owned by an Anglo-Dutch family of merchants. The site includes a stone manor house filled with period furnishings and a working water-powered gristmill and millpond. The grounds are also home to historic breeds of cattle, sheep, and chicken as well as an eighteenth century barn and enslaved persons' garden. The site also includes a visitor center, a gallery with changing exhibits, a cafe, and a museum shop.

 

Research Patron: Atwood Collins