Nathaniel Hill Brick House
Encyclopedia
The Nathaniel Hill Brick House, locally referred to as just the Brick House, is located on NY 17K
New York State Route 17K
New York State Route 17K is an east–west state highway located within Orange County, New York, in the United States. It extends for from an intersection with County Route 76 east of Bloomingburg to a junction with U.S. Route 9W midway across the city of Newburgh...

 in the Orange County
Orange County, New York
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located at the northern reaches of the New York metropolitan area. The county sits in the state's scenic Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 Town of Montgomery
Montgomery (town), New York
Montgomery is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 20,891 at the 2000 census. It was named in honor of Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 1775 at the Battle of Quebec....

. It was built in 1768 by Hill, one of the earliest settlers of the region. His family has lived there ever since. Nathaniel Hill was born in 1705, emigrated from Ireland in about 1725, and died May 5, 1780. At the time of his death, he was the owner and possessor of some 700 acres (2.8 km²) of land. Hill originally built a home in the town of Crawford, New York
Crawford, New York
Crawford is a town in Orange County, New York, USA. The population was 7,875 at the 2000 census. The name comes a settler who gave his name to a community in the town now called Pine Bush....

, which he only lived in for two years. He left that home to his son James, who made Applejack Brandy there. The first public record of Hill is his enlistment in Captain Bayard's militia in 1738.

The Brick House was passed down for seven generations, from Nathaniel Hill, to Captain Peter Hill (July 22, 1752- October 14, 1795), to Nathaniel Peter Hill (Feb. 14, 1781- May 2, 1841), to Augustus Hill (May 4, 1838- November 2, 1903) to Charles Borland Hill (June 5, 1868–1959), to C.B. Hill, Jr. (Nov. 30, 1901-?), to C.B. Hill III (May 26, 1931-?).But it was originally made as a retierment house for Nathanieal Hill.

The house was featured in Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping
Good Housekeeping is a women's magazine owned by the Hearst Corporation, featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, health as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Housekeeping Seal," popularly known as the...

 Magazine, the Dec. 1968 edition.

The house was donated by C.B. Hill, Jr. on Dec. 26, 1975, to the County of Orange, it was entered on the National Register of Historical Places on Jan. 5, 1978, and opened as a museum June 22, 1978.

Much of the original design and appointments (including some Chippendale
Thomas Chippendale
Thomas Chippendale was a London cabinet-maker and furniture designer in the mid-Georgian, English Rococo, and Neoclassical styles. In 1754 he published a book of his designs, titled The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director...

 furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

 pieces) remain, though improvements have been made. In the 1830s the Hills added a large rear wing to the house and renovated part of the interior; almost a century later indoor plumbing
Plumbing
Plumbing is the system of pipes and drains installed in a building for the distribution of potable drinking water and the removal of waterborne wastes, and the skilled trade of working with pipes, tubing and plumbing fixtures in such systems. A plumber is someone who installs or repairs piping...

was added.

The Hills have cooperated with the county in allowing the land around the house to be used as a park, and the Orange County Farmers' Museum. It and their house are open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on weekends between mid-May and early October (actual dates vary each year). Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for children.

External links

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