Philipsburg Manor
Encyclopedia
Philipsburg Manor is a historic house, water mill, and trading site located on US 9 in the village of Sleepy Hollow, New York
. It is now operated as a non-profit museum by Historic Hudson Valley; an admission fee is charged. It was originally a manor house within Upper Mills section of Philipsburg Manor
.
by William and Mary
of England. He built Philipsburg Manor at the confluence of the Pocantico and Hudson River
s, creating it as a provisioning plantation for the Atlantic sea trade and as headquarters for a worldwide shipping operation. For more than thirty years, Frederick and his son Adolph shipped hundreds of African men, women, and children as slave
s across the Atlantic.
By the mid 18th century, the Philipse family had one of the largest slave-holdings in the colonial North. The manor was owned by an Anglo-Dutch family of merchants, tenanted by farmers of various European backgrounds, and operated by enslaved Africans. (In 1750, twenty-three enslaved men, women, and children lived and worked at the manor.)
Now a National Historic Landmark
(as of 1961) , the farm features a stone manor house filled with a good collection of 17th-and 18th century period furnishings, a working water-powered grist mill and millpond, an 18th century barn, a slave garden, and a reconstructed tenant farm house. Costumed interpreters re-enact life in pre-Revolutionary
times, doing chores, milking the cows, and grinding grain in the grist mill.
Although an English-deeded tract, some sources list Philipsburg Manor with the patroon
ships of New Netherland
.
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line.Originally...
. It is now operated as a non-profit museum by Historic Hudson Valley; an admission fee is charged. It was originally a manor house within Upper Mills section of Philipsburg Manor
Philipsburg Manor
Philipsburg Manor is a historic house, water mill, and trading site located on US 9 in the village of Sleepy Hollow, New York. It is now operated as a non-profit museum by Historic Hudson Valley; an admission fee is charged...
.
History
The manor dates from 1693 when Frederick Philipse of Yonkers was granted a charter for 52000 acres (21,043.7 ha) along the Hudson RiverHudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
by William and Mary
William and Mary
The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...
of England. He built Philipsburg Manor at the confluence of the Pocantico and Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
s, creating it as a provisioning plantation for the Atlantic sea trade and as headquarters for a worldwide shipping operation. For more than thirty years, Frederick and his son Adolph shipped hundreds of African men, women, and children as slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
s across the Atlantic.
By the mid 18th century, the Philipse family had one of the largest slave-holdings in the colonial North. The manor was owned by an Anglo-Dutch family of merchants, tenanted by farmers of various European backgrounds, and operated by enslaved Africans. (In 1750, twenty-three enslaved men, women, and children lived and worked at the manor.)
Now a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
(as of 1961) , the farm features a stone manor house filled with a good collection of 17th-and 18th century period furnishings, a working water-powered grist mill and millpond, an 18th century barn, a slave garden, and a reconstructed tenant farm house. Costumed interpreters re-enact life in pre-Revolutionary
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
times, doing chores, milking the cows, and grinding grain in the grist mill.
Although an English-deeded tract, some sources list Philipsburg Manor with the patroon
Patroon
In the United States, a patroon was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland in North America...
ships of New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
.