TACONIC STATE PARK and RECREATION COMMISSION

Clermont

Transcriber's Notes

Robert Livingston (1654-1728), born in Scotland and raised in The Netherlands, arrived in Albany, New York, during the winter of 1674-1675. Active in shipping and fur trading, he also obtained responsible public and private positions and quickly gained wealth and influence. In 1686 he was granted a charter establishing the Manor of Livingston, which included 162,248 acres of land, the southern third of present Columbia County. Robert became the first Lord of the Manor.

In 1728 Livingston left 13,000 acres of the Manor to his third son, later known as Robert of Clermont (1688-1775). Tradition holds that this gift was in gratitude for the son’s success in rescuing his father from an Indian plot. Known as Clermont, or the Lower Manor, this tract did not carry manorial privileges. On a low plateau overlooking the Hudson River, the mansion of the Lower Manor was constructed about 1730 as the seat of the new estate.

Robert of Clermont’s only child, also named Robert (1718-1775), served with distinction as Judge of the Admiralty Court and Judge of the Supreme Court of the Province of New York. As a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress, he penned the letter of protest to the King of England.

In 1775, upon the death of Judge Livingston, Clermont passed to his eldest son, Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813), later famous as a Chancellor of New York State. In the years prior to the Revolution, he was a strong advocate of colonial rights and, as a member of the Second Continental Congress, was one of five nominated to draft the Declaration of Independence.

With the outbreak of the Revolution, Clermont supplied men and materiel to the American army. Probably because of the Chancellor’s political importance and his support of the patriot cause, in 1777, after burning Kingston, the British continued up the Hudson and set fire to Clermont and all of its surrounding outbuildings. The family and servants escaped, however, and within a few years Clermont was rebuilt and refurnished. Charred remnants of this earlier building are incorporated within the walls of the present mansion.

Clermont’s fame rose with that of Chancellor Livingston. In 1781 he was appointed the first United States Minister of Foreign Affairs and later served as Minister to France, negotiating with Napoleon for the Louisiana Purchase.

Chancellor Livingston originally shared Clermont with his mother, Margaret Beekman Livingston, but he eventually built a new house nearby which was completed in 1794. A French-inspired building, it became a showplace on the Hudson. Destroyed by fire in 1909, the ruins of its remaining walls indicate its size and grandeur.

In addition to his public duties, the Chancellor was involved in experiments to improve his breeds of sheep and to increase the yield of crops on his land while retaining the fertility of the soil. His fascination for mechanical developments drew him to Robert Fulton with whom he compared experiments with steam engines. Their partnership resulted in the first successful steamship, The North River Steamboat. Later known as the Clermont, it stopped at the Chancellor’s dock on its maiden voyage up the Hudson River in 1807.

The mansion rebuilt after the fire of 1777 continued as a residence for members of the Livingston family. A north wing built in 1802 contained a new kitchen and an office where tenants paid their rent. A south wing, constructed in 1830 for additional bedrooms, was enlarged in 1893. A steeply pitched slate roof, added in 1874, greatly altered the appearance of the mansion.

From 1813, when the Chancellor died, until it was acquired by the State of New York in 1962, Clermont never passed out of the Livingston family. The mansion, with its furnishings and spacious grounds, reflects the lives of many generations of Livingstons, one of the New York’s most influential families.