Part 23 (1/2)
=Tivoli=, above North Bay took its name from a pre-revolutionary ”Chateau,” home of the late Colonel DePeyster. The ”Callender Place”
to the southeast, was formerly the property of Johnston Livingston.
Two miles from the river is the home of Mr. J. N. Lewis, a morning view from whose veranda is still remembered, and it is to him that the writer is indebted for a pleasant trip to the ruins on Cruger's Island. The residence of the late J. Watts DePeyster stands on a commanding bluff north of the railway station and it was beside his open fireside many years ago that he told the writer how his house was saved from Vaughan's cannon. ”Rose Hill,” was mistaken for ”Clermont,”
but a well-stocked cellar mollified the British captain.
O! stream of the mountains if answer of thine Could rise from thy waters to questions of mine, Methinks through the din of thy thronged banks a moan Of sorrow would come for the days that are gone.
_Legends of the Hudson._
It grew like one of the old English family houses, with the increase of the family, until, in strange but picturesque outline--the prevailing style being Italian, somewhat in the shape of a cross--it is now 114 feet long by 87 feet deep. The tower in the rear, devoted to library purposes, rises to the height of about sixty feet. This library, first and last, has contained between twenty and thirty thousand volumes. Such indefinite language is used, because the owner donated over half this number to the New York Historical Society, the New York Society Library, and a number of other similar organizations in different parts of the United States. As a working library, replete with dictionaries and cyclopaedias, in many tongues and on almost every subject, it is a marvel. It is likewise very valuable for its collections on military and several other special topics. From it was selected and given to the New York Historical Society, one of the finest possible collections on the History of Holland, from the earliest period down to the present time. ”Rose Hill” was left in his will to the Leake and Watts Orphan Home.
A ferry from Tivoli to Saugerties affords communication between the two villages. Glasco Landing, on the west bank, lies between the residences of Henry Corse, on the south, and Mrs. Vanderpool (sister of the late President Martin Van Buren), on the north.
In locating the residences along the river and dealing so often in the words ”north” and ”south,” we are reminded of a good story of Martin Van Buren. It is said that it was as difficult to get a direct answer from him as from Bismarck or Gladstone. Two friends were going up with him one day on a river boat and one made a wager with the other that a direct answer could not be secured on any question from the astute statesman. They approached the ex-president and one of them said, ”Mr.
Van Buren, my friend and I have had a little discussion; will you tell us, does or does not the sun rise in the east?” The ex-president calmly drew up a chair, and said, ”You must remember that the east and west are merely relative terms.” ”That settles it,” said the questioner, ”I'll pay the bet.”
How grateful is the sudden change From arid pavements to the gra.s.s, From narrow streets that thousands range To meadows where June zephyrs pa.s.s.
_Henry T. Tuckerman._
It is a drop for the old Hudson, and a merry time it has until it gets down off the mountains. I have thought how long it would be before that very water which was made for the wilderness will be under the bottom of a vessel and tossing in the salt sea.
_James Fenimore Cooper._
=Saugerties=, 101 miles from New York. From its location (being the nearest of the river towns to the Catskills), it naturally hoped to secure a large share of tourist travel, but Kingston and Catskill presented easier and better facilities of access and materially shortened the hours of arrival at the summit. Plaaterkill Clove, wilder and grander than Kaaterskill Clove, about nine miles west of the village, has Plaaterkill Mountain, Indian Head, Twin Mountains and Sugar Loaf on the south, and High Peak and Round Top on the north. Its eighteen waterfalls not only give great variety to a pedestrian trip, but also ample field for the artist's brush. The Esopus, meeting the Hudson at Saugerties, supplies unfailing waterpower for its manufacturing industries, prominent among which are the Sheffield Paper Company, the Barkley Fibre Company (wood pulp), the Martin Company (card board) and a white lead factory. There are also large s.h.i.+pments of blue stone, evidences of which are seen in many places near at hand along the western bank. Many attractive strolls near Saugerties invite the visitor, notably the walk to Barkley Heights south of the Esopus. An extensive view is obtained from the _West Sh.o.r.e Railroad_ station west of the village and the drive thereto.
North of Saugerties will be seen the docks and hamlets of Malden, Evesport and West Camp, also the residences of J. G. Myers to the northwest of the Rock islet, and of H. T. Coswell, near which the steamer pa.s.ses to the west of Livingston Flats. The west sh.o.r.e at West Camp was settled by exiles from the Palatinate, about 1710, and one of the old churches still stands a short distance inland. We are now in the midst of--
=The Livingston Country=, whose names and memories dot the landscape and adorn the history of the Hudson Valley. Dutchess and Columbia Counties meet on the east bank opposite that part of Saugerties where Sawyer's Creek flows into the Hudson. ”Idele” was originally called the Chancellor Place. ”Clermont” is about half a mile to the north, the home of Clermont Livingston, an early manor house built by Robert R. Livingston, who, next to Hamilton, was the greatest New York statesman during our revolutionary period. The manor church, not seen from the river, is at the old village of Clermont, about five miles due west from the mansion. The Livingstons are of Scotch ancestry and have an ill.u.s.trious lineage. Mary Livingston, one of the ”four Marys”
who attended Mary Queen of Scots during her childhood and education in France, was of the same family. Robert Livingston, born in 1654, came to the Hudson Valley with his father, and in 1686 purchased from the Indians a tract of country reaching east twenty-two miles to the boundary of Ma.s.sachusetts with a river frontage of twelve miles. This purchase was created, ”the Lords.h.i.+p and Manor of Livingston,” by Governor Thomas Dongan. In 1692 Robert built the manor house, but did not reside in it for twenty years. He was a friend of Captain Kidd and a powerful promoter of his enterprises. The manor consisted of 260,000 acres. The estate of 13,000 acres, given to his second son Robert, was called Clermont. Philip, his first son, inherited 247,000 acres, by old-time primogeniture succession. From each of these two families sprang a line of vigorous and resolute men. Robert R. Livingston, our revolutionary hero, descended from the smaller estate, owned ”Clermont” at the time it was burned by the British. It was soon rebuilt and Lafayette was a guest at the mansion during his visit to the United States in 1824.
Let us not then neglect to improve the advantages we possess; let us avail ourselves of the present moment to fix lasting peace upon the broad basis of natural union; let us while it is still in our power lay the foundation of our long happiness and the happiness of our posterity.
_Robert R. Livingston._
Above West Camp landing on the west side, is the boundary line between Ulster and Greene Counties; Ulster having kept us company all the way from Hampton Point opposite New Hamburgh. Throughout this long stretch of the river one industry must not be overlooked, well described by John Burroughs: