Marshall House (Schuylerville, New York) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Marshall House
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Nearest city | Schuylerville, New York |
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| Area | (2002) 3.6 acres (1.5 ha) (2010) 7.6 acres (3.1 ha) |
| Built | 1770 |
| Architectural style | Colonial, Italianate |
| NRHP reference No. | 02000878 |
| Added to NRHP | August 22, 2002 |
The Marshall House is a famous old house in Schuylerville, New York. It's special because of its important role in American history and its unique design. This house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which means it's recognized as a very important historical site.
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A Historic Home: The Marshall House
The Marshall House was built a long time ago, between 1770 and 1773. It started as a farmhouse with a special "gambrel" roof. Later, in 1867–1868, it was updated to the "Italianate Style," which was popular then. Even with these changes, the house still looks much like it did hundreds of years ago. It's one of only two buildings left that saw the important Battles of Saratoga in 1777.
During the American Revolutionary War, the British army used the Marshall House as a hospital. It became a safe place for Baroness Frederika Riedesel, whose husband was a general. She wrote in her diary about the difficult times, including how non-soldiers, wounded officers, and men found shelter there during a six-day attack.
Before the war, the area around the house was called Saratoga. Dutch and English settlers came here starting in 1684. They liked the area because of the strong water power from the Hudson River, Fish Creek, and the Batten Kill. The rich soil also helped them grow crops. The Marshall House and its farm might have been a place where timber and food were collected to be sent down the river to Albany.
We know that the property soon belonged to Peter Lansing, a merchant from Albany. However, when the British army arrived in 1777, the Lansing family and others living nearby fled south to safety.
The Battles of Saratoga and Baroness Riedesel
The Marshall House became famous for its part in the events that led to the British army giving up during the Battles of Saratoga in September and October 1777. Baroness Frederika Riedesel was traveling with the British army. She was the wife of Major General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel, who led the German soldiers fighting with the British.
On October 10, American cannons started firing at the British defenses. The Baroness's husband saw the Marshall House and told his wife and their three young children to hide in its stone cellar. Soon, other women and wounded soldiers joined them in the house.
The Americans saw a lot of activity around the house and thought it was a British army headquarters. So, they started firing at it! Baroness Riedesel wrote in her diary about their scary experience:
"We had to go to the cellar for safety. I stayed in one corner all day, with my children sleeping on the ground with their heads in my lap. I spent a sleepless night there. Eleven cannonballs went through the house, and we could clearly hear them roll away. One poor soldier, who was on a table to have his leg removed, was hit by a shot that took off his other leg. His friends had left him, and when we went to help him, we found him in a corner, barely breathing."
The next morning, the bombing continued. The people hiding in the house also suffered because they had no water, as the well had dried up.
"Finally, we found a soldier's wife who was brave enough to get us some water from the river. No one else would do it, because the Americans shot at anyone who went near the river."
Baroness Riedesel organized the other women to help the wounded as best they could. She worked tirelessly during the six-day attack, and everyone who shared her fate in the Marshall House loved her for it. On October 16, when it was clear the British would surrender, the non-soldiers were finally safe to come out. The very next day, October 17, 1777, the British General Burgoyne surrendered to the Americans. This American victory at Saratoga (now Schuylerville) was a huge turning point. It convinced the French government to support the American cause, which helped America win the War of Independence.
The Marshall House After the War
After the Revolutionary War, the Marshall House changed owners. Captain Samuel Bushee, a war veteran, bought it in 1802. He then sold it to his father-in-law, Abraham Marshall, in 1817. The house stayed in the Marshall family until 1930. Then, Kenneth and Adelaide Bullard bought it, and their family still owns and lives in it today.
Even though it's always been a private home, the Marshall House has been a popular place for people visiting the Saratoga battlefields. You can still see cannonballs that hit the house. There's even a part of the floor in the northeast room that is stained from when it was used as a hospital. The large stone cellar also shows signs of the past. Parts of the house damaged by cannon fire remind us of the events that made this old house famous. The original hinges and a big lock on the front door, and a delicate wooden latch on the cellar door, are still there and in use from the time of the Battles of Saratoga.
Architectural Features
The Marshall House is about a mile north of Schuylerville. It sits on a hill, surrounded by tall pine, black locust, and spruce trees. The Hudson River flows nearby.
Today, the Marshall House is a two-story building. It was originally built around 1770 as a one-and-a-half-story farmhouse. It had a main part with a gambrel roof and a smaller kitchen wing. The whole house sits on a stone foundation with a full basement.
In the mid-1800s, the house was renovated. A full second story was added, and the old kitchen wing was replaced with a new, larger one. The house was built with thick pine boards and covered with narrow clapboard siding. An "L" shaped porch with decorative arches was added to the front. The original small windows were made longer, reaching from floor to ceiling. The front door, which was restored in the 1930s, still has its original iron hardware and a huge lock and key.
Inside, the house still has many original features, along with changes made in the 1840s, 1867–68, and 1931. The main hallway has a staircase. The library and parlor rooms are on either side of the hall, and a dining room faces south. The floors both downstairs and upstairs are made of wide pine boards, held in place with large, hand-cut iron nails.
The Apple Cottage
Behind the Marshall House, there's a small building called the Apple Cottage. It was built in 1957 using local materials and some Japanese-inspired designs. For example, its roof is made of Granville slate, and its siding is Adirondack white pine. Inside, the ground floor has stone paving, and the upstairs has wooden walls and a ceiling made of woven bamboo from the Philippines.
The cottage has fireplaces on both floors. The upstairs bedroom ceiling is covered with Korean grass paper. The cottage's design reflects the current owner's time living in the Far East.
The ground floor has a kitchen and dining area, plus a screened porch. The second floor has a bright room with a grand piano and music library. This is the studio of Hilary Tann, a famous composer. From the cottage, you can see the Hudson River and the Green Mountains of Vermont. There's also a pond with koi fish and a Japanese garden with a stone lantern.
See also
In Spanish: Casa Marshall para niños
