Michael Salyer Stone House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Michael Salyer Stone House
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South profile and east elevation, 2008
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | Blue Hill Rd., Orangetown, New York |
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| Area | 8.3 acres (3.4 ha) |
| Built | 1790 |
| Architectural style | Federal, Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 02001654 |
| Added to NRHP | December 31, 2002 |
The Michael Salyer Stone House is a historic building located on Blue Hill Road in Orangetown, New York. It was built a long time ago, in the late 1700s. This house is special because of its unique roof style, called a gambrel roof. It has wooden siding on the upper parts, which is unusual for houses in Rockland County. This style is more often seen in older stone houses further north in Ulster County, New York.
In 2002, the Michael Salyer Stone House and its old well were added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means they are important historical sites. Today, the house is a local history museum, where you can learn about the past.
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About the House and Its Land
The Michael Salyer Stone House sits on the west side of Blue Hill Road. It is about 800 feet (240 meters) south of where Sickletown and Convent roads meet. The house is on an 8.3-acre (3.4-hectare) piece of land. From here, you can see Lake Tappan, which is a large water reservoir. This reservoir is shared by New York and New Jersey.
To the west and south of the house is the Blue Hills Country Club golf course. Woods surround the golf course, making it a peaceful area. The land along Blue Hill Road to the north is also covered in trees. It ends where other homes are located along Sickletown Road.
The land slopes down from the house towards the lake. The house itself is on a small, clear area right by the road. There is a green lawn around it. A driveway to the south leads to a circular parking area. To the northwest of the house, you can find the old well and a small wooden shed.
What the House Looks Like
The house is one and a half stories tall. It has five sections on the front and two on the sides. It is built from rough-cut rectangular sandstone blocks. The bottom part of the house, called the foundation, is made of smaller, rougher stones. A small, one-story kitchen area made of wood sticks out from the back of the house on the north side.
The main entrance is in the middle of the front of the house. It has a small stone porch with wooden benches. These benches have simple square railings on each side. There are also two doors on the north and south corners of the front. These doors lead down to the basement from outside.
The roof is covered with slate shingles and has a gambrel roof shape. This type of roof has two different slopes on each side. Brick chimneys stick out from the ends of the roof. There are also three small windows, called dormer windows, that stick out from the roof on both the front and back. The edges of the roof hang out wide on the front and back. On the north and south sides, the roof is flat with the walls. The upper parts of the roof on the ends are covered with wooden siding, called clapboard.
On the front of the house, the stone blocks are laid in a special pattern called Flemish bond. The two windows next to the main entrance have wooden shutters. All the windows and the main doorway have brick tops, called lintels, that spread out. On the sides of the house, the stonework is more random. The north side has two windows on each floor. The south side has one window on the first floor with shutters, and two windows on the top floor.
The main entrance has a wooden door that is set back a bit. Above the door is a rectangular window with spokes that spread out like sun rays. This window is called a transom. When you open the main door, you enter a central hallway. This hallway goes all the way through the house to the back entrance. The back door is a heavy wooden Dutch door with a window at the top. Many of the original parts of the house are still there. These include the wall plaster, wide wooden floorboards, and decorative moldings around doors and windows.
On the north side of the house is the parlor, which is the biggest room. It goes all the way from the front to the back of the house. This room has a fireplace with a fancy mantel in the Federal style. It also has a built-in cupboard. The parlor on the south side has a similar fireplace. The room to the west of this parlor is now a bathroom.
Stairs from the north parlor lead up to the second floor. This floor also has a central hallway. The western end of this hallway was changed into another bathroom. There are two bedrooms on each side of the hallway.
History of the Michael Salyer Stone House
In 1783, the land where the Michael Salyer Stone House now stands was part of a large area called the Kakiat Patent. A man named Jeremias Mabie owned 380 acres (150 hectares) of this land. He had built a house on the property and had four daughters. In that same year, one of his daughters, Elizabeth Mabie, married Michael Salyer. People believe that the stone house was being built as a wedding gift for them.
Why the Roof is Special
Gambrel roofs were first used by English settlers in New England. They became popular with Dutch settlers in the Hudson Valley around the 1760s. This type of roof could cover a house that was two rooms deep. It also gave more space for an attic than a regular pointed roof. The Michael Salyer House has wide upper and lower angles on its roof. This is a style often found in the southern Hudson Valley, closer to New York City. It is sometimes called a "Flemish roof," even though it doesn't seem to have come from European building styles.
The house also has wooden frames and clapboard siding in the upper parts of its gambrel roof. This is rare for a Dutch stone house in Rockland County. It is much more common in Ulster County, which is further north on the west side of the Hudson Valley. This might be because Jeremias Mabie, like the early settlers of New Paltz, was not from Dutch families. He was of French Huguenot background.
Later Owners and Museum Life
Michael Salyer passed away in 1810. He left the house to his wife, Elizabeth. When she died the next year, she passed it to her daughter Mary and Mary's husband, David Bogert. After them, the house had many different owners throughout the 1800s and 1900s, including the Blauvelt family. Eventually, it became the property of the United Water Company.
In 1992, the water company gave the house to the Town of Orangetown. The town now uses it as a local history museum. The Orangetown Historical Society takes care of the museum.
After the house was donated, volunteers worked hard to restore it. It opened as a museum with permanent exhibits in 1996. In 2007, the museum closed again for more updates. These included a new roof and a special drainage system. The house reopened in 2008 with three new exhibits. One of these exhibits was about Maj. John André, a British spy during the American Revolutionary War.
See also
