Shuart-Van Orden Stone House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Shuart-Van Orden Stone House
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House in 2007, with brick section visible
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| Location | Town of Plattekill, New York |
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| Nearest city | Poughkeepsie |
| Built | c. 1773 |
| NRHP reference No. | 95001335 |
| Added to NRHP | 1995 |
The Shuart-Van Orden Stone House is a very old house located in Plattekill, New York. It was built a long time ago, with parts of it dating back to 1740. This special house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. This means it's an important historical building that is worth protecting.
The house shows a unique mix of styles. It looks like a typical Hudson Valley Dutch Colonial house, but it also uses brick and has a special roof shape called a gambrel roof. These features were more common in places like New Jersey and New York City.
Contents
Exploring the Shuart-Van Orden House
The main part of the house is one and a half stories tall. The front of the house has five sections, called "bays," and is made from bricks. These bricks were actually made from clay found right on the property! At the back of the house, there's a covered porch, or veranda, with a unique bell shape.
Inside the Historic Home
The inside of the house is divided into four main rooms. There's a central hallway that still has much of its original red paint. You can also see the old wooden panels, called wainscoting, on the walls. The handrail on the staircase looks very similar to one found in another historic home nearby, the Locust Lawn Estate.
Other Buildings on the Property
Besides the main house, there are four other buildings on the property. Most of these were built in the early 1800s. One interesting building is an 18th-century Dutch barn. It was moved here from Kingston. There's also a building called a granary, which was used to store grain. This granary, built around 1800, is considered an important part of the historic property.
A Look Back: History of the House
The Shuart-Van Orden Stone House is one of the oldest homes in the town of Plattekill. Even though it has been changed and rebuilt quite a bit over the years, its history goes back a long way.
Early Owners and Changes
In 1772, a man named Johannis Shuart bought 500 acres of land. He was an early settler from New Jersey and might have been living in the house even before he officially bought the land. In 1799, Johannis Shuart sold the house and land to Peter Van Orden.
Peter Van Orden was a busy man! He opened a store on the property, right across from the house. He also ran a distillery there, which was a common business in that area at the time.
Later Families and Discoveries
In 1886, the house became the property of some of Peter Van Orden's relatives, the Hasbrouck family. They later sold it to George Rhinehart in 1928. The Rhinehart family owned the house until 1980. They continued to use the land for farming.
When the current owners bought the house in 1980, they did a lot of work to fix it up. During these renovations, they found some hidden parts of the house that had been covered up for many years. For example, they found an old archway in the east wall that had been covered with stone in the 1800s. They also added a new stone section to the house using stones from another old house nearby. This new section now holds modern things like the furnace, keeping the original basement untouched.
