George Washington Slept Here

 Literally. This is his and Martha's room in the house he used for military headquarters for 16 months, the longest he maintained HQ in any one place. (If you have spent much time in the East, you know that one of the standard jokes is that every old building claims that "George Washington slept here.)

The room is in the home of Elsie Hasbrouk and her son Jonathan. The oldest part of the house was built in 1750, with additions in 1760 and 1770. Because, by then, it had 7 rooms, it was a large house for the time period, which is a big part of the reason Washington asked to use it. It's also located on the Hudson, the primary transportation route of the time.

This is Washington's study. From this very room came many of the orders of the last year of the Revolutionary war. Note that in the bedroom above is an English-style fireplace. This was added by Washington. The fireplace in the study is the traditional Dutch style which is basically a hearth with a huge open flue above it.

There were six aides working for Washington while he was here. They all slept in 3 of these beds in one room. Yes, the beds are as small as they look.

This is the Victory Tower, built in 1887. It has statues around the outside, and a statue of Washington inside that is supposed to be an excellent likeness, but it was temporarily removed for renovation.

This building was built in 1910 to house the museum. The Hasbrouk House was the first national Historic Site to be created, and through donations was collecting a lot of items that needed to be displayed. It's a handsome structure.

I'm just too tired to show you more of the cool things that we saw. Here's the absolute best. I did not even know there was any of this that had survived. One of the things the Colonial army did to try to prevent the British from taking West Point was to string chains with logs attached crosswise across the Hudson River. It was thought they could stop the Royal Navy from getting far enough upstream. The chain weighed 75 tons. A portion of it is on display at West Point. But this is the only known section of the booms (logs) to survive.

It was a wonderful day, packed to the gills. I'm just too tired to blog more tonight. We went to church, we did two hikes for a total of 4.5 miles, we did the museum, and we worked on the deck. See you tomorrow.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 359.1.

Greenline Trail, East Kingston NY 1.5 miles, Walk Across the Hudson Bridge at Poughkeepsie and back 3.0 miles

See George Washington Trail