Van Wyck Homestead Museum

504 U.S. 9, Fishkill, NY 12524, USA

New York

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NY - Dutchess

county

NYC

city

MUSEUM

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The Van Wyck Homestead Museum or Van Wyck-Wharton House(pronounced Van Wike) is an early 18th-century Dutch colonial house in the Town of Fishkill, New York, United States of America. It served as a headquarters to a major military supply depot during the American Revolutionary War and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since April 13, 1972.

SITE FEATURES

Surviving Structures

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In 1732, Cornelius Van Wyck (1694–1761), a surveyor, built a house with three rooms on 959 acres of land he had purchased from Catheryna Rombout Brett, the daughter of Francis Rombouts, who was one of the grantees of the original patent to the land in the area issues by King James II of England.[4] Later (before the year 1757) the house was extended and the original structure became the east wing of the enlarged house. Since then, the building has remained a Dutch colonial construction featuring a characteristic central hall with two identical doors.

HOME

EST. 1777

ENCAMPMENT

During the American Revolutionary War, the property was the home of Isaac Van Wyck. However, because of its strategic location with regard to the Hudson River and major roads, the Old Albany Post Road (later US 9) running north–south and the road running east–west (later NY 52 and Interstate 84), it was requisitioned by the Continental Army. The building became the headquarters of the Fishkill Supply Depot, which was created on the orders of George Washington in 1775. The Fishkill Supply Depot was the major logistical center for the Revolutionary War in the north.

The depot was a military camp and storage yard which became the main provider of artillery and food for about 4,000 troops stationed in the area to prevent the British forces from passing New York City and capturing the Hudson Valley (the latter a major strategic goal of the British at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War). 70 acres (28 ha) of land surrounding the house were used for a large encampment of over 2,000 soldiers and many facilities such as an artillery park for repairing cannons, a blacksmith shop, barracks, a storehouse, and stables were set up.

Thousands of Continental troops, militia, and their families lived at the Depot complex until April 1783. Its position in the Hudson River Valley prevented enemy advances.

It served as headquarters to General Israel Putnam and was visited by revolutionary leaders such as George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Alexander McDougall, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay. Inside the house, courts-martial were held in the home's parlor. Although under British surveillance, the Depot was never attacked, hundreds died there of wounds, hypothermia, dysentery, and smallpox. Periods of starvation were also endured by troops during the Depot's seven years of service. It is the largest burial ground of American Revolutionary War soldiers identified in the United States.