09/23/2026
Did you know Martin Van Buren almost gave Lindenwald a very different name?
When Van Buren purchased the Kinderhook property in 1839, the family considered several names for their new home. One favorite was “The Locusts,” inspired by the many locust trees growing on the property.
There was just one problem.
As Smith Van Buren wrote in a letter, the name was already used in The Spy, a popular novel by James Fenimore Cooper. The family eventually set the name aside, and Van Buren later chose Lindenwald, meaning “linden forest.”
But the connection between Cooper and the Van Burens went well beyond the name of a fictional house.
Cooper’s letters from this period mention members of the Van Buren family by name, reflecting the overlap between their social and political circles. In September 1839, Van Buren visited Cooperstown, where Cooper had grown up and later returned to make his home. The president received a large public reception during his visit.
The following year, Cooper publicly defended Van Buren's administration during the heated 1840 presidential campaign. He also wrote privately about the campaign and expressed his intention to help Van Buren win another term.
At the same time, Cooper found himself the subject of rumors that he was seeking a political appointment from Van Buren, including the position of Secretary of the Navy. Cooper denied that he was an office-seeker, making the relationship between the famous author and the president a subject of public discussion.
So, while we cannot say for certain how much Martin Van Buren personally enjoyed Cooper's novels, we do know that Cooper's work was familiar enough to the Van Buren family to influence the naming of their new home and that Cooper and Van Buren were connected through the social and political world of 1830s and 1840s New York.
Image: Circa 1820-1830 oil on canvas painting of James Fenimore Cooper by John Wesley Jarvis. Courtesy of Yale Art Gallery.
