Staatsburgh State Historic Site

12/25/2022

We wish a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate the day, and we look forward to welcoming visitors again tomorrow! We are open the entire week after Christmas from December 26-31. Please make a reservation @ www.bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS

12/24/2022

Happy Holidays from Staatsburgh State Historic Site

Happy Holidays from all of us here at Staatsburgh!!

12/24/2022

There are no tours on December 24 & 25, but Staatsburgh will be open for tours from December 26-31.

Visit www.bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS to see availability and make a reservation for the week after Christmas.

From everyone here at Staatsburgh, we send warm wishes for a safe and happy holiday !

12/20/2022

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2022 Holiday Whodunit! We had a great group of volunteers who dressed and acted their parts to perfection! We hope all adults and young detectives had a great time solving the mystery.

We will soon send out Oblong Books gift certificates to 5 lucky winners drawn at random in each age category. Every kid who submitted a ballot is eligible! Thank you to Oblong Books - Rhinebeck and the Friends of Mills for sponsoring the prizes!

12/18/2022

Ogden Mills was born in 1856. His family remembered him as a loving and generous father and grandfather. He also had a great love of horses especially his horse Cri De Guerre who won the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp in 1928 (pictured).

12/16/2022

We are sorry to cancel tonight's 5-8pm evening tours, but we want everyone to stay safe!

12/10/2022

A gorgeous and elegant evening at the mansion, hosted by the Friends of Mills at Staatsburgh! A masquerade ball truly worthy of the Gilded Age!

12/04/2022

Today is the first annual World Ice Skating Day dedicated to celebrating ice skating across the globe. In honor of the day, enjoy this short clip of our resident figure skater gliding in Gilded Age garb!

12/02/2022

"My Dear Gitty,": What Margaret Lewis Livingston's Letters to her Daughter Reveal about the Mother of 12

Staatsburgh's newest blog essay explores the life of Margaret Lewis Livingston (the Grandmother of Ruth Mills) through letters she wrote to her daughter. Margaret was a force of nature and was the namesake of both St. Margaret's Church in Staatsburg and the village of Margaretville in Delaware County. These letters, dated from 1826-1842, provide an opportunity to get to know an actual human being with thoughts, worries, and emotions. She may have lived in a different era, but the important components of her life as wife, mother, and daughter are timeless.

Could letters serve as a gateway to the mind? To a person's innermost thoughts and feelings? Is it possible to peer into the psyche of a p...

11/28/2022

Experience Staatsburgh State Historic Site at night during special evening hours this holiday season. On Friday, December 16, enjoy an evening of live music surrounded by the brilliant lights, seasonal displays and costumed guides in each room. As part of the annual Gilded Age Christmas, Staatsburgh’s mansion is lavishly decorated for the holiday season.

*We require advance reservations, but payment is made upon arrival.*
www.bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS

11/27/2022

November 26 is "Sojourner Truth Day" - a day to commemorate the life and achievements of a trailblazing abolitionist and suffrage icon. Born enslaved in Ulster County c. 1797, Truth wrote about the inhuman conditions of slavery in the Hudson Valley before escaping bo***ge to advocate for the freedom of her people and equality of her s*x.

Staatsburgh is reflecting on our own history of slavery, as we research and celebrate the lives of Stephen, Dinah, Belinda, Mary, and William and the others whose names have been lost to history. Sojourner Truth's experiences have been recorded in our collective history, but there is much work to do in recovering the identities and stories of other enslaved people from the Hudson Valley. We are excited and inspired to be doing this work at Staatsburgh!

The "Narrative of Sojourner Truth" is available to purchase in our gift shop all season long. For a deeper dive on Staatsburgh's history of slavery, visit our blog at: http://staatsburghstatehistoricsite.blogspot.com/search/label/Enslaved%20%26%20In%20Service?m=0

11/26/2022

Today is and a great day to do some holiday shopping at local shops including Staatsburgh's gift shop! We have a great selection of books, scarves, gloves, and other unique gift items! The shop is open until 4pm today and also 10am-4pm tomorrow Sunday, November 27.

The gift shop is run by The Friends of Mills at Staatsburgh and proceeds support the preservation of the site!

11/25/2022

We look forward to welcoming you to A Gilded Age Christmas, which begins today at 10am! Reservations for timed entry are required so please visit www.bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS to consult availability and make a reservation.

11/24/2022

Happy Thanksgiving! We are thankful for all of our supporters and especially for the dedication of our amazing volunteers!

We are ready to re-open the mansion tomorrow for the first day of 'A Gilded Age Christmas.' Visit www.bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS to reserve an entry slot.

11/16/2022

Create your own masquerade-style mask in the historic mansion - perfect for the Friends’ upcoming Masquerade gala on December 9, a New Year’s celebration, or anytime you want an elegant personalized mask.

Draw inspiration from a brief tour of the mansion's decorated rooms, featuring the dining room’s Masquerade theme. Light refreshments and all materials provided. Suitable for teens and up.

Reservations required at www.bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS

11/14/2022

Announcing this year's theme for A Gilded Age Christmas....
Visit www.bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS to make a reservation

11/13/2022

Reservations are open for the Make A Mouse House Kids Craft workshops during December school break. Kids ages 7-12 take a brief tour of the mansion to locate mouse houses tucked into different rooms, then create their own mouse house. Materials provided and reservations required at www.bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS.

11/12/2022

NO SITE OR PARK ACCESS NOVEMBER 14-15
LIMITED ACCESS NOVEMBER 16-18
Due to work occurring near the railroad bridge at the site entrance, the bridge will be closed to pedestrian and vehicle traffic on Monday and Tuesday, November 14-15. On November 16-18, one lane will be open with flag-people directing all traffic and possible delays. We apologize for the inconvenience!

11/11/2022

Reservations are now open for the Holiday Whodunit! Visit to reserve an entry slot at www.bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS. Children ages 6 to 11 and their families become detectives and solve a mystery by interviewing costumed interpreters who portray Gilded Age houseguests and servants.

Every child who submits their guess will be eligible for a drawing to win a gift card from Oblong Books. Thank you to the Friends of Mills at Staatsburgh and Oblong Books for sponsoring these prizes!

11/10/2022

Reservations are now open for A Gilded Age Christmas at Staatsburgh! Please visit www.bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS to make a reservation. Touring during the holiday season will be self-guided and visitors must reserve an entry time. Payment is made upon arrival. Walk in availability is not guaranteed.

11/06/2022

Enslaved & In Service II: A New Nation

If you've visited Staatsburgh, you'll know Ruth Mills was proud of her family's connection to the founding of the United States. Portraits, letters, and busts decorate her ancestral home to remind visitors that her family were leaders during the nation's beginnings.

The latest installment of our blog series Enslaved & In Service, "A New Nation," explores the early years of both America and Staatsburgh, and their conflicting ties to slavery. Despite how many people saw the American Revolution as a social revolution, the same men who declared "all men are created equal" enforced a racial hierarchy that denied basic human rights to Black people.

In this essay, we'll meet Peter Williams and Plato, two men enslaved by Morgan Lewis early in his career. Their stories - including the sale of Williams to a Founding Father and the escape of Plato from enslavement - represent the wealth and power that New York slave-owners held. This is the period (1790s) when Morgan Lewis begins building his ancestral estate on the Hudson, meanwhile emancipation is gaining traction in Albany. While profiting from slavery at home, Morgan Lewis simultaneously advocated for emancipation alongside men like Chancellor Livingston and John Jay.

If you're just joining us, consider going to the Introduction for Enslaved & In Service : here! Missed the last post? Find "Part I: Colonia...

11/05/2022

Don't forget to turn your clocks back one hour tonight! With the end of Daylight Savings time, we thought the occasion called for a photo of one of our fabulous mantel clocks. This 19th century Rococo style ormolu clock sits in the bo***ir.

11/02/2022

And it’s begun! Huge thanks to our colleagues from Mills-Norrie State Park for helping us get the big tree up and the roof lighting hung! You guys are the best!

We are excited to debut the mansion’s main floor, beautifully decorated, and a roster of special programs, beginning November 25. Reservations are required and open online November 10: www.Bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS

10/31/2022

Happy Hallowe'en! Have a safe and fun evening!

10/30/2022

Thank you for a great fall season! We now begin to decorate the mansion for Christmas. Staatsburgh will re-open on Friday, November 25th and reservations for Christmas tours and programs will be available beginning November 10.

10/30/2022

Not only was Bold Ruler a winning racehorse, he sired Triple Crown winner Secretariat and was owned by Gladys Mills Phipps. Follow the link in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame post to learn more!

Today the Grade 3 Bold Ruler Stakes runs at Belmont at Aqueduct.

Bred and campaigned by Wheatley Stable, Bold Ruler won seven of 10 starts as a 2-year-old before emerging as Horse of the Year as a sophomore in 1957. Trained by Hall of Famer James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons and ridden by Hall of Famer Eddie Arcaro, Bold Ruler began his 3-year-old campaign breaking a track record in the Flamingo Stakes. He went on to capture the Preakness before heading to New York, where he set track records at seven furlongs and 1⅛ miles and won four races with 130 or more pounds. As a 4-year-old, Bold Ruler conceded 25 pounds to runner-up Clem in winning the Suburban Handicap at 1¼ miles. A similar performance in the 1¼-mile Monmouth Handicap was his final victory before injury forced his retirement with a record of 23-4-2 from 33 starts and earnings of $764,204. His victories that year in the Toboggan and Stymie handicaps helped Bold Ruler earn champion sprinter honors. Following his racing career, Bold Ruler became an eight-time leading stallion, siring 82 stakes winners, including the immortal Secretariat. Bold Ruler was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973.

Learn more about Bold Ruler: https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/horse/bold-ruler-ky

Image: Bold Ruler (Museum Collection).

10/29/2022

Happy National Cat Day!

Although we know that Mrs. Mills loved her Pomeranian lap dogs and was more of a dog person, she did once attend Heber Bishop's ball donning a cat mask.

The articles describes the event, "He [William K. Vanderbilt] marched in with a most distinguished cat - "Minnette". Minnette was Mrs. Ogden Mills, and she, wonderful to contemplate, must have been tired of herself. So she played cat."

10/27/2022

Who ya gonna call? 👻

An original 1915 Hudson Valley phonebook was recently uncovered in the Park Historical Society 1821! Skimming the Staatsburg listings, you may notice a few familiar names - including our own Ogden Mills! The mansion's phone number back than was simply "9". Interestingly, the estate is listed as "Ogden Mills, Res." with no reference to its name, Staatsburgh...

Other Gilded Ages estates, such as The Point (Hoyt residence, #8) and the The Locusts (Dinsmore estate, #12), are listed, alongside the local ice tool factory, merchants, doctors, and neighbors in the nearby hamlet. The earliest mention of phone lines in the hamlet dates back at least a decade before, when an emergency call to the Hyde Park Eagle Engine Fire Co. was placed in 1905. The 1915 phonebook cover pictured here celebrates the recent completion of the Trans-Continental Telephone Line, linking the east coast to the west coast, in January of that year. The cover illustration depicts the personification of 'Science' connecting two candlestick telephones on each side of the continent - dubbed "the triumph of science"!

10/27/2022

It may be past peak, but there are still some amazing colors on this beautiful Autumn day! 🍁 🍂

10/18/2022

We are looking for volunteer docents to stand stations in the mansion during Staatsburgh's A Gilded Age Christmas (November 25 - December 31). Volunteer docents help direct visitors and provide information about a single room. You don't have to learn EVERYTHING about the mansion to serve as a docent. We also provide snacks and time for socializing during the mid-day break! Join us!

10/16/2022

Thank you to everyone who attended the 35th year of A Gathering of Old Cars at Staatsburgh today. We had great weather and a great showing of amazing cars. See you next year!

10/16/2022

The great lawn is starting to fill with classic cars! It is a great day for a car show!

10/13/2022

in 1920 Staatsburgh's matriarch Ruth Mills passed away at her Paris home after a bout with pleurisy. Ruth inherited Staatsburgh after her father's death and spearheaded the transformation of her modest ancestral home into the Gilded Age mansion we lovingly steward today. She was many things, but this beautiful estate on the Hudson is her most powerful legacy.

To learn more about her death and memorial, read this essay we wrote to commemorate the 100th anniversary of her death: http://staatsburghstatehistoricsite.blogspot.com/2020/10/remembering-ruth-livingston-mills.html

10/11/2022

REMINDER! Due to the car show, we will be having self guided tours on Sunday, October 16 from 11am-4pm (last entry at 3:30). Reservations are not available on bookeo. Please check in with staff outside the gift shop entrance when you arrive to sign up for an entry time. There is an admission charge for the tour, but it is free to view the cars!

10/10/2022

10/07/2022

Join Staatsburgh's Historic Interpreter Zachary Veith next Wednesday for an evening lecture at St. Margaret's Staatsburg, N.Y.. "Staatsburg & Staatsburgh: Five Generations of the Livingston Family and St. Margaret's Church" will explore over a century of Gilded Age weddings, the baptisms of enslaved peoples, medieval French treasures, and how five generations of Ruth Mills' family shaped the local hamlet of Staatsburg. With a special focus on St. Margaret's Church, this 40 minute talk will highlight several memorials to the Gilded Age families of Staatsburg and the special connection between the Hudson River estate owners and the stone church built in 1891.

"Staatsburg & Staatsburgh" will take place Wednesday, October 12 at 7:00pm in St. Margaret's Church (E. Elm Ave, Staatsburg NY). No reservation required!

Also this month, enjoy a guided walking tour of the hamlet of Staatsburg on October 8 & 29. Sign-up for the "Staatsburg Village Walking Tour" at Bookeo.com/StaatsburghSHS

Please join us on Wed. Oct. 12 at St. Margaret’s Episcopal in Staatsburgh for this fall’s speakers series on Hyde Park history.
Zack Veith will kick off the series with his talk, Staatsburg & Staatsburgh: Five generations of the Livingston Family and St. Margaret’s Church.
Veith, the historic interpreter at the Staatsburgh State Historic Site and the director of the Hyde Park Historical Society Museum, will explore a century of Gilded Age weddings, the baptism of enslaved peoples, medieval French treasures and the special connection between the Hudson River estate owners and the stone church the family built in the 1890s.
He’ll highlight several memorials to the Gilded Age families of Staatsburgh – from US tennis champions to WWI veterans to members of Parliament and the secretary of the US Treasury.
New York’s fourth governor, Morgan Lewis, established the ancestral country estate, now known as the Mills Mansion, along the Hudson in 1795. He was the great-grandfather of Ruth Livingston Mills, one of New York’s leading high society hostesses during the Gilded Age. Veith will discuss the growth of the estate over five generations, how each generation had an impact on the village and how the village itself helped shape the family.
The talk is at 7 pm at the church, at the corner of Old Post Road and East Elm Avenue in Staatsburgh.

10/06/2022

In addition to our normal Thursday-Sunday hours this week, we will also be open on Monday, October 10th for the holiday.