In 2009, the Preservation League of New York State is using its annual listing of endangered places, Seven to Save, to support and enhance the year-long commemoration of the voyages of Henry Hudson, Robert Fulton and Samuel de Champlain. The 2009 Seven to Save List gives voice to seven disparate sites which illustrate the heroic saga of the exploration and settlement of the Hudson and Champlain valleys.
The Quadricentennial gives us the opportunity to discover and celebrate the built and natural resources of our great Empire State. As we begin to envision a future for the region, we must work to protect these extraordinary resources – historic and architecturally significant buildings, downtown areas, archaeological sites, and cultural landscapes. These resources connect us to our past and are a lasting form of community development and a valuable economic tool for our future.
The Preservation League is a statewide not-for-profit organization based in Albany. For more information, please visit www.preservenys.org.
Are there endangered buildings, downtown areas, archaeological sites, or cultural landscapes in your waterfront community?
What are you doing to save these treasures?
Fort Montgomery
LOCATION:
Rouses Point, Clinton County
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
1844-1872
LANDMARK STATUS:
National Register
THREAT:
Deterioration, need for stabilization.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
Situated on the border between the United States and Canada, Island Point is where Lake Champlain enters the Richelieu River. The island was first fortified in 1818 as the Northern Gateway linking the St. Lawrence and Hudson Rivers. Fort Montgomery — often incorrectly called “Fort Blunder” — was built in the mid-19th century and seen as a crucial fortification by Civil War strategists. This site symbolizes the shared history of the United States and Canada.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
Currently in private hands, the owners are looking to sell the property and current protections may not prevent inappropriate development. The ruins are also structurally deteriorating and in need of stabilization. Conversations about the future of this site are ongoing among key not-for-profit and state agency stakeholders. The League is advocating for the preservation of this site with these entities. The League is also helping to promote “Fort Montgomery Days” — an opportunity for the public to tour the site in the fall. Publicity generated through the Seven to Save Program will help raise the public awareness and visibility of the site, highlight its historic significance, and possibly attract a new owner who will commit to enhanced protection and stewardship of the property.
LINKS:
America’s Historic Lakes – The Strange and Sad Tale of Fort Montgomery, by James P. Millard
Fort Montgomery – a video tour of the ruins, by Jim Millard
Editorial: Fort Montgomery Needs Saving, Plattsburgh Press Republican (October, 2008)
Magdalen Island
LOCATION:
Red Hook, in Tivoli Bays, Dutchess County
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
Late Archaic, 6,000-3,000 years ago, through post contact period
LANDMARK STATUS:
State and National Register, Hudson River National Historic Landmark District
THREAT:
Consistent looting over many years, monitoring challenges due to its location.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
Studies of Magdalen Island have shown that from the Late Archaic (6,000-3,000 years ago) through the post-European contact period, this site has been in use as a seasonal home. The Hudson River provided food for surrounding communities and the site was used as a workshop for tool-making. The site remains important for its teaching potential, as well as the additional archeological information the site could yield, according to small field tests.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
Unlike many archeological sites, this site and the associated looting has been well-publicized through the efforts of its chief advocate, Mary Burns. Burns has found that the site is so well-known locally, that only through publicity and obvious marking of looter pits, has the looting subsided. Burns seeks to systematize the monitoring of the site and engage DEC in looter pit marking, video surveillance, and site visitation. Site advocates hope that pending regulations accompanying a new, stronger anti-looting law will bring clarification to the penalties associated with archeological scavenging. The Preservation League will bring attention to the need for archeological site protection through this Seven to Save listing, and bolster efforts to seek legal protections with the assistance of Public Policy staff.
LINKS:
2009 Seven to Save List Names Island in Hudson River National Historic Landmark District
Potential for Environmental Information From A Heavily Looted Archaeological Site Bard Archaeology
Archaeological Investigations at the Goat Island Rockshelter: New Light from Old Legacies
Burden Iron Works Museum
LOCATION:
Troy, Rensselaer County
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
1881-1882
LANDMARK STATUS:
Local, State and National Register
THREAT:
Deterioration, ongoing restoration challenges.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
This building is architect Robert Robertson’s best surviving work and an important reminder of the Hudson River’s industrial heritage. Robertson designed the building as the offices of the Burden Iron Company, a world famous 19th century iron firm best known for being the first in the world to manufacture horseshoes by machine. The site is now operated as a museum of commerce and industry, and houses the offices of the Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway, the not-for-profit which owns the building.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
Seven to Save designation is assisting the Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway in its fundraising efforts, as the organization continues to struggle to raise the money to continue restoration of this building. While the group is taking all the right steps and has received an award from NYS Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Burden Iron Works Museum will benefit from the enhanced visibility offered by Seven to Save would provide.
The Preservation League can lend additional credence to the Gateway’s work on this site, and highlight the building’s architectural and historic significance as the premier property for the interpretation of the Hudson Valley’s industrial heritage.
LINKS:
Burden Iron Works Museum – Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area
Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway
Designing Modern America in the Silicon Valley of the 19th Century, VP. Thomas Carroll, 1999
Gunboat Spitfire
LOCATION:
Lake Champlain, Clinton and Essex Counties
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
1776
LANDMARK STATUS:
National Register
THREAT:
Natural and human forces, including non-native aquatic species and vandalism, threaten the structural stability and archeological integrity of this site. By necessity, its location in Lake Champlain is not publicized.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
The Spitfire is more than just the most significant underwater archeological site on the bottom of Lake Champlain; it exemplifies the interconnected history of the Hudson and Champlain valleys. This vessel was part of the American fleet that held the British at bay for a year and contributed to the American victory at Saratoga in 1777. Extensive underwater video recorded by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum shows that the Spitfire site is entirely intact.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum believes that recovering, conserving and interpreting this vessel is the best way to preserve it. The Maritime Museum is working to finalize the management strategy for this vessel, seeking permits from the United States Navy, Naval Historical Center, as owner of the Spitfire. A concern is that side-scan sonar now widely available could lead to the location of this resource by those who wish to exploit its artifacts. The Preservation League will bring attention to the site’s significance through this Seven to Save listing, highlight the historic value of the Spitfire, and help generate public support for its preservation and associated fundraising efforts.
LINKS:
The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
Shipwrecks: Gunboat Spitfire
History Under the Waves: The Gunboat Spitfire, Vermont Public Radio – 7/2009
The Study and Management of Benedict Arnold’s Gunboat the Spitfire, Department of Defense – Legacy
Van Hoesen House
LOCATION:
Claverack, Columbia County
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
Early 18th century
LANDMARK STATUS:
National Register Individual Listing
THREAT:
Deterioration, potential for sale of lot to unsympathetic owner.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
Jan Van Hoesen, who built this house, was the grandson of Jan Franz Van Hoesen, original patentee of the area in the 1660s. The farmstead, while encroached upon by the adjacent, well-kept mobile home park, remains intact and undisturbed from the house, across the flood plain to the Claverack Creek, which then runs into the Hudson River. This site exemplifies the themes of Dutch settlement along the Hudson River.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
The Van Hoesen House Preservation Foundation seeks to acquire the house and some surrounding land, in order to preserve and protect the house, as well as gain site access. The Preservation League will offer technical assistance to this organization as they acquire the property and seek to determine the best future use. Through the League’s NYSCA-funded grant program, Preserve New York, the Foundation may also apply for funding for a Historic Structure Report. The Preservation League will bring attention to the site’s historic and architectural significance through this Seven to Save listing, and boost awareness of the site in the surrounding community.
LINKS:
The Van Hoesen House Historical Foundation
National Register of Historic Places
Chatham Courier, January 1961
A Dutch Past Worth Preserving, January 2007
Plumb-Bronson House
LOCATION:
Hudson, Columbia County
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
1811, 1838, 1849
LANDMARK STATUS:
National Historic Landmark, National Register
THREAT:
Many years of unchecked deterioration.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
Samuel Plumb, owner and operator of a fleet of tow boats on the Hudson River, purchased this property and built his home here in 1811. In 1838, when Dr. Oliver Bronson purchased the house from Plumb, Bronson retained the services of Alexander Jackson Davis to embellish the house, to which Davis returned in 1849 in order to reorient the house to the Hudson River, with an Italianate-style addition. In addition to serving as the first superintendent of the Hudson City School System and as a stockholder in the newly-formed Hudson Gas Company, Bronson invested in commerce along the Hudson River.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
Preservation Colleague organization Historic Hudson has secured a 30-year lease on this long-neglected site on the grounds of the Hudson Correctional Facility and owned by the NYS Office of General Services. Now, Historic Hudson needs to determine a new use and plans for site stewardship. The Preservation League is providing assistance to Historic Hudson through its technical and grant programs. In September, 2009, Historic Hudson was awarded a Preserve New York grant toward the preparation of a Historic Structure Report. Publicity for this effort, as well as a June tour for League members, highlight Historic Hudson’s ongoing fundraising efforts on behalf of this building.
LINKS:
Historic Hudson
Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape By Thomas E. Rinaldi, Rob Yasinsac, Center for American Places
National Historic Landmark Nomination: Dr. Oliver Bronson House and Estate
William E. Krattinger (August, 2001)
A driving tour of A.J. Davis sites in the Hudson Valley – July 27, 2003
Map-brochure by Jim Hoekema/HDE
Historic South Street Seaport
LOCATION:
New York City
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
Tin Building: 1907, New Market Building: 1939
LANDMARK STATUS:
Local, State and National Register Historic District. New Market Building just outside of district boundaries but National-Register eligible.
THREAT:
Demolition, loss of context.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
The South Street Seaport and Fulton Market is linked to Robert Fulton and his ferry to Brooklyn, and illustrates the theme of commerce along the Hudson River and associated waterways, including the East River. The Tin Building, which once housed the Fulton Fish Market, was built across the street from the Fulton Market building across the FDR expressway. These two buildings continue to speak to one another and one can still easily travel from one site to the other. The New Market Building has been determined eligible for the State and National Register.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
A developer had proposed an out-of-scale project which required demolition of the National Register-eligible New Market Building and the relocation of the Tin Building. While this proposal has been back-burnered, it demonstrates the threat future development poses to this important historic district and the need for better, more cohesive waterfront planning in New York City.
Publicity surrounding the Seven to Save listing will assist local groups with their advocacy efforts. The League’s involvement will also call attention to the statewide significance of the South Street Seaport and the need for careful planning within and stewardship of this historic district.
LINKS:
Bankruptcy Unlikely to Shut the South Street Seaport – New York Times, April, 2009
A Step to Protect the Fulton Fish Market’s Old Home – New York Times, February 2009
Landmark Tin Building is Sticking Point for Seaport Development – Gothamist, October 2008
New Market Building – Report from the Municipal Art Society of New York
Print This Page
In 2009, the Preservation League of New York State is using its annual listing of endangered places, Seven to Save, to support and enhance the year-long commemoration of the voyages of Henry Hudson, Robert Fulton and Samuel de Champlain. The 2009 Seven to Save List gives voice to seven disparate sites which illustrate the heroic saga of the exploration and settlement of the Hudson and Champlain valleys.
The Quadricentennial gives us the opportunity to discover and celebrate the built and natural resources of our great Empire State. As we begin to envision a future for the region, we must work to protect these extraordinary resources – historic and architecturally significant buildings, downtown areas, archaeological sites, and cultural landscapes. These resources connect us to our past and are a lasting form of community development and a valuable economic tool for our future.
The Preservation League is a statewide not-for-profit organization based in Albany. For more information, please visit www.preservenys.org.
Are there endangered buildings, downtown areas, archaeological sites, or cultural landscapes in your waterfront community?
What are you doing to save these treasures?
Fort Montgomery
LOCATION:
Rouses Point, Clinton County
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
1844-1872
LANDMARK STATUS:
National Register
THREAT:
Deterioration, need for stabilization.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
Situated on the border between the United States and Canada, Island Point is where Lake Champlain enters the Richelieu River. The island was first fortified in 1818 as the Northern Gateway linking the St. Lawrence and Hudson Rivers. Fort Montgomery — often incorrectly called “Fort Blunder” — was built in the mid-19th century and seen as a crucial fortification by Civil War strategists. This site symbolizes the shared history of the United States and Canada.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
Currently in private hands, the owners are looking to sell the property and current protections may not prevent inappropriate development. The ruins are also structurally deteriorating and in need of stabilization. Conversations about the future of this site are ongoing among key not-for-profit and state agency stakeholders. The League is advocating for the preservation of this site with these entities. The League is also helping to promote “Fort Montgomery Days” — an opportunity for the public to tour the site in the fall. Publicity generated through the Seven to Save Program will help raise the public awareness and visibility of the site, highlight its historic significance, and possibly attract a new owner who will commit to enhanced protection and stewardship of the property.
LINKS:
America’s Historic Lakes – The Strange and Sad Tale of Fort Montgomery, by James P. Millard
Fort Montgomery – a video tour of the ruins, by Jim Millard
Editorial: Fort Montgomery Needs Saving, Plattsburgh Press Republican (October, 2008)
Magdalen Island
LOCATION:
Red Hook, in Tivoli Bays, Dutchess County
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
Late Archaic, 6,000-3,000 years ago, through post contact period
LANDMARK STATUS:
State and National Register, Hudson River National Historic Landmark District
THREAT:
Consistent looting over many years, monitoring challenges due to its location.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
Studies of Magdalen Island have shown that from the Late Archaic (6,000-3,000 years ago) through the post-European contact period, this site has been in use as a seasonal home. The Hudson River provided food for surrounding communities and the site was used as a workshop for tool-making. The site remains important for its teaching potential, as well as the additional archeological information the site could yield, according to small field tests.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
Unlike many archeological sites, this site and the associated looting has been well-publicized through the efforts of its chief advocate, Mary Burns. Burns has found that the site is so well-known locally, that only through publicity and obvious marking of looter pits, has the looting subsided. Burns seeks to systematize the monitoring of the site and engage DEC in looter pit marking, video surveillance, and site visitation. Site advocates hope that pending regulations accompanying a new, stronger anti-looting law will bring clarification to the penalties associated with archeological scavenging. The Preservation League will bring attention to the need for archeological site protection through this Seven to Save listing, and bolster efforts to seek legal protections with the assistance of Public Policy staff.
LINKS:
2009 Seven to Save List Names Island in Hudson River National Historic Landmark District
Potential for Environmental Information From A Heavily Looted Archaeological Site Bard Archaeology
Archaeological Investigations at the Goat Island Rockshelter: New Light from Old Legacies
Burden Iron Works Museum
LOCATION:
Troy, Rensselaer County
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
1881-1882
LANDMARK STATUS:
Local, State and National Register
THREAT:
Deterioration, ongoing restoration challenges.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
This building is architect Robert Robertson’s best surviving work and an important reminder of the Hudson River’s industrial heritage. Robertson designed the building as the offices of the Burden Iron Company, a world famous 19th century iron firm best known for being the first in the world to manufacture horseshoes by machine. The site is now operated as a museum of commerce and industry, and houses the offices of the Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway, the not-for-profit which owns the building.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
Seven to Save designation is assisting the Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway in its fundraising efforts, as the organization continues to struggle to raise the money to continue restoration of this building. While the group is taking all the right steps and has received an award from NYS Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Burden Iron Works Museum will benefit from the enhanced visibility offered by Seven to Save would provide. The Preservation League can lend additional credence to the Gateway’s work on this site, and highlight the building’s architectural and historic significance as the premier property for the interpretation of the Hudson Valley’s industrial heritage.
LINKS:
Burden Iron Works Museum – Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area
Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway
Designing Modern America in the Silicon Valley of the 19th Century, VP. Thomas Carroll, 1999
Gunboat Spitfire
LOCATION:
Lake Champlain, Clinton and Essex Counties
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
1776
LANDMARK STATUS:
National Register
THREAT:
Natural and human forces, including non-native aquatic species and vandalism, threaten the structural stability and archeological integrity of this site. By necessity, its location in Lake Champlain is not publicized.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
The Spitfire is more than just the most significant underwater archeological site on the bottom of Lake Champlain; it exemplifies the interconnected history of the Hudson and Champlain valleys. This vessel was part of the American fleet that held the British at bay for a year and contributed to the American victory at Saratoga in 1777. Extensive underwater video recorded by the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum shows that the Spitfire site is entirely intact.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum believes that recovering, conserving and interpreting this vessel is the best way to preserve it. The Maritime Museum is working to finalize the management strategy for this vessel, seeking permits from the United States Navy, Naval Historical Center, as owner of the Spitfire. A concern is that side-scan sonar now widely available could lead to the location of this resource by those who wish to exploit its artifacts. The Preservation League will bring attention to the site’s significance through this Seven to Save listing, highlight the historic value of the Spitfire, and help generate public support for its preservation and associated fundraising efforts.
LINKS:
The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
Shipwrecks: Gunboat Spitfire
History Under the Waves: The Gunboat Spitfire, Vermont Public Radio – 7/2009
The Study and Management of Benedict Arnold’s Gunboat the Spitfire, Department of Defense – Legacy
Van Hoesen House
LOCATION:
Claverack, Columbia County
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
Early 18th century
LANDMARK STATUS:
National Register Individual Listing
THREAT:
Deterioration, potential for sale of lot to unsympathetic owner.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
Jan Van Hoesen, who built this house, was the grandson of Jan Franz Van Hoesen, original patentee of the area in the 1660s. The farmstead, while encroached upon by the adjacent, well-kept mobile home park, remains intact and undisturbed from the house, across the flood plain to the Claverack Creek, which then runs into the Hudson River. This site exemplifies the themes of Dutch settlement along the Hudson River.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
The Van Hoesen House Preservation Foundation seeks to acquire the house and some surrounding land, in order to preserve and protect the house, as well as gain site access. The Preservation League will offer technical assistance to this organization as they acquire the property and seek to determine the best future use. Through the League’s NYSCA-funded grant program, Preserve New York, the Foundation may also apply for funding for a Historic Structure Report. The Preservation League will bring attention to the site’s historic and architectural significance through this Seven to Save listing, and boost awareness of the site in the surrounding community.
LINKS:
The Van Hoesen House Historical Foundation
National Register of Historic Places
Chatham Courier, January 1961
A Dutch Past Worth Preserving, January 2007
Plumb-Bronson House
LOCATION:
Hudson, Columbia County
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
1811, 1838, 1849
LANDMARK STATUS:
National Historic Landmark, National Register
THREAT:
Many years of unchecked deterioration.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
Samuel Plumb, owner and operator of a fleet of tow boats on the Hudson River, purchased this property and built his home here in 1811. In 1838, when Dr. Oliver Bronson purchased the house from Plumb, Bronson retained the services of Alexander Jackson Davis to embellish the house, to which Davis returned in 1849 in order to reorient the house to the Hudson River, with an Italianate-style addition. In addition to serving as the first superintendent of the Hudson City School System and as a stockholder in the newly-formed Hudson Gas Company, Bronson invested in commerce along the Hudson River.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
Preservation Colleague organization Historic Hudson has secured a 30-year lease on this long-neglected site on the grounds of the Hudson Correctional Facility and owned by the NYS Office of General Services. Now, Historic Hudson needs to determine a new use and plans for site stewardship. The Preservation League is providing assistance to Historic Hudson through its technical and grant programs. In September, 2009, Historic Hudson was awarded a Preserve New York grant toward the preparation of a Historic Structure Report. Publicity for this effort, as well as a June tour for League members, highlight Historic Hudson’s ongoing fundraising efforts on behalf of this building.
LINKS:
Historic Hudson
Hudson Valley Ruins: Forgotten Landmarks of an American Landscape By Thomas E. Rinaldi, Rob Yasinsac, Center for American Places
National Historic Landmark Nomination: Dr. Oliver Bronson House and Estate
William E. Krattinger (August, 2001)
A driving tour of A.J. Davis sites in the Hudson Valley – July 27, 2003
Map-brochure by Jim Hoekema/HDE
Historic South Street Seaport
LOCATION:
New York City
PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE:
Tin Building: 1907, New Market Building: 1939
LANDMARK STATUS:
Local, State and National Register Historic District. New Market Building just outside of district boundaries but National-Register eligible.
THREAT:
Demolition, loss of context.
HISTORY AND QUADRICENTENNIAL CONNECTION:
The South Street Seaport and Fulton Market is linked to Robert Fulton and his ferry to Brooklyn, and illustrates the theme of commerce along the Hudson River and associated waterways, including the East River. The Tin Building, which once housed the Fulton Fish Market, was built across the street from the Fulton Market building across the FDR expressway. These two buildings continue to speak to one another and one can still easily travel from one site to the other. The New Market Building has been determined eligible for the State and National Register.
HOW THE LEAGUE IS HELPING:
A developer had proposed an out-of-scale project which required demolition of the National Register-eligible New Market Building and the relocation of the Tin Building. While this proposal has been back-burnered, it demonstrates the threat future development poses to this important historic district and the need for better, more cohesive waterfront planning in New York City.
Publicity surrounding the Seven to Save listing will assist local groups with their advocacy efforts. The League’s involvement will also call attention to the statewide significance of the South Street Seaport and the need for careful planning within and stewardship of this historic district.
LINKS:
Bankruptcy Unlikely to Shut the South Street Seaport – New York Times, April, 2009
A Step to Protect the Fulton Fish Market’s Old Home – New York Times, February 2009
Landmark Tin Building is Sticking Point for Seaport Development – Gothamist, October 2008
New Market Building – Report from the Municipal Art Society of New York