Schuyler House

This historic home was built in 1777 and was the residence of General Philip Schuyler and his family. The property is now part of the Saratoga National Historical Park. Philip Schuyler, father-in-law to Alexander Hamilton, had the house built in just 29 days. During the American Revolution, the British army occupied the house and burned it to the ground after their final defeat and surrender at Yorktown. General Schuyler rebuilt the home immediately after, reusing many of its original parts. Uniquely among historic homes, this house was given to the U.S. government in its original condition, with no running water or electricity, and remains this way today. Today, it is used for historic tours and living history and can be visited from May to Labor Day.

“My hobby horse has long been a country life.” – Major General Philip Schuyler, November 6, 1777.

Philip Schuyler was an influential New Yorker who served three tenures in the Continental Congress. Residing in upstate New York, his father, Johannes Schuyler, Jr. was a prominent merchant while his mother Cornelia Van Cortlandt Schuyler was a well-known socialite. The Schuyler family genealogy traces back to original roots in Amsterdam, and the family traveled to the American colonies in or around 1659.[1] Phillip Schuyler, raised by grandparents after his father’s untimely death, grew up to maintain several businesses in the Albany, NY area. He married Catherine Van Rensselaer, daughter of another prominent local family, and together they had fifteen children, some of whom experienced country life at the Schuyler House.

Schuyler received a military commission during the French and Indian War, then later an appointment on the Common Council of Albany. In 1763, after some travel, he returned to Saratoga County to open the first flaxseed mill in America. On June 19, 1775, Schuyler was given the rank of major general in the Continental army, placing him third in command under George Washington and leading the Northern Department.[2] The “farm at Saratoga,” where the Schuyler House now stands, was built before the Revolutionary War prior to Philip Schuyler’s appointment to major general. As a profitable and busy farm selling wheat, flax, and hemp crops as well as mill goods, the house and surrounding land generated huge profits for the Schuyler family.

The original Schuyler House, used as a summer residence (now perhaps well known from the musical Hamilton, in which two of the three “Schuyler Sisters” presented in the musical sing about “going upstate”) was burned by retreating British forces after their defeat at the Battles of Saratoga in October of 1777.[3] Philip had the house rebuilt using the existing foundation, and the house has had many famous visitors, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, among others.

On December 14, 1780, Elizabeth Schuyler-also known as Eliza or Betsy- married Colonel Alexander Hamilton in Albany. Once an illegitimate orphan from the West Indies, Hamilton was embraced and welcomed as a son-in-law by Philip Schuyler and his family. Through their marriage, Alexander Hamilton gained a place in “one of the United States’ first families.” In October of 1780, Hamilton wrote to Eliza declaring his love, saying, “You not only employ my mind all day; but you intrude upon my sleep.”[4] The great love story between Alexander and Eliza maintains a root in the Schuyler House, here in a small corner of New York State.

The home itself is now used today as a living history exhibit, and is open from May until Labor Day. An annual “18th Century Day” is held at the historic Schuyler house, where visitors can experience a taste of life in the eighteenth century, including what regular farm activities were like from making candles and shearing sheep to playing hoop games for children.[5]

[1] Mark Grossman ed., Encyclopedia of the Continental Congress, Amenia: Grey House Publishing, 2014. Proquest Ebook Central, accessed October 29, 2020.

[2] “The Man,” Schuyler House, National Park Service, last updated April 30, 2020, https://nps.gov/sara/planyourvisit/schuylerhouse

[3] Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Hamilton: An American Musical,” Hamilton: The Revolution. Ed. Jeremy McCarter. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016, and Schuyler House, National Park Service, https://nps.gov

[4] Richard Brookhiser, “A Love Letter from Alexander Hamilton to his nut-brown maid,” OAH Magazine of History 18, no. 4 (July 2004): 49-52.

[5] “Annual 18th Century Day at Historic Schuyler House.” Visit Saratoga, accessed October 29, 2020, https://saratoga.com/event/annual-18th-century-day-132380/