Clermont State Historic Site

Clermont
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
U.S. National Historic Landmark District Contributing Property
Location	One mile North of Tivoli, New York
Built	1782
Architectural style	Georgian
NRHP reference No.	71000535
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	February 18, 1971
Designated NHL	November 28, 1972

The Clermont State Historic Site, also known as the Clermont estate, the Clermont Manor or just Clermont, is a New York State Historic Site in southwestern Columbia County, New York, USA. It protects the former estate of the Livingston family, seven generations of whom lived on the site during more than two centuries.

History

The name Clermont derives from "clear mountain" in French and was inspired by the view of the Catskill Mountains across the Hudson River from the estate.

View of Catskills and Hudson from estate

The estate was established by Robert Livingston following the death of his father, the first Lord of Livingston Manor, in 1728; while most of the manor was inherited by the eldest son Philip Livingston, 13,000 acres (5,300 ha) in the southwest corner, later named Clermont, was willed to Robert.

In October 1777, British Major General John Vaughan, who led a raiding party up the Hudson River, came to Clermont and burned Livingston's home because of his prominent role in the American Revolution. Margaret Beekman Livingston rebuilt the family home between 1779 and 1782. Her son Robert R. Livingston became the estate's most prominent resident, serving as a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase.

In 1807, Livingstone was a partner with Robert Fulton, creating the first commercially successful steamboat on the Hudson river, the North River Steamboat (later known as the Clermont), which stopped at the house on its inaugural trip.

The house is now a New York State Historic Site and was designated a United States National Historic Landmark in 1972., It is a contributing property to another National Historic Landmark, the Hudson River Historic District.

Although located in the town of Clermont, its mailing address is in the nearby town of Germantown.

Further Reading

• Great Houses of the Hudson River, Michael Middleton Dwyer, editor, with preface by Mark Rockefeller, Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, published in association with Historic Hudson Valley, 2001. ISBN 082122767X.

External links

• Clermont State Historic Site
• New York State Historic Sites: Clermont
• The Clermont Estate
• Revolutionary War Heritage Trail: Clermont State Historic Site
• Clermont (20 measured drawings) and
• Livingston Farmhouse, at Clermont (2 photos), at Historic American Buildings Survey