Madam Brett Homestead
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (May 2010) |
Madam Catharyna Brett Homestead | |
 Front side of the house in 2006 | |
| Location | 50 Van Nydeck Ave., Beacon, NY |
|---|---|
| Built | 1709 |
| Architect | Robert Dengee |
| NRHP reference No. | 76001212 |
| Added to NRHP | December 12th, 1976 |
The Madame Brett Homestead is an early 18th-century home located in the city of Beacon, New York, USA. It is the oldest standing building in its part of Dutchess County and has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.
History
The homestead, also called "The Teller Mansion" is named for Catheryna Rombout Brett (1687–1764), the daughter of Helena Teller and Francis Rombout, who inherited the land on which the house stands from her father Francis Rombout, who in turn had purchased it from the Wappinger Indians. After marrying British Navy lieutenant Roger Brett in 1703, the couple moved onto the land in the summer of 1708. The home was built in 1709, notable as the residence of the first white woman to settle in the Hudson River highlands. It was subsequently occupied by her decedents until 1954, spanning a total of seven generations.
During the American Revolutionary War, the building was used for as a shelter and storage facility by the Americans. Revolutionary leaders such as George Washington, the Marquis de La Fayette, and Baron von Steuben are said to have been guests in the house.
In 1800, Catheryna Rombout Brett's great granddaughter Alice Schenck Teller purchased the house from her widowed mother and together with her husband Isaac Teller remodeled it. After Isaac's death the house was renamed "Teller's Villa" and operated as a boarding house. It is called the "Teller Mansion" because so many members of the Teller family were involved in its history and it is just off Teller Avenue in Beacon, NY. See "Historic Houses of the Hudson Valley" by Harold Eberlein and Cortlandt Van Dyke Hubbard.
Today
In 1954, the building was considered for demolition to make room for a Supermarket. Instead, it was purchased by the Melzingah chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and turned into a museum preserving a total of seventeen rooms, complete with original furnishings and a collection of China-trade porcelain.
The Madame Brett Homestead is located near Fishkill Creek, at 50 Van Nydeck Avenue, Beacon, New York 12508, USA.
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.
See also
References and external links
- Madam Brett Homestead - Melzingah Chapter House, DAR
- Article in the Poughkeepsie Journal (2006)
- School Essay
- Madam Brett Homestead tourism information
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