Clermont
STATE HISTORIC PARK
GERMANTOWN, NEW YORK
Robert Livingston (1654-1728), born in Scotland and raised in The Netherlands, arrived in Albany, New York, during the winter of 1674-1675. Active in shipping and fur trading, he also obtained responsible public and private positions and quickly gained wealth and influence. In 1686 he was granted a charter establishing the Manor of Livingston, which included 162,248 acres of land, the southern third of present Columbia County. Robert became the first Lord of the Manor.
In 1728 Livingston left 13,000 acres of the Manor to his third son, later known as Robert of Clermont (1688-1775). Tradition holds that this gift was in gratitude for the son’s success in rescuing his father from an Indian plot. Known as Clermont, or the Lower Manor, this tract did not carry manorial privileges. On a low plateau overlooking the Hudson River, the mansion of the Lower Manor was constructed about 1730 as the seat of the new estate.
Portrait of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, circa 1795, attributed to Gilbert Stuart.
Robert of Clermont’s only child, also named Robert (1718-1775), served with distinction as Judge of the Admiralty Court and Judge of the Supreme Court of the Province of New York. As a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress, he penned the letter of protest to the King of England.
The Drawing Room.
In 1775, upon the death of Judge Livingston, Clermont passed to his eldest son, Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813), later famous as a Chancellor of New York State. In the years prior to the Revolution, he was a strong advocate of colonial rights and, as a member of the Second Continental Congress, was one of five nominated to draft the Declaration of Independence.
With the outbreak of the Revolution, Clermont supplied men and materiel to the American army. Probably because of the Chancellor’s political importance and his support of the patriot cause, in 1777, after burning Kingston, the British continued up the Hudson and set fire to Clermont and all of its surrounding outbuildings. The family and servants escaped, however, and within a few years Clermont was rebuilt and refurnished. Charred remnants of this earlier building are incorporated within the walls of the present mansion.