Van Cortlandt House
The property on which the house stands belonged in the seventeenth century to the Hon. Frederick Philipse and was sold by him in the year 1699 to his son-in-law, Jacobus Van Cortlandt, who had married his daughter Eva. The house was built in 1748 by Frederick Van Cortlandt, only son of Jacobus, who married Frances Jay, daughter of Augustus Jay, the Huguenot. His will, dated October 2, 1749, states: “Whereas I am now finishing a large stone dwelling house on the plantation in which I now live, which with the same plantation will, by virtue of my deceased father’s will, devolve, after my decease, upon my eldest son, James,” etc.[61]
During the Revolutionary War the neighborhood was constantly the scene of conflicts. Washington visited the house in 1781, and on the hill to the north disposed part of his army, which lighted camp fires while he was quietly withdrawing the rest of his troops to join Lafayette before Yorktown. There was a bloody engagement near the house on August 31, 1778, between the British, under Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, and a body of Stockbridge Indians. The Indians fought with great bravery and desperation, dragging the cavalrymen from their horses, but were ultimately dispersed, their chief being killed.[62]
Washington slept here the night before the evacuation of the city by the British, November 25, 1785. The estate has been bought by the city and is now known as Van Cortlandt Park. It contains 1,070 acres. There is a lake covering sixty acres and a parade ground for the National Guard on a level meadow of 120 acres.
The house is used as a museum and is crowded with interesting relics.