Misplaced Pages

Guy Park

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Guy Park State Historic Site) Historic house in New York, United States For the Governor of Missouri, see Guy Brasfield Park. United States historic place
Guy Park Manor
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
View from the Mohawk River side (2020)
Guy Park is located in New YorkGuy ParkShow map of New YorkGuy Park is located in the United StatesGuy ParkShow map of the United States
LocationW. Main St.,
Amsterdam, New York
Coordinates42°56′49″N 74°12′36″W / 42.94694°N 74.21000°W / 42.94694; -74.21000
Built1774
Architectural styleGeorgian
NRHP reference No.73001206
Added to NRHPFebruary 6, 1973

Guy Park, also known as Guy Park State Historic Site or Guy Park Manor, is a house built in 1774 in the Georgian style for Guy Johnson, the Irish-born nephew and son-in-law to Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet, the British Superintendent for Indian Affairs in colonial New York. Built of limestone, the house was originally situated on a square mile of land on the north side of the Mohawk River and near it for access to water transportation.

Guy Johnson

Born in Ireland, Guy Johnson emigrated to New York as a young man, moving to the Mohawk Valley where his uncle had his base. Johnson married Mary (also known as Polly), one of the senior Johnson's daughters with his first common-law wife, Catherine Weisenberg. In 1773 the senior Johnson gave his nephew and daughter a square mile of land near the Mohawk River as a wedding present. They built their first house there but it burned the next year after being struck by lightning.

Guy Johnson commissioned a limestone house in the Georgian architectural style, which was built in 1774. After his uncle William Johnson died in 1774, Guy was appointed by the Crown to succeed him as British Superintendent for Indian Affairs. His priority was to keep the powerful Iroquois nations on the side of the British in the face of increasing colonial tensions. As a Loyalist Johnson risked imprisonment, because of the hostility of local settlers who favored independence in the coming American Revolutionary War.

He gathered allies and friends and left the area in 1775 for Canada, abandoning his mansion. His wife Polly died in Oswego, New York during the journey. From 1776 to 1778 Johnson lived in British-occupied New York City. By 1779, he had established headquarters in Niagara, Ontario, from where he directed military forces against the rebels in the Mohawk Valley. After the war, he returned to London, where he died in 1788.

Description

The house was built in 1774 of limestone in the Georgian architectural style. It is two stories tall.

History

Lock E11 on the Mohawk River behind Guy Park
Back view from 1936

In 1779 the new governments of the United States and New York declared as traitors those Loyalists who had gone to Canada, and the state confiscated their properties. The state sold Guy Park to a private owner. A steady flow of migrants moved along the road in the plain by the Mohawk River as part of the European-American settlement of former Iroquois lands. At this time, the state and speculators were selling millions of acres of land to the west; thousands of migrants from New England crossed the state seeking such lands; some veterans were awarded grants of land in lieu of pay.

Guy Park was used for years in the early nineteenth century as a tavern and stagecoach stop, as it was on the Mohawk Turnpike next to the river, the two main transportation routes across the state. The Erie Canal was completed in 1825, and a lock is located near the house. Later, the house was sold and served again as a private residence for many years.

In 1907 the mansion was purchased by the state for preservation as a historic site. In the early 21st century, it was adapted for use as a local history museum, the Walter Elwood Museum. Elwood, a history teacher, began collecting in the 1930s. The museum has featured exhibits from his large collection of local artifacts, ranging from historic objects crafted by the Mohawk and other Iroquois tribes of New York, to items related to the development and history of the Erie Canal, the local carpet industry, and the city of Amsterdam.

In August 2011, shortly after being occupied by the museum, the house was severely damaged by flooding of the Mohawk River in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. Half of two floors were destroyed and its contents soaked and scattered. The state has struggled to stabilize the building. The museum has moved to a new location. Since 2016 work has been done to stabilize the nearby canal walls to ensure flooding is mitigated. Renovation and restoration work on home will commence after canal walls is completed.

The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

See also

References

Notes

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ "Guy Johnson", Tryon County, NY, Rootsweb, accessed 10 October 2011
  3. Earle, pg. 69
  4. ^ Liz Leyden, "Manor That Has Stood for Centuries Teeters in Storm's Wake", New York Times, September 1, 2011

Bibliography

External links

U.S. National Register of Historic Places in New York
Topics

Lists
by county
Lists
by city
Other lists
Protected areas of New York
Federal
National Historic
Sites and Historical Parks
National Memorials
National monuments
National Trails
National Seashores
and Recreation Areas
National Marine Sanctuaries
National Wildlife
Refuges
National Forests
Wilderness Areas
State parks
State historic sites
Preserves and sanctuaries
Public
preserves
The Nature
Conservacy
Other
preserves
Other (lists)
Categories: