Locust Grove is a National Historic Landmark estate located on US 9 in the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York. The 200-acre park-like estate includes homes, a carriage house, ice house, trails, a flower garden, and vegetable garden, and it overlooks the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

from a bluff. The property includes a home designed by architect

Alexander Jackson Davis Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis (July 24, 1803 – January 14, 1892), was an American architect, known particularly for his association with the Gothic Revival style. Education Davis was born in New York City and studied at ...

for

Samuel F. B. Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...

, the inventor of the

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

. An

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

mansion, it was completed in 1851. The estate is open to the public, tours are offered, and the site is used for weddings and parties. It includes a museum, nature preserve, antique exhibits, and a gallery showing artworks.

History

Henry Livingston Jr. was Locust Grove's first resident owner and named the estate after the

black locust ''Robinia pseudoacacia'', commonly known in its native territory as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is endemic to a few small areas of the United States ...

trees growing on the property in 1771 when he purchased the property from his own father. After his death his heirs sold the property to a wealthy

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

couple, John and Isabella Montgomery. They moved farming operations to the lower-lying lands closer to the river and built a cottage. Morse bought the land from them in 1847, three years after his breakthrough with the telegraph. He hired Davis in 1851 and began working with him to remodel and expand the cottage into an Italianate villa. He continued to improve the landscape around the house, which became his summer home, for the rest of his life. After Morse's death in 1872, his family spent less time in Poughkeepsie and eventually emptied the mansion and rented the estate. One of their tenants, William Young, moved to Locust Grove in 1895 and eventually bought the property from Morse's heirs in 1901. He and his wife Martha realized its historic importance and restored the mansion and gardens. They added modern amenities like central heat, and hot and cold running water, as well as a new dining room and guest bedrooms in a large north wing (the last significant renovation to the building). Family heirlooms were the foundation of the Young Family's 20,000-piece collection of fine and decorative arts, today displayed in the mansion's 40 rooms. William and Martha Young's daughter Annette and son Innis also worked to preserve and restore the house, which was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1964. and Annette and Innis Young also restored their great-great grandfather's home, the Locust Lawn Estate and opened it to the public as a museum in 1958. Annette Young died in 1975, establishing in her will a

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

so that her house, property, and collections of paintings and decorative arts could be opened to the public. Five years later, they were. Today the estate offers guided tours, lectures and other special events. Five miles of

trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. ...

s, originally 19th-century carriage roads, have been built in the woods around the house. Admission to the grounds is free; there is a fee for guided tours of the mansion.

References

External links

Locust Grove (official site)
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York National Historic Landmarks in New York (state) Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Houses completed in 1851 U.S. Route 9 Houses in Poughkeepsie, New York Museums in Dutchess County, New York Biographical museums in New York (state) Historic house museums in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Poughkeepsie, New York Tourist attractions in Poughkeepsie, New York 1851 establishments in New York (state)

History

See also

Further reading

References

External links