Johnson Hall State Historic Site was the home of

Sir William Johnson Major-General Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland known for his military and governance work in British colonial America. As a young man, Johnson moved to t ...

(1715–1774) an Irish pioneer who became the influential British Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the

Province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...

, known for his strong relationship especially with the

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people (Kanien’kehá:ka), an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language (Kanien’kéha), the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a ...

and other

Iroquois League The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of Native Americans and First Nations peopl ...

nations. Johnson Hall is located at Hall Avenue, West State Street and Johnson Avenue, in

Johnstown, New York Johnstown is a city in and the county seat of Fulton County in the U.S. state of New York. The city was named after its colonial founder, Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Britain in the Province of New York and a major ...

History

The house was built seven miles from the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson R ...

, close to Hall Creek. Hall Creek provided water sufficient to power a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

and later a

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

. Built of wood, the house frame was covered with wood planks intended to simulate stone. Johnson engaged leading colonial architect Peter Harrison (1716-1775) to design the house; he hired the carpenter, Samuel Fuller, to build it. At least some of the ideas for the house came from the ''Builders' Companion'' magazine. Johnson also had two stone block houses built as defenses against attack on the frontier, as the British had just ended the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

with the French. The stonehouses were also used for storage and other domestic uses. Johnson founded

, and came to own a estate. Johnson moved here from

Old Fort Johnson Old Fort Johnson is a historic house museum and historic site at 2 Mergner Road (junction of New York State Routes 5 and 67) in Fort Johnson, New York. It is the site of Fort Johnson, a two-story stone house originally enclosed in fortifica ...

in 1763 and lived here until he died in 1774. The house was inherited by his son, John Johnson. During the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, the rebel government in New York seized Johnson Hall because the Johnsons had gone to Canada as

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

. In 1779 the state sold the house to

Silas Talbot Captain Silas Talbot (January 11, 1751June 30, 1813) was an officer in the Continental Army and Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Talbot is most famous for commanding from 1799 to 1801. Silas Talbot was a member of the So ...

, a migrant from New England. It was used as a private residence by various owners until 1906, when the state bought it for preservation and interpretation as a

house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

of the most important colonial landowner in the state. It received restoration in the early twentieth century and in the 1950s, to remove additions of the late nineteenth century and better reflect its original time. The historic site includes more than 18 acres of land. The mansion and the West Stonehouse are the only original structures on the site; the East Stonehouse is a reproduction.Historic sign on site The house was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1960. and

References

External links

*
Revolutionary War Heritage Trail: Johnson Hall State Historic Site
Heritage New York *

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

(HABS): ** ** {{Protected areas of New York Historic American Buildings Survey in New York (state) Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Historic Landmarks in New York (state) New York (state) historic sites Museums in Fulton County, New York Biographical museums in New York (state) Houses completed in 1763 Historic house museums in New York (state) Houses in Fulton County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Fulton County, New York New York State Register of Historic Places in Fulton County

History

See also

References

External links