Old Fort Johnson is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into 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 v ...

and historic site at 2 Mergner Road (junction of New York State Routes 5 and 67) in

Fort Johnson, New York Fort Johnson (formerly known as Akin) is a village in Montgomery County, New York, United States located on the north side of the Mohawk River in the town of Amsterdam. The population was 490 at the 2010 census. History Around 1710, early Palat ...

. It is the site of Fort Johnson, a two-story stone house originally enclosed in fortifications built by

Sir William Johnson Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland. As a young man, Johnson moved to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Royal Na ...

about 1749. The fort served as Johnson's home, business office and trading center until 1763 when he moved to

Johnson Hall Johnson Hall State Historic Site was the home of Sir William Johnson (1715–1774) an Irish pioneer who became the influential British Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Province of New York, known for his strong relationship especially wi ...

in what is now

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 founder, Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Province of New York and a major general during the Seve ...

."Fort Johnson" by Timothy J. Shannon in Peter Eisenstadt (editor) ''The Encyclopedia of New York State'' (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, c.2005), page 589. Sir William's son

Sir John Johnson Brigadier General Sir John Johnson, 2nd Baronet (5 November 1741 – 4 January 1830) was an American-born military officer, magistrate, landowner and colonial official in the British Indian Department who fought as a Loyalist during the American ...

owned the house from 1763 until 1776, when it was confiscated by the local Committee of Safety. The house remains and is owned and operated as a museum by the Montgomery County Historical Society. It was designated 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 1972.

Description

Old Fort Johnson is located at the center of the village of Fort Johnson, on the north side of NY Route 5 overlooking 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. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohaw ...

just west of NY Route 67. The property, about in size, is fringed on the front and east side by a low stone retaining wall. The house is a -story structure, built out of limestone and topped by a hip roof. Brick chimneys are located in the side walls, and the front face of the roof is pierced by three gabled dormers. The front facade is five bays wide, with a center entrance sheltered by a gabled portico supported by Doric columns. The interior follows a central hall plan, with a parlor and study on the left, and a large dining room and serving chamber on the right; the kitchen is located in the basement. William Johnson came to what is now

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long ...

in 1738, establishing a sawmill nearby and engaging in trade with the local Iroquois. Johnson built this house about 1749, after

King George's War King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in t ...

ended. The house was surrounded by a wooden palisade during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

. Johnson was influential in relations between the colonial government and the local Mohawk people, and was named the crown Superintendent of Indian Affairs in 1756. He moved further west, establishing

as his seat in 1763. This house became the home of his son

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

, who was a leading

Loyalist 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 Cro ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of ...

. Both Fort Johnson and Johnson Hall were seized by the state and auctioned off due to the Johnson's opposition to independence. After passing through many owners, Fort Johnson was purchased in the 1920s by John Watts DePeyster and given to the Montgomery County Historical Society, which now operates it as a museum.

References

Notes Bibliography * Mendel, Mesick, Cohen, Architects, ''Fort Johnson Historical Structure Report'' (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1978)

External links

Old Fort Johnson official site
*

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York, state=collapsed Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Historic Landmarks in New York (state) Museums in Montgomery County, New York Georgian architecture in New York (state) Houses completed in 1749

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

Pre-statehood history of New York (state) Historic house museums in New York (state) Historical society museums in New York (state) Historic American Buildings Survey in New York (state)

Houses in Montgomery County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, New York

Description

See also

References

External links