The Shuart-Van Orden Stone House is located on Allhusen Road in

Plattekill Plattekill is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 10,424 in 2020,US Census Bureau, 2020 report, Plattekill town, Ulster County, New York https://www.census.gov/search-results.html?searchType=web&cssp=SERP&q=Plattek ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States, near the

Thaddeus Hait Farm The Thaddeus Hait Farm is located on Allhusen Road near the hamlet of Modena in the town of Plattekill, New York, United States. It is a property on both sides of the road consisting of 15 contributing properties in two distinct groups, together ...

. The original

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

house was built in 1740. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

in 1995, as a highly stylized version of a typical

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

Dutch Colonial Dutch Colonial is a style of domestic architecture, primarily characterized by gambrel roofs having curved eaves along the length of the house. Modern versions built in the early 20th century are more accurately referred to as "Dutch Colonial Rev ...

house, the use of brick and

gambrel roof A gambrel or gambrel roof is a usually symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. (The usual architectural term in eighteenth-century England and North America was "Dutch roof".) The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, ...

in its construction reflecting the influence of migrants from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

and

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 U ...

, where that was more common.

House and grounds

The -story house has a five-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a nar ...

the front constructed of brick from clay deposits on the site. A

veranda A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''vera ...

with bell-shaped profile is found on the rear. It was extensively renovated in the 1980s to restore its original historical appearance and shore up the deteriorating east and west walls. During this time, a stone wing was added to the west, built from a stone house in nearby

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

. It houses the

furnace A furnace is a structure in which heat is produced with the help of combustion. Furnace may also refer to: Appliances Buildings * Furnace (central heating): a furnace , or a heater or boiler , used to generate heat for buildings * Boiler, used t ...

and other modern mechanicals, leaving the cellar in its unique and original form. The rebuilding of the east wall found an old archway, possibly added later, in the 19th century. Its doorway was covered over with stone sometime in the 19th century. The interior is divided into four chambers, with a center hall that features much of the original red paint and

wainscoting Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials. Panelling was developed in antiquity to make ro ...

. The handrail on the staircase is of a molding and shape very similar to that found at the nearby

Locust Lawn Estate Locust Lawn is a surviving 19th-century farm complex situated on the bank of the Plattekill Creek on New York State Route 32, outside of New Paltz, Ulster County, New York. The centerpiece of Locust Lawn is the Jeffersonian mansion of Colonel J ...

and its accompanying

Terwilliger House The 1849 Terwilliger House is a Registered Historic Place in the McHenry County, Illinois, village of Bull Valley. The Greek Revival house is topped with a square cupola and surrounded by a columned porch. Rumors persist that the home was onc ...

. There are four other buildings on the property, most dating from the early 19th century which includes an 18th-century Dutch barn that was relocated from Kingston, New York. A

granary A granary is a storehouse or room in a barn for threshed grain or animal feed. Ancient or primitive granaries are most often made of pottery. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food away from mice and other animal ...

that dates to roughly 1800 is the only one considered a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

History

It is one of the oldest houses in the town, although it has been added onto and rebuilt a great deal since its original construction. Johannis Shuart, an early settler from New Jersey, acquired from one of the original patentees in 1772, and may well have been living there earlier. He sold the house and land to Peter Van Orden in 1799. Van Orden opened up a store on the property opposite the house, where he also operated a

distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heat ...

, a common practice at the time for that region. In 1886 it became the property of some heirs of his named Hasbrouck, who in turn sold it to George Rhinehart in 1928. His family owned it until 1980, continuing its agricultural uses, until selling it to Brian and Marilyn McKay,its present owners, who renovated it extensively and discovered some previously hidden aspects of the house.

References

{{Registered Historic Places Houses in Ulster County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Ulster County, New York Houses completed in 1773 Plattekill, New York