Montgomery Place sits on the east bank of the Hudson River in a diverse and resourceful landscape, filled with features that have attracted the habitation of human beings for millennia: river access, pure, abundant springs and streams, dense forests, edible and medicinal plants, plentiful game.
Archaeological evidence shows that this landscape was home to Indigenous people for centuries, perhaps millennia; in the 18th century, it was the ancestral home to the Muhheconneok and Munsee people, now known as the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans. Indigenous people lost control over their ancestral lands when agents of colonial governments claimed the land and implemented the removal of native peoples. The Muhheconneok-Munsee dwelling in the Hudson Valley were ultimately removed between 1822 and 1829 to present-day Wisconsin.
In addition to all of its valuable resources, in the 19th century the Hudson Valley came to be recognized for another quality: its beauty. The word “landscape” comes from the Dutch word landschap, meaning, a tract of land. In the 17th century, the word evolved to have a secondary meaning: the appearance of a tract of land. This usage was reinforced with the rise of a new artistic genre: landscape painting. It’s often observed that aesthetic appreciation of landscape increases in inverse proportion to one’s physical labor upon on it. As money and power began to free landowners from the work that brought in a harvest or wove cloth from flax grown in the field, colonial landowners began to have a different relationship to the lands on which they relied.
In addition to all of its valuable resources, in the 19th century the Hudson Valley came to be recognized for another quality: its beauty. The word “landscape” comes from the Dutch word landschap, meaning, a tract of land. In the 17th century, the word evolved to have a secondary meaning: the appearance of a tract of land. This usage was reinforced with the rise of a new artistic genre: landscape painting. It’s often observed that aesthetic appreciation of landscape increases in inverse proportion to one’s physical labor upon on it. As money and power began to free landowners from the work that brought in a harvest or wove cloth from flax grown in the field, colonial landowners began to have a different relationship to the lands on which they relied.
The People of Montgomery Place
Montgomery Place has been home to at least six generations of the Livingston family members and the many people who worked to build and maintain the house, the grounds, the surrounding farm. This included enslaved people, indentured servants, and wage workers. Each generation left a particular mark on Montgomery Place.
An Agrarian Landscape
Janet Montgomery held an ideology of the landscape shared by many patrician landowners of her generation: agrarianism. After her husband’s death, she continued his plan to create a productive farm, first in Rhinebeck, and then in 1802, when she purchased a farm with frontage on the Hudson River and Saw Kill Creek. Her intention was to create a physical legacy in the name of her husband, as well as a future for his nephew William Jones (1778-1813), who came from Ireland to help her.
The property was attractive not only because of its river frontage and abundant forests, but because her neighbor to the south would be her brother John L. Livingston, and other family members lived nearby on other river estates. Janet developed the property into an estate worthy of the name “Chateau de Montgomery,” as she named it, by building a large fieldstone house and establishing a commercial nursery. She sold a wide variety of seed stocks, fruit and other trees, some shipped from France by her brother Robert. The lawn located west of the mansion had various agricultural uses including grazing for livestock and haymaking.
Commercial farming has continued uninterrupted at Montgomery Place for over two centuries. Today it is home to the celebrated Montgomery Place Orchards and farm market. Here the farmers Talea, Doug, and Caroline grow nearly 70 varieties of apples, including rare antique cultivars well-known in Janet's time that they have diligently sought out for propagation over decades. Their work of preservation helps support our agricultural legacy, at the same time that it creates an exquisite bounty of distinctly flavored apples picked over a long growing season.
The property was attractive not only because of its river frontage and abundant forests, but because her neighbor to the south would be her brother John L. Livingston, and other family members lived nearby on other river estates. Janet developed the property into an estate worthy of the name “Chateau de Montgomery,” as she named it, by building a large fieldstone house and establishing a commercial nursery. She sold a wide variety of seed stocks, fruit and other trees, some shipped from France by her brother Robert. The lawn located west of the mansion had various agricultural uses including grazing for livestock and haymaking.
Commercial farming has continued uninterrupted at Montgomery Place for over two centuries. Today it is home to the celebrated Montgomery Place Orchards and farm market. Here the farmers Talea, Doug, and Caroline grow nearly 70 varieties of apples, including rare antique cultivars well-known in Janet's time that they have diligently sought out for propagation over decades. Their work of preservation helps support our agricultural legacy, at the same time that it creates an exquisite bounty of distinctly flavored apples picked over a long growing season.
Pleasure Grounds
Janet Montgomery left her estate to her brother Edward Livingston, whose most visible impact on Montgomery Place was in creating picturesque walking and driving paths on the property. However, following Edward’s death in 1836, his wife and daughter Louise and Cora began to transform Montgomery Place with a modern, romantic sensibility. In 1839, Louise commissioned a carpenter-Gothic style conservatory facing the house where she could create a sumptuous indoor garden of exotic plants and trees. Cora’s husband Thomas Barton established an Arboretum on the east lawn in 1846, of which several specimen trees remain.
As they reimagined Montgomery Place, they followed the lead of their neighbor, Robert Donaldson, who had purchased General Armstrong’s property to redesign it in the new romantic style, naming it “Blithewood.” Donaldson introduced Louise to his architect, A.J. Davis (1803-1892), and landscape designer, the horticulturalist A. J. Downing (1815-1852), who were much in demand for designing elegant and picturesque homes set within artfully designed landscapes. Over a period about twenty years, Louise and Cora commissioned Davis and Downing to shape Montgomery Place into a landscape of visual delights, filled with paths through lawns, woods, and perfumed gardens, and charming vistas.
In 1840, Robert Donaldson invited Louise Livingston to join him in buying the stream frontage and water rights to the lower falls of the Saw Kill, safeguarding their properties against future industrial development on that waterway. This legal agreement is often cited as one of the first environmental covenants in the United States. Now Montgomery Place would be appreciated for the sheer pleasure it afforded, not only in its sights, sounds, and smells, but also in the solitude it could offer a lucky property owner who wished to periodically retreat from the pressures of modern life in America.
As they reimagined Montgomery Place, they followed the lead of their neighbor, Robert Donaldson, who had purchased General Armstrong’s property to redesign it in the new romantic style, naming it “Blithewood.” Donaldson introduced Louise to his architect, A.J. Davis (1803-1892), and landscape designer, the horticulturalist A. J. Downing (1815-1852), who were much in demand for designing elegant and picturesque homes set within artfully designed landscapes. Over a period about twenty years, Louise and Cora commissioned Davis and Downing to shape Montgomery Place into a landscape of visual delights, filled with paths through lawns, woods, and perfumed gardens, and charming vistas.
In 1840, Robert Donaldson invited Louise Livingston to join him in buying the stream frontage and water rights to the lower falls of the Saw Kill, safeguarding their properties against future industrial development on that waterway. This legal agreement is often cited as one of the first environmental covenants in the United States. Now Montgomery Place would be appreciated for the sheer pleasure it afforded, not only in its sights, sounds, and smells, but also in the solitude it could offer a lucky property owner who wished to periodically retreat from the pressures of modern life in America.
Reflection, Recreation, Research
In 1921, a new branch of the family moved to Montgomery Place. John Ross Delafield (1874-1964) was a military reservist (Brigadier General), a senior partner in a Manhattan law firm, and an amateur historian and genealogist. His wife Violetta White Delafield (1875-1949) was an accomplished botanist and mycologist who published scientific papers on fungi, but she was also deeply interested in all plants, especially flowers. An enthusiastic garden designer and flower arranger, Violetta created several intimate “garden rooms” at Montgomery Place—an ancient practice that enjoyed a revival in the early 20th century. Violetta’s Rough Garden features a rustic footbridge and artificial stream leading through a dense, woodsy bosque. Her Ellipse Garden, ringed by mature hemlocks, centers on an intimate, elliptical reflecting pool.
As one of their first improvements to the estate in 1929, the Delafields added the Hitchings & Company greenhouse at the edge of the formal garden. This is still used to grow vegetables and flowers for the campus farm and cafeteria, weekly farmer’s market, academic classes and the Bard Prison Initiative. Today the Burpee Trial Garden, managed by the Bard Arboretum, is an experimental plot to test vegetable, flower, and herb seed, being considered for the home gardener market. The entire estate has become a living classroom to learn from and enjoy.
As one of their first improvements to the estate in 1929, the Delafields added the Hitchings & Company greenhouse at the edge of the formal garden. This is still used to grow vegetables and flowers for the campus farm and cafeteria, weekly farmer’s market, academic classes and the Bard Prison Initiative. Today the Burpee Trial Garden, managed by the Bard Arboretum, is an experimental plot to test vegetable, flower, and herb seed, being considered for the home gardener market. The entire estate has become a living classroom to learn from and enjoy.
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