A few years ago I visited the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden, which is part of the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden on New York City’s Staten Island. It is a fairly recent New York attraction, having opened in 1999. It was constructed by Chinese artists and artisans from Suzhou, which is renowned for its classical Chinese Gardens. Pictured above is the Tea House of Hearing Pines. See below for more pictures. › Continue reading…

In addition to he Wyckoff House, I also saw three other early historic houses in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The Lefferts House (above) was closed, so I didn’t go inside. The house was built in 1783 and was the former home of Continental Army Lieutenant Pieter Lefferts. In 1918, it was moved six blocks to Prospect Park, where it is now a children’s museum. › Continue reading…

On my most recent trip to Brooklyn, I visited the Wyckoff Farmhouse, at 5816 Clarendon Road. Less than a century ago, this house was surrounded by farm fields and there were other Dutch colonial farm houses nearby. The Wyckoff House, isolated in Milton Fidler Park, now is surrounded by twentieth-century development. The oldest section of the house (on the right, in the image above) dates to 1652. Other rooms were added in the eighteenth and the first half of the nineenth century. › Continue reading…

I’m getting ready for a trip to Brooklyn later today and I’m reminded of some previous visits there. I won’t be going to the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights this time, but I’ve stopped by there before to see Plymouth Church (designed by J.C. Wells and built in 1849-1850, the church is now called Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, ever since Plymouth Church and the Church of the Pilgrims merged). Plymouth Church, a congregational church at 25 Hicks Street at Orange Street, is historically significant for its association with the famous nineteenth-century minister Henry Ward Beecher. Abolitionist, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and infamous due to the Beecher-Tilton scandal, Henry Ward Beecher was a fascinating figure. On my first visit to Brooklyn Heights, I took some pics of the church’s exterior. On a later visit I got to go inside the church. › Continue reading…

A great place to visit in Florida is the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Palm Beach County. I have been there several times, most recently on the same trip when I visited Mandarin in Jacksonville. The museum and gardens are in a park on the site of a Japanese agricultural colony that existed in the early twentieth century. The last remaining settler, George Morikami, left his land to Palm Beach county to preserve as a park. The gardens represent several different periods in the historical development of Japanese gardens. › Continue reading…

This post is in honor of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 200th Birthday (she was born June 14, 1811). Back in 2007, I visited Mandarin, Florida, where Harriet Beecher Stowe had a winter home she visited from 1867 to 1884. Her book, Palmetto Leaves (1873), is based on her experiences in Florida. Today, Mandarin is part of the city of Jacksonville, which has grown to become the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. Her cottage, called “Mandarin Home,” is no longer standing, but some other traces of Stowe’s Mandarin survive. › Continue reading…

I’ve written before about my recent visit to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where there are many surviving colonial structures built by the Moravians. Adjacent to these structures is an area by Monocacy Creek (Flooding is a problem!) called the Colonial Industrial Quarter, where the industrious Moravians practiced a variety of trades. Some of these industrial buildings are in ruins, but others survive. The entire complex is now part of the Historic Bethlehem Partnership and is worth visiting. Click below for pics and info on some of the buildings. › Continue reading…

After visiting Trout Hall in Allentown, we drove out to Egypt, PA to see the Troxell-Steckel House, which is also owned by the Lehigh County Historical Society. In contrast to the English Georgian style of Trout Hall, the Troxell-Steckel House is a German farmhouse, built in 1756 by John Peter Troxell, who sold it to Peter Steckel in 1768. The property also includes a barn with a display of farming equipment. › Continue reading…

On my recent trip to Pennsylvania, I also visited two sites in the Allentown area. The first was Trout Hall, the city’s oldest house, built in 1770 as a summer home for James Allen, son of Allentown’s founder, William Allen. Allen was a loyalist during the Revolutionary War, which led to a lot of trouble for him, as you can imagine. There’s a pdf document online with more info about the house. On the tour, visitors can hear all about Allen and his travails and also visit the modern Lehigh County Historical Society museum next door. The house had to be restored because it was later part of Muhlenberg College and got attached to other structures that were later demolished. › Continue reading…

After visiting Washington’s Headquarters in Newburgh, I went down to see the nearby headquarters, used during the same period by General Henry Knox, Washington’s Chief of Artillery. Like Washington’s HQ, it’s also a state historic site, located in New Windsor/Vails Gate. Due to limited time and an arrival off the regular tour time, I had a quick walkthrough tour of the house, which like Washington’s Headquarters, is arranged as it would have been when the general was there, including quarters where his staff would have stayed. In addition to Knox, the house was also used earlier during the Revolutionary War by Generals Nathanael Greene and Horatio Gates. The house was built in 1754 by John Ellison, who was involved in the milling trade. The Ellison House is interesting for having two facades, one side (above) being English Georgian style, the other (below, after the jump) being Dutch colonial. › Continue reading…