The historic Marshall House at 136 Route 4 North in Schuylerville, Saratoga County, NY will be open on Sunday, August 1 st as part of the Village’s Turning Point Parade celebration. Albany merchant Peter Lansing began construction of the gambrel-roofed, heavy timbered farmhouse overlooking the Hudson River in 1771-1772.
The house played an important role in the area’s Revolutionary War history, serving as a field hospital for the British troops and the German soldiers who fought with them in the Saratoga campaign during October 1777.
The family of the German General Friedrich Riedesel had accompanied Burgoyne to the battlefront. During a six day American siege, part of the Battles of Saratoga, the Baroness Frederika Riedesel and her three small children huddled in the house’s basement as the structure came under repeated attack from circling American forces. A memoir describes their terror as cannon balls crashed into the rooms overhead and screams rang out all around them.
On Sunday, the Baroness (as portrayed by Debbie Bailey) will greet visitors and tell the story of how they endured bombardment at the Marshall House .
Following the Revolution, the property changed hands. Captain Samuel Bushee, a war veteran and settler from Connecticut, purchased it from Lansing in 1802. Bushee subsequently conveyed the property to his father-in-law, Abraham Marshall, in 1817. The house was remodeled in 1867-1868 in the Italianate style, but retains substantial integrity of design and materials, including the hinges and great lock on the front door and the delicate thumb latch and the wooden door itself in the cellarway.
Thereafter the property remained in the Marshall family until 1930 and came to be known as The Marshall House. That year it was purchased by Kenneth and Adelaide Bullard, whose descendants remain its owners and inhabitants.
Docents will explain details of the historic house. Visitors will be limited to groups of fifteen in 45 minute sessions at 2:30, 3:15, 4:00 and 4:45. There will be valet parking at the house. While admission is free, donations $10 per person is suggested to further the educational outreach of The Marshall House.
Registration is required. To register, go to the website at www.themarshallhouse.org and click on Special Event Sunday, August 1st on the home page.
The Marshall House, Inc. is a newly chartered 501 c 3 not-for-profit formed to preserve the property and promulgate the story of the Marshall House. Marshall House, Inc. principals David Bullard and Bruce Venter, long-time readers and supporters of the New York Almanack. The August 1st open house is the first such event since the granting of 501 c 3 status. David Bullard lives in and has maintained the Marshall House for a lifetime.
Read more about the Battles of Saratoga here.
Photo of the house provided.
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