We are conveniently located in Dutchess County, in New York's Hudson Valley, near Peekskill, Cold Spring, Beacon, Poughkeepsie, New Paltz, Hyde Park, Rhinebeck, Bear Mountain, and Western Connecticut.
The History of
Brinckerhoff Inn
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THERE ARE MANY HISTORIC MANSIONS LOCATED IN THE HUDSON VALLEY. HOWEVER, FEW OFFER THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE ITS RICH HISTORY IN THE FORM OF A
LUXURY Historic Inn.
This 10,000 square foot mansion, originating 305 years ago, has been completely restored and in the same family for 297 years of its existence.
Dirck Brinckerhoff (1667-1748) came to the area in 1718 from Long Island and acquired a 2,000-acre tract of land that stretched from Fishkill Village to Sprout Creek from Madam Brett. The Brinckerhoff Inn located in the original home built on this property was originally a two-room stone structure with a chimney built by Abraham Brinckerhoff, eldest son of Dirck, and used as both a home and a trading post. Abraham's brother John Brinckerhoff also built a home nearby (the John Brinckerhoff House, built in 1738 on Lomala Road in Hopewell Junction, currently a private residence).
Abraham's eldest son Derick later constructed his mansion around the original two-room structure built by his father. Derick Brinckerhoff was the Colonel of the Second Regiment of Dutchess County Militia and an eight-term member of the State Assembly. His involvement during the Revolutionary War led to many influential guests that visited the home.
One-third of the battles during the Revolutionary War were fought in New York State. The Hudson Valley played a crucial role in the fight for independence. General George Washington spent a lot of time in New York, with headquarters in nearby towns Newburgh and Pawling, as he realized the importance of controlling the Hudson River. He visited both the Derick Brinckerhoff house, as well as the John Brinckerhoff house, on his travels through New York State. George Washington is known to have slept at the Derick Brinckerhoff house (currently the Brinckerhoff Inn) on multiple occasions. The home became known as a "famous stopping place for travelers on the road throughout The Hudson Valley," and thousands of troops traveling between New York and New England as well as the South passed by the home. General Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Baron von Steuben watched from the house as thousands of British and German prisoners were marched from Boston to Virginia in November of 1778. General Washington was enjoying breakfast at the home on the morning he discovered Benedict Arnold's betrayal.
Major General the Marquis de Lafayette, a close friend of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson fought in the American Revolution. For several weeks in the fall of 1778, while seriously ill, he recuperated in the second-floor bedroom of the Brinckerhoff home and was nursed back to health. That room is available and named after the Marquis. When he returned to France, he sent a desk to the Brinckerhoff family as a gift of gratitude. The desk was later donated for display in the Van Wyck Homestead in Fishkill. On Memorial Day in 1898, a memorial was dedicated to Major General the Marquis de Lafayette, a gift from the Lafayette Post of the Grand Army of the Republic to the Melzingah Chapter of the DAR. This monument can be seen along Route 52, in front of the cemetery, just west of the entrance to the Brinckerhoff Inn.
Other notable guests include General Alexander McDougall, who used the home as his headquarters for a time during the Revolution, Governor George Clinton, and Generals Putnam, Knox, Arnold, Greene, and Gates.
Matthew Brinckerhoff updated the exterior of the house in the late 1800s. He covered the stone exterior with wooden siding, replaced the old fireplace mantels with marble ones, and added a Mansard roof to make room for five bedrooms on the third floor.
The home continued to be passed down through generations of the Brinckerhoff family until it sold in 2014. The interior of the house has been lovingly and meticulously renovated to reflect its historical lineage and welcoming to the public as a Luxury Historic Inn. The current purveyors realizing the historical value & history of the home have made an effort to keep most of it intact and historically accurate. The Inn boasts original wood floors, plaster walls, doors, and crown molding, and stairs. As you explore the Inn, you will see many pieces of art, photographs, and historical documents that belonged to the Brinckerhoff family. Considerable efforts have been taken to furnish the Inn to reflect 18th-century living.