The Story of Grasmere Maunsell S. Crosby I cannot begin telling about Grasmere better than by quoting from a paper read by Miss Alice Hill of Rhinebeck at a meeting of Chancellor Livingston Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution on October 9, 1919, who then said: "Grasmere originally formed part of the Beekman Patent and was included in that part of it which fell to Henry Beekman, Jr., when, after his father's death, the property was divided between him and his two sisters. Through whose hands it passed is not known until it was found in the possession of General Montgomery, whose wife was Janet Livingston." When I was a boy I remember seeing an old corner stone lying in the basement with the date 1755 cut on it. I am unable to give its history, but it is possible that it came from some building formerly situated near by. Antedating it by no doubt many years are the Indian arrowheads, of which I have a number, found on the place. General Montgomery built mills on his property along the Landsmans Kill as early as 1773. The house had not been completed when he went to the war in 1775 and he never lived in it himself. The bricks were made from clay taken from a field just south of the house and still known as the "Brick Lot." The General's widow later built the house at Montgomery Place
and spent the remaining years of her life there. To quote Miss Hill further: "After she left Grasmere it was rented to Lady Kitty Duer—Lord Sterling's daughter, and her family. It was then called Rhinebeck House. Mrs. Montgomery afterwards rented it to her brother-inlaw Morgan Lewis, who occupied it nine years, just before he became Governor of the State. Mrs. Montgomery then sold the property, which consisted of about nine hundred acres, to her sister Johanna, wife of Peter R. Livingston. who lived there twenty-five years. In 1828, during their occupancy, the house burned down. It was rebuilt, but Mrs. Peter R. Livingston died before the new building was finished. Peter R. Livingston died in 1847 and having no children, bequeathed all his property to his brother Maturin, who, dying the following year, left it to .his wife, Margaret Lewis Livingston, who gave the Grasmere estate to her son Lewis Livingston, who lived on it until his death." I do not know when the name of the place was changed to Grasmere. Up to 1861 the house was a single-storied structure. I have a colored glass stereoscopic slide, made about that time, showing Mr. and Mrs. Livingston, their sons James and Lewis, and several other persons. The group is standing on the back piazza and its general ap24
