Page:Historic towns of the middle states (IA historictownsofm02powe).pdf/65



incomings, and continue up Broadway about three quarters of a mile, he will find a bronze tablet bearing the inscription: "Opposite Van Rensselaer Manor-House. Erected 1765. Residence of the Patroons. This spot is the site of the First Manor-House." It was an unpretentious one-story building of Holland brick, half fortress and half dwelling. The final Manor-House, on the other side of the road, was a structure of another fashion. At the time of its erection, 1765, it was considered the handsomest residence in the colonies. Thither Stephen Van Rensselaer brought his young bride, Catherine, daughter of Philip Livingston, and his babe, who became General Van Rensselaer. It stood amid the drooping elms of a large