United States Artillery in the formal salute be reserved for this Society. Subsequently, Dr. Kunz secured these shells from the Federal Government and by resolution of the Board of Trustees they were beautifully polished as flower vases, suitably inscribed, and on Thanksgiving Day, 1911, were sent to Mrs. E. H. Harriman, the donor of the Park; Mr. Justice Charles E. Hughes, who, as Governor of the State, signed the bill accepting the gift; Hon. George W. Perkins, President of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission and one of the contributors to the auxiliary fund; Mr. John D. Rockefeller, a contributor to that fund; and Mrs. J. P. Morgan, wife of the Honorary President of this Society, the latter of whom also gave toward the fund.

VERPLANCK MANSION NEAR FISHKILL, N. Y.

We renew our recommendation, made in former reports, that the Verplanck Mansion and grounds on the east bank of the Hudson River about a mile and a half north of Fishkill Landing, be preserved as a public park and monument. This old house was owned by Mr. Samuel Verplanck during the American Revolution and has remained in the family ever since. Some of the historical associations of this building are mentioned in our Twelfth Annual Report (1907). In this building Baron von Steuben made his headquarters during the War for Independence and here was held one of the initial meetings of the Society of the Cincinnati.

The Steuben Headquarters or Verplanck Mansion is a stone building with an overhanging roof of peculiar design and quaint architectural features, and is somewhat larger than the colonial mansion in Van Cortlandt Park, New York City. It was built about the year 1740. In 1804 the so-called new part was added, thus making the entire building nearly 150 feet in length. The house is in good repair, and is surrounded by a large lawn with fine trees. There is an old-fashioned garden with box-wood borders containing roses, shrubs, etc., a century old. Nearby on the south. and east is a fine grove of trees and in addition there are from thirty to forty acres of land suitable for agriculture and pasture, together with ample farm buildings, barns and cottages. The property extends along the river for upward of 1,600 feet and comprises a grant in fee of the adjacent land under water with an

area of over forty acres. The property extends eastward to the road leading to Poughkeepsie (fourteen miles distant) and recently rebuilt as a state highway. The total area is about 100 acres exclusive of the water part. Between the neighboring village of Fishkill-on-Hudson and New York (fifty-eight miles distant) there are frequent trains. An electric service will soon be installed thus bringing the neighborhood within the suburban district. On the opposite side of the river is Newburgh with Washington's Headquarters.

On the northwest corner of the property, the clay bank, of which there are extensive deposits elsewhere on the place, has been profitably worked for several years past and it is inevitable that the entire property will eventually pass to the same use unless acquired and preserved as a public park and monument, in some such way as the Morris Mansion (Washington's Headquarters) in New York City, the Van Cortlandt Mansion in Van Cortlandt Park, New York City, the Philipse Manor Hall in Yonkers, the Washington's Headquarters in Newburgh, the Clinton House in Poughkeepsie, the Senate House in Kingston, the Johnson Mansion in Johnstown, etc., are preserved. The Verplanck Mansion could also be used as a museum for the deposit of objects of historic interest in connection with a place for patriotic and historical meetings; while the grounds could be thrown open to the public as a park under proper restrictions.

The property has been in the uninterrupted possession of the family of the present owner for more than two centuries and is part of a large tract of land that was acquired from the Wappinger Indians in 1683 by Gulian Verplanck and Francois Rombout, and since known as the Rombout Patent from the confirmatory grant of James II in 1685 made through Governor Dongan after the death of Gulian Verplanck.

We are informed by Mr. William E. Verplanck that the family is willing to part with the mansion and the adjacent land in the event of its being acquired for preservation for historical purposes for a sum much less than their value for commercial or industrial purposes. The opportunity is therefore especially favorable for its acquisition.

SING SING PRISON SITE.

For several years the State has been considering the building of a new prison to take the place of the State's Prison at Sing Sing, thirty miles north of the Grand Central Station in New York City and on the east bank of the Hudson river. In 1906 the Legislature passed a law (chap. 670) to establish a new State prison in the eastern part of the State to take the place of Sing Sing prison, etc. In pursuance of the foregoing act, a site was located in the northern part of Rockland County at Bear Mountain and work was begun on the new institution. There were earnest protests from many sources against this location, partly because the ground was consecrated by important events during the War for Independence, partly because the site was visible from the Hudson river and partly because the neighboring property owners objected to the proximity of a penal institution. By chapter 364 of the laws of 1910, the State abandoned the Bear Mountain site and authorized its addition to the Palisades Interstate Park. The ceremonies attending the transfer of jurisdiction of this property to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission are recorded in our last Annual Report.

Following the abandonment of the Bear Mountain site, the Commissioners appointed to select a place for the prison chose one at Wingdale in Dutchess County, seventy miles from Grand Central Station in New York City. The site is about twenty miles east of the Hudson river in a latitude two or three miles south of that of Poughkeepsie. It was in a thinly populated district, accessible by railroad, but so remote from the river that no objection could be raised to it on the ground of marring the scenery of the river. After this site was chosen, however, changes were made in the New Prison Commission and work on the Wingdale site was stopped on the ground that it was not adapted to the uses for which it was taken, was swampy, etc. As a consequence of these occurrences, it has recently been proposed to rebuild the Sing Sing prison on its present site on the shore of the Hudson River. On January 22, 1912, our Trustees formally expressed their sentiment against the rebuilding of the prison at the present location on the ground that the site is unsuitable, being cold, damp, unsanitary

and contracted, and that in its present location this penal institution is a disfigurement to the scenery of the Hudson river. We hope that an acceptable site will be found soon in order that the much needed accommodations may be provided for the State's criminal charges.*

SCHUYLER MANSION AT ALBANY, N. Y.

Last year we recorded with pleasure the enactment of chapter 38 of the laws of 1911 authorizing the purchase, by the State, of the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, as an historic landmark and for educational and patriotic purposes. [See plate 29.] By a deed of conveyance delivered February 8, 1912, but bearing an earlier date, the State took title to the property, the price paid being $40,000. The property has not yet been vacated, the present occupants being permitted to retain possession until January 1, 1913. Therefore nothing has yet been done toward renovating the premises. Pursuant to chapters 3S, 440 and 811 of the laws of 1911, the Governor has appointed the following Board of Trustees to care for the property: Mr. Ledyard Cogswell, Mr. James Fenimore Cooper, Mr. John A. Delehanty, Hon. D-Cady Herrick, Mr. Albert Hessberg, Mr. Edgar C. Leonard, Mrs. Daniel Manning, Miss Georgina Schuyler,† Hon. James F. Tracey, and Mrs. William B. Van Rensselaer. On March 22, 1912, the Board organized by the election of Mrs. Manning as President, Judge Tracey, Vice-President, and Mr. Leonard, Secretary. Mr. Hessberg was appointed a Committee on By-laws, and Mrs. Van Rensselaer, Miss Schuyler and Mr. Cooper a Committee on Furnishings.

We are greatly indebted to Miss Schuyler for the interesting monograph entitled "The Schuyler Mansion at Albany," which we print in Appendix K.

On March 25, 1912, the Hon. Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced in the State Senate a bill authorizing the abandonment of the Wingdale site. The bill passed the Senate but not the Assembly. On April 18, 1912, Gov. Dix vetoed the reappropriation of $409,516 and the appropriation of $500,000 additional for the Wingdale prison on the ground that "an enormous and unnecessary expense would be placed upon the State by the continuance of this prison."

Miss Schuyler is a great granddaughter of Gen. Philip Schuyler. Mrs. Van Rensselaer's late husband, Mr. Wm. Bayard Van Rensselaer, was also a descendant from Gen. Schuyler.

SARATOGA BATTLEFIELD.

On January 31, 1912, the Hon. Edgar T. Brackett of Saratoga Springs introduced in the Senate and on February 8 the Hon. George H. Whitney of Mechanicville introduced in the Assembly a bill authorizing the Comptroller to acquire for the State lands in the town of Stillwater, Saratoga County, constituting the battlefield of Saratoga, or such portion thereof as he deems appropriate for commemorating, in connection with the Saratoga monument, the battle and the surrender of Burgoyne on October 17, 1777. The bill appropriates $25,000, the same amount as that provided for in Senator Brackett's bill last year which passed but was vetoed. The present bill differs from last year's bill, however, in that instead of giving the Comptroller jurisdiction over the park, the care and control are given in the Saratoga Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.*

HERKIMER HOUSE IN DANUBE.

On February 13, 1912, the Hon. Felix J. Sanner of Brooklyn re-introduced in the State Senate the bill which he offered last year "to provide for the acquisition and preservation of the historic house and grounds formerly owned and occupied by Gen. Nicholas Herkimer in the Town of Danube, in the County of Herkimer, and making an appropriation therefor." On the same day the Hon. Gottfried H. Wende introduced the bill in the Assembly. The bill authorized the Commissioners of the Land Office, upon the recommendation of the German American Alliance and a committee of the Daughters of the American Revolution of New York State to be appointed by the State Regents, to purchase for the State the property described in the title of the bill, and appropriated $15,000 for the purpose. The bill gave the care and control of the property to the German American Alliance and to the D. A. R. committee above mentioned, "for the purpose of preserving the same for the benefit of the people of the State of New York as an historic landmark and for educational and patriotic purposes."+

*The bill passed both houses, but was vetoed by the Governor. †The bill passed the Senate, but not the Assembly.