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It's Time For A Very Historic Podcast Episode
James Cave
February 22, 2025
In partnership with
One thing about me, if I’m invited into a really old house, I’m going.
And I was invited to not just visit one of upstate New York’s most interesting really old houses – I was also invited to make a short documentary about it! It’s the Jan Van Hoesen Charles Marriott House on Route 66, and you might be wondering: Why does this house have so many names? Well, you can find the answer to that intriguing question in the latest and historic episode of The Jiffy Audio Newsletter Podcast below. But first:
Table of Contents
It’s not known exactly when the Van Hoesen-Marriott house was constructed, sometime in the early-to-mid 1700s. But it’s definitely known that it’s Dutch, that the Dutch Van Hoesens were enslavers, and that Charles Marriott, a radical Quaker abolitionist, eventually bought the house and lived there.
This means that this house – already a significant example of Dutch colonial architecture – is all the more important as a double site in the history of slavery in the United States, because historian Fergus Bordewich and others believe Marriott likely used the house as a stop along the Underground Railroad to help runaways escape to freedom.
Ed Klingler in the hall of the Van Hoesen/Marriott House
Fergus wrote “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad, America’s First Civil Rights Movement,” and I interviewed him for this project – I also heard from Brenda Shufelt of the Hudson Area Library, Lisa Fludd-Smith, a co-founder of the African American Archive of Columbia County, David Voorhees of the Jacob Leisler Institute, and Ed Klingler, the president of the Van Hoesen House Historical Foundation.
For the better part of two decades, Ed has been the caretaker of this house, and he guided me on a tour of the rooms, as well as the basement and attic where the enslaved would likely have been kept.
For this new episode of the podcast, I thought it’d be interesting to take you on an audio journey through this house’s history.
Click the image above to listen.
The house embodies the entire history of slavery and antislavery in the United States. It's embedded in that property. It's embedded in the bricks even, so to speak, and in the earth that surrounds it. Yes, there were people enslaved there. New York was a slave state. The Hudson Valley was an epicenter of slavery in New York state. And the Hudson Valley, some farmers in the Hudson Valley, clung to slavery longer than almost any other New Yorkers in the early 19th century.
It has the history from the 1700s when it was built. Also, it has the history of being a space of enslavement. We also have the added layer of it being a house that was a location on the Underground Railroad. It is probably the only house still existing that is so important to so many different aspects of history. And it really needs to be saved.
For this room, you can look at a 1900s carpet and Arts and Crafts paper hanging on the wall, but at the same time you've got some Victorian wainscot in here, you've got a Federal-period mantle. You still have original baseboards though, and that's pretty much the story of this house. Every room you enter there's always something different. You walk around the outside, you see evidence of the original house, you see subtle changes. You see bits and pieces reused. And so often you lose that, both in either restorations or just the house being remodeled year after year. That's never happened here.
The African American Archive of Columbia County will host Fergus and Ed at the Hudson Area Library on March 9. Fergus will speak about New York’s Underground Railroad history, and Ed will share photos of the house and plans for its preservation. I’ll also show the video we’re producing! Hope to see you there – you can find all the info here.
You might remember, for my series “This Old Vibe,” I visited Lindenwald during the Archive’s first annual Original Kinderhook Black Family Reunion, which brought descendants together to get to know each other and share stories. Here’s a video from that day.
A note from the African American Archive of Columbia County:
“The African American Archive exists to document, preserve, and share the deep history of Black people in the upper Hudson Valley. From their arrival with the Dutch Patroons early in the 17th century, through today, the roots of our African forebears have been profoundly intertwined with the land and people of Columbia County. While hardly secret, this narrative is seldom told or taught in schools. Our mission is to lift the voices of our ancestors, bring our stories to light and life, and create a living chronicle that will honor our past and enlighten our future.”
You can learn more about the Archive’s work here.
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