Schuyler Flatts

Much has been written about the rich history of the Schuyler Flatts. Situated on the Hudson River north of Albany, New York, the site’s archeological history can be traced back 6,000 years. During Dutch colonial times, the land was owned by Rensselaer, who sold it to the Schuyler family in 1672 so that Pieter Schuyler (1657–1724), the first mayor of Albany in the Colony of New York, could build his home here. It became a trading outpost with the local Mohawks and Mohicans and, later, for goods that flowed on the Hudson River and the Erie Canal, which traversed the property in 1825.

A farm house was built by 1690, but burned down around 1760. The house was rebuilt with a new wing that faced the Hudson River. The farm housed Indians that had been driven away by French raiders and was a social nexus in Revolutionary times where American soldiers were encamped during the War of Independence. The farm had slaves (slavery was abolished in New York in 1827) and a small cemetery for them was discovered on the property.

Guy Beattie, my great grandfather, rented the farm and a separate farmhouse from the Schuyler family in 1899, who remained in the mansion. In 1910, he bought the Schuyler mansion and surrounding farm from the family, ending over 200 years of continuous ownership in the Schuyler family.

My grandfather, G. Schuyler Beattie, was the youngest son of Guy and Mary Killough Beattie, and he was the only one of their nine children born in the Schuyler mansion.

Guy Beattie farmed the land for several decades, but ultimately retired and sold the property around 1950. I believe it became a convalescent home for a short time in the 1950s, then lay abandoned until it burned down under mysterious circumstances in 1962, four years after Guy Beattie’s death.

Today, the Schuyler Flatts is a National Historic Landmark, an archeological district, and a public park. People jog on its paths and play soccer on its sprawling lawn. I have a different sense of this place—I imagine my relatives who worked the earth, came of age, and formed new families here. I imagine kids playing by the river bank and on the adjacent islands, now severed from the property by interstate highway 787. I recall my grandfather, who carried the name of the Flatts but was not related to the Schuyler family, with his deep respect and love for the Flatts—he cherished the very bricks from which the house was built. I’ve come to know a lot about my relatives by understanding this modest plot of land along the Hudson, and it’s nice to know it will remain there for future generations to behold.

The Farm

The three photos below are from 1948 or 1949 and form somewhat of a panorama with the house behind the photographer.

The first photo shows the fields looking toward the southwest. On the horizon, left of center, is the top of the Riverview Center in Manands, at that time it was the Montgomery Ward store and distribution center. The structure in the center is a billboard.

The second photo shows the farm house that the Beatties rented in 1899; Broadway (Route 32) is in the background. Most of the Beattie’s children were born in this house.

The third photo has a slight overlap with the second one, and contains a barn that has all hand hewed and pegged construction. The story that is passed down in our family is that this barn was a hospital during the Revolutionary War, but a historical architect I spoke with cast doubt on whether this barn is that old.

Guy Beattie grew a variety of vegetables on the farm and sold them at the Troy outdoor market on Hill and Liberty Streets (among other places, I’m sure). That site remains an outdoor market today. He had several employees who worked the farm and enlisted kids (including his own) over the summers.

Below are some scenes from the farm. We have Guy Beattie showing off his spinach patch, and bushels of his parsnips and carrots. The group shot shows all the farmhands that helped over the summer, including several of Guy’s kids and many neighborhood kids, with my grandfather in the front row, center clearly sulking at his lot in life.

Schuyler Mansion

The Schuyler Flatts mansion, what by today’s standards would be a diminutive house, sat nobly on the banks of the Hudson River for centuries. Interstate 787 was completed here in the early 1970s and now severs the site’s connection to the river. It also melded the nearby islands onto the mainland.

My grandfather, Schuyler Beattie, was the last person born in the house, and my mother, Rosamond Beattie Abbott, is arguably one of the last people to have a visceral memory of the house. They lived there on and off in the 1940s before moving to Illinois in 1949, when Rosamond was eight years old. Before they moved, Schuyler snapped a bunch of photos of the house (below) circa 1948. In them you can see his three children. Rosamond is standing on the porch in the first one, with his daughter Mary running in the grass. His daughter Linda appears in the third photo standing beside the corner of the house.

A few other notable photos that show the house include a young Schuyler Beattie beside their first car. In this photo, the driveway has not yet been realigned and loops on the north side of the house. Later, the driveway will loop on the west side of the house.

In the next photo, Schuyler Beattie is in the foreground, along with his mother, Mary Ann Killough Beattie, and his sisters Kathryn and Elizabeth (Biddy). In the background, the newly built (1933) bridge along High Street connecting Troy and Menands is faintly visible.

The last photo is a family photo with four generations. They are posing at the front door of the house, which faces the river. The matriarchs are sitting front and center and were born in 1854 and 1849, respectively. Guy Beattie and his wife, Mary Ann Killough Beattie, sit in the center, while Schuyler Beattie sits in the center row, left.

A few playful photos of life at the house. The first photo is friend Ed Hollander with Schuyler, finger on hoe. In the second photo, Schuyler Beattie poses, albeit blurry, in their outhouse before it’s finally torn down in the early 1930s. In the third photo, Schuyler and his daughter (my mother), Rosamond Beattie, pose in front of the Flatts in the early 1940s.

Many photos were taken outside on the driveway showing the back of the house (flash technology was not yet available, so we have no interior photos of the home). Here, we have a couple photos showing the kids playing in Mary Ann’s gardens, a photo of Guy Beattie and his wife Mary Ann Killough Beattie posing with their grandchildren, Rosamond Beattie (later Abbott) and Linda Beattie (later Evans). And a photo from when Guy Beattie hosted the circus on the farm, a regular event throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

Schuyler’s Fish Pond

My grandfather, G. Schuyler Beattie, built a small fish pond beside the Schuyler Flatts house in 1934. It was made of concrete and is pictured in these photos below.

Once I examined these photos, I was pleasantly shocked to see that the cement outline of this fish pool remains visible today. In fact, it’s the only visible remnants that survive from the days when people lived on this land.

The Historical Plaque

Guy Beattie sold the house and property around 1950. It was a convalescent home for some time, but was later abandoned. In 1957, a historical plaque was installed on the house, which someone painted white by then.

After the house burned down in 1962, the fire-tarnished plaque was rescued and rededicated in 2002 and sits in the Schuyler Flatts Historical Park. A number of markers denote its historical significance.

Today, a loose outline of the house is marked in stone. On a recent visit, Rosamond Beattie Abbott stands inside the house’s foundation with a view looking west toward the old farm and Broadway.