HISTORY OF HILL-HOLD MUSEUM

A FARM FOR TWO CENTURIES
Visit Hill-Hold museum and see what life was like on a Hudson Valley farm in the 1830’s. This was still the era of candlelight, fireplace heat, homegrown food and homespun clothing. The stone farmhouse was built in 1769 with wide plank floors, handsome paneling and huge fireplaces. It was the home of prosperous farmer, Thomas Bull, and his family. Original furnishings range from a prized old mahogany sideboard made-on-the-farm pieces. Most of the rural family’s needs–food, clothing, fuel, came directly from the farm. The Hill-Hold farm served the Bull-Jackson family for more than two hundred years.

Now visitors are welcome to tour the farm. As we wander through Orange County, reveling in its rolling farmland scenery, we can go back to when the early Americans brought gracious living and energetic husbandry to this unique part of the Hudson Valley.

HISTORY OF BRICK HOUSE HISTORIC MUSEUM

ONE OF THE GREAT FAMILY HOMESTEADS OF THE HUDSON VALLEY
Built by Nathaniel Hill in 1768, it was, undoubtedly, one of the handsomest dwellings between New York and Albany. Seven generations of the Hill family have occupied Brick House. In the 1830’s, parts of the interior were refurbished. A large wing was added at the rear. Still a later generation in 1928 added central heat and modern plumbing. Through its more than two centuries of occupancy, the Brick House has retained its beautiful rural setting, but it has evolved from a gentlemen’s farm to a country estate.

Today’s visitors will find the Brick House not restored to another era, but still retaining many of the changes and improvements that seven generations have created. Original Chippendale furnishings are still in place. The result is a very unusual and special kind of museum, as lived in by Charles B. Hill, Jr. and his family.