pledging themselves to preserve the memories of the years during which
they had struggled for their country's being.

The whole neighborhood, especially the village of Fishkill which was the
principal settlement in the county at that date, has many revolutionary
associations. The interior army route to Boston passed through the
village; this was a depot of army stores, and workshops and hospitals
were established. Here was forged the sword of Washington, now in the
keeping of the United States Government, and exhibited in the late
Centennial collection. It is marked with the maker's name, J. Bailey,
Fishkill.

The New York Legislature, retiring before the approach of the British,
after the evacuation of the city, came at last to Fishkill, and here the
constitution of the State was printed, in 1777, on the press of Samuel
Loundon, the first book, Lossing says, ever printed in the State.

Some years after peace was restored, the Verplanck family appear to have
occupied the Homestead from time to time. Philip Verplanck, a grandson
of Gulian the original grantee, was a native of the patent, but his
public life was spent elsewhere. He was an engineer and surveyor, and an
able man. Verplanck's Point in Westchester County, where Fort Lafayette
stood during the Revolution, was named for him, and he represented that
Manor in the Colonial Assembly from 1734 to 1768. Finally, Daniel
Crommelin Verplanck with his large family--one of his sons being the
well-known Gulian C. Verplanck, born here in 1786--came to live in the
old home permanently. He had led an active life in New York, served in
Congress and on the bench, and now retired to the quiet of the country.
It was he who planted the fine old trees which now shade the lawn; among
them the coffee-tree so much admired. About 1810 the north end, built of