Locust Lawn Estate - Josiah Hasbrouck House

Josiah Hasbrouck House

In 1805, Josiah Hasbrouck returned from his first stint in U.S.Congress during the administration of Thomas Jefferson eager to create for his family a home worthy of their position in the small but growing community, which was founded by Huguenots in 1678. Hasbrouck was a descendant of Huguenot Jean Hasbrouck, one of the founders, or patentees, of New Paltz. In addition to his service in Congress, Hasbrouck served with the Ulster County Militia during the American Revolutionary War, in the New York State Assembly and as New Paltz town supervisor

Along with his wife Sara Decker, Hasbrouck purchased the Terwilliger family homestead a few miles south of the village of New Paltz. At the time, the site was a small farm and mill and featured a modest stone house built 67 years earlier. Over the next several years, Hasbrouck acquired additional acreage, ultimately increasing the size of the farm to 1,200 acres (490 ha). He also set about building a dramatic Federal style mansion, which was completed in 1814.

The 3-story house features a center arched doorway and a symmetrical arrangement of windows. In the back of the house, there is a 1 1⁄₂-story kitchen wing. Inside, the arrangement of rooms on the first and second floors is, for the most part, symmetrical as well, with rooms opening up from a wide center hallway. Faux marble plaster walls in the first-floor hallway date to 1814.

The home was lived in by Josiah and Sarah's descendants until 1885, when the family locked all of their belongings in one half of the house and rented the remainder to tenants who farmed the surrounding land. So things remained for almost 75 years, when the house was donated to Historic Huguenot Street. Today, the house features many of the Hasbrouck's family possessions set up as they were when the house was occupied by Josiah, Sarah and their descendants.