Arbor Hill, Delhi, Delaware county, New York

ARBOR HILL

Federal Colonial house in Delhi, with later, Neo-colonial modifications.

Arbor Hill (Reprinted from “The Binghamton Press.”)

Arbor Hill was built nearly 130 years ago by the first county clerk of the then recently formed county of Delaware. Today in the main essentials it remains the same as when its builder held his house-warming which was attended by some of the great men of the time in state and national affairs and their consorts. No baronial hall of old England or the European continent gives more the impression of feudal times. The approach to the house from the main highway on the west side of the river is across a footbridge suspended between high, thick stone abutments and walls extending for some distance along the banks of the river. Nothing more is needed to remind the seeker for the romantic of the moat and drawbridge of the feudal castle of old. But should more be needed there is still the story of the old secret spiral staircase built into the walls of the house, which led by underground passage to the river, so guests of the owner or members of his family might pass safely beyond the lines of any marauding savages to bring aid from the outside when the place was besieged as often happened in the early days. Practically all signs of the underground passage have been obliterated by time and the secret shaft which was discovered by workmen who were making some modern improvements to the interior of the house has been walled in, but tales of thrilling and hairbreadth escapes from the mansion by its means in the late days of the eighteenth and the early days of the nineteenth centuries are still told by the older residents of the county as having been handed down to them by their ancestors.

The exterior of the house remains practically unchanged from the original. Inside some changes have been necessary to provide for modern improvements and Twentieth Century standard of living demands, but even here every precaution [222] has been taken to leave the original lines intact so far as possible.

The house was built by Ebenezer Foote, who was born in Connecticut on April 12, 1754. When the Revolution broke out the Foote family was inclined to remain loyal to the King, but the sympathies of young Ebenezer were with the Colonists and he ran away from home to join the Colonial forces near Boston. He fought at Bunker Hill and eventually attracted the attention of General Washington, who promoted him until he became a major and a member of the staff of the commander-in-chief. He was captured, imprisoned in the prison ships of the British in New York Harbor and escaped on a bitter December night by swimming the ice-lined Hudson to the New Jersey shore. He never fully recovered from this exposure.

After the war he entered business in Newburgh and served in the State Legislature from that district. When the county of Delaware was formed in 1796–97 he moved to the new county, of which he had been one of the promoters, and was appointed the first county clerk on March 30, 1797. For his services in the war he had been given a grant of land near what now is Delhi and early in the year 1797 began the erection of his manor house.

It is easy to conceive that its building must have taken months when one considers that the lumber that went into the work must have been sawed and planed by hand. But that the workmen of that day were true craftsmen is proven by the fact that in 1927, 130 years later, not one timber or even one smallest panel has been replaced and all apparently are as sound today as when first passed upon by the master builder.

As one enters the front doorway, charming in its colonial design, the large and altogether splendid proportions of the hall which extends from front to rear of the house captures and holds the eye. From this hall to the second floor leads the “grand staircase,” imposing in appearance with its railing of simple but truly wonderful design and its panelling of such splendid workmanship as to be the envy of modern artists.

This panelling, perhaps, is one of the most delightful things about the house. In one room alone, about 12 feet square, are more than 100 such panels, exquisitely done, and there are eight or 10 other rooms in the house similarly paneled, although not quite so large. The library has massive arched doorways with deep mouldings and built-in bookcases of fine workmanship and a capacious fireplace with splendidly wrought mantel.

In all there are seven fireplaces at Arbor Hill—two small [223] ones with openings scarcely more than two feet square, three that are of ordinary size and two that are of large dimensions. One of the larger ones is in the living room and is very attractive, but perhaps the most interesting as well as the largest is in the dining room in the basement. This apparently was the kitchen in the old days, for in the fireplace here, which is built of brick and stone, is a large iron crane on which to hang the kettles that our ancestors used for cooking their meals. The opening is five feet high and six feet across and the mantel is nearly out of the reach of a tall man. At one side is the old Dutch oven in which bread and pastry were baked more than a century ago.

The hardware on the doors is all massive and handwrought. The door-knobs are small and exquisitely fashioned of brass. The locks are independent of the mechanism of the knobs and of immense size, their iron casings being fully a foot long and more than half as wide.

When Major Foote built Arbor Hill, the western reaches of the Catskills were sparsely settled, in fact were but one step removed from the wilderness. It was many days’ journey to the nearest settlements of any size and still the manor soon became widely known for its hospitality and some of the greatest statesmen of the times were entertained there. The Van Rensselaers and the Livingstons were close friends of the Foote family and were among the earliest guests at the manor, the early records show. General Schuyler also was a frequent visitor. Others who at one time or another enjoyed the ready hospitality of the pioneer were DeWitt Clinton, Martin Van Buren and Aaron Burr.

Major Foote was appointed county judge of Delaware County in 1810 and held that office until his death on Dec. 28, 1829. He is buried in a little private burying ground a short distance below Arbor Hill. His grave is marked by a plain marble shaft bearing the inscription: In memory of Ebenezer Foote, Esq., who died Dec. 28, 1829, in his 75th year. He was a man of spotless integrity, unwearied diligence, and perseverance, and by his own intellectual powers and moral worth, he arose to an enviable distinction in society and has left many memorials of honourable fame as legacy to his Posterity. Cherish the Memory of the Wise, the Great and the Good! Here also are buried his wife, Jerusha, who died in 1818. 224 other members of his family and the Rev. Ebenezer K. Maxwell, who was the first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Delhi, known to history as the “Old Flats Church."

Mr. Clarke, into whose stewardship this remnant of a nearly forgotten era of hardship and romance has passed after many vicissitudes, believes that he is doing his best to obey the admonition contained in the last sentence of Major Foote's epitaph by loving care of the hallowed spot in which rest the remains of those who laid the corner-stone of old Delaware and in planting the seed which will bring back to her hills and dales the glory of her early days—her forests.

• excerpt from Katherine Adelia Foote, Ebenezer Foote, the Founder.