Lindenwald was the home and farm of Martin Van Buren, the nation’s eighth president, whose life bridged the 80 years between the American War for Independence and the U.S. Civil War during the formative years of the American Republic. Among the most prominent politicians of his time, he helped found the Democratic Party and was an architect of the party system that still shapes American political life. After coming to Lindenwald in 1841, he remained a central figure in American politics and ran for the presidency twice more from this house. Since 1997, the National Park Service, the Open Space Institute, and other partners have worked to protect Lindenwald’s farm and other land along Kinderhook Creek with historic, agricultural, scenic, and recreational value, preserving surroundings and vistas that appear much as they did when Van Buren lived there.