Van Cortlandt Mansion

In 1781, to deceive the British, General George Washington kept campfires burning around the house while he gained time for the safe withdrawal of his troops across the Hudson River. The property was long owned by the Van Cortlandt family. To the north is Vault Hill, the family burial ground and vault, where the City records of New York were supposedly hidden and preserved during the Revolutionary War. This mid-18th century Georgian manor house is architecturally important for its vigorous, straightforward design, its use of random fieldstone with brick window enframements typical of many New York masonry buildings of the period, and the unusual faces carved on its keystones.

New York, New York · United States