Brookside Museum
Encyclopedia
Brookside Museum, sometimes known as the Aldridge House, is located on the western edge of downtown Ballston Spa
, New York, United States. It is a wooden house built in the 1790s, one of the oldest in the village, but modified since then.
It was originally used as an inn for visitors to the spring waters that gave the village its name, very near its location. The inn had several famous guests; for example, James Fenimore Cooper
is said to have written some of The Last of the Mohicans
during his stay. The building has been a boys' school, a private residence, a boarding house
, a sanatorium
, and apartments. In 1970, the Saratoga County Historical Society purchased the building and opened it as a museum.
In 1975 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, the first of four properties in the village to be listed. It currently is home to the Saratoga County Historical Society, which operates it as a local history museum.
where Front Street splits into Charlton and Fairground avenues. The land to the west is wooded, with a small creek flowing north-south across the land. There are some other residences in the area. Downtown Ballston Spa is to the east along Front Street. There is a small dirt parking area on the south side.
The house itself is a two-and-a-half–story, five-by-nine-bay
building constructed in stages. The main block in front accounts for three of the lengthwise bays. On the rear is a long extension half the width of the front block, with a two-story shed-roofed section on its own rear.
It is a frame
building on a fieldstone
foundation
sided
in clapboard
. The steeply pitched
gable
d roof is covered in cedar shingles
pierced by three dormer windows and two brick chimneys at the ends. The two rear sections are covered in asphalt shingles.
Four square pillars support the full-height front porch. Inside, there is little original hardware or woodwork. The staircase, which has simple brackets
and a railing
with narrow baluster
s and turned newel
s, dates to 1860. The framing here is hand-hewn, and the ceilings are low.
tribes had long known of the benefits of the spring and its naturally carbonated
waters. In 1767, they shared it with Sir William Johnson
, the British general who had led troops in the region during King George's War
and later the French and Indian War
. At the time the nearest European settlement
was at Ballston Lake.
Later visitors included a team surveying the Kayaderosseras Patent, George Washington
and Elkanah Watson
. They all spoke and wrote of the curative powers of the spring. After the Revolutionary War
, Benajah Douglas, grandfather of Stephen A. Douglas
, bought a hundred acres (40 ha) on the west side of the creek opposite the spring to take advantage of the growing tourist trade.
He built a rudimentary log cabin
on the site of the present house, the only dry clearing in an otherwise swampy area, where visitors had been camping since Indian times. Later a separate cottage was built for housekeeping.
In 1791, another entrepreneur, Micajah Benedict, built a more luxurious guest house a mile (1.6 km) away. Douglas responded by building the main block of the current structure two years later. It had a columned piazza
, though not the current one. He was so successful that others built in the vicinity, beginning the development of Ballston Spa.
Johnson reaped the benefits of his investment and sold to a Joseph Wescot two years later. He, in turn, sold to Josiah Aldridge in 1798. During nearly four decades of ownership, Aldridge would change not only the house but the growing village, which incorporated
in 1807.
On the house, he built the rear wing and a north wing (since removed and rebuilt as a residence) with a ballroom
. He replaced the piazza with the current colonnade, adding a Greek Revival
touch to a mostly Georgian
-Federal building. He reworked the inside heavily. And as a trustee of the new village, he worked to improve the area around the spring.
Later in his life, in 1835, the spring finally failed, probably because of the many new ones that had been dug in the area. The next year, Aldridge's family sold the house. Ten years later, in 1846, its owners began to use it as a full-time residence exclusively, ending its days as a hotel. The next year, a new spring was dug just north of the house. It was called the Old Iron Spring, and continues to flow today.
By that time Saratoga Springs
, a short distance to the north, had begun to become a bigger attraction for bathers, offering other recreational facilities and thoroughbred horse racing
. Ballston Spa's economy switched to industry, with a number of small opening up in the area.
In 1859, with the Civil War
looming, Brookside became a military academy
. In 1864, with peace in the offing, it reverted to residential use, first as a single-family residence
and later as an apartment house. It was eventually acquired by the Saratoga County
Historical Society for use both as a historic house museum and its own headquarters. In addition to exhibits on its own history the museum holds craft classes and hosts an annual Oktoberfest
fundraiser
Ballston Spa, New York
Ballston Spa is a village in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 5,556 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Saratoga County. The village is named after Rev. Eliphalet Ball, a Congregationalist clergyman and an early settler. The village lies on the border of two...
, New York, United States. It is a wooden house built in the 1790s, one of the oldest in the village, but modified since then.
It was originally used as an inn for visitors to the spring waters that gave the village its name, very near its location. The inn had several famous guests; for example, James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...
is said to have written some of The Last of the Mohicans
The Last of the Mohicans
The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in February 1826. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known...
during his stay. The building has been a boys' school, a private residence, a boarding house
Boarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
, a sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
, and apartments. In 1970, the Saratoga County Historical Society purchased the building and opened it as a museum.
In 1975 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, the first of four properties in the village to be listed. It currently is home to the Saratoga County Historical Society, which operates it as a local history museum.
Building
It is located on the triangular 1.5 acres (6,070.3 m²) lotLot (real estate)
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...
where Front Street splits into Charlton and Fairground avenues. The land to the west is wooded, with a small creek flowing north-south across the land. There are some other residences in the area. Downtown Ballston Spa is to the east along Front Street. There is a small dirt parking area on the south side.
The house itself is a two-and-a-half–story, five-by-nine-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
building constructed in stages. The main block in front accounts for three of the lengthwise bays. On the rear is a long extension half the width of the front block, with a two-story shed-roofed section on its own rear.
It is a frame
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping...
building on a fieldstone
Fieldstone
Fieldstone is a building construction material. Strictly speaking, it is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally...
foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
sided
Siding
Siding is the outer covering or cladding of a house meant to shed water and protect from the effects of weather. On a building that uses siding, it may act as a key element in the aesthetic beauty of the structure and directly influence its property value....
in clapboard
Clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
. The steeply pitched
Roof pitch
In building construction, roof pitch is a numerical measure of the steepness of a roof, and a pitched roof is a roof that is steep.The roof's pitch is the measured vertical rise divided by the measured horizontal span, the same thing as what is called "slope" in geometry. Roof pitch is typically...
gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d roof is covered in cedar shingles
Roof shingle
Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat rectangular shapes laid in rows from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive higher row overlapping the joints in the row below...
pierced by three dormer windows and two brick chimneys at the ends. The two rear sections are covered in asphalt shingles.
Four square pillars support the full-height front porch. Inside, there is little original hardware or woodwork. The staircase, which has simple brackets
Bracket (architecture)
A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
and a railing
Railing
Railing may refer to:* Guard rail, a structure blocking an area from access* Handrail, a structure designed to provide support, such as on a staircase* Insufflation , the act of inhaling a substance, generally a drug...
with narrow baluster
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
s and turned newel
Newel
A newel, also called a central pole, is an upright post that supports the handrail of a stair banister. In stairs having straight flights it is the principal post at the foot of the staircase, but it can also be used for the intermediate posts on landings and at the top of a staircase...
s, dates to 1860. The framing here is hand-hewn, and the ceilings are low.
History
Local IndianNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tribes had long known of the benefits of the spring and its naturally carbonated
Carbonation
Carbonation is the process of dissolving carbon dioxide in water. The process usually involves carbon dioxide under high pressure. When the pressure is reduced, the carbon dioxide is released from the solution as small bubbles, which cause the solution to "fizz." This effect is seen in carbonated...
waters. In 1767, they shared it with Sir William Johnson
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet was an Anglo-Irish official of the British Empire. As a young man, Johnson came to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Admiral Peter Warren, which was located amidst the Mohawk, one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League...
, the British general who had led troops in the region during King George's War
King George's War
King George's War is the name given to the operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession . It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia...
and later the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
. At the time the nearest European settlement
European colonization of the Americas
The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492. The first Europeans to reach the Americas were the Vikings during the 11th century, who established several colonies in Greenland and one short-lived settlement in present day Newfoundland...
was at Ballston Lake.
Later visitors included a team surveying the Kayaderosseras Patent, George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
and Elkanah Watson
Elkanah Watson
Elkanah Watson was a visionary traveller and writer, agriculturist and canal promoter. He was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts and died at Port Kent, New York. During the American Revolutionary War he carried dispatches to Benjamin Franklin in France...
. They all spoke and wrote of the curative powers of the spring. After the Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, Benajah Douglas, grandfather of Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the Northern Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. He lost to the Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, whom he had defeated two years earlier in a Senate contest following a famed...
, bought a hundred acres (40 ha) on the west side of the creek opposite the spring to take advantage of the growing tourist trade.
He built a rudimentary log cabin
Log cabin
A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...
on the site of the present house, the only dry clearing in an otherwise swampy area, where visitors had been camping since Indian times. Later a separate cottage was built for housekeeping.
In 1791, another entrepreneur, Micajah Benedict, built a more luxurious guest house a mile (1.6 km) away. Douglas responded by building the main block of the current structure two years later. It had a columned piazza
Piazza
A piazza is a city square in Italy, Malta, along the Dalmatian coast and in surrounding regions. The term is roughly equivalent to the Spanish plaza...
, though not the current one. He was so successful that others built in the vicinity, beginning the development of Ballston Spa.
Johnson reaped the benefits of his investment and sold to a Joseph Wescot two years later. He, in turn, sold to Josiah Aldridge in 1798. During nearly four decades of ownership, Aldridge would change not only the house but the growing village, which incorporated
Municipal corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which...
in 1807.
On the house, he built the rear wing and a north wing (since removed and rebuilt as a residence) with a ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
. He replaced the piazza with the current colonnade, adding a Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
touch to a mostly Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
-Federal building. He reworked the inside heavily. And as a trustee of the new village, he worked to improve the area around the spring.
Later in his life, in 1835, the spring finally failed, probably because of the many new ones that had been dug in the area. The next year, Aldridge's family sold the house. Ten years later, in 1846, its owners began to use it as a full-time residence exclusively, ending its days as a hotel. The next year, a new spring was dug just north of the house. It was called the Old Iron Spring, and continues to flow today.
By that time Saratoga Springs
Saratoga Springs, New York
Saratoga Springs, also known as simply Saratoga, is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 26,586 at the 2010 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area. While the word "Saratoga" is known to be a corruption of a Native American name, ...
, a short distance to the north, had begun to become a bigger attraction for bathers, offering other recreational facilities and thoroughbred horse racing
Thoroughbred horse race
Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: Flat racing and National Hunt racing...
. Ballston Spa's economy switched to industry, with a number of small opening up in the area.
In 1859, with the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
looming, Brookside became a military academy
Military academy
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the army, the navy, air force or coast guard, which normally provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.Three...
. In 1864, with peace in the offing, it reverted to residential use, first as a single-family residence
Single-family home
A single-family detached home, also called a single-detached dwelling or separate house is a free-standing residential building. It is defined in opposition to a multi-family dwelling.- Definitions :...
and later as an apartment house. It was eventually acquired by the Saratoga County
Saratoga County, New York
Saratoga County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 219,607. It is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county seat is Ballston Spa...
Historical Society for use both as a historic house museum and its own headquarters. In addition to exhibits on its own history the museum holds craft classes and hosts an annual Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest, or Wiesn, is a 16–18 day beer festival held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and is the world's largest fair, with more than 5 million people attending every year. The...
fundraiser
Fundraiser
A fundraiser is an event or campaign whose primary purpose is to raise money for a cause. See also: fundraising. A fundraiser can also be an individual or company whose primary job is to raise money for a specific charity or non-profit organization...
See also
- List of museums in New York
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Saratoga County, New York
External links
- Brookside Museum - official site