History is a Knick of Time

By Don Rittner

One of my favorite local historic sites is the Knickerbocker Mansion in “Schaghticoke” (Algonquian for “meeting of the waters”). The mansion is under the care and restoration of the Knickerbocker Historical Society, a determined and motivated group of volunteers that rescued it from certain demolition. It’s also the site where a great legend associated with the Hudson Valley and New York originated.

This ancient mansion, surrounded by cornfields and just south of the Hoosic River off Knickerbocker Road, was the home of the Knickerbocker family for some 250 years. It was Washington Irving (“Dietrich Knickerbocker”) that forever branded the Knickerbocker name with the Dutch history of New York State. His relationship with NY Congressman Herman Knickerbocker (affectionately called the “Prince of Schaghticoke” ), and the whole Knickerbocker family, may be the model for Irving’s now famous satirical history of New York. At a recent visit to the mansion, it was easy to imagine the two of them trading stories (Herman was known as a prankster).

The Knickerbocker site in Schaghticoke was settled around 1700. It was Harmen Jansen van Wyhe who came to America and started the Knickerbocker line, although it was his great grandson Johannes who built the current mansion about 1770. Harmen was born about 1648, arriving in America about 1674. He called himself "van Wyekycback(e)," using that name on a land contract in 1682. He is the ancestor of all "Knickerbockers" in North America.

The origin of the name Knickerbocker (or Knickerbacker) is still a matter of conjuncture, but regardless, it became synonymous with New York’s Dutch history and made famous by Irving. Irving’s “history” of 1809 combined fact with fiction. His now famous homestead “Sunnyside” in Tarrytown, NY, is also a combination of real and imaginary. He somehow “borrowed” or purchased several items from the old Vanderheyden Palace in Albany before it was torn down.

The Vanderheyden Palace was next to Philip Livingston’s house on North Pearl and was built in 1725 by Johannes Beeckman. In 1778, it was purchased by one of Troy’s Vanderheydens. The palace became the “residence of Heer Anthony Vanderheyden,” in the 1822 setting of Irving’s Bracebridge Hall, the story of Dolph Heyliger. It’s clear that Irving had affection for the place since he obtained the running horse weathervane and date irons from the building, and it is reported that one of the gable ends of the house was also taken. All of these items were reused at Sunnyside.

There is also an odd connection between Irving, Albany, and the Knickerbocker Mansion. Next to the Vanderheyden Palace, at Philip Livingston’s house, Livingston, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, planted a symbolic elm tree. The tree lived for 123 years before it was taken down on June 15, 1877. Over at the Knickerbocker Mansion, to reconvene their friendship with the settlers, around 1,000 Native Americans met at the site of the Knickerbocker Mansion in 1676 and signed a peace treaty. It was sealed with the planting of a symbolic oak peace tree, or ‘tree of welfare,’ called the Witenagemot (Old English for "meeting of wise men;" historically, a session of the counselors of a king in Anglo-Saxon England). This tree stood until a few years ago when wind finally toppled it.

The mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Recent efforts have raised enough money to allow the construction of a new roof and restore a wall that collapsed. The group is now trying to raise money to restore the windows and interior. The “cathedral like” barns are no longer there, and were probably Dutch style. The Society has an annual Winter Harvest Festival fundraiser with good food, re-enactors, and tours of the mansion and grounds.

While the roots are here, the name Knickerbocker has become pervasive in America. Locally, you may remember the Knickerbocker News, or the Knickerbocker (now Pepsi) Arena. In the illustrations of Irving’s early editions of his history, Knickerbocker is portrayed wearing loose-fitting breeches, or trousers that end just below the knee. This type of pants was worn in the 19th century by males engaged in various athletics, and became known as "knickerbockers." By 1881, it was shortened to "knickers," and was still common in the 1930s and 40s. Even the NY Knickerbockers (“Knicks”) had, as their original logo, a Dutchman (Knickerbocker) dribbling a ball. The name Knickerbocker was later used to identify the first American school of writers, the Knickerbocker Group.

On October 29/30, the Mansion will be open from 6-10 PM for "Knick at Night." Once again the “reported” ghosts of the Knickerbockers and their friends will be haunting the spooky chambers during evening hours.

However, before you go, be sure to read Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It will put you in the fright frame of mind.