Kingston contains. There are between forty and fifty stone houses, dating from before the Revolution, and many going back to the old Dutch regime. The Senate House, according to local chronicles, was erected about 1676 by Col. Wessel Ten Broeck. It is one-story high with capacious attic and is 77 x 24 feet in size with a kitchen annex, adding fourteen feet to its width at one end. Its front is of limestone and its rear of brick. It is situated at the corner of Clinton avenue and North Front street. During Vaughn's raid in 1777, all the light woodwork was destroyed by fire, but the walls and many of the old hewn timbers remained intact. The roof is post-Revolutionary. In 1869, Mr. Frederick E. Westbrook, a New York city lawyer, who then owned the building, in making some repairs, found the original oak beams in the cellar and the ceiling in good condition. The lean-to kitchen, only six feet high, was also perfect.

In February, 1777, the Convention of Representatives of the State of New York adjourned from Fishkill to Kingston and the Senate met in this old house, owned at the time by Abraham Van Gaasbeek. The sessions were of momentous importance, as the first Constitution of the State, in the preparation of which preliminary steps had been taken at White Plains and Fishkill, was matured in Kingston and finally adopted April 20, 1777.

The inside of this interesting building has been equipped with glass cases and shelves as a museum, and it was visited by about 10,000 persons last year. The custodian in charge is Mr. Julius Schoonmaker.

Saratoga Monument.

The Saratoga Monument Reservation consists of about two acres of land in the village of Schuylerville, in the town and county of Saratoga, upon which stands the monument commemorating the surrender of Burgoyne on October 17, 1777. It is about one-fourth of a mile from "Monument Station" on the Bos

ton and Maine railroad. It is located on the site of Burgoyne's fortified camp on a hill overlooking the place of his surrender.

The monument was erected on the initiative of the Saratoga Monument Association which was formed in 1860. The Monument Association raised some funds for the purpose; then the town of Saratoga contributed $10,000, and later on private and State contributions completed it. The State appropriated $15,000 toward its completion by chapter 354 of the Laws of 1882. The corner stone was laid with civic and military ceremonies on the centennial anniversary of Burgoyne's capitulation, October 17, 1877, and the monument was completed in June, 1883. The completed monument has never been dedicated. It cost altogether in the neighborhood of $160,000.

The property was accepted by the State by chapter 555 of the Laws of 1895, which appropriated $4,500 for the purchase of the land from the Saratoga Monument Association, and $500 for maintenance. Including the appropriation of $15,000, in 1882, and the appropriations for purchase, repairs and maintenance from 1895 to 1907, inclusive, the State has expended upon this property $37,900.

The monument is a commanding structure of blue granite 154 feet high, standing on a base 40 feet square. The interior stairway has 184 steps leading to the highest window, from which a view of from 10 to 30 miles in all directions may be had. It is adorned with statues of Generals Schuyler, Gates and Morgan on three sides. The niche which, but for his later treason, might have been filled with a figure of Benedict Arnold for his bravery at Saratoga, is left significantly vacant.

The Comptroller of the State is charged with the custody and regulation of the property. The superintendent in charge is Col. Joseph J. Perkins, a veteran of the Civil War.

About 5,000 persons a month visit the monument from April or May until November, or about 30,000 a year. No admission fee is charged. There is a small collection of relics in the monument.

John Brown Farm.

On March 29, 1895, Mr. Henry Clews of New York and his wife, Lucy Madison Clews, in behalf of themselves and others, by deed of gift conveyed to the State of New York the major part of lot No. 95 of Thorn's Survey, Township 12, Old Military Tract, in the town of North Elba, Essex county, known as the John Brown farm. By chapter 116 of the Laws of 1896 the Legislature accepted the gift on condition that it should "be and continue to be dedicated and used for the purposes of a public park and reservation forever;" also on condition that Mr. Clews, or his agents, should be permitted to enter and erect near John Brown's grave a suitable tablet or monument. Subsequently, a large granite block was erected near the graveyard bearing the following inscription:

"John Brown's Farm, Dedicated to the People of the State of New York, by Kate Field, LeGrand B. Cannon, Salem H. Wales, William H. Lee, Simeon B. Chittenden, D. Randolph Martin, Jackson S. Schultz, Isaac Sherman, Elliot C. Cowdin, Sinclair Tousey, Anna Quincy Waterston, Isaac H. Bailey, Henry Clews, Charles Stewart Smith, George Cabot Ward, George A. Robbins, Charles C. Judson, Horace B. Claflin, John E. Williams, Thomas Murphy. A. D. 1896."

The actual possession of the property is vested in the Comptroller of the State, but the care, custody and control are with the Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner.

John Brown, the famous abolitionist, lived on this farm prior to his participation in the slavery war in Kansas, and his family were living there at the time of his raid at Harper's Ferry. After

his execution at Charlestown, Va., December 2, 1859, his body was taken to the North Elba farm for burial in accordance with a request made by him shortly before his execution. Here, away up among the rugged Adirondack mountains, in an inclosure surrounded by an iron fence, "John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, while his soul goes marching on."

In 1870, through the efforts of the late Kate Field of Washington, D. C., an association of twenty persons was formed for the purpose of purchasing and preserving the property. The farm, which had already been offered for sale, was bought, and, as before stated, finally conveyed to the State.

The farm contains 243 acres, of which only forty acres have been cleared. The remainder is covered by forest. The two-storied, unpainted farmhouse, built by John Brown in 1850, stands near the little inclosure in which his remains are buried. Some small amounts have been spent by the State on the repair and maintenance of the property. A local caretaker is given the use of the house and farm, rent free, in consideration of his care of the premises. The place is in the heart of the Adirondack Park and is reached by a southward drive of about three miles from Lake Placid railroad station. It commands a fine view of the Cascade mountains across the valley to the eastward.

Grant Cottage, Mount MacGregor.

The cottage in which Gen. U. S. Grant died on Mount MacGregor, in the town of Moreau, Saratoga county, is not owned by the State, but chapter 667 of the Laws of 1896 provides that the State shall pay to the Mount MacGregor Memorial Association $1,000 annually for its maintenance. From 1896 to 1907, inclusive, the State has appropriated $15,150 for repairs, maintenance and improvement.

Early in the summer of 1885 the cottage was purchased by Mr.

Joseph W. Drexel of New York, with a view to occupying it himself as a summer residence; but hearing that General Grant's physician, Doctor Douglass, was looking for some place "in the hills about Saratoga Springs," where his distinguished patient could pass the heated term away from the humidity of the coast, he tendered the cottage for General Grant's use. The offer was accepted and General Grant and family arrived June 16th. Here the great general and ex-president died July 23, 1885. His body lay in State until August 4th, when it was taken to New York, and on August 8th, interred in the temporary tomb near the present mausoleum in Riverside Park.

In July, 1887, Mr. Drexel offered the cottage and its contents to the Grand Army of the Republic. By chapter 5 of the Laws of 1889 the Mount MacGregor Memorial Association was incorporated for the purpose of receiving the cottage and "to hold the same in trust in behalf of the surviving comrades of General Grant and of the whole American people." On February 19, 1889, the title was transferred to the Association by the executors of Mr. Drexel, who, in the meantime, had died.

The names of the trustees of the Association are as follows: The Department Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic of the State of New York and the Adjutant-General of the State of New York, and their successors in office, together with Mr. W. J. Arkell, of New York, President of the Association; Hon. W. T. Dunmore, of Utica, and Mr. R. F. Knapp, of Saratoga Springs. The custodian is Mr. O. P. Clarke.

The Grant Cottage, or Drexel Cottage, as it was formerly called, is a modern, two-storied, frame building, 40 x 30 feet in size. It contains no relics except the furniture and some of the things used by General Grant and his family during their occupation of the building. All of the furniture remains exactly as it was when General Grant left them. The bed on which he died,