Historic home gets a marker
HALFMOON, N.Y. » The Halfmoon Historical Society dedicated a historic marker recently at the site of a former riverside tavern that once entertained George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
The marker notes the spot at 603 Hudson River Road where Thomas and Elizabeth Peebles built their home in 1766. Upon Thomas’ death in 1774, Elizabeth opened the home up to the public as a tavern to support her family, one of the first taverns in the area.
The blue and yellow marker placed in front of the mid-19th century home that stands on the site today marks the spot of what was once the “Widow Peebles Tavern.” The business is noted on a 1799 map of the area.
The large, two-story, white, Greek Revival home that occupies the site today is owned by Thea Hotaling and Arthur Palmer. They, along with the home’s previous owner Peter Lajeunesse, were joined by members of the historical society and several town officials for the marker’s official ribbon cutting.
“Preserving history is very important,” said historical society officer and Halfmoon Town Clerk Lynda Bryan. “The historical society is an instrument for that and there is no better way to educate the residents to our history than to have these markers out there.”
The historical society rejuvenated a dormant town historic marker program in 2016, adding four new markers to the 10 that were in place. With three more markers this year, the program now has 17 sites marked throughout town.
Hotaling and Palmer opened their Brookwood Manor home up for the presentations of legislative proclamations that noted the site’s history and thanked the couple for preserving another of the town’s historic homes. The couple bought the house in 2000 and has been steadily working on its restoration.
“Arthur and I believe we are caretakers,” Thea Hotaling said. “We feel that history is here for everybody to enjoy and we’re just here as a stepping stone. We feel fortunate that we have this home. It’s such a privilege to be honoring history, particularly in these times when people are not honoring it and are instead trying to tear it down. I think it is our backbone.”
In her remarks on the home, taken from her research, Hotaling noted the uniqueness of Elizabeth Peebles as an 18th century businesswoman and the fact that Washington’s records at Mount Vernon show he stayed in the tavern in 1783 and paid extra for feed for his horse. Washington and a small group were on their way to Saratoga to view the battlefield site.
“History is living history,” Hotaling said, “if we keep it live and personal, it keeps history interesting.” The proclamations from the offices of state Sen. Kathy Marchione, R-Halfmoon, Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, RBallston Spa, and the town, all noted the importance of history in today’s world.
The 6,000-square-foot home has a basement and a first floor with three parlors, a dining room, kitchen, bathroom, and back room that looks on to the Hudson River. The second floor has three bedrooms and an independent apartment.
In discussing the restoration work, Palmer said he did not have to do any major interior construction work on the home after its purchase.
“We took the wallpaper off and refinished the floors and sought out historical paints based on paint chips we found as we removed the old paint from the walls. Every room has been gone through,” he said.
Previous owner Peter Lajeunesse attended the ceremony and was happy to see the care the couple has given the home. He grew up in the area and said he always wanted to live in the house from the time he was a boy.
“I put 30 years of sweat equity into it,” he said. “It’s like they always say, be careful what you wish for because you might just get it. But I got what I’d wanted all my life and I had it for 30 years. I’m so happy Thea and Art bought it because it could have been taken down for apartments.”