Historic New York home on market for $4.9 million
A pre-Revolutionary War farmhouse built by the first family of Palisades, New York’s, secluded Snedens Landing neighborhood is back on the market.
Sitting minutes north of the New Jersey-New York border and 12 miles from the George Washington Bridge on a hill overlooking the Hudson River, 35 Washington Spring Road stood above a key military chokepoint during the American Revolution. Retaining touches from key periods of its nearly 275-year history, the slate-roofed home has handcrafted features that defy replication, said listing agent Richard Ellis of Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty.
“The quirkiness of the home is captivating,” Ellis said.
The original portion of the home was built in about 1750 by John Sneden, whose mother, Mary, later opened a tavern and a ferry dock at the first break in the Palisades north of Edgewater. The site would become a strategic focal point for the British and American forces during the Revolutionary War.
While most of the Snedens were branded loyalists, Mary’s ferry clients included Martha Washington, according to local lore. Moreover, her son John Sneden “always appeared to be a warm friend to the cause of America,” said a July 29, 1776, declaration by the Orangetown County Committee.
New Jersey’s first John Sneden left Amsterdam in December 1657 for the colony of New Amstel on the Delaware River, according to Bergen County Historical Society records. His descendants later bought 120 acres stretching from Rockland County, New York, into Bergen County, New Jersey.
In November 1776, about 500 patriots gathered around four cannons and a howitzer near 35 Washington Spring Road to force British forces into landing along the cliffs of the Palisades during an assault on Fort Lee.
Nearly two years later, in August 1780, Gen. George Washington had a blockhouse built nearby to monitor the river and safeguard the ferry dock, federal historical records show. Among those who passed by 35 Washington Spring Road on the way to the since-destroyed blockhouse included Washington and famous turncoat Benedict Arnold.
The oldest part of John Sneden’s old home, made conspicuous by its exposed exterior sandstone block, dates to about 1750. The home’s largest section and tallest roofline was added by Mary Watson, who bought the house in 1859. The subsequent owner, Lydia Lawrence, converted the home into the town’s first public library.
Restored over the past five years, 35 Washington Spring Road nonetheless retains many period details, such as pine floors, working fireplaces, panel doors and hand-hewn beams, Ellis said. There are three ensuite bedrooms, three living rooms, four bathrooms and an English kitchen within the 3,200-square-foot interior. Antique furnishings from the 18th and 19th centuries add to the ambiance and come with the
$4.975 million asking price. The rear porch offers impressive views of the Hudson River, extensive on-site landscaping and an inground pool.
The home, like many others in the neighborhood, was first transformed into a posh residence by Mary Tonetti. A sculptor who would go on to own and remodel more than two dozen neighborhood homes, Tonetti began her foray into Snedens Landing at 35 Washington Spring Road. She left the home at about the time World War I started, but she didn’t sell it.
As she did with many of her other area homes, she rented it to artist friends on the cheap. Among them were sculptor Alexander Phimister Proctor, composer Aaron Copland and actress Antoinette “Tony” Perry — the Tony Award namesake. Actors Margot Kidder, Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke would later reside at
35 Washington Spring Road.