THE PETER BROWN HOUSE

SUMMARY OF RESEARCH AND ARCHAEOGICAL EXCAVATIONS

He lived here with his wife, Ann, and farmed the land until his death in 1884. Documentary research indicates that Brown's children resided here for only a part of the time that Brown owned the property. Summer rentors also resided here at times beginning in the 1860s.

Peter Brown was a colorful "character," reportedly a "hard drinker," and with a "pugnacious" disposition. In time he bacame the subject of a series of portraits by the noted american genre painter, Edward Lamson Henry. Since the apparent backdrops of many of these works were the living spaces inhabited by Brown and his wife, not only do we gain a clear picture of Brown's physical appearance during the later years of his life but also a sense of the farmhouse's rustic interior and the objects contained within it.

                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                      E .L. Henry - "Peter Brown" (1886)                           E.L. Henry - "The Obstinate Razor" (1882)


In 1887, subsequent to Peter Brown's death, his wife Ann sold the property. The Brown house was subsequently occupied primarily as a summer residence. Nevertheless, it continued to be associated with persons important in the history of Cragsmoor. Eliza Hartshorn, who purchased the property from Ann Brown, was instrumental in the development of the Cragsmoor community, and through friendships and family connections played a major role in attracting artists to Cragsmoor. Several of them, including Frederick Dellenbaugh and Charles C. Curran apparently resided in the Brown house, renting it from Eliza Hartshorn. The house subsequently had several owners until 1914, when it was purchased by artist Frederick V. Baker, who used it as a studio and summer residence until its destruction by fire in 1951.

We also excavated numerous artifacts from within the foundation of the "summer kitchen" portion of the structure. The artifacts were apparently within this portion of the house at the time of the 1951 fire, and most were likely associated with the occupation of the house by its last owner, artist Frederick V. Baker. These include a number of ceramic fragments that comprised a major portion of a Chinese blue and white porcelain brush pot, probably manufactured in the nineteenth century. This brush pot was apparently used by Baker during his work, and suggests that he may have used this rear portion of the house as a studio.