Martin Van Buren NHS Landscape: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Martin Van Buren National Historic Site
Brown M. 2025. Martin Van Buren NHS Landscape: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Martin Van Buren National Historic Site. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 650035. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
Martin Van Buren National Historic Site is located 20 miles south of Albany and two miles east of the Hudson River in Kinderhook, Columbia County, New York. The Hudson Valley property known as “Lindenwald” was the home of Martin Van Buren (1782‑1862), the nation’s eighth President. Upon acquiring the property in 1839, Van Buren managed it as an experimental and working farm, and resided there from the end of his presidential term in 1841 until his death. The site is defined by its historically rural setting, upper and lower river terrace topography, and by the distant Catskill Mountains that are visible in the park’s western viewshed. The park preserves the core of Van Buren’s original property, defined by a 2.5‑story brick mansion built in 1797 and enlarged by Van Buren in 1849‑1850, and fronted by a shady lawn enclosed by a semicircular tree‑lined entry drive and a remnant segment of the Old Post Road. The surrounding woods and farmland within the park’s 300‑acre authorized boundary remains undeveloped and actively farmed. The focus of this inventory is the recently established historic district, which encompasses 176.95 acres of federally‑owned and privately‑owned land within the park. All but around three acres of land within the historic district were owned by Van Buren, who developed the estate to reflect his wealth and Jeffersonian agrarian beliefs.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Brown, Margie
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- MAVA , NER
- Keywords
- American Exploration and Settlement, Archeology-Historic-Non-Aboriginal, Archeology-Prehistoric, Architecture, Colonial Exploration and Settlement, Dutch Exploration and Settlement, Exotic Revivals (1830-1860), Expressing Cultural Values, Federal (1780-1820), historic site, Jacksonian Democracy (1828-1844), Kleinrood, Lindenwald, Manifest Destiny (1844-1859), Museum (Exhibition Hall)-Other, Peopling Places, Political and Military Affairs (1783-1860), Politics - Government, Prehistoric Archeology: Topical Facets, Prehistoric Settlements And Settlement Patterns, Shaping the Political Landscape, Single Family House, The Rise Of Sectionalism (1840-1859)