Clinton House in Poughkeepsie, built 1765, served as New York's capital from 1777 to 1783. Visit by appointment, Tuesday through Friday only.
This stone house built around 1765 preserves a rare piece of American history: the building where a young state government briefly operated. With rough fieldstone walls and gabled wooden ends, it served as a meeting place for local and state officials when Poughkeepsie was New York's temporary capital during the Revolutionary War, from 1777 to 1783.
A fire damaged the building in 1783, and General Washington's New Windsor Cantonment sent carpenters to rebuild and enlarge it, adding the grand staircase that's still the house's best architectural detail. Two-foot-thick stone foundations and fine period woodwork line the interior, nothing showy but meticulous in every detail.
Keep reading Clinton House State Historic Site The rest of the write-up, our tier and the caveat — $16 for all 460 places.
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More in Poughkeepsie
Bardavon 1869 Opera House Dutchess Rail Trail Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (Vassar College) Adams Fairacre Farms Arlington Farmers' Market Cosimo's Trattoria & Bar Hudson & Packard Locust Grove Estate
Nearby
Bowdoin Park Wappingers Falls Franny Reese State Park Highland Prospect Hill Orchards Milton Nostrano Vineyards Milton Oriole 9 Woodstock Mills-Norrie State Park & Staatsburgh (Norrie Point Trail) Staatsburg