Clinton House State Historic Site
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.
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