William Pitcher Farmstead HSR

INTRODUCTION
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The William Pitcher farmhouse is located near the hamlet of Upper Red Hook, New York
and was likely built between 1725 and 1746, but certainly prior to 1768. On May 25
of that year, the property was deeded to William Pitcher by his father and referred to
as “the farm now in the possession of the said William Bitcher(sic).” 1 It is an important
domestic building for the fact that is one of the oldest surviving examples of timberframed
Dutch/German vernacular architecture in the area. The house is set back 250
yards from the north side of Pitcher Lane, a quiet east-west road, a mile and a half long
connecting Route 9, known prior to 1776 as the King’s Highway, to County Route 79,
formerly referred to as the road to Red Hook Landing.
Members of the Pitcher family lived in the house continuously until the later years of
the 19th century. After that it became an incidental structure. The farmhouse
remained in the family, likely a lodging for seasonal workers on the large fruit farm,
until 1942. The larger farm property was sold seven times in the second half of the
20th century, becoming a dairy enterprise by the 1970s. The William Pitcher house
was intermittently occupied, most recently by the herdsman of Linden Farms and his
family. Since 2000, the farmhouse has been vacant, home to raccoons and occasional
vandals. The roof, which is at least 100 years old, has kept the weather out, but there
are some failures in the building envelope.
1
Dutchess County Clerk’s Office, Poughkeepsie, New York