"Clermont" is about half a mile to the north,
the home of Clermont Livingston, an early manor house built by Robert
R. Livingston, who, next to Hamilton, was the greatest New York
statesman during our revolutionary period. The manor church, not seen
from the river, is at the old village of Clermont, about five miles
due west from the mansion. The Livingstons are of Scotch ancestry and
have an illustrious lineage. Mary Livingston, one of the "four Marys"
who attended Mary Queen of Scots during her childhood and education in
France, was of the same family. Robert Livingston, born in 1654, came
to the Hudson Valley with his father, and in 1686 purchased from the
Indians a tract of country reaching east twenty-two miles to the
boundary of Massachusetts with a river frontage of twelve miles. This
purchase was created, "the Lordship and Manor of Livingston," by
Governor Thomas Dongan. In 1692 Robert built the manor house, but did
not reside in it for twenty years. He was a friend of Captain Kidd and
a powerful promoter of his enterprises. The manor consisted of 260,000
acres.
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