Passing many delightful homes on the west bank and the
mouth of the Norman's Kill (Indian name Ta-wa-sentha, place of many
dead) and the Convent of the Sacred Heart, we see Dow's Point on the
east and above this the--
=Van Rensselaer Place=, with its port holes on either side of the door
facing the river, showing that it was built in troublesome times.
It is the oldest of the Patroon manor houses, built in 1640 or
thereabouts. It has been said that the adaptation of the old tune now
known as "Yankee Doodle" was made near the well in the grounds of the
Van Rensselaer Place by Dr. Richard Shuckberg, who was connected with
the British army when the Colonial troops from New England marched
into camp at Albany to join the British regulars on their way to fight
the French. The tune was known in New England before the Revolution as
"Lydia Fisher's Jig," a name derived from a famous lady who lived
in the reign of Charles II, and which has been perpetuated in the
following rhyme:
Lucy Locket lost her pocket,
Lydia Fisher found it;
Not a bit of money in it,
Only binding 'round it.
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