Manor House

I took these in 2010 with a Fuji HS10, a camera I bought on a whim, didn’t like much and barely use. It was widely (and justly) criticized at the time for producing pictures that were not very sharp. Critics often stated that the images looked like watercolors. Well, that’s not always bad….

According to the website of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area:

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the landholdings of the Philipse family encompassed 52,000 acres and included a complex that featured a mill, farm, and large stone manor house located on the banks of the Pocantico River. The complex served as the hub of the family’s business empire, which included the slave trade. Thanks to an inventory compiled in 1750, it is known that 23 Africans were the chief labor force at Philipsburg Manor, making the Philipses one of the largest slaveholders in the northern colonies.

Today, Philipsburg Manor is a restored 18th century trading and milling living-history museum that focuses on the lives of enslaved Africans. A reconstructed water-powered gristmill grinds grain while heirloom varieties of plants are grown in a recreated slave garden and animals are tended around an 18th-century Dutch barn moved to the site. Demonstrations in householding techniques of the period, such as cooking and spinning, take place in a reconstructed tenant farmer’s house.

Weir and Grist Mill

Closer view of the water wheel. I liked the colors and the textures of the wood and the almost, but not quite, symmetry of the windows.