Visit Edmonston House

NEW WINDSOR — This Saturday, visit Revolutionary War headquarters Edmonston House and meet General Horatio Gates, who was none too happy to be billeted in this house.
The home of James Edmonston has stood for over 250 years. Rescued in the 1960s by the National Temple Hill Association, the house, by that point, was a junk yard showroom filled with old car parts. Now restored, the house serves as the headquarters for this local historic organization.
When General Horatio Gates was assigned the Edmonston home as winter quarters for 1782-83, he wrote General George Washington: "Your Excellency's dog kennel at Mount Vernon is as good a Quarter as that I am now in." Eyeing the larger and far more refined Ellison House, he expected to be billeted at that nearby property. To please Gates, the senior ranking Major General in the Continental Army, Quartermaster General Colonel Timothy Pickering, had to evict Surgeon General John Cochran from the Ellison house. Angered by his removal, Cochran challenged the beleaguered Pickering to a duel.
Organized in 1933, The National Temple Hill Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic sites related to the last encampment of Washington's Continental Army.
This is a cooperative program of the National Temple Hill Association and the New Windsor Cantonment State Historic Site. Admission is free. The event runs from 5 to 8 p.m.
Edmonston House is located at 1042 Route 94 in New Windsor, just one half mile west of the five corner intersection. For more information, call 845-561-1765 ext. 22.