Historic Robert Jenkins House Open House

The Historic Robert Jenkins House at 113 Warren Street in Hudson holds the first of this year’s tour days on Saturday, March 25th, 1-4pm. The 1811 house, built by proprietor Robert Jenkins, is on the National Register of Historic Places as Nationally Significant and is in the Front Street-Parade Hill-Lower Warren Street Historic District. The house is a fine early example of federal-style architecture in the Hudson Valley where Dutch architecture dominated during the 18th century.

The house is maintained as a chapter house where routine business of the Hendrick Hudson Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution takes place. Beginning in 1900 when the chapter received it as a gift, the house was the site of the city’s first and only free public library until 1959 when the Hudson Area Library was established. Now, an historical and genealogical library is open to the public, still free of charge. The house is arguably Hudson’s museum. In 1900, a broad invitation to contribute to the new museum was issued by theColumbia Republican, which, in a lengthy story about the house, said “donations of books, pictures, relics and curios will be most acceptable, in fact anything of merit which will adorn, beautify or be of use.” The resulting historic collections include artifacts, documents, furnishings, and fine art.

The Historic Robert Jenkins House is truly an “American Treasure,” evidenced by a Save America’s Treasures grant awarded in September 2021 by the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. The grant, funded by the Historic Preservation Fund, will help pay for the repair and restoration of the house’s slate roof, upper masonry and aging infrastructure.

The Hendrick Hudson Chapter of the DAR was chartered in 1896. A nonpartisan organization welcoming eligible women without regard to race, creed, or religion, it includes 130 members who trace their lineage back to a patriot in the American Revolution–whether serving as soldier, shopkeeper, or seamstress. The mission of the DAR is to promote historic preservation, education, and patriotism.

The chapter and the chapter house can be accessed at hudson-dar.org, facebook.com/HudsonDAR, instagram.com/robertjenkinshouse, hendrickhudsonchapterdar@gmail.com, and (518) 828-9764.