The Outbuildings at Locust Lawn

For 220 years, the site that is now Locust Lawn was a working farm and mill.  The Terwilliger tamed land along the Plattekill Creek, building a saw and grist mill.  They likely also added other outbuildings during the seven decades that Evert Terwilliger and his descendants lived in their homestead.

Nothing of these buildings remain today.  What does remain are several outbuildings built during the tenure of the Hasbrouck family.  These include two carriage barns, a tool barn, a slaughter barn, smokehouse and two privies. While documents and photographs indicate that the farm complex built by the Hasbroucks once included many additional structures, these remaining buildings give us a unique glimpse into the past.  These were not revered or coddled structures.  They were utilitarian. 

The 1865 photo at top shows, from left to right, the mill buildings along the Plattekill Creek, the Josiah Hasbrouck House and, faintly, the roof of a large Dutch barn.  That Josiah, an affluent man with access to the latest trends and architectural styles, chose to build a Dutch barn in the shadow of his grand and modern Federal-style home is notable.  While Josiah was a man invested in the future of the young country, he was also a man paying homage to the history of the region and his ancestors.

Of the structures that remain today, the slaughter barn is in particularly good condition. Documents in the Locust Lawn collection also make reference to the larger of the two privies — the family privy.  It survives in remarkably good condition today.

Some of the outbuildings are accessible on a limited basis during special tours and by appointment.