Barrytown, New York

Former post office and general store at Barrytown
Horseback riders in Barrytown in 1902, including FDR

Barrytown is a hamlet within the town of Red Hook in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is within the Hudson River Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, and comprises four of the Hudson River Valley estates: Edgewater, Messina, Rokeby, and Sylvania. The Messina Property, at the northern sector of the hamlet was purchased in 1929 by the New York District of the Roman Catholic religious institute, the Brothers of the Christian Schools, who established on that site the St. Joseph's Normal Institute as a teacher training facility for their Junior and Senior Novices. In 1975 the property was bought by the Unification Church, where its Unification Theological Seminary is located.[1] The majority of the houses in Barrytown were built in the mid to late nineteenth century, often with the purpose to house workers at the local estates and accompanying farms. Barrytown was named in honor of President Andrew Jackson's Postmaster General, William Taylor Barry, who served in that capacity from 1829 to 1835.

Notable people associated with Barrytown

  • "Barrytown", recorded by Steely Dan on the 1974 album Pretzel Logic;[2] Donald Fagen and the late Walter Becker, Steely Dan's leaders and songwriters, are alumni of nearby Bard College.
  • John D Rockefeller bought the historical Barrytown Massena estate in 1929, and built a large Novitiate school complex for the Christian Brothers named the Saint Joseph Normal Institute. The school eventually closed this location and in 1975 sold the property to the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity which opened a theological seminary in September 1975.
  • The Astor family resided at Rokeby Estate during the 19th and early 20th centuries.[3]
  • Key early works of artist Gary Hill were created while living on Station Hill Road (1977-1984), initially as a tenant of artist/poet George Quasha and artist Susan Quasha, where Hill's works were filmed in their Stained Glass Studio: Why Do Things Get in a Muddle? (Come On Petunia) (1984) and, returning to Barrytown, collaborating with poets George Quasha and Charles Stein, Tale Enclosure (1985) and Figuring Grounds (1985/2008).
Rokeby Estate, also known as La Bergerie, River Road, Barrytown, Dutchess County

References

  1. ↑ UTS History Archived January 31, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. UTS Website. Accessed February 14, 2012
  2. ↑ LYRICS of PRETZEL LOGIC (1974) Steely Dan Website. Accessed February 14, 2012
  3. ↑ Thomas, Lately. The Astor Orphans: A Pride of Lions, W. Morrow, 1971. ISBN 1881324036
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