Become a Docent at the Van Wyck Homestead Museum. For more details, see the historical society's page on VolunteerMatch.org
Many hands make light work... and volunteering has many rewards for you too! Read this article called "Volunteering and its Surprising Benefits".
Inside the museum, see colonial-era artifacts, learn about Fishkill's important role in the Revolutionary War, Dutch architecture, prominent people from Fishkill, and colonial-era family life. The Homestead possesses its open hearth and beehive bread oven. Volunteers welcome visitors on Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00 to 4:00, June through October, or by appointment.
The museum's grounds are open every day of the year from dawn to dusk. The grounds feature an 18th-century kitchen garden, a model of the clay bread ovens used for the Fishkill Supply Depot, and significant monuments. Self-guided tour guides of the museum's grounds are available in the mailbox on the front porch.
The Van Wyck Homestead Museum is located in the Mid-Hudson Valley at 504 Route 9, Fishkill, New York. However, the museum's driveway is accessed from Snook Road, very close to its intersection with Route 9.
About the Fishkill Historical Society
The Van Wyck Homestead Museum is a colonial-era house built in 1732 by Cornelius and Hanna Van Wyck and is owned and operated by the Fishkill Historical Society. The Continental Army used the house during the Revolutionary War as the Officers' Headquarters for the Fishkill Supply Depot.
The Fishkill Supply Depot was a key strategic center of the American Revolution, established by General George Washington in October 1776 as a central location for storing and distributing supplies during the American Revolution. Yearly, over 2,000 Continental Army soldiers were trained in Fishkill. Another 2,000 soldiers, craftspeople, and other supply depot supporters were housed year-round in barracks at the Fishkill Supply Depot encampment. The depot employed hundreds of workers, including skilled craftspeople, responsible for sourcing, manufacturing, maintaining, and repairing equipment to keep the army well-supplied. The Fishkill Supply Depot operated until the end of the American Revolution in November 1783.
The Fishkill Historical Society was founded in 1962 by local residents who dedicated themselves to preserving the history of Fishkill and the Van Wyck Homestead. The founding members established the society to save the abandoned Homestead from imminent demolition from the construction of a planned cloverleaf exit ramp for Interstate 84 at Route 9.
The Homestead has served as a historical museum since the 1970s. It is maintained and operated by volunteers of the Fishkill Historical Society. We are grateful to the founding members of this society for their foresight and perseverance to preserve and then restore the Van Wyck Homestead and turn it into a Revolutionary War-era Museum.
Events
Tour The Van Wyck Homestead Museum
From June through October
The museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00 PM until 4:00 PM.
Self-guided tours of the grounds are available every day from dawn to dusk. Brochure guides are next to the museum’s front door.
*Museum opening schedule is subject to change as it is dependent on volunteer personnel availability. Off-season tour appointments can be requested.*
Contact the Fishkill Historical Society
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