“Ten-dollar” Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and his wife Eliza Schuyler Hamilton had a storied and sometimes tumultuous romance and marriage, but they were true partners in the project of founding the new American nation. There are numerous historical sites associated with both of them, but today I’m going to explore several sites most associated with the couple as they appear in my novel, My Dear Hamilton, co-authored with Stephanie Dray.
Located in Albany, New York, the Schuyler Mansion was built in the early 1760s on what was then the backcountry frontier, a contested swath of land claimed by the British, French, and Indians alike. General Philip Schuyler and his wife Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler already had three little daughters–Angelica, Elizabeth, and Margarita (aka Peggy)–when they moved into the stately red-brick Georgian mansion overlooking the farmlands that sloped down to their landing on the wide Hudson River. Five more children would join the family before and during the Revolutionary War.
The Schuyler family often spent time at a “northern plantation” General Schuyler owned near Saratoga, New York. Elizabeth cherished time at the country house as she loved walking and exploring the outdoors. After the British burned the original house, the General had a mixed crew of enslaved and paid laborers reconstruct the Georgian mansion in just twenty-nine days in November 1777. Though it wasn’t as ornate or as richly decorated as the Schuyler Mansion, it was a symbol of the General’s wealth, as well as a place of business, diplomacy, military strategizing, and family time. The house is now part of the Saratoga National Historical Park and remains largely as it was in 1777.
On December 14, 1780, the Schuyler Mansion hosted the marriage of 23-year-old Elizabeth to Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton, George Washington’s ambitious and brilliant aide-de-camp. The couple had met in Morristown, New Jersey, while Alexander was stationed at the Continental Army’s winter encampment there. For her part, Elizabeth had left the relative safety and comfort of Albany to visit her aunt and assist her uncle, Dr. John Cochran, Surgeon General of the Continental Army, as a nurse.
The demands of war led to a quick betrothal but a drawn-out engagement, as Alexander’s military duties kept him distant from Albany until December. The ceremony took place in the Schuyler Mansion’s well-appointed Best Parlor, while the dancing took place in the main and upstairs halls, the latter of which comprised the largest room in the house. Decorated in a richly ornate “Ruins of Rome” wallpaper produced in England and recently reproduced to demonstrate the grandeur of the decor to modern visitors, the large entry hall and upstairs “salon” were meant to impress–and attract–even the most prestigious guests.
After the war ended, Elizabeth and Alexander lived at the Schuyler Mansion for a time, where their first son, Philip, was born. Throughout the Schuyler and Hamilton family occupancy from 1763-1804, the mansion was the site of military strategizing, Indian diplomacy, nearby army encampments, political hobnobbing, elegant social affairs, and an active family life. Not unusual for the area, the mansion was also home to more than fifty enslaved laborers, servants, and artisans over that span, though Alexander and Elizabeth were opposed to the institution. (Today, the Schuyler Mansion is a National Historic Landmark and a New York State Historical Site.)
Thereafter, the couple moved to Wall Street in New York City, just a few doors down from the Bank of New York, which Alexander helped found. Though the revolutionary-era fabric of most of Lower Manhattan no longer exists, Alexander and Eliza did attend nearby Trinity Church and have occasion to visit Fraunces Tavern, most notably when General Washington retired his commission from the Army. The couple also lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during Alexander’s service as the Secretary to the Treasury. However, their Society Hill house at 3rd and Walnut Streets no longer stands.
The 1790s saw the rise and fall of Alexander’s political career, and had the couple wishing for a respite, leading Alexander to purchase thirty acres in the relative wilderness nine miles outside the city, in what is today the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. Alexander named the Federal-style house he built there Hamilton Grange after his family’s estate in Scotland, and there the couple enjoyed their country orchards, gardens, and parties. However, Alexander and Elizabeth, who had begun going by Eliza, only lived there for two years before tragedy struck when Alexander died in a gun duel with Vice President Aaron Burr across the Hudson at Weehawken, New Jersey.
Initially, it appeared Eliza would lose the house, as her husband’s death had left her so indebted that she could no longer afford it. But friends from Alexander’s Federalist Party pooled money for the widow and her orphans, allowing her to remain until 1833 when she sold it to move in with her daughter at what is now known as the Hamilton-Holly House at 4 St. Mark’s Place in the East Village. She lived there until 1842, when she relocated to Washington, DC, where she resided until her death in 1854 at the age of 97.
If you find yourself in the capital city, visit the Washington Monument, which Eliza, Dolley Madison, and Louisa Catherine Adams are largely responsible for getting constructed after their 18-month fundraising campaign secured the money to lay the monument’s foundations after five decades of discussions. Eliza and Dolley sat on the dais at the monument’s 1849 groundbreaking ceremony and were heralded as heroines of the Revolution.
Alexander and Eliza are buried in Trinity Churchyard. They share a burial plot, though Alexander is interred in an ornate vault topped with a pyramid-shaped monument while Eliza’s burial is marked with a simple flat stone. Eliza’s sister, Angelica Schuyler Church, is also buried in Trinity Churchyard, on the opposite side of the church in the Livingston family vault.
A New York Times Bestseller, LAURA KAMOIE has always been fascinated by the people, stories, and physical presence of the past, which led her to a lifetime of historical and archaeological study, training, and teaching. She holds a doctoral degree in early American history from The College of William and Mary, published two non-fiction books on early America, and most recently held the position of Associate Professor of History at the U.S. Naval Academy before transitioning to a full-time career writing fiction.
My Dear Hamilton, which Laura co-authored with Stephanie Dray (pictured together here), tells the fascinating, untold story of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, wife, widow, and warrior in Alexander Hamilton’s quest for a more perfect union.
