Senate House
- Address: Clinton Ave
- Vicinity: NW side of Clinton Ave near jct with N Front St
In 1777, a year after Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence proclaimed the 13 American colony's freedom from English rule, this limestone building housed the first meeting of New York's newly organized State Senate. A government on the run being chased north from New York City by the British Army, the state government moved to Kingston in February of 1777, and took up residence in the Ulster County Courthouse in order to create a formal state constitution. The delegates approved the state's first constitution in April of 1777, and held elections in June. While the Supreme Court remained in the Courthouse and the Assembly met in a local tavern, the Senate convened its first session in the generously-offered old stone home of Abraham VanGaasbeck. Built in 1676 only 12 years after the British assumed control of New York from the Dutch, the house reflects both the building traditions of the original Dutch colonists and the gradual acceptance of English construction styles. - NPS