Brezie Farm

Brezie Farm. . , When Frederic Church purchased the 126-acre property that would become the farm at Olana, it included an old farmhouse located on this site and a modest house facing the Oak Hill-Hudson Road. Historically known as the Wynsant Brezie farm, it was named after its original owner, a man from a local family who purchased the property in 1794 from John J. Van Rensselaer and built the farmhouse. In 1802, Brezie's son inherited the family farm, which then passed through a succession of owners before Frederic Church acquired it from Levi Simmons in April 1860., Frederic and Isabel did not live in the farm- house. While their home, "Cosy Cottage,” was being built, they boarded with Thomas Cole's family across the river in Catskill. Since Frederic was often in New York City or traveling, Cole's son Theodore managed the farm (as well as his own) and provided much valued guidance. Frederic added rooms to the farmhouse in 1869, and generally used it to accommodate farm mangers, farm workers, or guests., [Top Right Photo Caption] Shown here in ca. 1906, the farmhouse had a full cellar and a loft above the first floor. It survived until the late 20th century and was similar to many Dutch farmhouses built before the Revolutionary War. No longer used after the 1950s, the farmhouse fell into disrepair; the cellar and foundation walls, along with a shallow well located nearby, are all that remain. The farmhouse was documented in a measured drawing by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1969., [Bottom Left Map] A mortgage from September 1794 and this 1799 map provide the boundaries of the Wynsant Brezie farm and suggest that the sale was the property's initial subdivision from a larger holding. John J. Van Rensselaer was the last landlord of what had been a large patent granted to his ancestor, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer in 1685. The Brezie farm included the farmhouse, a barn, a small orchard, and open land for grazing animals and growing crops to feed the Brezie family.