“ . . . a Farmer in my native Town”
Martin Van Buren Nat’l Hist Site
The view before you is much like the one Martin Van Buren enjoyed during the last 21 years of his life. Although in the course of his political career Van Buren traveled widely and kept company with heads of state and the foremost political figures of his day, once in retirement his affection for this property and his enthusiasm for the agrarian life made him reluctant to be elsewhere. He was intensely interested in improving the land’s productivity. He directed the farm laborers to construct ditches to better drain fields, use newly patented plows and farm equipment, and experimented with different fertilizers. An 1849 letter described Van Buren as “an amateur farmer who prides himself upon having his farm in better order than his neighbor.”
“I, Martin Van Buren of the Town of Kinderhook, County of Columbia, State of New York, heretofore Governor of the State, and more recently President of the United States, but for the last and happiest years of my life, a Farmer in my native Town, do make and declare the following to be my last Will and Testament . . . ”In his will, Van Buren includes his role as farmer among his most eminent posts.
Marker can be reached from Old Post Road, on the left when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
