Show SOMETHING 01 YORK STATES OLDEST HOMESTEAD contains relics of robert fulton and other interesting Inter eting treasures with reminders of the indian days new york of all the historical buildings in this state the glen san ders homestead scotia at is easily the first the first in date as ell as in interest to the antiquarian and historian for nearly years this mansion constructed from stone quarried from the nearby rocks and timbers hewn from the tor ests has stood there on the north side ot the mohawk just across the river from the city and watched the pid town of schenectady grow from an indian castle to the most important electrical city in the world the build ings and estate have never ben out ol 01 the family and charles P sanders the present occupant is a direct de ascendant ant of alexander lindsay glen the son of a scottish chief who when exiled from his own country founded another scotia in america it was on july 27 1661 that peter stuyvesant director general and corn emissary of the west india company at fort orange the town of beverwyk now albany counter signed a deed of sale from certain chiefs of the mohawk valley unto bleur arent van curler called in indian Sc honawa where tady now stands for a certain num her of cargoes presumably of cloths arms trinkets and rum schenectady was the second of the five mohawk castles to be sold to the whites who found the flats cleared and the land already cultivated three years before this alexander lindsey glen the highlander had settled on a tract 0 land north 0 the indian village of Sc honawa and built himself a mansion of stone under the protection and title of the mohawks in he secured a patent for his lands on the north of the river thus perfecting his title to scotia the mansion covers a large area the stone walls are thick and massive the rooms large and the ceilings lofty the stone was quarried near by and the timbers cut fron the largest trees of the forest the logs were first hewn square and then with a whip saw making four timbers from each log wherever possible joints were mort iced and fastened with wooden pins even the old glen sanders homestead at N Y woodwork in the interior Is secured in this way this was necessary be cause in those days nails and spikes had to be hand wrought by a black smith alexander lindsey glen died in and the estate passed to the youngest of his three sons john alex ander glen better known by the french and indians as maj coudre lie married anna peek the daughter of the settler from whom takes its name twenty eight years after his father s death john alex ander moved his mansion feet to the north on account of a slight change in the river bed which threat ened the foundations maj coudre died in 1731 and the estate passed into the hands of col jacob glen who had command of all the troops and militia west of albany it was then that the mansion began to be used as a storehouse of public docu ments on the river side of the house which was originally the front Is the old dutch stoop whence one looks out where the indians burned their prisoners to the left of the roomy hall Is the spacious library with its wide fire place and magnificent view of the river on all sides of the room are book shelves full of old english dutch and french classics in rare editions bound volumes of the first pers histories diaries and dozens volumes printed in the seventeenth century one of the newspapers gives an account of king washington s inauguration speech the paper Is dated may 6 1789 and was an extra notwithstanding the news was a week old on the walls are large paintings of the most novel members of the family there la a full length portrait of de borah glen the greatest personality in the family nearby la the smiling face of her playmate john sanders as a boy he later became her bus band and merged the glen name with that of sanders A nick in the mahogany ballu strade in the hall shows where an indian hatchet thrown in the heat of quarrel in the house struck the wood after barely missing the head of the mis tress deborah glen it is said that she put botn tl e braves out of the house one room the furniture and outfit of robert fulton who was a rel arlve of the family by marriage |