Jacobus Barheyt was an immigrant settler, brought to the vicinity which would become Troy, New York as a twelve year old boy, by his parents who left behind the principalities of unincorporated Germany. His folks developed a farm in an area near the Hudson River that had been burned over by generations of conflicts which originated in Europe, between France, with native allies the Huron and Algonquin Tribes, and England, with the Iroquois Confederacy. As a young man in his early twenties when the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, Jacobus Barheyt stood with the Patriots seeking to overthrow colonial rule. His familiarity with the terrain on both sides of the Hudson, which had long been a battleground, combined with his awareness and tactics of native tribes, made him a valued trooper in the Army of General Horatio Gates. Barheyt also had an ability to procure supplies for the new Nation’s warriors from the innate environment, the quintessential solider by nature. A productive collection area for Barheyt was the raised ground just west of where the Fish Kill left Saratoga Lake. This forest yielded much game, and the streams and ponds provided many fish for famished fighters.
Events across the Empire State in the pivotal Summer of 1777 set the stage for a conclusive battle that Autumn. Upstate New York citizens in the Mohawk Valley engaged the Army of the Crown at Fort Stanwix and Oriskany, which denied a flanking and provisioning operation from Lake Ontario from reaching the Hudson River. These much-needed supplies and reinforcement Redcoats were unable to join the march through the Champlain Valley, led by British General John Burgoyne, which proved decisive for the American Revolution at the pivotal Battle of Saratoga.
An image labeled “Yaddo, Residence of Spencer Trask, Esq,” from Saratoga Chips and Carlsbad Wafers by Nathan Sheppard, published 1887, which displays the structure with the terrace added by architect A. Page Brown.
Burgoyne’s Army was not only made up of regular Redcoat soldiers; a compliment of German mercenaries assisted the Crown through their Anglo-Saxon relationship. Also, many camp-following females and wives and children of some officers completed the mix. One German nobleman who surrendered along with Burgoyne at Schuylerville was General Friedrich Adolphus Riedesel, Baron of Lauterbach, in charge of a group known as the Brunswickers. General Riedesel (pronounced Re-day-zel, with accent on the second syllable), who is frequently referred to as von Riedesel due to his title, was separated from the capitulated British regulars. General Riedesel was relocated to Albany with his charming wife Friederike and their three young children. Due to his forest skills, and being a German speaker, Jacobus Barheyt drew the prisoner of war relocation duty, and General Riedesel was eventually exchanged for a Continental Officer, although the process took years to complete. Friederike Riedesel kept extensive journals of her family’s adventures in North America, and many believe her to have been the progenitor on this continent of the illuminated evergreen brought indoors at the Winter Solstice.
Following the conclusion of hostilities, Jacobus Barhyte, who adopted that spelling of his surname which an Army administrator’s clerical error transposed from the original Barheyt, became interested in a farm and homestead. He began his pioneering efforts on 200 acres surrounding a fine chain of ponds, which along with what would develop into Saratoga Springs, had been deeded by royal decree to Rip Van Dam. Jacobus improved his stake by developing the water power of his pond network into mill production, and married a neighbor’s daughter, Christiana Abel. The Barhyte Family built a home and also a lodge to accommodate guests; the tarns again yielding delectable trout, which complemented the produce of their farm, garden and poultry lot. The fine reputation of the nascent enterprise spread by word of mouth, and the clan name had to endure yet another spelling corruption, and the waterfront operation was commonly known as Barhydt’s Lake by those making the two mile journey from the Springs.
Jacobus Barhyte, millwright and landlord, passed away in the early 1840’s, and his sons John and Richard continued the operation until 1849 when they sold the property to three partners interested in exploiting the cathedral pines and hemlocks. This partnership dissolved in foreclosure in 1852, and the property passed to Dr. Samuel Russell Childs. The Doctor constructed what some might consider a Queen Anne style villa on the site of the old Barhyte Tavern house, which was relocated, and continued in operation. Dr. Childs was financially straitened by the panic of 1873, and the referee in the foreclosure proceedings sold the property to Barclay Jermain of Albany in late November of 1878.
Directed to the Spa under orders of his physician to take the healing waters in his youth, Alanson Trask introduced his youngest child Spencer to Saratoga Springs when he was still a schoolboy. Alanson Trask established a farm along Nelson Avenue, south of the race track, and instilled in his son, and later his daughter-in-law, the affinity he felt for the location. When Spencer and Katrina Trask sought to escape steaming Gotham in the summertime, a visit to Saratoga Springs, which they had enjoyed many times, was the natural selection for their summer home. Barclay Jermain had never occupied the property which originally belonged to Jacobus Barhyte, but instead leased the house. The Trasks became tenants in 1881.
The trade publication, The Sanitary Engineer and Construction Record of December 11, 1886 contained an excellent full-page illustration of Spencer Trask's residence at Yaddo on
Union Avenue, A. Page Brown architect, rendered by artist Edwin J. Meeker.
The home that Dr. Childs had built, combined with several years of neglect, was not at the level which the Trasks had become accustomed, yet they were enchanted with the setting. They felt they could upgrade the house, and appreciated the combination of improved and rustic acreage. The deed instrument recorded January 23, 1882 is made out to the grantee, “Kate Trask, wife of Spencer Trask,” and had a covenant running with the land reserving the use of the Barhyte burying ground. In sentimental and personal family badinage, a desideratum title for their newly acquired property was discussed, which at first seemed puerile, yet has proven felicitous. The Trasks called the vicinage Yaddo.
The Trasks began improvements to Yaddo immediately, and acquired the additional acreage of the Gridley Farm, with its noted trout ponds. In their Manhattan social circles they were acquainted with the family of architect Arthur Page Brown, who they brought to Saratoga to improve their manor house. Having been built in earlier times, enhancements had to be planned around existing structural supports, which dictated much of what the architect planned and retained. The first story of the improved original Yaddo was clad with Perth Amboy brick in its characteristic speckled gray buff color. A terrace with walls of rock-face limestone, and paved with red tile, added an outdoor social space. The walls above the first story, spiked with numerous balconies, were shingled and left unpainted to allow natural weathering. A terra-cotta fountain, with a shell-shaped basin and dolphin spout, was built into the exterior wall of the staircase bay overlooking the terrace, which led further to a crowning turret. The interior allowed the Trasks to offer a welcoming parlor of white and gold high wainscoting with a large, uniquely carved mantel supported by onyx columns, with parallel highlights that magnified the fireplace’s glow. The dining room was finished in cherry, and the library in oak. The entry hall had panels of a dark hue and a ceiling divided by oak beams, gilt with arabesque stencil work. The Trask’s architect ensured that their home, in keeping with their unique personalities, include a charming enfilade which balanced their interior space. The Saratogian reported in early September 1886,
“The result, under Mr. Brown's direction, is the erection of a villa, so completely altered, that there is not apparently a trace of the old house left, the new structure presenting, if one may so express it, a modified Norman, with modernized colonial architecture.”
While in Saratoga Springs, Spencer Trask introduced A. Page Brown to the elders of Bethesda Episcopal Church. Mr. Brown planned an extension of twelve feet to the front of the church, relocating the main entrance to the center.
The same edition of the trade publication, The Sanitary Engineer and Construction Record also contained a floor plan of the original Yaddo structure as modified by the Trasks in 1886.
On the west side a new tower was erected where the chimes would be located, along with interior remodeling. This work, completed in 1887, is the front of what we see at Bethesda Church today. During the busy design and construction work in Saratoga Springs, the architect found time to be married to Lucy Pryor in Manhattan. The couple frequently visited Yaddo, and would name a daughter Katrina.
The lure of westward expansion drew A. Page Brown to San Francisco, where he designed the Ferry Building, which as one of the few survivors of the 1906 Earthquake, remains gracing the Embarcadero and Market Street. Unfortunately, Mr. Brown was fatally injured by a runaway horse in 1896. His young widow and children would continue to join the Trasks in Saratoga during the Floral Fetes.
Another frequent visitor to Yaddo, prior to the remodeling, was the young painter William Bliss Baker, who had an affinity for capturing the interface of natural spaces with the work of man. Originally from Ballston Spa, he made a name for himself in New York with his award-winning paintings. Artist Baker captured some very creative images of Yaddo in his brief lifetime, allowing us a view today into an otherwise inaccessible past.
On March 9, 1891, carpenters were at Yaddo making interior improvements. The crew lit a fireplace and perhaps due to an obstructed flue, a fire broke out, reducing the Yaddo manor house to ruin. The Trasks, disappointed by the loss of Yaddo, resolved without hesitation to rebuild, and enlisted the services of William Halsey Wood to design the replacement, which was completed in 1893, and is the Yaddo manse we know in our time.