Locust Lawn Farm

Locust Lawn Farm, present day

The historic Locust Lawn Farm in Gardiner New York is a rare treasure filled with the furnishings, clothing, and possessions of five generations of the prosperous Hasbrouck family.

Annette Young (a Hasbrouck descendent and the last private owner of the Farm) ensured that the buildings and collections would be open to the public with her 1958 donation of the property and art collections. Today, Locust Lawn is owned and operated by the Locust Grove Estate as a museum and nature preserve.

Plate 37 from Asher Benjamin's 1806 "American Builders Companion" 

The Federal-style mansion, built in 1814 for Colonel Josiah Hasbrouck, was once the heart of a 1,000-acre gentleman’s farm. Colonel Hasbrouck served in the Revolutionary War as part of the Ulster County Militia, and later as a United States Representative during the Jefferson and Monroe administrations, a time of great optimism and change in the new republic. The home and farm he developed on his return to the Hudson Valley represent both the height of fashion and the Jeffersonian ideal of pride in the rural, agricultural tradition.

Josiah Hasbrouck was born to a prominent family in New Paltz, New York.  He grew up in the large stone house built by his grandfather Jacob in 1722, today a museum known as the Jean Hasbrouck House at Historic Huguenot Street.

Locust Lawn, c. 1865

In 1809, after his return from Washington, DC, he purchased the Terwilliger family’s farm and mills just a few miles south of New Paltz overlooking the Plattekill Creek and five years later began to build the present mansion just steps away from the Terwilliger farmhouse.

The new house featured a grand façade based on a design by Asher Benjamin, a notable architect and designer of the early 19th century. Downstairs, two parlors fill the front of the house, while a private family dining room, a school room, and a kitchen complete the back. On the second floor, there are four bedrooms, while the third floor is given over to storage and living space for servants.

After Josiah’s grandson (also named Josiah) died in the early 1880’s his heirs shuttered the house – in effect turning it into a time capsule of Hasbrouck family history. The house, complete with its original furniture and paintings, was donated to Historic Huguenot Street by Annette Innis Young, Josiah’s great-great-granddaughter and the founder of the museum at the Locust Grove Estate, in 1958. In 2010 the house was transferred to Locust Grove, reuniting two family properties for the first time in more than fifty years.

Entrance Hall

Tours of Locust Lawn Farm and Terwilliger House are available by appointment, from August through October. Tickets are $25/person, minimum 2 people.

To schedule a tour, please contact our Director, Ken Snodgrass.

Locust Lawn is located at the intersection of Route 32 and DuBois Road in Gardiner New York, 2 miles north of the intersection of Route 32 and Route 44, and 3.5 miles south of the intersection of Route 32 and Route 299.