By Daniel Case, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Dutchess Manor in Beacon, New York, is best known as one of the Hudson Valley’s premier wedding and event venues. With spectacular views of the Hudson River and eye-catching architecture, this fine structure has become an area landmark.
Ah, but there is more to Dutchess Manor than meets the eye. It has a fascinating history that ties it to the days when men’s fortunes could be made in brickmaking along the Hudson River. One of these entrepreneurs was Francis Timoney.
Francis Timoney immigrated from Ireland to the United States in 1852 and worked for a time in the brick industry in Westchester County. All the while, he saved his earnings and the shares he received as a foreman. In 1886, he purchased three brickyard properties in Dutchess Junction, also known as Dennings Point, in what is now Beacon, NY. One property was in working order, but the other two needed to be brought back up to speed.
After renovations, Francis Timoney had three yards on the river, two barges for hauling bricks, close access to rail, and a production output of around 25 million bricks per year. Life was good for Francis Timoney. So good that he decided to build a family estate on the Hudson River, almost overlooking his brickyards. That family home was Dutchess Manor, a partially Second Empire-style structure that ultimately found its way onto the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The original structure, a historic landmark, is the large central building, with the north and south wings added much later.
So things were going Timoney’s way, but as we all know, fate is fickle and can, at short notice, turn one’s world around. Indeed, in 1897, fate dealt Francis Timoney one of its most famous twists.
A contemporary abstract reproduced from the Times begins:
“MATTEAWAN, July 14. — The Melzingah dams, which supply Fishkill Landing and Matteawan with water, burst at 2:30 o’clock this morning…”
The flood followed the old Melzingah Brook channel, swept away bridges, and struck the workers’ settlement at Timoney’s brick yard. ttwo of Timoney’s three brickyards were destroyed; machinery, wagons, and carts were swept toward the Hudson, millions of unbaked bricks were ruined, and Timoney’s loss was estimated at $25,000.
This disaster is significant to Dutchess Manor’s history because Francis Timoney had built and owned the Manor while operating the nearby Dutchess Junction brick works. The Timoney operation reportedly never fully recovered from the flood.
Since the mid-1940s, several generations of the Cone family have run Dutchess Manor as a wedding and event facility.
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