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Planted solidly on a knoll overlooking the confluences of the Wyncoop Brook with the Neversink River rests the Old Stone House Of Hasbrouck, in eastern Sullivan County.

This massive stone structure was built around 1810 by some of the early settlers of this tiny hamlet. Within the two foot thick walls several interesting events have occurred including a murder and a wedding. In 1840 the house was the scene of a gruesome pre-meditated murder of the founding father of Hasbrouck by Cornelius Hardenburgh, a descendent of “the Great Land Grant” or Hardenburgh Patent in the Catskills. During World War Two, the house witnessed a happier event, its first and only wedding of a native son before he went off to serve in the Pacific.

Before probing into the history of the Old Stone House, it would be helpful to look into the history of Hasbrouck’s settlement. The lush river valley and rolling hills was first home to the Lenni-Lenape Indians of the Algonquian language stock. Groups of two or more clans inhabited the region around the Delaware River, the lower  Hudson River and western Long Island Sound in the early 1600’s. These loosely organized bands practiced small-scale agriculture to augment a largely mobile hunter-gatherer society.

With the advent of colonization in the Americas, the Dutch Fur Traders were the first white men to set foot in this area, around 1670. The Lenape Indians traded primarily beaver pelts for European-made goods.

Permanent settlement of the Neversink Valley arose after the granting of the Hardenburgh Patent of 1708. That’s when Queen Ann of England granted approximately three million acres of land in the Catskills to Johannas Hardenburgh of Kingston, in Ulster County. These great tracts of land began to be divided and subdivided; with the title holders renting out parcels, the early Dutch settlers of the vicinity of Hasbrouck were mostly tenant farmers.

These settlers migrated from Kingston and Connecticut to establish one of the first small towns in the area. A Dutch Reform Church was built in 1828, and soon Hasbrouck also had a grist mill for rendering rye, buckwheat and corn into meal and flour. Several sawmills were built, as well as a lath mill, a blacksmith shop, and two or three stores.

Old postcards reveal a creamery and a post office built around 1846, and a school house established in 1865.

Hasbrouck had approximately 90 inhabitants at that time. With the building of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, Hasbrouck began to decline in status as its neighboring community, Woodbourne, grew because of its proximity to the canal in Ellenville. Small farms continued to prosper in the tiny hamlet. 

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s boarding house began to appear. In the early 1940’s bungalow colonies added to Hasbrouck’s slow growth. Today all the small farms are gone; the only reminders that this was a farming community are portions of the barns and farm houses and a few remaining hay fields and stone walls. 

The boarding houses have either burnt or been torn down. 

One building still remains from the early days of Hasbrouck’s settlement, the Old Stone House. 

Anthony Hasbrouck lived in the Stone House with his wife Sarah, and perhaps his mother-in-law, for an unknown length of time until his murder in 1840. He was a prominent and wealthy citizen of Sullivan County, active in politics, serving in the member of the NY State Assembly. He was said to be industrious and honest, with a marked aversion to those who were lazy and dishonest in their dealings. This qualities brought him both admirers and enemies. 

Cornelius Hardenburgh, a decendent of Johannas Hardenburgh, became one of Anthony Hasbrouck’s enemies. After squandering much of the family inheritance and much debauchery, Cornelius found himself and his family living on land that he had no means of paying for. 

His mother in law, Mrs. Depuy owned much property in the hamlet of Hasbrouck, including a grist-mill, sawmill and turning-shop. At her death in 1738 he thought his position would change with a sizeable inheritance from her estate. 

From one of Mrs. Depuy's nine heirs Hasbrouck bought some ninety-seven acres of “wild land” and eventually secured a good share of the mill property. 

Hardenburgh expected to receive his share of money from some of the sales, enabling him to settle his debts. Monies were not exchanged outright  for most of the transactions; instead, notes were made payable to only one of the heirs to hold and distribute. This greatly agitated Hardenburgh. At some point Hardenburgh finally was able to get all but $50 of his share of the money due him and remained in possession of a share of the mill property that Hasbrouck wanted to purchase. 

The matter could not be settled. Cornellius Hardenburgh refused to sign off on the mill property, suspecting trickery and deception by Anthony Hasbrouck. The state of affairs grew worse with Hardenburgh becoming deranged, running about the country saying that Hasbrouck should die.

On the day before the murder, Hardenburgh purchased a pistol and a “Bowie” type knife in Liberty. 

Replying to those who asked his intent with these weapons he replied: “ I am going to kill a venomous beast.” The following evening, December 20, 1840, found Cornelius Hardenburgh at the Old Stone House as the Hasbroucks were having dinner. 

Present were Anthony’s wife, grandchild, and Mrs. Nancy Depuy, his wife’s mother and relative to Cornelius by marriage. 

Discussion between the two men took place with nothing being satisfied. Hardenburgh put on his coat pretending to leave only to come back moments later with pistol in hand. Hasbrouck sprang from his chair grabbing hold of the gun.

The weapon discharged into the floor. 

A scuffle took place with Hardenburgh firing a shot into Anthony Hasbrouck’s abdomen. 

The assailant was able to get his victim down. Then, drawing his knife, he cut and slashed until Hasbrouck grabbed hold of the knife and stabbed Hardenburgh once in the chest. 

In the meantime, Mrs. Depuy had run for help. As neighbors approached they witnessed Hardenburgh running down the road towards Woodbourne. 

Anthony Hasbrouck survived only a short fifteen minutes after having crawled to a back bedroom in fear of the return of his attacker.

Cornelius Hardenburgh survived his wound, was tried, and convicted. On July 14, 1842, he was hanged for his crime.

Little is known about the residents and use of the house from the time of the Hasbrouck and Hardenburgh feuds up until the late 1920s. It can be surmised that it remained a private residence until sometime in the 1920s. 

Verbal history remembers a family by the name of Brundage lived in the house somewhere between 1900 and 1910. They may have built the Branch House ( a wooden attached structure on the north side) and turned it into a boarding house. 

Sometime after 1910 a family by the name of Green lived in the house and produced dill pickles that were marketed in NYC. In the late 1920s, Sam and Sara Silverstein bought the Stone House and the attached Branch House. Records from the family of the Silversteins note that rooms rented for $75 for the season in the Stone House and $35 for the season in the Branch House. 

Sam Silverstein built the Hasbrouck Tavern next to the Stone House, and a Grocery Store & Ice Cream Parlor across the road, near the Neversink River, in 1939.

Irving Silverstein married his wife Ronnie at a ceremony at the Old Stone House on September 10, 1941. Seven months later he was gone for three-and-a-half years, fighting in the Pacific. Irving notes that his might have been the first wedding to be held in the Stone House. 

On March 16, 1977, the Concerned Citizens of Hasbrouck purchased the house and some twenty acres for $23,000. The property was purchased from John and Ella Pauzers. The CCOH, a grassroots group that formed the previous year to fight odors from a chicken plant across from the building, used the Stone House for meetings. They worked on renovating and restoring the house with the intent of turning it into a historical center housing local artifacts such as farm tools.