Lindenwald
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lindenwald was the home and farm of Martin Van Buren, the eighth President of the United States. It is located approximately two miles south of the Village of Kinderhook, New York in Columbia County. Van Buren, a founder of the Democratic Party, purchased the home and approximately 125 acres of land in 1839 for $14,000 while he was still President. However, Van Buren did not move in to the home until 1841 (after he was defeated for his second term by the Whig candidate William Henry Harrison in 1840). Eventually, his four living sons, Abraham, John, Martin Jr., and Smith, had rooms in the mansion.
Van Buren ran two United States Presidential campaigns from Lindenwald. In 1844, he based his ultimately unsuccessful run for the Democratic nomination at the estate. That year, Van Buren lost a hotly contested fight to nominee and eventual President James Knox Polk. In 1848, in opposition to the extension of slavery into territories captured from Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War, Van Buren ran for President on a third-party ticket (The Free Soil Party), again directing his campaign from Lindenwald. Van Buren's campaign drew enough votes away from the Democratic-Republican nominee, Lewis Cass, to allow Whig candidate Zachary Taylor to prevail.
Van Buren named the estate Lindenwald, which is German for "linden wood", after the American Linden (American Basswood or Tilia americana) trees lining the Albany-to-New York Post Road, which is still located in front of the home. The section of the road on the property remains unimproved to this day. Some replanted Linden trees also remain by the side of the road.
Van Buren, who wished to be remembered only as a "farmer", died at Lindenwald on July 24, 1862.
Today, Lindenwald is under the care of the National Park Service. The site is called "The Martin Van Buren National Historic Site."
