The only thing marking it is a bronze plaque discreetly affixed to an apartment building on Park Avenue and 35th Street in today’s Murray Hill.
But in the 1750s, with New York City concentrated far downtown, this was the center of a 29-acre hilltop estate known as Belmont or Inclenberg, the latter also lending its name to the surrounding area.
Aaccording to this account, Inclenberg was absolutely lovely.
“A magnificent place altogether was Inclenberg . . . approached by an avenue of magnolias, elms, spruce and Lombardy poplars . . . the spacious, two-story mansion had a broad veranda extending around three sides, and . . . front windows commanding a view of Kip’s Bay and the East River.”
It was the home of prosperous businessman Robert Murray and his wife, Mary Lindley Murray, who entertained the city’s elite there, including George Washington.
Hosting Washington wasn’t Inclenberg’s only brush with Revolutionary War–era notoriety.
Legend has it that in 1776, Mary Lindley Murray—who, unlike her secret Loyalist husband, was a fierce supporter of American freedom—supposedly used tea, cake, and female charm to helped the Patriots escape the British army.
“When Gen. William Howe crossed the East River from Long Island in 1776, pursuing Washington’s troops and attacking New York City, Mrs. Murray and her daughters invited General Howe and his officers to tea,” states a 1999 New York Times article.
“They accepted and were detained long enough to allow Washington and his troops to escape.”
The Murrays died by the turn of the 19th century; their mansion burned down in 1835. The neighborhood and its once-formidable hill carry their name—while Inclenberg has been almost forgotten.
[Top image: Inclenberg, the mansion, from murrayhillnyc.org; second: the plaque, Wikipedia; third: Mrs. Murray’s tea, NYPL Digital Gallery; fourth: another sketch of the mansion, NYPL Digital Gallery]
Tags: Female War Heroes, Inclenberg Belmont, Mary Lindley Murray Revoluntionary War, Murray Hill history 18th century, Murray Hill Inclenberg, New York City Colonial era, Old estates of New York City
November 24, 2014 at 2:58 pm |
[…] The Rockefellers are leaving 30 Rock because rents are too high [NYT] · Remembering colonial New Yorks’ Inclenberg neighborhood [ENY] · A vacant lot in Crown Heights will birth two apartments [NYY] · Naturally, New York is […]
November 28, 2014 at 3:43 pm |
35th Street is Park Avenue, not Park Avenue South.
July 5, 2018 at 3:07 pm |
The Murrays did not “die” as your article fatuously claims. They went to Ossining, lived in other NY homes, and had two houses on Barrow Street. They were active Quakers as well, and connected to the Friends’ schools still extant. There is a Murray St. and a Murray Wharf.
July 5, 2018 at 5:17 pm |
Robert Murray died in 1786; Mary Lindley Murray died in 1782, both before the turn of the 19th century. I certainly did not mean that the entire extended Murray family died; the post focuses on Mary and Robert. The couple had 12 children.