Old Stone Fort Museum Complex

A National Register Historic Site, the Old Stone Fort Museum complex preserves the rich legacy of New York's beautiful Schoharie Valley.  In addition to the 1772 stone church that was fortified in 1777 and attacked by British forces in 1780, the complex includes a 1780s Dutch barn and home, 1830s law office and an 1890s one-room schoolhouse.

The Old Stone Fort was likely the first masonry structure in a valley settled in 1712 by Palatine Germans. They were the first Europeans to settle here, but hundreds of Germans and Dutch-Americans soon followed.

War on the Frontier
The 1772 stone church was fortified and attacked by British forces in 1780, during the Revolutionary War. After a Tory uprising in 1777, the church was enclosed by a log stockade.  On Oct. 17, 1780, about 800 loyalists and Indians under John Johnson and Mohawk Capt. Joseph Brant raided the Schoharie Valley in an expedition intended to destroy the region’s grain-producing capacity and drive the inhabitants from the frontier.  The Middle Fort, about five miles south of Schoharie, was attacked first while raiders burned homes, barns and crops.

With the damage done, they then proceeded north to Schoharie, where they besieged the Lower Fort, now known as the Old Stone Fort.  Again, they burned homes and crops, while settlers huddled in the fort and watched.  One cannon ball fired at the fort lodged in a cornice on the back side of the building.  Its hole remains visible, and its route through the timbers was discovered during restoration of the slate roof in 2006.

The stockade was removed in 1785, and the building continued service as a church until 1844, when it was replaced by the present Reformed Church in the village.

Establishing a Museum
In 1888, the Schoharie County Historical Society formed to operate a museum at the old fort, and by 1899, a catalog of 2,500 items was published.   The site now includes the William Badgley Museum, built in 1972; the Warner house, a Greek Revival home housing the Scribner exhibit of 20th-century radio, television and photographic technology; the 1830s Jackson law office; the Oliver one-room schoolhouse, furnished c. 1900; and the Schaeffer-Ingold Dutch barn.  The Hartman’s Dorf House, an early Palatine-style dwelling, c. 1786, is on-site and undergoing restoration.

Thousands of Native American, home, commercial, agricultural and other artifacts from times of war and peace may be found in the buildings of the museum complex.  Costumed interpreters assist you during your visit, and a research library is available to historians and genealogists.