Aaron Burr's Last Good Address

In 1767, Major Abraham Mortier, Paymaster-General to the British Army in North America, built a Palladian mansion on a rise above the Hudson, a mile north of the city proper. He called it Richmond Hill. Its grounds ran roughly from Charlton Street to Vandam, and from King Street east to Sixth Avenue. At the time, the river came nearly to the door.

In 1776, General George Washington took the house as his headquarters during the Battle of Manhattan. Thirteen years later, with New York briefly serving as the nation's capital, Richmond Hill became the official Vice Presidential residence — John and Abigail Adams lived here from 1789 to 1790. Abigail wrote that for natural beauty it could rival the most delicious spot she had ever seen.

Aaron Burr began leasing the estate in 1790 and bought it outright in 1794. He became known for parties he could not afford, borrowing heavily to redecorate the house and dam Minetta Creek into an ornamental pool at the entrance. On the morning of July 11, 1804, he left Richmond Hill by carriage, crossed the Hudson to Weehawken, and shot Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton died the next day. Burr finished his term as Vice President and lost everything else.