Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, 29 Warburton Ave., Yonkers, N.Y. 10701
Phone: (914) 965-4027
For Immediate Release: September 5, 2023
Contact: Sarah Wassberg Johnson, Education & Programs Manager, Philipse Manor Hall State
Historic Site | [email protected] | (914) 965-4027
HISTORIAN DISCUSSES LOYALISTS IN REVOLUTIONARY NEW YORK AT PHILIPSE

MANOR HALL STATE HISTORIC SITE

YONKERS, N.Y. (09/05/23) — Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site and the Friends of Philipse
Manor Hall are pleased to present the free virtual lecture “Unfriendly to Liberty: Loyalist
Networks and the Coming of the American Revolution in New York City” with Christopher Minty
on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, at 7:00 PM.
Most histories of the American Revolution focus on those who became “patriots,” or
revolutionaries. The standard narrative tracks their activism from the mid-1760s until the
Battles of Lexington and Concord. This story, however, misunderstands and omits the
importance of those who became loyalists in the American Revolution. Many, if not most,
future loyalists opposed the British Parliament’s reorientation of the British Empire—just like
those who became patriots. This talk will focus on a group of New Yorkers who became loyalists
and document their paths to the American Revolution. In doing so, it will challenge traditional
understandings of not only loyalists but also the coming of the American Revolution, the origins
of American political practice, and the history of New York City.
Christopher F. Minty is an editor at the Center for Digital Editing the University of Virginia. He
earned his Ph.D. at the University of Stirling. He is also the author of the book Unfriendly to
Liberty: Loyalist Networks and the Coming of the American Revolution in New York City
published by Cornell University Press in May of 2023. His book is available at the Philipse Manor
Hall Museum gift shop. All proceeds benefit educational programs at Philipse Manor Hall State
Historic Site.

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New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

Albany, New York 12238 • (518) 474-0456 • parks.ny.gov2
To register for this free virtual program, visit www.philipsemanorhall.com/programs-and-
events.
About the Friends of Philipse Manor Hall:
The Friends of Philipse Manor Hall, Inc. is dedicated to supporting and enhancing Philipse
Manor Hall State Historic Site. Friends of Philipse Manor Hall offers a variety of events and
activities throughout the year, from family-friendly festivals to lectures, concerts, and movie
nights. The organization’s goal is to foster public interest in and support for Philipse Manor Hall,
to make PMH more accessible and inviting to the local community, and to provide funds and
volunteers for programs and activities offered by the site staff. The FPMH marketing project
was supported with funding from the New York State Park and Trail Partnership Grants and
New York’s Environmental Protection Fund. The Park and Trail Partnership Grants are
administered by Parks & Trails New York, in partnership with the NYS Office of Parks,
Recreation, and Historic Preservation. Learn more at www.friendsofphilipsemanorhall.org.
About Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site
Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, located at 29 Warburton Ave., Yonkers, NY, 10701, is
open for tours Wednesdays through Sundays, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Dating back to the 1680s,
Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site sits near the confluence of the Nepperhan (Saw Mill) and
Hudson Rivers, the site of a Munsee Lunaape village. Used by four generations of the Philipse
family and worked by the people they enslaved as well as European tenant farmers, the Philipse
Manor was once over 200,000 acres and helped make the Philipse family the richest in New
York. Loyalists during the American Revolution, they fled to England and the Hall was owned by
several individuals before becoming the Yonkers Village Hall and later Yonkers City Hall. When a
new City Hall was built in the early 20th century, the house was preserved through the
generosity of Eva Smith Cochran and donated to New York State to serve as a historic site.
Today, Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site provides visitors with a balanced approach to
interpreting the lives of Indigenous, European, and African people to understand the complex
relationships that took place at the Manor from the earliest days of the Dutch Colony of New
Netherland to the American Revolution and beyond. Learn more at Philipse Manor Hall's Virtual
Wing at www.philipsemanorhall.com.
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than
250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches and more, which saw a
record 79.5 million visits in 2022. For more information on any of these recreation areas,
visit parks.ny.gov, download the free NY State Parks Explorer app or call (518) 474-0456. Join us
in celebrating our Centennial throughout 2024, and connect with us
on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the OPRHP Blog.

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