About Us
The Old Stone Fort Museum complex celebrates and preserves the rich, historic legacy of New York's beautiful Schoharie Valley. Buildings include an early 1700's home, 1780's Dutch barn,1830's law office and 1890's one-room school as well as the 1772 stone church that was fortified and attacked by British forces in 1780.
The Old Stone Fort was built as a church in 1772. Builders chiseled parishioners’ names into the stones. They include many of the early families of the valley. With the coming of the Revolutionary War, the church was enclosed by a log stockade in 1777.
On Oct. 17, 1780, a force of about 800 loyalists and Indians under Sir John Johnson and Mohawk Capt. Joseph Brant raided the valley and briefly attacked the fort before proceeding north toward the Mohawk Valley. A cannonball hole may still be seen in a cornice at the rear of the building.
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. In 1857 the former fort was sold to the state for $800. Through the Civil War and until 1873, it was used as an armory. Then, it was given to the county for historical use.
In 1888 the Schoharie County Historical Society was formed to operate a museum at the old fort and by 1899, a catalog of 2,500 items was published.
The complex now includes the William Badgely Museum and carriage house, built in 1972; the Warner house, a Greek Revival home housing the Scribner Exhibit of 20th Century Communications; the 1830 Jackson law office; the Oliver one-room school house furnished circa 1900; and the Schaeffer-Ingold Dutch barn. An early Palatine dwelling circa 1760, the Hartmann’s Dorf House, is currently undergoing restoration.
One of America's oldest (1731) fire engines, Deluge No.1, is housed at the fort complex along with thousands of other antiques and artifacts from war and peace. Costumed interpreters assist your visit and a research library is available to historians and genealogists.
