Mary Bowen’s Bedchamber, 1820-1830

Morris-Jumel Mansion
65 Jumel Terrace, NYC

by navema
www.navemastudios.com

Stephen and Eliza Jumel adopted Mme. Jumel’s niece, Mary Bowen, and raised her as their daughter. She lived with them in France and in America. Her education included lessons in painting, playing the pianoforte, and dancing, all typical lady-like accomplishments of the era. Mary Bowen married Nelson Chase and they had two children, Eliza Jumel Chase and William Inglis Chase.

Bedchambers were designed for important family members and guests. This is the smallest of the four chambers, with fewer and simpler windows than those in the other chambers. As was often the case with bedchambers, this room contains a mix of furnishings, and includes some pieces that may have been moved here to make way for newer fashions in the more important rooms.

The metamorphic desk/chair (at the center of the room) patented in 1854 by New York furniture maker Stephen Hedges, is similar to one that descended in the Burr family. In 1911, an article in the New York Herald about the Burr family desk began with the headline “Here is the Quaint Old Desk on Which Aaron Burr Penned His Love to Mme Jumel.” Since that time, this type of desk has been knows as the Aaron Burr desk.

Selected Furnishings:
*Bed: American, ca. 1840
*Bed Steps: American, 19th century
*Coverlet: American, 19th century
*Boots: American, 19th century
*Work Table: New York, 19th century
*Shield-Back Side Chair: American, ca. 1790
*Piano: made by Benjamin Crehore, Milton, Massachusetts, 1789
*Mirror: American, 18th century
*Girandole: ornate bracket for candelabra. American, ca. 1850
*Fender: low metal guard before fireplace. American, 19th century
*Andirons: American, 19th century
*Footwarmer: American, 19th century
*Side Chair: Bannister-back side chair with carved crest rail. American, 1695-1725
*Washstand: American, 19th century
*Basin: Porcelain, Persiana

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HISTORY:
The Morris-Jumel Mansion located in historic Washington Heights, is the oldest house in Manhattan and is a National Historic Landmark in NYC. It served as a headquarters for both sides in the American Revolution.

George Washington made his headquarters here at the Mansion during the fall of 1776. It was during this period that the General's troops forced a British retreat at the Battle of Harlem Heights.

The house was built eleven years before the Revolution, in 1765, by British Colonel Roger Morris and his American wife, Mary Philipse. The breezy hilltop location proved an ideal location for the family's summer home. Known as Mount Morris, this northern Manhattan estate stretched from the Harlem to the Hudson Rivers and covered more than 130 acres. Loyal to the crown, the Morrises were eventually forced to return to England as a result of the American victory.

During the war, the hilltop location of the Mansion was valued for more than its cool summer breezes. With views of the Harlem River, the Bronx, and Long Island Sound to the east, New York City and the harbor to the south, and the Hudson River and Jersey Palisades to the west, Mount Morris proved to be a strategic military headquarters.

President Washington returned to the Mansion on July 10, 1790, and dined with members of his cabinet. Guests at the table included three future Presidents of the United States: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and John Quincy Adams. Alexander Hamilton and Henry Knox were in attendance as well.

The departure of the British at the close of the revolution did not end the upheaval in the life of the Mansion. Serving as an inn for New York City-bound travelers, ownership of the house passed through many hands. Finally, in 1810, the Mansion was restored to its original purpose as a country house by the French emigrant Stephen Jumel and his wife Eliza.

Stephen and Eliza added new doorways and stained glass to the facade of the Mansion. As regular visitors to France, they furnished much of the house in the French Empire style. Many of those objects, including a bed said to have belonged to the Emperor Napoleon, remain in the Mansion today.

Stephen Jumel died in 1832, and Eliza, then one of the wealthiest women in New York, later married the former U.S. Vice President, Aaron Burr. Their marriage lasted just two years. Eliza retained ownership of the Mansion until her death in 1865. After a twenty-year court battle, which was finally settled by the U.S Supreme Court, the property was divided and sold.

The Mansion itself survived the subdivision along with a small plot of land. In 1894 it was purchased by General Ferdinand P. and Lillie Earle. In tune with the deep patriotic sentiment of the late 19th century, the Earle's revered Washington and the Mansion's history as his headquarters. They persuaded the City of New York to purchase the house and remaining property in 1903 and to preserve it as a monument to the nation's past.

In 1904 the Washington's Headquarters Association, formed by four chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, took on the task of operating the museum. Today, the Morris-Jumel Mansion, Inc., an independent not-for-profit corporation assumes that responsibility.

The Mansion is built in the Palladian style, with a second story balcony and a two-story front portico supported by classical columns. The two-story octagon at the rear of the house is believed to be the first of its kind anywhere in the colonies.

The first floor of the 8,500 square foot house features rooms for family and social gatherings, and includes the parlor in which Madame Eliza Jumel married Aaron Burr in 1833. Across the hall stands the dining room where Washington likely entertained his guests in 1790. At the far end of the hall, the octagonal drawing room, or withdrawing room as it is properly known, provided a grand setting for social gatherings. Bedrooms on the second floor include those of George Washington, Eliza Jumel, and Aaron Burr. The basement houses the colonial-era kitchen and tells the story of domestic servitude at the Mansion. The room features the original hearth and a bee-hive oven as well as a collection of early American cooking utensils.

Through architecture and a diverse collection of decorative arts objects, each room of the Morris-Jumel Mansion reveals a specific aspect of its colorful history from the 18th through the 19th centuries.
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ELIZA JUMEL:
Eliza Jumel (April 7, 1775 – July 16, 1865) was a New York socialite. Born Eliza Bowen in Providence, Rhode Island to Phebe Kelley Bowen, a prostitute. Early in life Eliza Jumel worked as a prostitute herself. She would later claim to have been born on the high seas to a French naval officer and his aristocratic English wife.

She kept her past a secret when she met and married the wealthy French wine merchant Stephen Jumel in 1804. Due to her low social standing, she was rejected by New York society. In 1810, they moved to what became known as the Morris-Jumel Mansion.

In 1815, she traveled to Paris and became accepted as a Bonapartist sympathizer, going so far as to offer Napoleon safe passage to New York after his defeat at Waterloo, which he declined. Her opinions and actions in France proved too controversial, and in 1816, she was asked to leave the country by King Louis XVIII of France.

After leaving France, she returned to her home in New York, and her marriage began to deteriorate as Stephen Jumel, who stayed behind in France, saw his fortune decline and he learned of Eliza's early life as a prostitute. Eliza began selling Stephen's business holdings and using the profits to buy her way into New York society, eventually leaving her husband penniless.

Stephen Jumel died in 1832, and rumors persisted that Eliza had let him bleed to death. Fourteen months after her first husband's death, Eliza Jumel married the controversial former United States Vice President Aaron Burr. She supposedly married to increase her stature; he, for access to her fortune. Burr in turn misused the remnants of the Jumel fortune, and the two divorced on September 14, 1836, the date of Burr's death. Jumel lived for the rest of her life in the Manhattan mansion, and died at age 90 in 1865. She was buried in Manhattan at the Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum.

Taken in: United States / New York / New York / Sugar Hill (show map)

Taken on: April 2, 2010

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bed

bed steps

boots

piano

Benjamin Crehore

mirror

girandole

fender

andirons

foot warmer

washstand

basin

NYCLPC

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

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Sets appears in: • navema new york

Groups appears in: • Historical Buildings and Landmarks (No Limits) • Interiores de Espaços Publicos - Public Space Interiors

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