The Great Room & The Gomez Family

The Great Room & The Gomez Family

Luis Moses Gomez was a Jewish community leader from New York City. In 1716, Gomez purchased a 1,200-acre parcel with Hudson River access to harvest natural resources for building materials. With his two sons, Jacob and Daniel, Gomez built a fieldstone blockhouse on this land. Gomez launched one of the Mid-Hudson Valley's earliest commercial ventures: operating mills and lime kilns on the property, then shipping the material to New York City markets.

As we enter into the house, our first stop is the Great Room. The western section of this room is the oldest part of the House, dating back to the Gomez era. The western fireplace’s back wall is original with a Dutch oven added later.

This room features a small section of the original Gomez-era lime and clay floor that partly remains under the current wood floor. The lime and clay mixture (cement) was used because it did not rot like wood does when placed directly on top of the soil. Later, in Wolvert Ecker's time, wood logs were placed into strips cut into the lime so that a wood floor could be nailed into place.

The eastern section of the Great Room was added several years after the western section.

As seen in the picture above, the Great Room is furnished with antique tables & chairs, a pewter collection, a writing desk, and a crewelwork wingback chair. The eastern fireplace features the year 1714 carved into the lintel. That year, the English crown issued a patent on 5600 acres where the House & Mill now stand.

John A. Staples, hailing from a historical Marlboro family, owned the house from 1904-1912. He rebuilt both Great Room fireplaces, restoring them to their original size from modifications that narrowed them.