The old one was consumed by fire in the summer of 1759, when Philip had been dead eighteen months, and "Aunt Schuyler," his widow, whose waist he spanned with his hands when they were married forty years before, had grown to such enormous dimensions, that a chair was made for her special use. In that chair she was seated, under the cherry-trees in the lane, one hot day in August, when the eminent Colonel John Bradstreet, riding up, gave her the first intimation that her house was on fire, "With calmness she kept her seat, and gave directions to her servants and neighbours how to check the flames, and to save her most valued articles. Before evening the blackened brick walls were all that were left of that pleasant mansion. Aunt Schuyler had a larger house in Albany, but she took shelter with her husband's deaf brother Peter, who lived upon the hills near by.

Intelligence of the disaster brought the people from all quarters. They testified their lo'S'e for " Aunt Schuyler " by ofl^ering their services. In a few days materials for a new house were collected. Colonel Bradstreet sent up some of the king's troops then stationed in Albany to assist in building, and the part of the house seen on the right in the picture, was completed for use before the winter set in. Over the yawning cellars of the late mansion a broad wooden bridge was built, furnished with seats like a portico. "This," says Mrs. Grant, "with the high walls of the ancient house, which were a kind of screen before the new one, gave the whole the appearance of an ancient ruin." '•'- Aunt Schuyler removed to her house in Albany, and leased the homestead ; and, a few years later, the present house was built.