In 1810 the property was bought by Stephen Jumel, a wealthy French merchant. There he entertained Louis Philippe, Lafayette, Joseph Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, and Henry Clay. After Jumel’s death it came into the possession of his widow. Aaron Burr, in his old age, married Madame Jumel. After he had made away with a good deal of her money, she got rid of him. He withdrew to other fields of action and died somewhere on Staten Island.
During the Revolution Washington had his headquarters here from September 16 to October 21, 1776, and revisited it, accompanied by his cabinet, July, 1790.
The house is now in the control of the Department of Parks and is shown to the public.
Archibald Gracie, a native of Dumfries, Scotland, of an old Scotch family, came to this country about the time of the close of the Revolutionary War and established himself as a merchant. He became one of the largest if not the largest ship owner in the country, his ships visiting, it is said, every port in the world. He was a man of the highest character. Oliver Wolcott said of him: “He was one of the excellent of the earth, actively liberal, intelligent, seeking and rejoicing in occasions to do good.” Washington Irving wrote (January, 1813): “Their (the Gracies’) country place was one of my strongholds last summer. It is a charming, warm-hearted family and the old gentleman has the soul of a prince.” Mr. Gracie lost greatly as a result of the Berlin and Milan decrees, over a million dollars, it is said. It is believed that he was the largest holder of the celebrated “French Claims,”[47] which Congress with outrageous persistence refused or neglected to pay for generations. He married Esther, daughter of Samuel Rogers and Elizabeth Fitch, daughter of Thomas Fitch, Governor of Connecticut.
There was an old house at Gracie’s Point belonging to Mrs. Prevoost, and this he either altered and enlarged or else removed entirely and built the present structure, but at what time it is not known. In the year 1805 Josiah Quincy was entertained there at dinner. He describes enthusiastically the situation, overlooking the then terribly turbulent waters of Hell Gate. He said: “The shores of Long Island, full of cultivated prospects and interspersed with elegant country seats, bound the distant view. The mansion is elegant in the modern style and the grounds laid out in taste with gardens.”[48] Among the guests at that dinner were Oliver Wolcott, Judge Pendleton, Hamilton’s second, and Dr. Hosack, who later married Mrs. Coster.