{"nrhp_refnum":"72000901","name":"Knox Headquarters","other_names":["John Ellison House","General Henry Knox's Headquarters"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Quassaick Ave. and Forge Hill Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Vails Gate","county":"Orange County","state":"NY","lat":41.453779150500054,"lon":-74.04803028926116,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-11-09","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1972-11-28","areas_of_significance":["Military"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A stone house with an east timber-frame wing at Quassaick Avenue (State Route 94) and Forge Hill Road in Vails Gate, Orange County, New York, built in 1754 by Colonel Thomas Ellison for his son John. It was also known as the John Ellison House.","why_significant":"The house served as headquarters for Major-General Henry Knox on four occasions during the American Revolution, and was also used by Generals Greene, von Steuben and Gates. It stood in the strategically important Hudson Highlands, near Washington's Newburgh headquarters and the New Windsor Cantonment. The Ellison family and their nearby grist mill, a source of flour for American troops, add to its significance.","narrative":"Built in 1754, this two-and-one-half-story fieldstone house in Vails Gate, Orange County, was constructed by Colonel Thomas Ellison for his son John. A local mason, William Bull, signed the contract for a house measuring 44 by 36 feet. It has a hipped roof, a dentiled cornice, a rear porch and a clapboard-covered timber-frame wing at the east end. During the American Revolution the house served as headquarters for Major-General Henry Knox on four occasions between 1779 and 1782, and Generals Greene, von Steuben and later Gates also used it. Its location in the Hudson Highlands, close to Washington's Newburgh headquarters and the New Windsor Cantonment, made it useful for military affairs. John Ellison's grist mill in the glen below supplied flour to the army. A local association bought the house in 1917 and gave it to the state five years later, and a restoration was completed by 1954.","period_of_significance":"18th Century (specific date 1754)","architect_builder":"William Bull, local mason (contract for the house)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the State of New York and maintained as a museum; the east wing serves as a caretaker's residence. Restoration was completed by 1954, and condition is listed as fair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.334566-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/72000901.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000901/56f7c2ec3b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000901/56f7c2ec3b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"The original uploader was Daniel Case at English Wikipedia.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knox%27s_Headquarters.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">The original uploader was Daniel Case at English Wikipedia.</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Knox%27s_Headquarters.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320680","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knox%27s_Headquarters_State_Historic_Site","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1442114"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/orange-county/knox-headquarters-72000901/"}