Old Stone Barracks
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Old Stone Barracks
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Sunset looking west at the 1838 "Old Stone Barracks" at Plattsburgh, New York. Photographed September 25, 2008
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| Location | Plattsburgh, New York |
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| Coordinates | 44°40′51″N 73°26′42″W / 44.68083°N 73.44500°WCoordinates: 44°40′51″N 73°26′42″W / 44.68083°N 73.44500°W |
| Built | 1838 |
| NRHP Reference # | 71000533 |
| Added to NRHP | February 18, 1971 |
The "Old Stone Barracks" is the last remaining structure of a proposed quadrangle of early U.S. Army barracks built at Plattsburgh, New York in 1838. Of the four main buildings initially planned for the Plattsburgh post, only two were ever constructed, an officer's barracks and an enlisted barracks which formed an "L" shape. The buildings were utilized by the Army for nearly a Century. The officer's quarters, in which Lt. Ulysses S. Grant once stayed, was torn down by the U.S. Air Force during the winter of 1963. The remaining building, the 200-foot (61 m) long, two story "Old Stone Barracks," remained mostly empty after the early 1960s and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. In December 2010 the Barracks and more than 7 acres of property was offered to a Canadian real estate developer for $35,000 with the intention of building an apartment complex on the historic site. At the time, the Barracks property was appraised at over $775,000 and the sale sparked public outcry for its preservation. In 2014, the building was again sold to current owners Terry Schmaltz and Mary Theresa Pearl who redeveloped it as the home of the "Valcour Brewing Company." The new craft brewery is set to open early in 2016.
In the decades following the decisive British defeat at the Battle of Plattsburgh and the close of the War of 1812, the United States Military still remained suspicious and wary of British Canada. Relations with England were not cordial following the war and the establishment of a permanent Army Post for a garrison at Plattsburgh, along the strategically important Lake Champlain corridor, which for centuries had been a route for invasion, seemed an obvious choice. Although troops had been stationed there from roughly 1812 to 1825, no permanent military installation had been constructed with the men often being housed in dilapidated and inadequate log structures left over from the War. This was especially apparent in view of the usually harsh North Country winters. In an October, 1838 letter to the Commanding General of the United States Army, Major General Alexander Macomb, who had commanded at Plattsburgh during the 1814 Battle, Brigadier General Abraham Eustis outlined the poor condition of the soldier's quarters there:
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