Walsh-Havemeyer House

The house sits on the former farm of patriot Robert Boyd, Jr. (1734 — 1804). In June 1775, Boyd built a water-powered forge on the south side of the nearby Vale of Avoca. He was a Scottish immigrant to New Windsor ^[4] before the Revolutionary War, and with his father, Robert Boyd, Sr. (1703 — 1786), continued their trade as blacksmiths.^[5] After 1761, they obtained a hundred-acre farm on the northern end of William Chamber's patent. Boyd's gun smithery manufactured bayonets, gun barrels muskets, as he had received a contract from the revolutionary authorities to produce them. He was paid three pounds and fifteen shillings. By February 1776, their gun smithery was remarked as one of the best in the colonies.^[4] However, he had difficulty with assistance at the forge, and sent agents abroad to secure more workmen, a mission that proved to be unsuccessful.^[5] He was a member of the New Windsor Committee of Safety, along with Samuel Brewster, a blacksmith on Moodna Creek. After the Revolution, he converted the works into a plaster mill ^[5] and retired.

In 1790, George Clinton sold his grist and saw mill in the Vale to Hugh Walsh, who extended his property to Boyd's.^[5] The Havemeyer family were German entrepreneurs who owned property in New Windsor that they maintained in the summer months.