The Conference House
Guest Post by Angie Mangino, Author of 17th Century Tottenville History Comes Alive
Did you know that a place in Tottenville on Staten Island could have changed the course of the American Revolutionary War? That location is known today as the Conference House.
The Conference House is on the National Register of Historic Places, a list of historic places deemed worthy of preservation. It is located on the 3.27 acres of Conference House Park, where the largest pre-European burial grounds of the Lenni Lenape, known as Burial Ridge, additionally is located. As the southernmost point of New York City and of New York State, a South Pole marker designates the most southern point at the end of a park trail.
Captain Christopher Billopp built the stately two-story rubble stone masonry manor house with its steep roof adorned with brick gable ends and parapets in Tottenville around 1680. First called the Billopp Manor, in 1688 Billopp named it Bentley Manor after the Bentley, a small two-gun ship he had commanded. Despite serving on a number of larger Royal Naval ships the Bentley was obviously the most meaningful to him to name his manor after it.
It was a wheat farm, maintained and developed by his wife, Katherine Ann Farmar Billopp, whenever he was away and especially after his appointment by Major Edmund Andros to be Collector of Customs for Delaware in August 1687.
Bentley Manor retained this name into the early 20th Century despite changes in its ownership. The change to calling it the Conference House was to commemorate its place in history that could have changed the course of the American Revolutionary War. The peace conference held there could have kept us all British instead of American if the conference had succeeded in ending the war.
Colonel Christopher Billopp, the great-grandson of the same name of Captain Christopher Billopp, inherited Bentley Manor.
On September 11, 1776 it was at Bentley Manor where representatives of the Continental Congress met with a representative of King George III to try to end the war.
A rowboat carrying John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Edward Rutledge left Perth Amboy, New Jersey with the colonists disembarking from the rowboat onto what is now the Conference House Beach.
Admiral Lord Richard Howe met them, and together they climbed to the top of the hill to the Conference House to attempt a compromise to the Revolutionary War.
Before the war, Lord Howe and Benjamin Franklin were friends in London. Franklin regularly played chess with Howe’s widowed sister.
Inside the home of Colonel Christopher Billopp they tried to find a way to arrive at a peaceful solution.
Representing the Continental Congress, Franklin introduced Adams and Rutledge to Howe as they sat cordially around the table. The conference lasted three hours as they tried to reach a compromise.
Howe stressed the advantage to the colonists to be part of the British Empire. The delegates reiterated the colonies voted for independence after past indignities, trying to convince Howe of the ways that an independent nation would be a benefit to England.
The Continental Congress representatives only had the authority to work for peace through independence from England. The Declaration of Independence had already stated the colonists’ grievances with the “history of repeated injuries and usurpations” of King George III. It was the job of John Adams, Edward Rutledge, and Benjamin Franklin to try to get freedom for the colonies without continuing the war.
Lord Richard Howe, the King’s representative, had strict instructions from King George III that would never allow the colonies their freedom. His job basically was to get the colonists to back down from this breaking away from the crown to end the war.
Imagine how frustrating it must have been for them as they tried to negotiate peace for three hours when the stipulations on both sides destined them to fail!
With both sides unable to compromise with these conditions set firmly in place, there was no common ground with which to reach a settlement. Continuing to fight the Revolutionary War was the only possible response left to resolve the issue.
Along with many events over the year. The Conference House holds an annual reenactment to commemorate this event that offers visitors a taste of this history. https://conferencehouse.org/
Angie Mangino, a freelance journalist and book reviewer, is the author of 17th Century Tottenville History Comes Alive, the first book in a series.
Her website http://www.angiemangino.com hosts her full writing resume, media page, and her Tottenville History and Book Review blogs.
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