Museum Collections

This painted Windsor-style settee is said to have been used on the Clermont, the first commercially successful steamboat to operate in the United States. Robert R. Livingston was a partner in the enterprise with the steamboat’s engineer, Robert Fulton (1765-1815). Interestingly, Fulton eventually married Livingston's niece Harriet Livingston (1786-1824). The maiden voyage of the Clermont, named for Livingston's estate, departed from the Chancellor's property in the Hudson Valley in 1807 and ran between New York City and Albany until it was retired in 1814. Family lore suggests that the bench, originally one of a pair, resided on the porch of Livingston's home before it was redecorated and placed on the rear deck of the steamboat.