Loyalist Legacies: Relics from the Losing Side

Details:

On view June 6-November 2026, Loyalist Legacies: Relics from the Losing Side offers a rare and nuanced exploration of the American Revolution through the perspectives of those who remained loyal to the British Crown. Set within Boscobel’s Historic House Museum and Gallery, the exhibition brings together furniture, portraits, documents, and domestic objects to illuminate the lived experiences of Loyalist families in New York and the Hudson Valley.

For many New Yorkers during the Revolution, loyalty was influenced by family connections, economic realities, cultural affiliations, and uncertainty about an untested future. These choices carried lasting consequences—displacement, exile, and the redefinition of home and belonging in a newly independent nation. Loyalist Legacies reveals these deeply personal and often fraught decisions that shaped identity during the period through late 18th and early 19th century decorative arts.

At the heart of the exhibition is the understanding that material culture holds a powerful insight into history. Everyday objects serve as enduring records of how individuals navigated a world in upheaval. Through these works, visitors encounter stories of resilience, loss, and adaptation that complicate traditional narratives of the Revolution.

A special feature of the exhibition is the Guest Bedroom Gallery that has been transformed into the 18th-century New York City tailor shop of Hercules Mulligan, whose position serving British officials concealed a covert role as a spy in the Patriot intelligence network. Integral to this story is Cato, a man enslaved by Mulligan, whose contributions to these efforts were crucial in order for messages to reach Patriot lines.

Loyalist Legacies invites visitors to reconsider what it meant and cost to choose a side. The exhibition, as part of Boscobel’s larger America 250 programming, is on view in the Visitor Center, Museum Gallery, and throughout the Historic House Museum.