06/13/2026
Bethlehem’s first town supervisor!
Our next installment in our series of Revolutionary Van Rensselaer is Philip K. Van Rensselaer.
Philip was born in 1747 to parents Kiliaen van Rensselaer and Ariaantie Schuyler. When Philip was entering adulthood in the 1760s, he had established a personal and business relationship with Robert Sanders, a successful Albany merchant. By 1765, Philip had received proprietorship of the Sanders family business and Sanders had included Philip into his will and died shortly thereafter. A few years later in 1768, Philip Van Rensselaer married Robert Sanders’ daughter, Maria.
Philip became a well-respected merchant, which is likely why General Phillip Schuyler appointed him to be the Keeper of Stores for the Northern Department of the Continental Army in the spring of 1776. Philip often wrote to the Commander-in Chief, George Washington, requesting specialists and supplies. Quite famously, however, he was often ignored and forced to improvise. One notable improvisation Philip Van Rensselaer devised was in 1777, when the Continental Army failed to send critically needed ammunition to the Northern Army in the days leading up to the Battles of Saratoga. With no other alternative, Philip ordered the Committees of Safety to harvest lead for bullets from the houses in Albany, by melting down weights, frames and window lattices. The improvised ammunition did reach the army before the pivotal battles.
Philip found great success after the Revolutionary War, receiving some compensation for his service in the form of land grants, which he traded and consolidated into a new property where his country home, Cherry Hill was built in 1787.
Today, Historic Cherry Hill functions as a historic house museum, which preserves and shares the stories of Philip Van Rensselaer and his descendants.
🖼Miniature Portrait of Philip Van Rensselaer, Attributed to John Ramage, c. 1780, Historic Cherry Hill
