To Albert Gallatin, the rolling frontier of the Pennsylvania valleys is the idyllic place to work the land and build his new home. He calls it Friendship Hill for the friends who partnered with him during his early years in America.

In 1789, Gallatin completes the first phase of an estate presiding over 370 acres above the banks of the Monongahela River.

The original house, built of brick, in the Federalist style, was just two stories tall. Today it features several additions constructed by Gallatin and later owners over many years.

At the age of 28, Gallatin takes a bride, Sophia Allegre, but she dies just five months later and is thought to lie in this unmarked grave, overlooking the river.

Gallatin mourns her deeply, but eventually remarries in 1793.

The second Mrs. Gallatin, Hannah Nicholson, spends more time at Friendship Hill but lacks her husband’s love of country life.

To accommodate their growing family, Gallatin enlarges the house. He adds a simple framed dwelling featuring a first floor dining room and an upstairs bedroom for sons James and Albert Rolaz.

The entire house is constructed from locally milled and quarried materials.

Through several “windows of history” one can glimpse the evolution of building techniques that improved Friendship Hill over the years.

In the large parlor, two centuries of restored flooring and the original subfloor are visible.

Exposed pockets in the timber frame reveal brick infill providing insulation behind the clapboard exterior.

Gallatin was never a very successful farmer but as a democratic leader of Western Pennsylvania, he used his graceful and isolated home to entertain notable guests including American Revolutionary hero, the Marquis de Lafayette.

In the 1790s Gallatin is elected to the US Congress.

Much to Hannah's relief, the family departs Friendship Hill to join her husband in the new nation’s capital.

During his service to the country, the family rarely returns. Appointed Minister to France in 1816, the Gallatins spend seven years overseas. While away, Gallatin asks his son Albert Rolaz to oversee the building of an addition at Friendship Hill.

What results is this three-and-a-half story stone house with a wrap-around porch.

Though grand, and featuring a cantilevered walnut staircase, the addition is not situated as the elder Gallatin instructed - nor is it even connected to the original building.

Gallatin corrects this defect by building a one-story passage way.

In 1824 he replaces the original log cabin kitchen with a larger one of stone. This is the last addition of the Gallatin era.

Gallatin sells Friendship Hill in 1832.

The house passes through six other families and acquires a South Bedroom Wing, Servants Quarters and State Dining Room. But the years have not been kind and the home falls into disrepair. A series of fires nearly destroys the home in 1979. Evidence of scorch marks and burnt timbers remain today; and the original roofline is still visible from within the Stone Kitchen. Under the direction of the National Park Service, expert preservation and conservation efforts have restored the home to its appearance circa 1908. Even some of the original flooring from Albert’s bedroom has been saved.

Friendship Hill stands today as a monument to a great early statesmen and his American dream.