So, if you know me at all or have attended any of my recent presentations, you’ll know I’ve become obsessed with the Agate family of artists who lived in the hamlet of Sparta in the 1800s.  (Today Sparta is part of Ossining, NY.)

Today, I had the privilege of cleaning Harriet Agate Carmichael’s gravestone with the Ossining Historic Cemeteries Conservancy.  It was the last cleaning event of the year and an absolutely gorgeous day for it.

Now, who are the Agate family of artists and why should you care?

Well, first, I think it’s all sorts of important to know about people who lived in your very town and contributed to the world in a meaningful and positive way (even if they lived decades, even centuries before you).  

So, follow me down a rabbit hole that will take you to the farthest corners of the earth and to the beginnings of an American school of art.

Frederick (1803 – 1844) was a talented oil painter who helped found and run one of America’s first art schools, the National Academy of Design (NAD).  He also likely taught his younger siblings Alfred and Harriet to paint.  He would die young from tuberculosis and be buried in Sparta cemetery next to his sister Harriet (though his gravestone is currently missing.)

And here’s one of Frederick’s more famous paintings — a portrait of actor Edwin Forrest in the role of Chief Metamora from the John Augustus Stone play “The Last of the Wampanoags”:

Alfred (1812 – 1846) would go on to study at NAD and exhibit paintings at their annual art show.  He became a successful miniaturist and portrait painter before taking on what is arguably his most important role, that of illustrator on the US Exploring Expedition of 1838 – 1842 – one of the most ambitious and largest scientific expeditions of exploration that you‘ve never heard of.

And our Harriet (1817 – 1871) would also study at the National Academy of Design.  In 1833, she would be one of the first women to show a painting at the Academy’s annual Art Exhibition. That painting was called “View of Sleepy Hollow,” and Historic Hudson Valley just happens to have a painting of the same name from about the same time, although they note that the painter is unknown.  

Could this possibly be by Harriet? Watch this space – I’m going to research this as far as I can!

We have only two other paintings by Harriet – likely from about the same time and likely from her days as a student.

In about 1839 Harriet would marry Thomas J. Carmichael, a contractor for the Ossining portion of the Croton Aqueduct.  

They settled in Ossining, in the Agate family house at 2 Liberty Street:

Harriet would have several children then move to Wisconsin with her husband in 1846 to live on a farm. Sadly, Thomas would die there soon after they moved, in 1848, and after settling his estate, Harriet would move back to Sparta where she probably moved back with her mother Hannah at 2 Liberty and then with her daughter Melodia Frederica Carmichael Foster in Brooklyn.

Harriet would die in 1871 in Brooklyn (at her daughter’s house) and, as we know, is buried in Sparta cemetery.

Her paintings and many of her brothers’ would be carefully kept in various family attics until 1959 when Harriet’s great grand-daughter, Melodia Carmichael Wood Ferguson, would discover them and donate them to the Ossining Historical Society.  Some were in turn donated to the New York Historical Society and the Newark Art Museum.  If you reach out to both places very nicely, they might permit you to view the paintings which are not on display but are safely stored away.  (I did and they did!)

Here’s what her headstone looked like after the cleaning:

Grateful for the opportunity to spend some time with Mrs. Harriet Ann Agate Carmichael today.