Conference House

Category: Historic Houses

Capt. Billop settled Ward's Point in 1677 after a distinguished career in the Royal Navy. He is credited with securing Staten Island for New York State by winning a wager to circumnavigate the island in one day.

The house is most famous as the site of the Pre-Revolutionary War Peace conference. On September 11, 1776, the Captain's decendent Colonel Christopher Billopp, a loyalist, hosted the meeting of Admiral Lord Howe with Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge.