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Johnson Hall was the home of Sir William Johnson, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and Mohawk Molly Brant. Built in 1763 in the English, Georgian-style, the mansion and dependencies were the centerpiece of a 700-acre working estate. Sir William established formal gardens, planted fruit orchards, and fields of wheat, peas, and corn. He built a grist mill, blacksmith shop, Indian store, and barns as well as housing for his slaves and servants. Differing cultures, traditions, and languages combined to create a unique life for the Johnson family, the Hall bustling with activity as home and business life intermingled daily. Among the most consistent visitors to Sir William and Molly's home were the people of various Native American tribes attending diplomatic councils, their numbers running into the hundreds. An early visitor to the Baronial estate wrote: "Off the river about 14 milesback, Sir William Johnson has made a new settlement and has built a very comfortable house. Having a Good Garden and filed, all cleared in an Absolute Forest...At this place he is generally crowded with Indians, most of the 5 Nations..." Today, Johnson Hall interprets the everyday domestic and diplomatic activities that took place on his frontier estate.

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