Enjoy ‘The Haunting of Billop House’
Liberty Theater presents Reader’s Theater production
Submitted photo courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society
The next In Their Footsteps lecture will focus on railroad logging in Oregon.
Learn about railroad logging in Oregon
Next In Their Footsteps talk explores state historical railroads
ASTORIA — Lewis and Clark
National Historical Park at
Fort Clatsop announces the
next In Their Footsteps free
speaker series event. This pro-
gram will be The Oregon His-
torical Railroads Project by
Edward J. Kamholz at 1 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 18.
Kamholz’s
presentation
will focus on railroad logging
in Oregon with special empha-
sis on northwest Oregon.
The Oregon Historical Rail-
8 | October 15, 2015 | coastweekend.com
roads Project is a historical sur-
vey of Oregon’s private, public
and urban/interurban railroads
examining their development
patterns with an ongoing effort
to make this information avail-
able to the public in the form of
an online map. This resource
will track the arrival, establish-
ment and spread of Anglo cul-
ture in the state from the 1870s
through the mid-20th century.
More information is available
at www.ohrp.org
Kamholz is a forest his-
torian and co-author of “The
Oregonian-American Lumber
Company: Ain’t No More,”
published in 2003 by Stanford
University Press. Kamholz has
a Masters in Business Admin-
istration.
The Lewis and Clark Na-
tional Park Association and
the park are sponsors of this
monthly Sunday forum. These
programs are held in the Netul
River Room of Fort Clatsop’s
Visitor Center and are free of
charge.
Fort Clatsop Visitor Center
is located at 92343 Fort Clat-
sop Road. For more informa-
tion, call the park at 503-861-
2471.
ASTORIA — The Liberty The-
ater presents “The Haunting
of Billop House” by Joe Sim-
onelli, a Reader’s Theater pro-
duction with the Liberty The-
ater Players. Performance will
take place at 7 p.m. Wednes-
day and Thursday, Oct. 21,
22, 28 and 29 in the theater’s
McTavish Room.
When a famous thriller
novelist and playwright visits
his sister-in-law, niece and his
niece’s boyfriend, he gets a lit-
tle too close for comfort to his
subject matter. His sister-in-
law is the new caretaker of one
of the oldest — and allegedly
most haunted — manor houses
in New York state. Through a
series of experiments in past
life regression they all discov-
er the diabolical secrets of the
house.
The Liberty Theater is lo-
cated at 1203 Commercial St.
Tickets are $15 and on sale
at the box of¿ce or at www.
ticketswest.com. For more
information, call 503-325-
5922. The box of¿ce is open
Wednesday to Saturday and
two hours before curtain call.
History of the
Billop House
Billop House — a.k.a. the
Conference House — was
built before 1680 and is locat-
ed near the southernmost tip of
New York on Staten Island and
became known as “Billop’s
Point” in the 18th century. The
Staten Island Peace Confer-
ence was held there on Sept.
11, 1776 as an unsuccessful
attempt to end the American
Revolutionary War.
In 1776 the war was not
going well for the Colonists.
The British controlled New
York City, Staten and Long is-
lands. By September, the Col-
onists were near defeat, so it
was arranged by Lord Richard
Howe to meet with Benjamin
Franklin, Edward Rutledge
and John Adams at Billop
House. Howe, after emphasiz-
ing that the British intended to
end the Revolution and crush
its leaders, offered to end the
‘The Haunting of
Billop House’
7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Oct.
21, 22, 28 and 29
Liberty Theater’s McTavish Room
1203 Commercial St., Astoria
503-325-5922
$15
war if the Colonists would
swear allegiance to England.
Considering this tone, it is not
a surprise that Adams and the
others refused the offer.
Col. Billop took great de-
light in the fact that these
talks ended the ¿rst day. He
felt these traitors to England
would shortly be destroyed.
After this event, Billop’s man-
sion was given the new nick-
name of “Conference House.”
Billop was happy his home
now symbolized his loyalty to
the British and, more impor-
tantly, England’s power.
Throughout the war, Bil-
lop opened his home to Brit-
ish soldiers that needed to rest
— his large basement kitchen
was converted into a hospital.
Often soldiers were smuggled
into his home at night through
the tunnel. Soldiers who died
at the home were hastily bur-
ied around the large estate,
for there was no time for fu-
nerals. It is stated that this is
most likely the reason why
the ghosts of British soldiers
wearing redcoats are still seen
on the property.
Billop’s vehemence toward
patriots during the war made
him a target. He was twice
kidnapped and held for ran-
som. The ¿rst kidnapping oc-
curred in June 1779. A group
of patriots rowed across from
Perth Amboy in New Jersey,
capturing Billop who was held
for two months. The second
kidnapping took place in No-
vember of the same year. Both
times Billop was held as a
prisoner of war in the Burling-
ton County jail in New Jersey
where he was chained to the
Àoor and fed only bread and
water. He was told this was re-
taliation for prisoners held by
the British.
During the second kidnap-
ping, Billop was released just
after Christmas. After his return
home, he was convinced that
one of his servants had aided in
these kidnappings. He had seen
a servant girl place a lantern in
a second Àoor window and felt
this must have been a signal to
the men supposedly hidden at a
church steeple in Perth Amboy.
When next he saw this servant
girl place a lantern in a window
he went mad. It is noted that
he “bellowed at her and threw
her down a Àight of stairs kill-
ing her.” It was also noted that
after this tragedy it came to be
that the girl was only doing one
of her nightly chores. Billop
had her body buried in an un-
marked grave on the property.
For years neighbors have
reported that the home and
property appear to be haunt-
ed. Reports include soldiers
wearing redcoats wandering
the gardens, kitchen and the
tunnel. A man has been heard
singing, and others have re-
ported being tapped on the
shoulder by an unseen hand.
Many visitors have stated that
there is a residual haunting of
the murder. A man is heard
shouting, a woman screams
and the sound of her falling is
heard. The servant girl’s grave
has never been found, and the
exact number of ghosts and
their names, except Billop, has
never been discovered.
The house, a national and
New York City landmark, is
the only pre-Revolutionary
manor house still existing in
New York City. It is located
at Conference House Park
overlooking Raritan Bay. The
house is also located within
the Ward’s Point Conservation
Area, separately added to the
National Register of Historic
Places in 1982.