The house consists of a -story central section erected in 1732, with flanking wings. The east wing was built in 1765 as a -story structure and raised to a full two stories in 1785. The central section and east wing are of wood-frame construction, covered with cedar shingles, and rest on a fieldstone foundation. The two-story stone west wing was built between 1853 and 1855. The house features three divided
Dutch doors. The earliest part of the house, consisting of two rooms, was built by John Tompkins, one of the
tenant farmers of
Frederick Philipse III, the last
lord of Philipsburg Manor. By 1760, he sold the house to another tenant farmer family, Gilbert and Sarah Bates, who added two more rooms. Gilbert became a soldier early in the Revolutionary War, was imprisoned by the British, and died in captivity. When the French troops marched into the area, the widow Bates offered her four-room house to Rochambeau to serve as his headquarters. Among the first residents of Westchester to volunteer for the Westchester County Militia in 1776, John Odell became one of the elite
Westchester guides and served as a scout for General Washington during the Philipsburg Encampment. He was later commissioned a Colonel in the
New York State Militia by Governor
John Jay. After the war, Colonel Odell purchased the house from the widow Bates. In 2020, the house was deeded to the town of Greenburgh. The nonprofit group, Friends of Odell House Rochambeau Headquarters, worked with the town to restore the property and create a museum. which is the second-highest award given to civilians by the French government. ==References==