__NOTOC__ The Akin Free Library on Quaker Hill is a historic eclectic late Victorian stone building in the hamlet of Quaker Hill, town of Pawling,

Dutchess County, New York Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later or ...

, USA, listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

as a historic place of local significance since 1991. The Akin Free Library was a gift from the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

Albert J. Akin (1803–1903), founder of the Bank of Pawling and the Mizzentop Hotel on Quaker Hill. The building was designed by the architect John A. Wood and constructed between 1898 and 1908. It is a 2½-story, ''T''-plan, stone building on a raised basement with an engaged three-story central

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another build ...

and rear annex. The building features an entrance

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many c ...

, bracketed sheet

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish ...

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

, and standing seam copper roof. Its design is

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

eclectic. ''Note:'' This includes an
''Accompanying photographs''
/ref> It was added to the

in 1991. The library itself is located on the first floor of the building. Among others, its holdings of several thousand books contain books of local interest and by local authors, a children's section, and newspaper collections.

Museums

The Historical Society Museum occupies the second floor of the building. Its collections include objects pertaining to the local history such as period and Quaker clothing, tools and artwork, bowling pins from the Mizzentop Hotel, and the service window from the old Quaker Hill Post Office. The lower floor of the building houses the Olive Gunnison Natural History Museum, which displays about 200 mounted birds, rocks and minerals, as well as a shrunken human head.

External links

online article by the Historical Society of Quaker Hill and Pawlingonline travel article on Pawling

References

{{Authority control Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Private libraries in the United States Museums in Dutchess County, New York Natural history museums in New York (state) History museums in New York (state) Library buildings completed in 1908 Pawling, New York National Register of Historic Places in Dutchess County, New York 1908 establishments in New York (state)