The Jay Heritage Center (JHC) is a
501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
incorporated in 1990 and chartered by the
New York State Board of Regents The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, presiding over University of the State of New York and the New York State Education Depa ...
to act as stewards of the 23-acre
Jay Estate
The Jay Estate is a 23-acre park and historic site in Rye, New York, with the 1838 Peter Augustus Jay House at its center. It is the keystone of the Boston Post Road Historic District, a National Historic Landmark District (NHL) created in 1993. ...
, the
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
home of
American Founding Father
The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American revolutionary leaders who united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the war for independence from Great Britai ...
John Jay
John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the first ...
. Jay's ancestral property in
Rye
Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
is considered the centerpiece of the
Boston Post Road Historic District.
Mission
![Interior of 1917 Palmer Tennis House at Jay Estate](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Interior_of_1917_Palmer_Tennis_House_at_Jay_Estate.jpg)
The Jay Heritage Center's mission is to educate the public about the legacy of American patriot, jurist, anti-slavery advocate and diplomat
John Jay
John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the first ...
. Visitors, adults and children are guided through the historic preservation, restoration and interpretation of the land upon which he, and many others, including enslaved women and men, grew up in
Rye, New York
Rye is a coastal suburb of New York City in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is separate from the Town of Rye, which has more land area than the city. The City of Rye, formerly the Village of Rye, was part of the Town until it r ...
.
JHC manages the remaining core parcel of Jay's home as an active campus with indoor and outdoor classrooms filled with programs in American history, architecture, social justice, landscape conservation and environmental stewardship.
History
The Jay Heritage Center was an outgrowth of the civic advocacy of several groups starting in 1979 that ultimately became the Jay Coalition in 1986. This group of community stakeholders, united by their dedication to protect John Jay's ancestral home in Rye from commercial development, attracted more than 62 historical and environmental organizations. Members of the Coalition included descendants of John Jay such as
John Jay Iselin John Jay Iselin (December 8, 1933 – May 6, 2008) was a magazine and television journalist, editor, and publisher. He served as president of WNET, president of the Cooper Union, and president of the Marconi Foundation at Columbia University.
Earl ...
, and groups like the
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...
, the
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...
and others.
The coalition lobbied for support from local, state and federal politicians for more than 11 years. They attended numerous planning commission meetings, gathered signatures, drafted legislation and engaged in other grassroots activism. Finally, the core members of the endeavor formally incorporated as the non-profit Jay Heritage Center. The efforts of the Coalition received bipartisan support from numerous government officials. Among the critical players were New York Governor
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as t ...
, Westchester County Executive
Andrew P. O'Rourke
Andrew Patrick O'Rourke (October 26, 1933 – January 3, 2013) was a judge and politician from New York State. A Republican, he served as the County Executive of Westchester County, New York from 1982 to 1997.
He was the Republican candidate ...
,
Suzi Oppenheimer
Suzanne "Suzi" Oppenheimer (born December 13, 1934) is an American politician from New York, who served from 1985 to 2012 in the New York State Senate.
Early life and education
Oppenheimer was born on December 13, 1934, in New York City. She a ...
,
Richard Ottinger
Richard Lawrence Ottinger (born January 27, 1929) is an American legal educator and politician from New York. A Democrat, he served in the United States House of Representatives for eight terms, from 1965 to 1971 and from 1975 to 1985.
Early ye ...
, and
Joe DioGuardi
Joseph John DioGuardi (; born September 20, 1940) is an American certified public accountant and a Republican politician. DioGuardi served in the House of Representatives representing the 20th Congressional district of New York from 1985 to 19 ...
.
Advocacy by the Jay Heritage Center also contributed to the preservation of the surrounding National Historic Landmark District. In 2005, J. Winthrop Aldrich, former assistant to six successive Commissioners of
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (informally referred to as NYSDEC, DEC, EnCon or NYSENCON) is a department of New York state government. The department guides and regulates the conservation, improvement, and protection ...
(1974–94) and Deputy Commissioner
(1998-2003; 2007–10) attested that the non-profit's effort "to preserve, restore and interpret the properties has been a model for the nation."
Notable advisors to the non-profit have included the late
Roger G. Kennedy
Roger George Kennedy (August 3, 1926 – September 30, 2011) was an American polymath whose career included banking, television production, historical writing, and museum administration, the last as director of the Smithsonian Institution's Nati ...
, Director of the
Smithsonian, preservationist
James Marston Fitch
James Marston Fitch (1909–2000) was an architect and a Preservationist. In 1964, he was one of the founders of the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. He was a member ...
and
Elizabeth Barlow Rogers
Elizabeth Barlow Rogers (born 1936) is an environmentalist, landscape preservationist, author of numerous books and essays, and a former park administrator. Her most notable achievement was her role in the revitalization of New York City’s Cen ...
, who together with other architectural historians and preservations suggested a strategy for the organization.
In 2019, the Jay Heritage Center was invited to join the African-American History in Westchester Commemoration Committee to help plan events throughout the County to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to the English Colonies in North America in 1619.
Stewardship of the Jay Estate
Private public partnership
In 2010, stakeholders and preservationists concerned about the potential closure of 55 New York State parks gathered at a public forum in Greenburgh, New York to suggest solutions to then Governor
David Paterson
David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...
. It was suggested that negotiating public-private partnerships with trusted non-profits might be an alternative to shuttering historic sites. This conveyance of responsibility turned out to be particularly suitable for the Jay Estate. The Jay Heritage Center was already one of the three owners of a parcel of public parkland that overlooks
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...
. JHC owns and the
(NYSOPRHP) and Westchester County Parks share interest in the remaining (with NYSOPRHP owning 90% and Westchester County Parks owning 10%).
The agreement received unanimous and bipartisan support from the
Westchester County Board of Legislators
The Westchester County Board of Legislators is the legislative, policy-making branch of Westchester County. The powers of the Board are enumerated in the county's charter. A key power of the Board concerns finances: appropriating funds, approving ...
in November 2012. Officials saw the agreement as a means towards preserving the site's future with trusted curators but also acknowledged that the covenant was a means towards removing all taxpayer costs for maintenance of the property. In August 2013, under Governor
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
JHC was finally awarded management of the Jay Estate by NYSOPRHP and
Westchester County Executive
The Westchester County Executive is the head of the executive branch of the Westchester County, New York, government. The current county executive is George Latimer. The county executive has power to veto acts of Westchester County Board of Legis ...
Rob Astorino
Robert Patrick Astorino (born May 3, 1967) is an American politician, radio producer and television host who was the county executive of Westchester County, New York from 2010 to 2017. He was the Republican nominee for Governor of New York in 2014 ...
through a
public-private partnership agreement.
NY State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey commented on the agreement in a lecture titled ''Stewardship of New York's Cultural and Natural History'' on April 29, 2014. The Commissioner articulated the importance of saving the site: "Here we are at the boyhood home of the only native founding father and the first Chief Justice of the United States, author of New York's constitution and two time governor, abolitionist and patriarch of several generations of similarly public minded descendants. It is a reminder of how many leaders called New York home and it is a source of state pride that we have preserved this home."
Landscape
JHC is entrusted to stabilize and rehabilitate culturally significant landscape features at the Jay Estate including 1822 stone
ha-ha walls, of historic sunken gardens that date back to the 1700s, a meadow, an apple orchard, and elm tree
allée
In landscaping, an avenue (from the French), alameda (from the Portuguese and Spanish), or allée (from the French), is traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each side, which is used, as its La ...
. JHC was awarded a $500,000 Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) grant in December 2014 to help restore the historic Jay Gardens.
Buildings
JHC is also overseeing restoration and rehabilitation of several historic buildings:
* Buildings Owned and Funded by JHC privately and through applied grants
JHC owns two of the buildings outright – the
1838 Peter Augustus Jay House
The Jay Estate is a 23-acre park and historic site in Rye, New York, with the 1838 Peter Augustus Jay House at its center. It is the keystone of the Boston Post Road Historic District (New York), Boston Post Road Historic District, a National Hist ...
and the 1907 Van Norden Carriage House. The Carriage House was designed by the architect
Frank A. Rooke
Frank Aydelott Rooke, known professionally as Frank A. Rooke, was a New York architect who designed the historic Claremont Riding Academy and numerous other structures of significance that are either in National Historic Districts or listed on ...
who designed
Claremont Stables and several Sheffield Farms dairy plants in Manhattan. Commissioned by the later residents Warner and Grace Talcott Van Norden, the Classical Revival, yellow folly has its original, four-faced
Seth Thomas clock and three pairs of mahogany pocket doors.
* Buildings Owned by New York State and Westchester County; Operated and Funded by JHC privately and through applied grants
The remaining buildings – the 1907 Zebra House, Jay Ice House, 1917 Indoor Tennis House, and an 18th-century farmhouse – belong jointly to New York State Parks and Westchester County Parks but are being managed and restored by JHC.
On August 4, 2015
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced more than $6.2 million in grant awards to help 16 historically significant properties repair severe damage from
Superstorm Sandy
Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
in 2012; JHC was one of those organizations and awarded $391,056 for stabilization and restoration of the 1917 Palmer Tennis House which is also in its care. "The Palmer Tennis House, the third oldest indoor tennis court in the United States, experienced roof damage during Hurricane Sandy. The Jay Heritage Center will stabilize and restore the wood truss system and copper trimmed skylights, as well as the stone foundation and clapboard siding. Improvements to the tennis house, constructed circa 1917, will facilitate historic usage and interpretation."
In 2019, JHC received a prestigious $50,000 grant from the Gerry Charitable Trust to rehabilitate the site of an 1849
Alexander Jackson Davis
Alexander Jackson Davis, or A. J. Davis (July 24, 1803 – January 14, 1892), was an American architect, known particularly for his association with the Gothic Revival style.
Education
Davis was born in New York City and studied at t ...
building and create a garden pavilion for educational purposes.
Programs and events
Today, JHC hosts educational programs in American history, African American History, Social Justice, Environmental Stewardship, Historic Preservation and more. Popular school and family programs have included hands-on archaeology digs and architecture mini-camps. JHC was also named to New York State's ''
Path Through History
New York State's Path Through History is a tourism and economic development initiative formed to promote increased visitation to more than seven hundred historic sites throughout the state. The "path" is organized by theme and region. It was launch ...
'' in 2014 for its programs that explore themes of Civil Rights as reflected in the legacy of the Jay family.
Through collaborative partnerships, JHC is a host/co-sponsor of the following annual programs and events: ''Martin Luther King Jr. Literary Celebration'' (January), Annual ''African American Trailblazers Awards'' Ceremony (February), ''I Love My Park Day'' (May) and ''Hudson River Valley Ramble'' (September).
American history, social justice, African American history
JHC's signature school program, ''Striving For Freedom,'' is a site-specific, interactive play based on historic records which engages middle and high school students in a discussion of Jay's complicated role in the abolition of slavery in New York State. The program is provided free thanks to a long time grant from
Con Edison
Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison (stylized as conEdison) or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues as of 2017, and over $62 b ...
; free bus transportation is provided as well for qualifying schools. The play has been performed for over 15 years and the average size class that attends is 100 students.
Environmental stewardship
''Our Footprints Matter'' is an ongoing program which highlights the energy efficient measures employed by JHC.
JHC regularly holds programs and workshops to educate the community about
Invasive Species
An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...
identification and management. Working with fellow parks, historic sites and
Audubon
The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...
chapters, JHC has been a longtime partner of NY State's Lower Hudson Partnership for Invasive Species Management (LHPRISM). JHC has advocated for the removal of invasive species from public parks since 2007.
Exhibits
JHC's most recent exhibit is ''Preserving Westchester's African-American Heritage: Engaging Youth & Community.'' Past exhibits have included ''A Legacy of Sailing – Residents of the Jay Estate and Yachting New York 1843–1966'', which coincided with New York State's Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial celebration and was co-sponsored by
Mystic Seaport
Mystic Seaport Museum or Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea in Mystic, Connecticut is the largest maritime museum in the United States. It is notable for its collection of sailing ships and boats and for the re-creation of the craf ...
; ''The Jays and The Abolition Of Slavery: From Manumission to Emancipation'' co-sponsored by the
New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. ...
; and ''The Landmarks of New York'' a major exhibit of over 100 black and white photographs of iconic structures saved through preservation advocacy. The exhibit ''
Mary Rutherfurd Jay
Mary Rutherfurd Jay (1872–1953) was one of America's earliest landscape architects and an advocate of horticultural education and careers for women."Mary Rutherfurd Jay – Garden Architect" Exhibit Catalog, Jay Heritage Center, 2015 The gr ...
– Garden Architect (1872–1953)'' illustrated the life and career of one of America's earliest landscape architects and proponents of professional education for women.
Notable speakers
Notable programs for adults at the site have featured New York historian
Russell Shorto
Russell Anthony Shorto (born February 8, 1959) is an American author, historian, and journalist who is best known for his book on the Dutch origins of New York City, ''The Island at the Center of the World''. Shorto's research for the book reli ...
, African American Heritage historian Dr. Larry Spruill, Lincoln historian
Harold Holzer
Harold Holzer (born February 5, 1949) is a scholar of Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the American Civil War Era. He serves as director of Hunter College's Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute. Holzer previously spent twenty-thr ...
, American essayist
Adam Gopnik
Adam Gopnik (born August 24, 1956) is an American writer and essayist. He is best known as a staff writer for ''The New Yorker,'' to which he has contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir, and criticism since 1986.
He is the author of nine books ...
, constitutional scholar
Akhil Reed Amar
Akhil Reed Amar (born September 6, 1958) is an American legal scholar known for his expertise in constitutional law and criminal procedure. He holds the position of Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, and is an adju ...
, Pulitzer Prize-winning authors
Ron Chernow
Ronald Chernow (; born March 3, 1949) is an American writer, journalist and biographer. He has written bestselling historical non-fiction biographies.
He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the 2011 American History Book Prize for his ...
,
Annette Gordon-Reed
Annette Gordon-Reed (born November 19, 1958) is an American historian and law professor. She is currently the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University and a professor of history in the university's Faculty of Arts & Sciences. She ...
,
Joseph Ellis
Joseph John-Michael Ellis III (born July 18, 1943) is an American historian whose work focuses on the lives and times of the founders of the United States of America. '' American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' won a National Boo ...
and
Alan Taylor, historians
Joanne B. Freeman
Joanne B. Freeman (born April 27, 1962) is a U.S. historian and tenured Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University. Having researched Alexander Hamilton both independently and collaboratively with mentors and peers for more tha ...
, Barry Lewis and Peter S. Onuf, American author and activist
Hugh Bernard Price
Hugh Bernard Price (born 1941) is a U.S. activist. He served as the President of the National Urban League from 1994 to 2003.
Price is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
Price is a member of the advisory board of the , landscape preservationists
Elizabeth Barlow Rogers
Elizabeth Barlow Rogers (born 1936) is an environmentalist, landscape preservationist, author of numerous books and essays, and a former park administrator. Her most notable achievement was her role in the revitalization of New York City’s Cen ...
and
Lynden B. Miller
Lynden B. Miller (born December 8, 1938) is an author, an advocate for public parks and gardens, and a garden designer, best known for her restoration of the Conservatory Garden in New York’s Central Park, completed in 1987.
Education and earl ...
, jurists
Jonathan Lippman
Jonathan Lippman (born May 19, 1945) is an American jurist who served as Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 2009 through 2015. He is currently Of Counsel in the Litigation & Trial Department of Latham & Watkins’ New York office ...
and
Janet DiFiore
Janet Marie DiFiore (born August 9, 1955) is an American lawyer and judge who served as the Chief Judge of New York Court of Appeals from 2016-2022. DiFiore was born in Mount Vernon, New York, and graduated from Long Island University and St. ...
. Children's programs have welcomed illustrator
Barry Blitt
Barry Blitt (born April 30, 1958 in Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec) is a Canadian-born American cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his ''New Yorker'' covers and as a regular contributor to the op-ed page of ''The New York Times''. Blitt creates ...
, historian Jonah Winter, pop-up engineer
Robert Sabuda
Robert James Sabuda (born March 8, 1965) is a children's pop-up book artist and paper engineer. His recent books include retellings of the stories of ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and ''Alice in Wonderland''.New York Times, 2006
Early life
Rober ...
and artist Herve Tullet.
The Jay Heritage Center hosted a conference in September 2013 titled Populism and Constitutionalism in concert with Wolfson College, Oxford that attracted notable legal scholars from around the world.
John Jay Medal for Service
In 2012, JHC created "The John Jay Medal For Service" "to recognize individuals who demonstrate a selfless spirit of commitment and engagement with their community." JHC Founder Catherine "Kitty" Aresty and New York preservation advocate
Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel
Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel (born January 27, 1932) is an American preservationist, historian, author, and television producer. She is an advocate for the preservation of the historic built environment and the arts. She has worked in the f ...
were the first recipients of the Medal awarded by Congresswoman
Nita Lowey
Nita Sue Lowey ( ) ( Melnikoff; born July 5, 1937) is an American politician who formerly served as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1989 until 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Lowey also served as co-Dean of the New York C ...
. 2016 Honorees were
Joseph Ellis
Joseph John-Michael Ellis III (born July 18, 1943) is an American historian whose work focuses on the lives and times of the founders of the United States of America. '' American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' won a National Boo ...
, author of Founding Brothers and environmental lawyer Nicholas A. Robinson.
Honors
Members of the JHC Board, and the organization itself, have been honored for their service in building awareness about the historical and cultural significance of John Jay's legacy and home in Rye by a number of organizations and government officials including the
Garden Club of America
The Garden Club of America is a nonprofit organization made up of around 18,000 club members and 200 local garden clubs around the United States. Founded in 1913, by Elizabeth Price Martin and Ernestine Abercrombie Goodman, it promotes the record ...
, African American Men of Westchester,
Parks & Trails New York,
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
and
NY State Senator Shelley Mayer.
Executive leadership
Historian and journalist
Kevin Peraino joined the organization as Executive Director in June 2019.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jay Heritage Center)
501(c)(3) organizations
Non-profit organizations based in New York (state)
Historic preservation organizations in the United States
John Jay
Organizations established in 1990
1990 establishments in New York (state)
Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area
Jay family