The Homestead is a
historic house on Hudson Avenue in the
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
of
Haverstraw, New York, United States. It is one of the oldest buildings in the village, dating to the early 19th century.
Since then it has been home to a number of prominent local residents, and passed down through two different families. It has been altered slightly, with the original front now the house's rear, but it remains mostly intact. In 1983 it was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
.
Building
The house sits on a
lot on the east side of Hudson Avenue near the junction with Tor Avenue. The ground slopes steadily down toward the
Hudson River
The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...
to the east, exposing the house's basement on that elevation. The neighborhood is residential, with a few multiple-unit dwellings.
It is a two-story, five-by-two-
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
frame
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
structure
sided in
clapboard. It is topped by a
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
d roof
shingled in asphalt with a plain
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...
. A small kitchen wing extends from the east.
All the windows are flanked by
louver
A louver (American English) or louvre (Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a window blind or window shutter, shutter with horizontal wikt:slat, slats that are angle ...
ed
shutters. The main entrance is located within a small enclosed porch. Its double inner doors have rose-tinted glass. On the east is a two-story, three-bay open porch with square posts,
brackets
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...
and a central gable on the roof top. At basement level is a door with sidelights and
transom; the first floor's double door has colonnettes and an
architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...
.
Inside, the floor plan remains unchanged. Finishings are plain and simple with the exception of the main hall and large first floor rooms, which have
classically inspired decoration.
History
At the time of the
Revolution
In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...
, most of today's Haverstraw was the property of two farmers. One of them, John Denoyelles, had left his lands to his son
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
just before the war. Peter Denoyelles, later to serve in the
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Ass ...
and
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
, built the house around the beginning of the 19th century; the exact year is not certain. The area's first
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
s also met with
itinerant
An itinerant is a person who travels habitually. Itinerant may refer to:
*"Travellers" or itinerant groups in Europe
*Itinerant preacher, also known as itinerant minister
*Travelling salespeople, see door-to-door, hawker, and peddler
*Travelling s ...
preachers at the Homestead, due to Denoyelles' interest in that denomination.
Peter left the property to his brother Asbury, then the county
sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...
, in his will. Asbury sold the property to his brother George in 1853, the year before the village of Haverstraw
incorporated. Shortly after that, George sold it to Edward Pye, first president of the Village Board. Pye would later be elected to local judgeships and serve in the state
militia
A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...
. In 1861, as the
Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
was beginning, Pye (who would later die in action at the
Battle of Cold Harbor
The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought during the American Civil War near Mechanicsville, Virginia, from May 31 to June 12, 1864, with the most significant fighting occurring on June 3. It was one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses ...
) sold it to his brother Isaac.
Isaac's tenure as owner would be as short as several of the others. He sold it in 1863 to a lawyer, Abraham Conger. Seven years later, George Snedeker bought it. He died in 1873 and willed the house to his wife, who remained until her death in 1901. Their son Samuel inherited the house, passing it to his sister Lucretia Fowler in 1914. She sold it a year later to a woman named Abbie Kennedy, who was the step-grandmother of Eugene Newman. 18-year-old Eugene was the victim in the infamous 1914
Cleary/Newman murder.
Kennedy lived in the house until selling it to Aloysius Lynch, a longtime Haverstraw schools
superintendent, in 1937. He made many overdue repairs and renovations to the house, and shortened the windows on the east and west sides. As the area grew more
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
an in the 20th century, streets were laid out in what had been farmland. Hudson Avenue was located such that the house's rear elevation had to be converted into its front.
See also
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Rockland County, New York
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Homestead
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)
Houses completed in 1800
Houses in Rockland County, New York
National Register of Historic Places in Rockland County, New York