Boston Post Road Historic District (Rye, New York)

Boston Post Road Historic District
The National Park Service designated the Boston Post Road Historic District in 1993
Boston Post Road Historic District (Rye, New York) is located in New York
Boston Post Road Historic District (Rye, New York)
Boston Post Road Historic District (Rye, New York) is located in the United States
Boston Post Road Historic District (Rye, New York)
LocationRye, New York
Built1838-1854
ArchitectMultiple
Architectural styleGothic Revival, Greek Revival
NRHP reference No.82001275
NYSRHP No.11949.000153
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 29, 1982[1]
Designated NHLDAugust 30, 1993[2]
Designated NYSRHPSeptember 22, 1982

The Boston Post Road Historic District is a 286-acre (116 ha) National Historic Landmark District in Rye, New York, and is composed of five distinct and adjacent properties.[3] Within this landmarked area are three architecturally significant, pre-Civil War mansions and their grounds;[4] a 10,000-year-old Indigenous peoples site and viewshed; a private cemetery, and a nature preserve. It is one of only 11 National Historic Landmark Districts in New York State and the only National Historic Landmark District in Westchester County. It touches on the south side of the nation's oldest road, the Boston Post Road (US 1), which extends through Rye. A sandstone Westchester Turnpike marker "24", inspired by Benjamin Franklin's original mile marker system, is set into a wall that denotes the perimeter of three of the contributing properties. The district reaches to Milton Harbor of Long Island Sound. Two of the properties included in the National Park Service designation are anchored by Greek Revival buildings; the third property is dominated by a Gothic Revival structure that was designed by Alexander Jackson Davis.

This district, which also has immense archaeological significance and importance to Native American, European-American and African-American heritage,[5] was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993.[2][6] The three-quarters-mile (1.2 km) meadow and viewshed is one of fewer than a dozen such identified Indigenous peoples sites in all of New York State.[7] In 2005, J. Winthrop Aldrich, former assistant to six successive Commissioners of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (1974–1994) and Deputy Commissioner New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (1994-2003; 2007–2010), attested that the District was acknowledged to be "one of New York State's finest assets", "amply deserving the rare honor of National Historic Landmark designation by the Secretary of the Interior."[8]

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Boston Post Road Historic District". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. September 14, 2007. Archived from the original on December 14, 2007.
  3. ^ Clary, Suzanne (November 2017). "What Becomes a Landmark Most". Rye Magazine. No. 61. Weston Magazine Publishers. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  4. ^ Stephanie Strasnick. "5 New York Getaways for Architectural History Buffs". Architectural Digest. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  5. ^ Jay Heritage Center. "Archaeology". Retrieved March 18, 2018.
  6. ^ Karen Kennedy and Austin O'Brien (December 12, 1986), National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Boston Post Road Historic District (pdf), National Park Service and Accompanying 33 photos, exteriors and interiors, from 1979-1983. (7.94 MB)
  7. ^ Pfeiffer, John (April 21, 1982). Preliminary Archaeological Survey of the Boston Post Road Historic District of Rye, NY. p. 2.
  8. ^ "Rye City Commission Planning Minutes, March 8, 2005" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 19, 2018. Retrieved March 18, 2018.