Please Help Save The Wonderful John Jay Homestead
Down the road from my home in Bedford is the 62-acre John Jay Homestead Historic State Park. John Jay, who lived from 1745 to 1829, was one of America's principal founding fathers. Jay was a co-author of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the revolutionary War, and also the Federalist Papers, which aided ratification of the US Constitution. He served as president of the Continental Congress, as US Secretary for Foreign Affairs, first Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, and as the second governor of New York State. In 1801, after his distinguished career in public service, John Jay retired to Bedford, where he created a comfortable home and a working farm. After his death, this profitable farm was looked after by four succeeding generations of the Jay family, before it was turned into a state park.
Throughout the years, the John Jay Homestead has been used as an important educational tool for area students and many organizations hold festivals and meetings upon the grounds. With the ongoing fiscal crisis in New York State, there has been talk of closing many state parks and historic sites, including the John Jay Homestead. The thought of closing any of these wonderful spaces makes me very sad, but with John Jay Homestead right down the road, it hits very close to home. For anyone interested in keeping this historic site open to the public, please visit http://www.johnjayhomestead.org/
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- Meet John Jay and his family.
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- The herb garden was designed in 1992 by Paige Dickey, a nationally recognized garden designer and author. It is based on typical 18th and 19th century American and English gardens. Established in 1993, the garden is maintained by the New York Unit of the Herb Society of America.
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- The long and inviting Farm Road on the property
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- This arrow indicated that this drive is part of the BRLA – Bedford Riding Lanes Association.
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- A friendly gate leading into the herb garden
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- The herb garden is a lovely combination of culinary and medicinal herbs.
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- The compost bin – a very practical and efficient design
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- The beautiful and stately fountain
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- The formal sundial and fountain garden
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- The sundial in the sundial garden – circa 1915
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- This explains John Jay’s love of nature and how his family found such pleasure in the gardens surrounding their home.
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- The main house looks generally as it did when finished in 1801. John Jay lived here for the last twenty-nine years of his life. Tours of the interior are available.
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- The view from the front porch across the rolling hills of the Hudson Valley
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- This wonderful building is the main barn, built around 1830. Today, it is used for many special events.
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- You can watch the resident deer.
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- The coachman’s house
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- This is the carriage barn – it was used for housing horses and storing carriages and tack.
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- Another view
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- This chart explains how barns are essential to a working farm.
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- This foundation is all that is left of the cow barn.
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- This explains how carefully every detail of the farm was planned out.
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- This building is called the brick cottage – it served as the farm manager’s residence. John Jay provided his tenant farmers with small cottages and their own garden plots.
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- This field is called the brick lot because the clay found here was used to make bricks. Today, it is a nice spot for a picnic.
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- The potting sheds – very important buildings for the farm’s operations
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- Right down the road from my farm, at 400 Jay Street, is the John Jay Homestead.
Martha Pins
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