Just Testing 2
Author: Friends ofAthens
-
Testing
Just Testing
-
Hello world!
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!
-
32 S Washington St
NORTHRUP HOUSE (1804)
This private residence is not open for interior tour.
This Federal-style brick house built during 1803-1804 for Isaac Northrup, founder of the Village of Athens, is situated on a village lot only one block from the Hudson River. The cornerstone on the northeast side of the house bears the date 1804, written in Dutch letters.
The single-family residence contains eight rooms, with center hall and staircase. It has four original fireplaces, two upstairs and two down. A Franklin grate in the master bedroom bears the date 1877. In the cellar there is space for servant quarters, and this may be where Mr. Northrup quartered his slave.
Looking across the river from Hudson, where he had settled in 1787, Northrup was attracted by the advantages of the open land along the water. In 1800, at a cost of $3,000, Northrup purchased 200 acres of farmland from John M. Van Loon, the grandson of the early settler Jan Van Loon.
Intending to establish a large “city” on his new purchase, he had a survey and map drawn up by John D. Spoor in 1801. Northrup, his wife, Cynthia Morton, and their children moved into this house probably shortly after its completion in 1804. Soon, others of superior class were attracted to Northrup’s “city.”
The entrepreneur also took his civic duties seriously. When the Village of Athens was incorporated in 1805, Northrup served as its first president (mayor), and served again in 1810. During 1814 he was one of the trustees of Joint School District 13 (Catskill with Saugerties), and that same year he was appointed the first justice of the peace of the Town of Catskill. When the Town of Athens was incorporated in 1815, he served as the first supervisor.
Sometime between the death of Cynthia in 1812 and 1820, Northrup left Greene County. Since that time there have several different owners of this house, including J. P. and Frieda Mac Braswell, The Mac Braswells are credited with restoring this house during the 1940s. Restoration included refurbishment of all the windows, and replacement of all the floors in oak and mahogany using pegged construction. Unfortunately, the “widow’s walk” that must have allowed a grand view down the river was removed in 1943.
Walter and Ilse Fox were the owners when an illustration of this house was drawn by Joel Naprstek. The illustration was used to represent the “Widow Douglas house” in June Edward’s 1981 adaptation of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.
The house is also included on the New York State and National Register of Historic Places as one site within the “Village of Athens Multiple Resource Area,” as well as in the “Athens Lower Village Historic District,” where Northrup’s basic “city” design is still retained in the streets and alleyways south of Market Street.
If you are walking through Athens today, the Dernell-Clark House (10 South Washington St) and Nichols/Daley/Albright House (7 South Washington St) are one and one-half blocks north.
-
16 N Church St
Decker House (c 1868)
This private residence is not open for interior tour.
This Italianate-style house, with buttresses supporting the roof, was built circa 1868. The current wooden siding replicates the original wood siding. An original barn was torn down through necessity and replaced by the carriage house, constructed in a manner compatible with the main house. Restoration took place between 1984 and 1995 under the ownership of Thomas and Hope Lanahan, who placed it on the Greene County Historical Register.
Although the Decker family lived for many years in this house, the early occupancy is a bit uncertain. Three families, Sweeney, Waggoner, and Decker, were involved with ownership of the property during the years 1860 through 1872.
In 1860, four adjoining lots were sold by Israel Porter to John Sweeney of New York City. A court action was initiated against Sweeney, and the four lots were sold at public auction. Eunice Waggoner attended the December 23, 1872, auction held at the Wormer House located on Washington Street. As the highest bidder, she took immediate ownership of the four lots.
That same day, Eunice sold the two southernmost lots to Sephronia Decker, wife of Jacob Decker. Sephronia assumed one half of the existing mortgage. Eunice kept ownership of the two northern lots until 1881. In 1884, the northern lots were purchased by Sephronia’s son, Jacob H. Decker, Jr., bringing the four lots into single-family ownership once again.
The Decker family resided in this house just two blocks from the Hudson River for more than 80 years. Jacob Decker was a lifelong river boatman and pilot. Unlike his father, Jacob Jr. took a different career path; clerk and then buyer in a grocery, manager in a hardware store, bookkeeper and director of Athens National Bank.
After his parent’s deaths, Jacob Jr. and other family members continued to live in the family homestead. Jacob died February 19, 1928, leaving no wife or children. He willed the five-room, two-story frame residence, valued at $3,000, to his sister Mable Decker-Reynolds. Mable retained ownership until her death in 1958. Her executors put the homestead up for sale, ending the Decker heritage.
If you are walking through Athens today, the First Reformed Church is adjacent at 18 North Church St.
-
1 Third St
Witherill / Stalker House (c 1824)
This private residence is not open for interior tour.
Constructed of brick laid out in a Flemish pattern, this two-and-a-half story house is late Georgian in design. The original construction dates to circa 1824. The front portico was a Victorian addition similar to other porches and porticos in Athens.
The front door and the four panes of glass above it are replacements but it is believed they are quite similar to the originals. The original six-over-six windows have also been replaced. The interior has the original plaster walls, wide-board floors, and the original woodwork and moldings. No original mantels or hearths still exist, but moldings and cut-outs in the floor suggest they were present.
The Hudson-Athens Ferry started operation in 1778, attracting individuals and industry to the west bank of the Hudson River. By 1805, when the village was incorporated, a number of elegant structures were built, each reflecting the wealth of the early settlers. Others would follow.
Elijah Spencer was one of the early settlers purchasing this property in 1824. It is unknown if the structure existed at that time, but based on the projected building date and his short ownership of nine months, it seems reasonable to think that perhaps he was the craftsman, or at least the entrepreneur.
The Spencer family resided in Athens at least as early as 1815; there is a record of their infant daughter’s funeral held at the Athens First Episcopal Church. Elijah was one of the trustees of a Reformed Protestant Dutch church in Athens, who met on May 27, 1826, to incorporate under the name Dutch Reformed Church of the Village of Athens. Elijah’s wife, Freelove Pratt, was baptized in the Reformed church as an adult during 1826, followed by their child, Edward, on October 7, 1827.
It seems likely that the next owner of the property, Benjamin Haxton, was the first resident. Benjamin purchased the property from Elijah Spencer in January 1825 and owned it for the next ten years before selling to a William H. Spencer. The following year Benjamin sold his small farm at the south end of the village to the rector of Trinity Church.
There have been many owners of this house over the years, including Sylvester Nichols, Athens justice of the peace, whose ownership spanned the years 1860 to 1865; Herman F. Dernell, the important ice-tool manufacturer, who owned the property from 1869 to 1913; and Dernell’s sister, Minnie Every, whose ownership ran from 1913 to 1939. For many years Orin Q. Flint, the first president of the Greene County Historical Society, had his law and insurance office here. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Stalker, who were the owners from 1994 to 1999, placed the house on the Greene County Historical Register.
If you are walking through Athens today, head left to Route 385, then turn left to find two additional houses on this tour within 100 yards – the Nichols / Daley / Albright house at 7 South Washington and the Dernell / Clark House at 10 South Washington.
