Historic Preservation Commission of the Town of Rochester

Highway superintendent Jeff Frey with our new Clove hamlet sign. Replacing missing and damaged signs for Rochester’s historic hamlets is a continuing project of the Historic Preservation Commission.

Some must-read stories -

Make sure you get your hands on the next issue of The Accordian newsletter, coming out this month (April 2023).

If you support the preservation of the region’s historic homes, barns and civic structures, please consider joining Friends of Historic Rochester! A one-year membership is $25 and includes a subscription to The Accordian, a quarterly publication of local history and culture.

Learn more on FHR’s website, www.friendsofrochester.org.

Historic barns are one of this region’s treasures. A few date as far back as the Revolutionary War era; many others are from the nineteenth century, when grain farming was still the region’s dominant economic activity.

Many barns are now under threat due to lack of maintenance. Fortunately last year NY state passed a law to partially fund the rehabilitation of historic barns via the grant of a 25 percent tax credit. Owners of barns built before 1945 should contact the Historic Preservation Commission for more info.

This autograph book records signatures from local people from Alligerville, Accord, and neighboring areas in the early 1880s.

An amazing eBay find, it belonged to Miss Lizzie Osterhoudt and includes signatures from members of the Coddington, Davis, Schoonmaker, Devoe and Traver families. Wonderful penmanship!

Please join us!

A 1914 chicken feed ad, for feed sold at the store that the Cross family operated for decades in Kyserike, at the location that now houses Williams Hardware. In the first half of the 20th century, chickens were a big business in the town of Rochester. And bigger chickens meant bigger profits for farmers.

Canal Day has been postponed due to weather! Hope to see you all
On the 23rd!

The Early Mountain Hotel Era & Cragsmoor’s Art Colony The Shawangunk Ridge is a nature-lover’s paradise today, with a flourishing protected forest, but not too long ago it had