The Carriage Drive and Roadways
John Jay Homestead
The original carriage drive entered the estate from the Post Road one mile north of the current Homestead driveway. In the mid-19th century, an allee (avenue) of European and copper beech trees was planted along the drive below the house. These grand trees still stand at the bottom of the hill along a restored section of the drive. Enjoy a walk down the sloping lane to experience this part of the property.
The Homestead’s current entrance road was built in the 1960’s by New York State because the sale of Jay property severed access from the old carriage drive. The modern drive now cuts through a large meadow and a sunken stone fence called a ha-ha, which separates the formal front lawns from the meadow.
“Uncle has just finished in the front of the house a haw-haw fence; he intends removing a rail one … between the house and the road, and as the nature of the haw-haw conceals it, the Lawn will then appear of great extent, and from its form & verdance will be very grateful to the eye …”
(Excerpt from a letter dated April 8, 1808, from Susan Livingston Ridley (cousin) to Maria Jay Banyer.)
Marker can be reached from Jay Street (New York Route 22) 0.1 miles south of Beaver Dam Road, on the left when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
