The John Jay Potting Sheds
John Jay Homestead
After the American Civil War, the nation experienced tremendous economic growth in agriculture and industry. In the 1870s, the refrigerator car was introduced, and farmers expanded their market opportunities. Farming became big business. Between 1865 and 1890, retail trade in flowers, or floriculture, began to expand. After 1890, the industry boomed, and by 1929, New York State led the nation in flower and plant production. Located 50 miles north of New York City and near rail lines, the Jay farm was ideally situated to exploit the opportunity of this expanding market.
Floriculture in the Northeast required the construction of greenhouses and other structures to shelter plantings during the harsh months of the year. The Jay farm had been growing plants in small shelters called “hotbeds” since 1832. A small glass-paned house, or “hothouse,” was built in 1833. By 1890, John Jay II decided to commercialize the operation. He built two potting sheds to service the farm’s 1860 greenhouse.
A Utilitarian Space
The potting sheds provided a workspace in which gardeners could set seeds, work with cuttings, and store tools. At the Jay farm, the flowers and bedding plants grown from cuttings included coleus, fuchsia, and geraniums. Flowers grown from seed included stocks, cornflowers, wallflowers, cineraria, zinnias, hollyhocks, geraniums, columbine, and Dutchman’s pipe. The Jay greenhouse contained violets, carnations, calla lilies, roses, chrysanthemums, lilies, hydrangeas, and smilax. Vegetables, including lettuce and cauliflower, were started in the greenhouses. Later they were moved to hotbeds for forcing or were transplanted to outdoor beds in the spring.
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
