The Bedford Village Historic District is a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains historic building, older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal p ...

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The c ...

. The district contains 80 contributing buildings and one contributing site. It encompasses most of the original 1680 hamlet and is laid out in a typical

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

plan. Notable buildings include the court house (1787), library (1807), school house (1829), post office (c. 1838), and Presbyterian church (1872). The buildings are good examples of the

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

and

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

styles. Two of the buildings are now museums.

History

Bedford is northeast of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It is on hilly terrain with light soil. The settlers in Bedford came from Connecticut around 1680 and built a hamlet. The pattern of the settlement is common in Massachusetts but rare in New York State. The town was planned around a triangular common where three roads met. Around it were at first three plots, which were assigned by lot to the first 20 settlers who planned to farm in common. The concept worked only for a short time but left its mark on the structure of Bedford, which became a market town. It was at times the seat of the county government during the Revolutionary War and one of two county seats, with a county court house, until 1870. The common village green is surrounded by the court house from 1787, the Historical Hall from 1806, a library, which was previously the Bedford Academy, from 1807, a school house built from cut stone in 1829, a post office and a general store from around 1838, and the Presbyterian church in Gothic Revival style from 1872. The buildings represent a New England village in Westchester County. The hamlet was under a Connecticut license until 1700, when it was assigned to New York State on an order by King William. ''A Brief History of the Presbyterian Church at Bedford, N.Y. from the Year 1680'' was written by Reverend Heroy and published in 1874. It describes the history of the building, including the laying of the cornerstone and the services celebrating the dedication of the then most recently restored building in 1872. The Westchester County Historical Society notes that the Bedford Village Historic District is of both historical and architectural importance as an unusual example of a "colonial New England pattern of home plots and jointly owned farm land" in New York State. During the Revolutionary War, it served as a center of resistance, a supply center, and the home of a county government house. After the war, buildings in

Federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classical architecture built in the United States following the American Revolution between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was influenced heavily by the works of And ...

Greek Revival style Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

and Victorian style were erected in Bedford, which was for a long time "one of the most vital farming and trading centers in the county". The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in northern Westchester County in 1973. The Bedford Historical Society runs two museums, one in the former court house and another in the former school house.

Buildings

1787 Bedford Court House

Bedford Village Historic District-1787 Court House Dec 10

The court house was built in 1787. It is the oldest government building of Westchester County and one of three court houses in New York State from before 1800. It was erected for Bedford as the county seat from 1788 to 1870. In the court room were judges such as William Jay, son of

John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...

, the first chief justice of the United States, and attorneys such as

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician, businessman, lawyer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 d ...

, who later was vice president under

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

. The court house was restored in 1889 and once again from 1965 to 1970. It houses the museum for the Historic District. In a tradition dating back to its first use, it is also a venue for lectures and meetings, and mock trials have also been performed in the courtroom.

1829 School House

Schoolhouse in the Bedford Village Historic District 1

The school house was built in 1829 in the span of a few months. It had one room, which served for lessons in "grammar, spelling, arithmetic, history, geography, the Bible, and depending on the scholarship of the teacher, Latin and philosophy". A school library had books about history, travel, natural sciences, agriculture, biographies, and literature, listed in an 1843 directory. Sixty-two children were educated in 1842, but 27 of them were at school for four to five months only. When the school was too small for a growing population in 1912, the building was turned into a museum founded by the Bedford Agassiz Society in 1913. It has been run by the Bedford Historical Society since 1918. In 1970, the school became a special exhibit for historic education.

1872 Presbyterian Church

Today's

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

on the village green was built in 1872 as the fourth on the site. The first minister, Reverend Thomas Denham, settled in 1684, and a meeting house was built in 1689. When Bedford became part of New York, this house was transferred to Rye, New York. Bedford was part of the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

until the Revolution. A second meeting house was burned by the British in 1779. A third house was transferred to Westmoreland Sanctuary. The fourth church was built in 1872.

References

External links

* * *
Bedford Historical Society website
an
Historic Bedford Village Map

Historic districts
bedfordny.gov * Richard Peck

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

June 22, 1975 {{National Register of Historic Places in New York Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Gothic Revival architecture in New York (state) Greek Revival architecture in New York (state) Buildings and structures in Westchester County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Westchester County, New York