The Jan Van Loon House (, like ''van loan'') is one of the oldest extant buildings in
New York State
New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...
. It is located in
Athens, New York
Athens is a town in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 3,916 at the 2020 census. The town of Athens has a village also called Athens. The town is near the eastern edge of the county.
History
The town of Athens was form ...
at 39 South Washington Street (also known as
New York State Route 385
New York State Route 385 (NY 385) is a state highway in Greene County, New York, in the United States. It runs from the village of Catskill to the village of Coxsackie, serving as an alternate route of U.S. Route 9W between th ...
). It is inside the Village of Athens Multiple Resource Area (MRA) and the
Athens Lower Village Historic District.
It was built by Jan Van Loon, who fathered eight children including
Albertus Van Loon.
Van Loon was a blacksmith by trade, but was also known to work in silver.
Van Loon was the earliest
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an
settler
A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a Human settlement, settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among ...
to the area, purchasing the land in 1685.
[ In 1688 he then gave the settlement its first name, Loonenburg. Only one wall of the original 1706 structure remains unchanged in the house.][
In 1932, the ]New York State Education Department
The New York State Education Department (NYSED) is the department of the New York state government responsible for the supervision for all public schools in New York and all standardized testing, as well as the production and administration ...
placed a historic marker outside the house:
See also
* List of the oldest buildings in New York
This article attempts to list the oldest buildings in the state of New York (state), New York, including the oldest houses and any other surviving structures. Some dates are approximate and based on architectural studies and historical records; o ...
*
References
External links
Houses completed in 1706
Houses in Greene County, New York
1706 establishments in the Province of New York
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