The Farm Manager’s Cottage
John Jay Homestead
The brick cottage was built ca. 1800 for Jay’s first farm manager, Major Samuel Lyon. Lyon oversaw such daily activities on the farm as: ditching and draining land; building and maintaining fences; plowing, planting, and harvesting fields; and tending the orchards.
Like others in his economic position, John Jay employed tenant farmers who carried out the work under the manager’s supervision. In return for their services, Jay provided them with cottages and small gardens, and he subsidized the cost of seeds and tools so they could plant larger cash crops on his land. When Jay collected rent from his tenants, it was often paid in the form of “shares” of these cash crops.
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
