Stony Kill Farm

Stony Kill Farm is located on NY 9D in the Town of Fishkill, New York, United States. It is a 1,000+ acre (3 km²) working farm owned and operated by the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as an environmental education center.

In 1683, settlers Gulian Verplanck and Francis Rombout bought the 85,000-acre (430 km²) tract, including the farm, from the Wappinger Indians for goods worth approximately $1,250. In 1708 the Great Partition of this land put the area around the farm in the Verplanck family's hands. Instead of working it themselves, they took in tenant farmers to keep the land worked and productive. They built the stone tenant farmhouse near the property's main entrance in four sections between the late 17th and early 19th centuries.^[1]

An 1836 subdivision of the property gave a thousand acres (4 km²), including the current farm, to descendant James DeLancy Verplanck of nearby Beacon. He had a Greek Revival home, now known as the Manor House, built and moved into it in 1842.^[1]

A century later, his descendants gave the farm to the state Education Department (SED) for use as a teaching farm. It was used for this purpose by SUNY Farmingdale until the late 1960s, when the college decided it no longer needed the property. In 1973 DEC took it over and converted it to its present use.^[1] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Today, DEC uses the property to help visitors learn about basic ecological issues. They can either do this on their own, by walking the property and hiking several trails or perusing the library at the Manor House, or by taking part in the many programs DEC offers or sponsors with other groups on the site.

References

1. 1 2 3 4 "Stony Kill Farm Environmental Education Center". Retrieved 2007-09-16. 

External links

• Stony Kill Foundation
• Official DEC site

U.S. National Register of Historic Places in New York
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Albany Allegany Bronx Broome Cattaraugus Cayuga Chautauqua Chemung Chenango Clinton Columbia Cortland Delaware Dutchess Erie Essex Franklin Fulton Genesee Greene Hamilton Herkimer Jefferson Kings (Brooklyn) Lewis Livingston Madison Monroe Montgomery Nassau New York (Manhattan) Niagara Oneida Onondaga Ontario Orange Orleans Oswego Otsego Putnam Queens Rensselaer Richmond (Staten Island) Rockland Saratoga Schenectady Schoharie Schuyler Seneca St. Lawrence Steuben Suffolk Sullivan Tioga Tompkins Ulster Warren Washington Wayne Westchester Northern Southern Wyoming Yates
Lists by city	Albany Buffalo New Rochelle New York City Bronx Brooklyn Queens Staten Island Manhattan Below 14th St. 14th–59th St. 59th–110th St. Above 110th St. Minor islands Niagara Falls Peekskill Poughkeepsie Rhinebeck Rochester Syracuse Yonkers
Other lists	Bridges and tunnels National Historic Landmarks
Category:National Register of Historic Places in New York Portal:National Register of Historic Places