A Precious Rye Treasure Destroyed by Westchester County Parks - the public view of the mansion vanishes

Since taking ownership in 1992, Westchester County Parks has violated Rye's Preservation code which was created to protect the historic boyhood home of Rye's most famous resident, Founding Father, John Jay. The signature landscape feature of the Jay Property has been its 10,000 year old meadow and viewway which was formalized in 1822 by John Jay and his son Peter Augustus Jay with stone ha-ha walls. In 1745 when John Jay's home the Locusts sat on the same spot as the current structure, visitors to the Jay estate would have easily seen the 400 acre Jay family home from the water and Long Island Sound, not just from the veranda looking out. John Jay enjoyed the viewway throughout his life, with his family and friends, at this exact site in Rye, including when he returned home in 1784 after negotiating the Treaty that ended the Revolutionary War.

Westchester County Parks has allowed invasive plants like Japanese knotweed, wineberry, Japanese stiltgrass, garlic mustard, mugwort, multiflora rose, porcelainberry, and Norway maples to take over the Jay Property and destroy all historic features while also wiping out native plants that would have grown in their place. These actions are deplorable and the Jay Heritage Center has filed a Notice of Claim to stop this continued land degradation.

Ironically these plants are identified, cautioned against, and removed by Westchester County Parks at its other properties but not in Rye. See Westchester County Parks brochure on invasive plants: www.nativeplantcenter.org/Invasive Brochure.pdf

tclf.org/landslides/the-jay-property-threatened-by-erasure

"Protected site and structures: Alansten [The Jay Property,] the Jay Mansion, and the Carriage House, 210 Boston Post Road, Rye, New York, also known as Sheet 153.09, Block 1, Lot 24.1, on the current Tax Assessment Map of the City of Rye. Specifically designated as protected sites and structures are: [Added 7-18-1984 by L.L. No. 10-1984]
(a)Alansten [The Jay Property]: The entire site consisting of 22.46 acres and including a viewway, a trapezoidal area located between the Jay Mansion and the southerly property line in which there shall be no construction, except for the installation of utility services, which shall have a width of 90 feet at the rear of the building and a width of 300 feet along the southerly property line, the centers of which shall be the center of the rear facade of the building and the point at which a line extending from the rear facade and perpendicular to the rear facade intersects the southerly property line, respectively. The foregoing described orientation of the viewway to the mansion may be adjusted by the Planning Commission during site plan review if it finds that said adjustment will improve the public's view of the mansion.
(b)The Jay Mansion: The entire exterior.
(c)The Carriage House: The entire exterior. "

"This chapter shall apply to all Protected Sites and Structures and to all buildings, structures, outbuildings, walls, fences, steps, topographical features, earthworks, paving and signs " i.e. THE LANDSCAPE.

Jay Heritage Center
210 Boston Post Road
Rye, NY 10580
(914) 698-9275
Email: jayheritagecenter@gmail.com

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Taken in: United States / New York / Rye (show map)

Taken on: July 15, 2010

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Hudson River Valley « less

Sets appears in: • Jay Meadow views • Neglected Jay Property Buildings and Grounds - owned jointly by New York State Parks (90%) and Westchester County Parks (10%)

Groups appears in: • Landscape • The Hudson Valley more » • US National Historic Landmarks • New York: Landmarks - the best of NY • The Colours of: Autumn • Landscape Exploration • The World Through My Eyes ... • The Nature Conservancy • Endangered Places « less

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