{"nrhp_refnum":"05000440","name":"Sharpe Homestead and Cemetery","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"44 Laura Ln.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Defreestville","county":"Rensselaer County","state":"NY","lat":42.66126617600003,"lon":-73.69873290699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-05-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A c. 1740 one-and-one-half story Dutch Colonial frame farmhouse with a family cemetery, at 44 Laura Lane in Defreestville, Town of North Greenbush, Rensselaer County, New York. The builder is unknown.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is a rare surviving early 18th century settlement-period farmhouse in Rensselaer County, with Dutch framing features such as anchor-bent frame, corbels, jambless fireplace evidence and a steep roof with beveled planking. It is also tied to the earliest settlement of the county on the Manor of Rensselaerwyck, through the Sharpe family. It may be the oldest surviving frame building in the county.","narrative":"Built around 1740, this one-and-one-half story farmhouse sits at the end of a dirt road in Defreestville, in the Town of North Greenbush, Rensselaer County. It is a Dutch Colonial frame dwelling with a high-pitched gable roof, a heavy hewn frame with corbels, and beveled roof planking. Aluminum siding added around 1980 hides original clapboards and a surviving casement window frame. A family cemetery with about a dozen nineteenth-century stones lies southeast of the house. The farm was part of the Van Rensselaer family's Manor of Rensselaerwyck and was held by the Sharpe family, early settlers who arrived from Germany by way of Livingston Manor. The house is considered significant as a rare surviving settlement-period farmhouse and possibly the oldest frame building in the county. Its plan, with two ground-floor rooms, separate exterior entrances and jambless fireplaces at both ends, follows early Dutch house forms. The basement and attic framing remain largely intact.","period_of_significance":"c. 1740","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Dutch Colonial","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still in use as a single dwelling; aluminum siding from c. 1980 covers the exterior, and the setting is threatened by a power line and planned development.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:54.041572-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/05000440.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000440/4afdaa72f9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000440/4afdaa72f9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DefreestvilleNY_44LauraLane.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:Magicpiano</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DefreestvilleNY_44LauraLane.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321293","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpe_Homestead_and_Cemetery","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7490385"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/rensselaer-county/sharpe-homestead-and-cemetery-05000440/"}