{"nrhp_refnum":"07001369","name":"Clark-Dearstyne-Miller Inn","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"11-13 Forbes Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rensselaer","county":"Rensselaer County","state":"NY","lat":42.65887481400006,"lon":-73.73447110799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-01-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2 1/2-story wood frame former tavern and hotel at 11-13 Forbes Avenue in Rensselaer, Rensselaer County, New York, built soon after 1791 on a corner near the historic Hudson River ferry slip.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is a rare surviving example of vernacular Federal-period commercial architecture in the present city of Rensselaer, and one of only two Federal-period buildings left in the community. It served travelers as a tavern and hostelry into the early twentieth century and reflects the importance of Bath-on-Hudson as a transportation hub.","narrative":"Standing at the corner of Forbes and Central Avenues in Rensselaer, this former tavern and hotel was built soon after 1791 on land granted to Jeremiah Clark by Stephen Van Rensselaer. The 2 1/2-story, five-bay building has a heavy hand-hewn timber frame, narrow clapboard siding, a denticulated Federal cornice, and a bracketed porch added around 1880. Inside, a large second-floor room once served as a ballroom and public meeting space. The inn sat near the Hudson River ferry slip and the railroad station, serving ferry passengers, rail travelers and tenant farmers who came to pay rents to the Van Rensselaer agent. James Dearstyne owned it from 1839 to 1867, and it later operated as the Miller Hotel into the 1920s. Local tradition holds that President Lincoln's body rested there in 1865. It is valued as a rare Federal-period commercial building and a link to Bath-on-Hudson's early history. The building is now vacant and deteriorated, though its timber frame remains largely intact.","period_of_significance":"1791-circa 1880","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Early Republic / Federal","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The building is vacant; it was operated as a neighborhood tavern from the 1950s until its abandonment in the 1980s, and its interior is deteriorated.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.245114-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/07001369.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001369/8be3c546ec-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001369/8be3c546ec-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"User:Magicpiano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RensselaerNY_ClarkDearstyneMillerInn.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:RensselaerNY_ClarkDearstyneMillerInn.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321202","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark%E2%80%93Dearstyne%E2%80%93Miller_Inn","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5127122"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/rensselaer-county/clark-dearstyne-miller-inn-07001369/"}