{"nrhp_refnum":"12000482","name":"Beecher, James C., House","other_names":["Comfort Cottage"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"560 5th Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Owego","county":"Tioga County","state":"NY","lat":42.10641749300004,"lon":-76.24568514399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-08-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Military"],"significance_levels":["national","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Gothic Revival single-family house at 560 Fifth Avenue in the Village of Owego, Tioga County, New York, on the north bank of the Susquehanna River. It was built in 1867 for Rev. James C. Beecher.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the most intact and important surviving property tied to Rev. James C. Beecher (1828-1886), a Civil War colonel who led the First North Carolina Colored Troops (35th USCT) and worked to educate his soldiers. It is also presented as an intact example of post-Civil War Gothic Revival architecture with distinctive plank-wall construction. Beecher lived there from 1867 to 1871.","narrative":"Built in 1867 on Fifth Avenue in Owego, New York, this two-story Gothic Revival house sits on a 0.61-acre lot beside the Susquehanna River. It has a steeply pitched side-gable roof with prominent dormers, a painted cornice, board-and-batten walls and a hexagonal bay. Its walls are unusual: inner and outer layers of vertical circular-sawn pine plank separated by a cavity. Inside, the floor plan, trim, doors and stair remain largely original, and the parlor fireplace hearth is a re-used tombstone dated 1856. The house was built for Rev. James C. Beecher, a Congregationalist minister from the famous abolitionist Beecher family. He served as colonel of the First North Carolina Colored Troops (35th USCT), was wounded at Honey Hill, South Carolina, and helped teach his soldiers to read. After working with the Freedmen's Bureau, he came to Owego and lived here until 1871. It is regarded as the best surviving site connected with him.","period_of_significance":"1867-1871","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Mid-19th Century: Gothic Revival","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling; no outbuildings survive.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:48.182748-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/12000482.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000482/92cc7b37f9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000482/92cc7b37f9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jtocwru","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beecher_house_owego.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jtocwru</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beecher_house_owego.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322429","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Beecher_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14706615"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/tioga-county/beecher-james-c-house-12000482/"}