{"nrhp_refnum":"72000840","name":"Brown, John, Farm and Gravesite","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"John Brown Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lake Placid","county":"Essex County","state":"NY","lat":44.24975537950007,"lon":-73.97155508564214,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-06-19","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1998-08-05","areas_of_significance":["Social History","Black","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["national","state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 214-acre farm and gravesite on John Brown Road in Lake Placid, North Elba, Essex County, New York, centered on a one-and-one-half-story wood-frame farmhouse. It is state-owned and operated as a museum.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the farm was abolitionist John Brown's beloved home and a place where he put humanitarian ideals into practice by helping Black settlers on land set aside by Gerrit Smith. He is buried on the property beside a large boulder, along with two sons and ten followers.","narrative":"John Brown's farm in North Elba, near Lake Placid, is a 214-acre property that includes a modest one-and-one-half-story clapboard farmhouse and a small burial plot. Brown arrived in the Adirondacks in 1849 after learning that philanthropist Gerrit Smith had set aside land for Black farm families. He bought 244 acres in 1850, first lived in a log house, and in 1855 moved into a four-room frame house built by his son-in-law. He farmed hay, rye, oats and potatoes, and won prizes for his Devon cattle. The nomination presents the farm as both a cherished home and a practical expression of his concern for former slaves. After his execution in 1859, his body was returned and buried beside a large boulder in front of the house. The graves of Brown, two of his sons and ten followers remain there. The site is now a state-run museum, and a late 19th-century porch was removed in the mid-twentieth century.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":"Four-room frame house erected for Brown by his son-in-law (not named)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Operated as a museum open to the public during specified hours; condition listed as good, altered, on its original site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.602907-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/72000840.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000840/7ccfc8a20c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72000840/7ccfc8a20c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Mwanner | Talk","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:House_at_John_Brown%27s_Farm.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mwanner | Talk</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:House_at_John_Brown%27s_Farm.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317756","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_Farm_State_Historic_Site","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2487907"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/essex-county/brown-john-farm-and-gravesite-72000840/"}