{"nrhp_refnum":"84002498","name":"Peterboro Land Office","other_names":["See also: Smith, Gerrit, Estate"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Peterboro Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Peterboro","county":"Madison County","state":"NY","lat":42.967568982000046,"lon":-75.68678221299996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-09-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small two-room brick Federal style land office built in 1804 in the hamlet of Peterboro, Town of Smithfield, Madison County, New York. It sits at the northwest corner of the village green.","why_significant":"It is the only surviving building of Peter Smith's vast estate and a rare, exceptionally intact early land office. It housed records and deeds for land transactions covering more than 100,000 acres in fifty-four counties. It is also tied to the prominent Smith family, including abolitionist Gerrit Smith.","narrative":"Peterboro Land Office is a small brick building from 1804 on the village green in Peterboro, Madison County, New York. Measuring about twenty-four by twenty-eight feet, it has a gable roof, a delicate Federal cornice, six-over-six windows and a brick vestibule at the entrance. Local brick was laid in common bond, with Flemish bond on the front. Inside are built-in shelves and drawers for ledgers, plus an iron-doored brick vault. A detached smokehouse with an ash pit stands behind. Peter Smith, an early developer who leased and later owned a tract of about 50,000 acres, used the office to keep records and deeds for transactions involving more than 100,000 acres across fifty-four counties. His son Gerrit Smith continued the business into the later nineteenth century. The Smith mansion burned in 1936, leaving the office as the only surviving structure from the family's early estate. It remains unaltered, though vacant and boarded up, and the town hopes to make it a museum.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Federal (vernacular Federal)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Vacant and boarded up but unaltered; owned by the Town of Smithfield, which hopes to open it as a museum when funds allow.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.421217-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/84002498.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002498/4cd84efce3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002498/4cd84efce3-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Lvklock","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peterboro_Land_Office.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Lvklock</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:Peterboro_Land_Office.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"97001386","name":"Smith, Gerrit, Estate","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/smith-gerrit-estate-97001386/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318736","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterboro_Land_Office","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7177985"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/madison-county/peterboro-land-office-84002498/"}