{"nrhp_refnum":"85001546","name":"Norton, Rev. Asahel, Homestead","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Norton Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kirkland","county":"Oneida County","state":"NY","lat":43.06432292900007,"lon":-75.41815747299995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-07-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A vernacular Federal style farmhouse with a barn, chicken coop and orchard on an eight-acre parcel on Norton Road in Kirkland, near Clinton, Oneida County, New York. The house was built circa 1797 for Reverend Asahel Strong Norton.","why_significant":"The homestead is tied to Reverend Asahel Norton, an original Kirkland settler, the first minister in the region and founder of the Clinton Congregational Church. He was also a founder of Hamilton College and an early agricultural experimenter and pomologist. The house, outbuildings and landscape retain the character of a settlement-period homestead despite later updates.","narrative":"This two-story wood-frame farmhouse, built around 1797 on a hillside overlooking the Oriskany Creek Valley near Clinton, was the home of Reverend Asahel Strong Norton. It has a central-hall, five-bay plan, clapboard siding, a limestone foundation and a gable roof with modest cornice returns. Later changes include Greek Revival and post-Civil War window and door updates, a staircase from the 1860s and an early twentieth-century porch, yet the original plan, room dimensions and Federal woodwork and mantels survive. A post-and-beam barn, chicken coop, well and orchard remain on the eight-acre parcel, which once held about 80 acres. Norton arrived in 1792, served as pastor of the Clinton Congregational Church until 1833, helped found Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793, later Hamilton College, and introduced new grain and fruit varieties to the region. The property stayed in the Norton family as a working farm until 1920.","period_of_significance":"1798","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied as a private residence; condition listed as excellent and altered, on its original site. It is no longer a working farm.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:45.697466-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/85001546.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320241","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rev._Asahel_Norton_Homestead","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7317669"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/oneida-county/norton-rev-asahel-homestead-85001546/"}