{"nrhp_refnum":"90000685","name":"Nellis Tavern","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"SR 5","address_restricted":false,"city":"St. Johnsville","county":"Montgomery County","state":"NY","lat":42.99362281100008,"lon":-74.65880980599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-05-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Nellis Tavern is a two-story frame building on NYS Route 5 in St. Johnsville, Montgomery County, New York. It began as a c.1750 Palatine farmhouse built by Christian Nellis, Sr., and was enlarged c.1790 into a tavern and store.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a rare surviving settlement-era building, and the only known frame example of a first-settlement-period house in the area. The c.1790 enlargement turned it into a restrained Federal-style tavern, and it keeps early stenciled walls. It is also tied to the locally prominent Nellis family and to the region's Palatine settlement and development.","narrative":"Along NYS Route 5 near St. Johnsville, Nellis Tavern preserves two eras of building in one frame structure. Christian Nellis, Sr., a Palatine settler, built the core around 1750 as a one-and-one-half-story heavy timber farmhouse with a center hall, stone fireplaces and a basement kitchen. Around 1790 his son Christian Nellis, Jr., enlarged it to serve travelers on the new Mohawk Turnpike. He added a second story, a store wing, a taproom entrance and a north-facing entry, giving the house a restrained Federal character. Original wattle-and-daub walls, hand-split lath, hand-hewn rafters and polychrome stenciling on plaster walls survive, the stencils echoing patterns associated with Moses Eaton. The form calls it the only known frame example of a first-settlement-period house in the area. It also links to the prominent Nellis family, whose members served in the Revolution and in state government. The building is deteriorated, and the surrounding land may hold further archaeological remains.","period_of_significance":"c.1750-c.1870","architect_builder":"Nellis, Christian, Jr.; Nellis, Christian, Sr.","architectural_style":"Federal; Settlement-era (no-style)","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"The form describes the building as deteriorated, with many windows boarded over and shutters closed to protect it. A roof repair was made in 1985, and it is used as a museum by a settlement society.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:44.893614-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/90000685.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000685/3a7df64592-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000685/3a7df64592-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Cassandra Phillips-Sears","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nellis_Tavern_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Cassandra Phillips-Sears</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:Nellis_Tavern_Building.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319028","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellis_Tavern","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6990189"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/montgomery-county/nellis-tavern-90000685/"}