{"nrhp_refnum":"92000438","name":"Earl, Jephtha, Cobblestone Farmhouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Old State Rd. N of jct. with Johnson Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Benton","county":"Yates County","state":"NY","lat":42.757664731000034,"lon":-76.97801763499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-05-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A cobblestone gentleman's farmhouse built ca. 1850s/60s on the west side of Old State Road in the rural town of Benton, Yates County, New York, on a 3.1-acre lot.","why_significant":"The house is a highly intact example of cobblestone construction from the Late Period, with small reddish lake-washed cobbles laid six per quoin on the front facade. It is also a distinguished example of Picturesque, Victorian-era rural architecture in the Finger Lakes Region, combining Greek Revival, Italianate and Egyptian Revival elements. It is one of nine surviving cobblestone buildings in Yates County.","narrative":"Set on a narrow side road in Benton, Yates County, this cobblestone farmhouse was built around the 1850s or 1860s for Jephtha Earl, whose estate once covered many hundreds of acres near Seneca Lake. Old State Road was once the main north-south route here, and the house was a prominent landmark before the highway was straightened and the road became a quiet byway. Today the house stands on a 3.1-acre lot; the large barn complex and Earl's lake landing have been lost. The walls are made of small, reddish, oval cobbles laid in tidy rows with tooled limestone quoins and lintels. The asymmetrical, multi-gabled form has bracketed cornices, floor-length windows and porch columns with Egyptian-style lotus capitals. Inside, the room layout, moldings, plank floors and curved staircase survive. The house was recognized as an outstanding example of Late Period cobblestone masonry and of Picturesque Victorian farmhouse design in the Finger Lakes region.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1850/1860","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Mid-19th Century; Italianate","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling; the original farm outbuildings and landing are lost and a modern non-contributing garage stands on the lot.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:44.845762-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/92000438.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000438/4a42033451-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000438/4a42033451-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Araucana","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jephtha_Earl_Cobblestone_Farmhouse_in_Yates_County_NY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Araucana</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jephtha_Earl_Cobblestone_Farmhouse_in_Yates_County_NY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315531","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jephtha_Earl_Cobblestone_Farmhouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6180393"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/yates-county/earl-jephtha-cobblestone-farmhouse-92000438/"}