{"nrhp_refnum":"92000838","name":"Ockers, Jacob, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"965 Montauk Hwy.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oakdale","county":"Suffolk County","state":"NY","lat":40.739394032000064,"lon":-73.12264498199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-07-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Maritime History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half story frame house at 965 Montauk Highway in Oakdale (Islip), Suffolk County, New York, with a circa 1830s core, later expanded and remodeled in Colonial Revival style in 1911. The nominated property is a 0.27-acre parcel owned by the town of Islip.","why_significant":"The house is the only surviving building associated with Jacob Ockers (1847-1918), described as Islip's most prominent and wealthiest oysterman, who lived there from 1880 until 1918. His business grew into the largest of its kind in the United States and helped market the Blue Point oyster worldwide.","narrative":"This clapboard house on Montauk Highway in Oakdale, Suffolk County, was the home of Jacob Ockers (1847-1918) from 1880 until his death. Ockers, born in the Netherlands and brought to Oakdale as a child, built an oystering business that grew from small shipments into the largest of its kind in the United States. By 1902 he controlled nearly 800 acres of oyster beds and shipped thirty thousand barrels a year. He was among the first to export oysters to Europe and helped promote the Blue Point oyster. The house has a circa 1830s frame core, with pegged rafters visible in the attic, and was expanded and remodeled in the Colonial Revival style in 1911. A veranda with Doric columns, a formal dining room wing and a kitchen wing were part of the work. A 1991 fire damaged the kitchen wing, though most of the house remains intact. Only 0.27 acre of the original 52-acre property is included, and the building now serves as a museum.","period_of_significance":"1880-1918","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["B"],"status_note":"Now used as a museum (previously a single dwelling). Part of the kitchen wing was damaged by fire in 1991, but the form states the house retains high architectural integrity.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:45.456203-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/92000838.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000838/e2d4faf410-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92000838/e2d4faf410-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"DanTD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacob_Ockers_House.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">DanTD</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:Jacob_Ockers_House.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322198","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Ockers_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6119061"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/suffolk-county/ockers-jacob-house-92000838/"}