Athens Lower Village Historic District

Athens Lower Village Historic District occupies about 175 acres along the west bank of the Hudson River in Greene County, New York. Its boundaries follow the village plan laid out in 1801 by Isaac Northrup, who bought the Van Loon farmland and set out ten east-west and five north-south streets. Early residents built Federal houses, including the Nichols House of 1803, the Haight House of 1812 and the Northrup House of 1803, along with a block of Federal rowhouses on Washington Street. Mid-century prosperity came from river industries such as shipyards, a pottery and brickyards, and from the ferry to Hudson. That era left Greek Revival workers' homes, the Federated Church of 1833 and the Lydia Coffin House of 1840. Second Empire and Italianate buildings were added by 1877. Many riverfront industrial buildings have since been demolished, but the district keeps its nineteenth-century scale and remains the village's main commercial and residential area.