Sands-Willets Homestead
Why it's listed
This farmhouse in Flower Hill, Port Washington, grew in three stages on a single site. The oldest part is a west wing of about 1735, originally a freestanding story-and-a-half dwelling. A Greek Revival half-house followed around 1835 and was extended west around 1850 into a center-hall residence with four end chimneys. The Sands family, early landowners on Cow Neck, held the property; Colonel John Sands IV, a Revolutionary War militia leader, and his brothers were born in the house. Edmund Willets, a New York City merchant, bought the homestead in 1846 and expanded it, and his descendants farmed the land into the twentieth century. The grounds include a colonial-style garden with old boxwoods and a late 1600s barn rebuilt there in 1978 after being moved from Sands Point. The barn is described as one of the rare seventeenth-century barns on Long Island. The Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society bought the property in the 1960s and operates it as a house museum.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the homestead reflects the area's early settlement and illustrates Long Island's conservative building tradition across the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is described as a rare surviving homestead in densely built-up Port Washington. It is also tied to the Sands family, including Revolutionary War figures born there, and to the later Willets family.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 85002425, listed September 19, 1985. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 336 Port Washington Blvd., Port Washington |
|---|---|
| County | Nassau County |
| Listed | September 19, 1985 |
| Reference number | 85002425 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architect / builder | John Sands II, John Sands III |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival (main house), with a c. 1735 colonial west wing and Colonial Revival porch and porte-cochère |
| Areas of significance | Exploration/Settlement, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Owned and maintained as a house museum by the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society, which restored the house wing, the main section and the barn; the house had been unoccupied for several years before the 1960s acquisition. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 40.81558, -73.68037 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 85002425.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7416888
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.