Levitz Family Farm
Why it's listed
Along Beaver Dam Road near Grahamsville, this 112-acre farm in the town of Neversink was assembled from two sixty-acre parcels bought by Levitz family members in the early twentieth century. Harry Levitz, a New York City house painter, purchased the first lot in 1910 from a Christian farmer, and the second parcel was added in the early 1940s. The surviving buildings include a 1913 farmhouse built as a duplex for two families, a 1932 dairy barn from Sears Roebuck plans, milk houses, chicken coops and a brooder house. Stone walls, tree lines and field divisions still mark the earlier farm landscape. The farm matters because it shows how Jewish settlers in Sullivan County bought worn nineteenth-century farms and moved from subsistence farming to commercial dairy and poultry production, a pattern central to the county's economy. It has remained in agricultural use by one family for over ninety years.
Significance in brief: The farm is presented as a rare, intact early twentieth-century farm reflecting the settlement, economic and social history of Sullivan County's Jewish population. It also documents changing land-use patterns from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. The same family has farmed it for more than ninety years, shifting from subsistence to commercial dairy and poultry production in the 1930s.
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 01001497, listed January 24, 2002. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 395 Beaver Dam Rd., Grahamsville |
|---|---|
| County | Sullivan County |
| Listed | January 24, 2002 |
| Reference number | 01001497 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1910-1951 |
| Architectural style | No style |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Agriculture, Architecture, Social History |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Still in agricultural use by the same family, with a dairy and farm fields; the brooder house is now used as a loafing barn for cattle and the large chicken coop for storage. |
| Acreage | 112 |
| Coordinates | 41.79773, -74.53271 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
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 01001497.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q6535736
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.