Palmer-Lewis Estate
Also known as: Maple Grove
Why it's listed
Set on both sides of Black Brook Road in semi-rural Bedford, this 31-acre estate combines a country house with the core of a working family farm. The main house dates to about 1779 and retains heavy timber framing, fieldstone foundations and wide-board floors from that period. About 1860, Francis Palmer, who had risen from stage driver to omnibus owner, then president of the National Broadway Bank and New York City chamberlain, enlarged and redesigned it as an Italianate summer residence with a bracketed porch on three sides. Around the house are fifteen mostly frame outbuildings, including a carriage house, residences, sheds, well houses and a barn complex arranged as a quadrangle. Stone walls enclose small fields that show how intensively the land was farmed, along with remains of an orchard and a vegetable garden. Much of the original acreage has been subdivided, so this core is the last evidence of the Palmer and Lewis families' long presence in Bedford.
Significance in brief: The estate is the last physical evidence of the Palmer and Lewis families' long history in Bedford. Francis Palmer, a New York City omnibus operator turned bank president and city chamberlain, remodeled the farmhouse into an Italianate summer residence in the early 1860s. The walled fields and outbuildings show how a small family farm in the region was intensively used.
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 98001008, listed August 6, 1998. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Black Brook Rd., Bedford |
|---|---|
| County | Westchester County |
| Listed | August 6, 1998 |
| Reference number | 98001008 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architectural style | Mid-nineteenth-century Italianate (main house), with Greek Revival elements and early twentieth-century Colonial Revival alterations |
| Areas of significance | Social History, Architecture, Agriculture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Main house and outbuildings remain in domestic use; the dairy barn is a ruin and the orchard and vegetable garden survive only as remains. Two additions to the house date from 1998. |
| Acreage | 31 |
| Coordinates | 41.23215, -73.61795 (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 98001008.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7128202
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.