Saving the Bird Homestead: Natural Allies
New YorkThe people of Westchester County, New York who feared for the uncertain future of the Bird Homestead, in Rye, were probably not weighing whether the property was most important as first a historical place, as a natural habitat and buffer, as a potential recreational resource, as one of the area's very last farms, or as a scenic delight. All of these and more, the Bird Homestead was saved this summer because a coalition of preservationists, conservationists, civic leaders worked determinedly, together, to embrace and protect all of the qualities of this cultural landscape.
Owned by five generations of the Bouton-Bird-Erikson family, it was home to entomologist Henry Bird and his sons Junius Bird, an archaeologist, and Roland Bird, a paleontologist, each of whom were scientific pioneers in their disciplines. The property is an acre situated on Blind Brook estuary, off the Long Island Sound, and contains a wonderfully-intact 1835 Greek Revival main house and 1880s barn. Shorebirds and fish rely on the property's salt marsh edge, and in its current state, the site provides important flood protection and buffer.
The waterfront parcel was vulnerable in an area still buffeted by development pressure; though the property's owners had stewarded and cared deeply about the property's intangible qualities, they were beginning to consider options for the property's sale. In 2007, the threat inspired preservationist Anne Stillman and other volunteers to create the Committee to Save the Bird Homestead. Soon after, she sought the involvement of the long-established Westchester Land Trust. The City of Rye rounded out the coalition, which raised $1.25 million for the city to acquire the property. Sources included a range of federal, state, county, and local funds, as well as corporate and foundation support, funding from the Westchester Land Trust itself, and over 80 individual donations.
Committee to Save the Bird Homestead has signed a long-term lease with the city, and is preparing now to rehabilitate and reuse the property as an educational center and environmental preserve with kayak access to the water.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Northeast Office has been working with the Land Trust Alliance to strengthen the bond between preservation and conservation, in order to save more of the elements that make America's cultural landscapes special. The effort to save the Bird Homestead is a dazzling illustration of how this approach can protect places that matter.
From the Oct 2009 issue of the Northeast Office Preservation News
