James Traub, The Cradle of Citizenship: How Schools Can Help Save Our Democracy

The Founders wanted schools to teach students to understand our political system and to engage in reasoned political debate as adults; the Schoolhouse at John Jay Homestead was built for Jay children and also for the children of tenant farmers and farm hands.  Historian, journalist and former Friends of John Jay Homestead speaker on his renowned John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit, Traub spent a year exploring how schools now teach students–or fail to teach them–the essentials of American history and government, as well as how to use that knowledge in respectful, informed debate.  Note: the talk will be preceded by a short business section of our Annual Meeting.

This lecture will be held at Bedford Playhouse (633 Old Post Rd, Bedford, NY) due to ongoing construction at John Jay Homestead.

6:00 – Reception with light refreshments
6:30 – Lecture begins
7:30 – Book signing

RSVP Here

Interested in becoming a member of the Scholars Committee? Click here.

Akhil Reed Amar, Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution, 1840–1920

The second in a trilogy about America’s Constitution, Born Equal follows The Words That Made Us:  America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760-1840; Amar asks us to consider 10 possible meanings of the word “equal.”  A widely published and cited Constitutional scholar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale and winner of their DeVane Medal for excellence in teaching, he has spoken twice at the John Jay Homestead, about New York and the US Constitution, and in an interview with Albie Sachs, about the Constitution of South Africa.  He is sometimes called a “liberal originalist,” and that is what he calls Lincoln.

This lecture will be held at Bedford Playhouse (633 Old Post Rd, Bedford, NY) due to ongoing construction at John Jay Homestead.

6:00 – Reception with light refreshments
6:30 – Lecture begins
7:30 – Book signing

Purchase In-Person Tickets Here

Interested in becoming a member of the Scholars Committee? Click here.

Victoria Johnson, American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic

David Hosack (1769-1835) transformed medicine and surgery, medicinal and agricultural botany, and the intellectual and cultural life of New York City.  He knew virtually every major European scientist, and virtually every American Founder – he was the physician who attended both Hamilton and Burr at their duel.  Lively and learned, American Eden was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History (2019) and the National Book Award for Nonfiction (2018), among many other awards and prizes.  Victoria Johnson is Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College in New York City.

This lecture will be held at Bedford Playhouse (633 Old Post Rd, Bedford, NY) due to ongoing construction at John Jay Homestead.

6:00 – Reception with light refreshments
6:30 – Lecture begins
7:30 – Book signing

Purchase In-Person Tickets Here

Interested in becoming a member of the Scholars Committee? Click here.

The Friends of John Jay Homestead kindly request your company

Friday, January 23, 2026

Diplomacy, Statesmanship, Legacy: Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Independence of The United States of America

6:00pm

Dinner and Conversation with Dr. Richard Haass & Walter Stahr

The Union Club of the City of New York

following the

4:00pm

John Jay Panel with Martha Stewart & Benjamin Prosky

The Park Avenue Armory Winter Show

Jacket & Tie

Ticket sales for dinner will open in November.

For advanced sponsorship or table purchasing inquiries, please contact friends@johnjayhomestead.org

Purchase Advance Tickets Now

Lead Sponsor – Preserving the House of Liberty ($75,000)

Supports: Restoring John Jay’s historic home, Bedford House, and our efforts to document the preservation work.
Includes: Premier front-row table for 12. On-stage recognition. Invitation and program acknowledgement. VIP Winter Show access. Private tour of the Homestead. Year-round acknowledgement across Friends 250th events.

Founder’s Table – Restoring the Republic ($50,000)

Supports: Reclaiming the cultural landscape of John Jay Homestead for a glimpse into early American civic and agrarian life.
Includes: Prime table for 10. On-stage recognition. Program and signage acknowledgment. VIP Winter Show access. Private tour of the Homestead.

Statesman’s Table – Strengthening Friends ($25,000)

Supports: Building a world class team, storytelling, and elevation of Friends mission to keep the American story alive.
Includes: Prime table for 10. Program and signage acknowledgment. VIP Winter Show access. Private tour of the Homestead.

Governor’s Table – Sparking Civic Dialogue ($10,000)

Supports: Launching student debate programs and civic education partnerships.
Includes: Reserved table for 10. Program recognition. Limited availability.

Patron Ticket ($2,500)

Supports: Enriching our communications and membership engagement.
Includes: One ticket. Program acknowledgment. Winter Show access.

Friends Ticket ($1,000)

Includes: One ticket. Winter Show access. Limited availability.

All ticket purchases in excess of $300 per person are tax deductible.

The Board of Trustees

of the Friends of John Jay Homestead

invite you to our 2025 Annual Meeting

Including an Update by New York State on the Capital Project and House Restoration

Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at 6:30pm

at Bedford Playhouse

Join Friends of John Jay Homestead in partnership with Bedford Historical Society, Bedford Riding Lanes Association, and Rochambeau Farm for a special event to kick start America’s semiquincentennial celebration here in Bedford!

On the evening of April 18 from 5-7pm, we will gather at Rochambeau Farm to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride to Lexington and Concord with a dramatic reading of Longfellow’s Poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.

This is a family event for kids of all ages. Pizza and beverages will be served for both children and adults after the reading along with fun eighteenth century games. Plan to arrive by 5pm so not to miss the special performance! Bring a picnic blanket to get comfortable and a hammer for the lantern craft! No rain date – dress appropriately.

Discounted admission for members of Friends of John Jay Homestead, Bedford Historical Society, or BRLA.

Please consider purchasing a Sponsor Ticket to help us underwrite the cost of this event.

Rochambeau Farm is located at 214 West Patent Rd. Mt. Kisco, NY.

Richard Brookhiser, Glorious Lessons:  John Trumbull, Painter of the American Revolution

John Trumbull saw the American Revolution firsthand, including being shot at and jailed as a spy.  He was seen by his contemporaries as a painter, but he thought of himself as a historian, wanting “to preserve and diffuse the memory of the noblest series of actions which have ever presented themselves in the history of man.”  He knew John Jay well, having served as his secretary during the negotiations of the Jay Treaty, and he painted the only portrait in the Homestead’s collection that Jay actually sat for (the rest are copies).  Brookhiser is author also of several renowned biographies of Founders — Marshall, Madison, Washington, Morris, Lincoln too — and has written and published widely, including serving as a senior editor at National Review.  He was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2008 by President George W Bush.

This lecture will be held at Bedford Playhouse (633 Old Post Rd, Bedford, NY) due to ongoing construction at John Jay Homestead.

6:30 – Reception with light refreshments
7:00 – Lecture begins
8:00 – Book signing

Purchase In-Person Tickets Here

Purchased Zoom Tickets Here

Interested in becoming a member of the Scholars Committee? Click here.

Steven Brill, The Death of Truth: How Social Media and the Internet Gave Snake Oil Salesmen and Demagogues the Weapons They Needed to Destroy Trust and Polarize the World–And What We Can Do

Yes, new media forms have always had the power to turn people against each other with misinformation and disinformation (Brill begins with Cleopatra).  But Death of Truth argues that current politics and technologies take that power “from the slingshot age to the nuclear age.”  Thankfully, he also offers solutions to the problems that modern media present.  Brill is a lawyer, journalist and media entrepreneur, founder of Court TV and The American Lawyer, and most recently NewsGuard Technologies, a news service that uses actual editors and analysts – not an AI or an algorithm – to rate the reliability and credibility of news and information websites.  A graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School and author of hard-hitting books on health care, education, homeland security and more, he also teaches journalism at Yale College, where he and his wife, Cynthia, founded the Yale Journalism Initiative.

This lecture will be held at Bedford Playhouse (633 Old Post Rd, Bedford, NY) due to ongoing construction at John Jay Homestead.

6:30 – Reception with light refreshments
7:00 – Lecture begins
8:00 – Book signing

Purchase In-Person Tickets Here

Purchase Zoom Tickets Here

Interested in becoming a member of the Scholars Committee? Click here.

Sarah Gronningsater, The Rising Generation: Gradual Abolition, Black Legal Culture, and the Making of National Freedom

Under New York’s 1799 Gradual Abolition scheme, a child born to an enslaved mother (as of a certain date) was deemed “free,” but had to continue as the servant of the mother’s owner until the age of 25 (for a girl) or 28 (for a boy).  Gronningsater develops a deeply researched picture of the lives, politics, and legal efforts of this generation of Black children of ambiguous status, and how they combined with others to help shape important changes to the U.S. Constitution as well as groundbreaking state and Federal civil rights legislation.  Gronningsater is a historian of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century United States at the University of Pennsylvania; she has won multiple academic prizes and citations, and awards for excellence in teaching, notably Richard S. Dunn Award for Distinguished Teaching, the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Penn Friars Senior Society Faculty Award.

This lecture will be held at Bedford Playhouse (633 Old Post Rd, Bedford, NY) due to ongoing construction at John Jay Homestead.

6:30 – Reception with light refreshments
7:00 – Lecture begins
8:00 – Book signing

Purchase In-Person Tickets Here

Purchase Zoom Tickets Here

Interested in becoming a member of the Scholars Committee? Click here.

Brenda Wineapple, Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation

In 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, John Scopes was charged with breaking the new law that banned the teaching of evolution in public schools.  His trial became an international sensation, with brilliant and famous personalities – one, a former presidential candidate – representing the opposing sides during the so-called Roaring Twenties.  Keeping the Faith brings to life this trial, its combatants, and the way it exposed profound divisions in America that still resonate today, over the meaning of freedom, religion, education, and civil liberties in a democracy.  A former fellow at the Dorothy B. and Lewis Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the National Endowment, Wineapple has received such honors as the Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and her essays and reviews regularly appear in The New York Review of Books among other publications.

This lecture will be held at Bedford Playhouse (633 Old Post Rd, Bedford, NY) due to ongoing construction at John Jay Homestead.

6:30 – Reception with light refreshments
7:00 – Lecture begins
8:00 – Book signing

Purchase In-Person Tickets Here

Interested in becoming a member of the Scholars Committee? Click here.

Celebrate the 26th Annual Barn Dance with us on Saturday, September 14!

Join us for pig races, a petting zoo, live music by local bands, delicious food, and a campfire. This festive family event raises funds for all of Friends of John Jay Homestead’s educational work. 

Tickets available at the door.

Click on “Show Details” to learn more about our Sponsorship Packages.

Advance ticket sales end Thursday, September 12 at 5:00pm. Tickets are non-refundable.

*Please note: online payments are processed through PayPal. You do not need an account to make a payment through PayPal. Any credit card is accepted.

The Board of Trustees

of the Friends of John Jay Homestead

invite you to our 2024 Annual Meeting

Tuesday, May 28, 2024 at 6:00pm

at Bedford Playhouse

Guest Speaker: Peter Kenny

on the Restoration and Reinterpretation

of Bedford House

*Ticket sales have ended for this event.*

Join us for our annual On the Farm Dinner. Guests will enjoy seasonal cocktails and farm fresh hors d’oevres before sitting down to dinner under the stars at one of Bedford’s oldest farms. . Purdy’s Farmer and the Fish will cater the evening; dinner will be served family style with live music. Rain date of June 2nd.

Homesteader Table ($10,000): Table for 16

Harvester Table ($5,000): Table for 10

Harvester Ticket ($500): Reserved Seating for 1

Shepherd Ticket ($300): Open Seating for 1

Friends of John Jay Homestead is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Ticket costs above $150 per person are tax deductible as allowed by law.

Michael Waldman, The Fight to Vote

The Fight to Vote traces the expansion of voting rights in this country from the very limited allowances in the Founding period to the contested and contentious present. Michael Waldman is a constitutional lawyer and writer, and since 2005 the President and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, a nonpartisan law and policy institute that focuses on improving systems of democracy and justice. He has written many many other books and articles, including most recently Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America, which we expect he will discuss too.

This lecture will be held at Bedford Playhouse (633 Old Post Rd, Bedford, NY) due to ongoing construction at John Jay Homestead.

6:30 – Reception with light refreshments
7:00 – Lecture begins
8:00 – Book signing

Purchase in-person tickets here.

Purchase virtual tickets here.

Interested in becoming a member of the Scholars Committee? Click here.

The Hon. Stephen G. Breyer in Conversation with Emily Bazelon, Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism

Nominated by President Clinton, Justice Breyer served on the Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was preceded by Justice Harry Blackmun and succeeded by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson; he wrote 551 opinions during that 28-year career. Before the Supreme Court, he served on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (1980-1994) including four years as Chief Judge; before that he held many government positions, including assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force. He is currently the Byrne Professor of Administrative Law and Process at Harvard Law School. Virtually all discussions of his career mention that he was an Eagle Scout.

Emily Bazelon is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, and a Senior Research Fellow at Yale Law School.

This lecture will be held at Bedford Playhouse (633 Old Post Rd, Bedford, NY) due to ongoing construction at John Jay Homestead.

6:00 – Reception with light refreshments
6:30 – Lecture begins
7:30 – Book signing

In-person tickets have sold out for this event.

Purchase virtual tickets here.