Eliga Gould, Crucible of Peace: The Turbulent History of America’s Founding Treaty

John Jay was the third member (along with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams) of the Peace Commission which produced the treaty ending the Revolution and definitively established the independence of the “United States.” Eliga Gould, Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire, calls this Treaty of Paris “the third founding document, equal in importance to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.” He has won multiple prizes for his other books, and multiple fellowships for his work. Note: this book is still a work in progress!

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. Albert Rosenblatt, The Eight: The Lemmon Slave Case and the Fight for Freedom

In 1852 a Virginia couple traveling to Texas bring their family, including eight enslaved, through New York. Slavery is legal in Virginia and Texas but has been abolished in New York. Abolitionists, including Louis Napoleon, John Jay II and Erastus Culver, were instrumental in the legal battle to win freedom for the eight enslaved. The case follows a slow path through New York courts, in the era of the Dred Scott case of 1857 and against the background of the Fugitive Slave clause of the Constitution. But the Eight are freed in 1860. Currently a Judicial Fellow at NYU Law School, Judge Rosenblatt was a long-serving New York state judge, ending his career on the highest court, the Court of Appeals.

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.

Celebrate the 25th Annual Barn Dance with us on Saturday, September 23!

Even our Sponsorship package pricing reflects the monumental 25th anniversary.  We hope you will join us for pig races, 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. 

The Barn Dance has sold out! Thank you for your support of this event.

In partnership with the Bedford Audubon, we invite you to join us for Spring Jay Walking at the Homestead. Bedford Audubon Naturalist Tait Johansson will lead this Bird Walk around the property in search of birds that call it home and those just passing through, including migrants like Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Hermit Thrush.

Cost: Free. Level of Difficulty: Moderate. Registration is required by emailing Susan at info@bedfordaudubon.org.

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 in a picturesque meadow under the stars. Purdy’s Farmer and the Fish will cater the evening; dinner will be served family style. Citigrass, a Brooklyn based blue grass band, will be providing music for the evening. Rain date of June 4th.

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.

John Jay Homestead is hosting a Reenactor Showcase designed to provide reenactors with a free opportunity to market their services to libraries, schools, historical sites, and community organizations. Participants in this event will be able to host a booth to work from and will also be provided an opportunity to make a presentation.

The Showcase will coincide with our weekly Farmers Market which regularly brings in over 500 shoppers each week. The market has a variety of vendors, including prepared foods, which makes it a great place to spend the day. We plan to heavily market the showcase to schools, museums, libraries, historical societies, and community organizations in seven counties: Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Ulster in New York, and Fairfield County in Connecticut. We will also be marketing the event to the general public.

We are inviting reenactors and performers who interpret from pre-contact to the 1920s. Please note that this is a curated event; we have the utmost respect for reenactors and historic performers and want to make sure that all of the participants are representing the community appropriately. If you are interested in joining us, please fill out the google form that is linked below and feel free to share the link with anyone you feel should be included.

The event will be rain or shine.

We hope to see you on May 13th!

Google Form

Today is John Jay’s 277^th birthday! Help us celebrate by making a donation to mark the occasion. Scroll down to give Jay a birthday present.

Sara Cedar Miller, Before Central Park

Authoritative, vivid and beautifully photographed, Before Central Park traces “the finest work of art ever executed in this country,” from prehistory, through Indigenous, early European, Colonial, Revolutionary, Civil War and modern eras, with multiple and diverse groups of creatures living alongside each other, sometimes harmoniously and often in conflict. Sara Cedar Miller is the historian emerita of the Central Park Conservancy; she has written three other books about the Park, which celebrates its sesquicentennial this year.

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

Books will be available to purchase at the lecture.

This lecture will be preceded by the Friends of John Jay Homestead Annual Meeting at 6:30pm.

6:30 – Friends of John Jay Homestead Annual Meeting
7:00 – Lecture begins
8:00 – Book signing

Linda Colley, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World

Are Constitutions the safeguards of freedom? Tracing the global history of written Constitutions from the 1750s to now, Colley weaves in changes in warfare, communications and global expansion, and describes how governments – including ours – also use their Constitutions to signal their legitimacy and modern-ness to the world. Colley received the Order of the British Empire: DBE (Dame of the Order of the British Empire) in 2022; she is the Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton.

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

Books will be available for purchase at the event.

Click here to purchase tickets for this lecture.

Linda Greenhouse, Justice on the Brink: A Requiem for the Supreme Court

Begun as a Covid project to “chronicl[e] the life of the Supreme Court from July 2020 through June 2021,” Justice on the Brink has become an exploration of the landmark decisions of the term, and this Court’s far-reaching engagement with foundational issues, including the role of precedent, doctrines of interpretation, styles of leadership, and politics. Currently an Opinion contributor to The New York Times, Greenhouse covered the Court from 1978 – 2008. She is the author of 5 other books, winner of a 1998 Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting, and lecturer and researcher at Yale Law School. She has been called the dean of living Supreme Court journalists.

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

Books will be available for purchase at the event.

Click here to purchase tickets for this lecture.

Stacy Schiff, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams burned his letters and left no memoir, but was in his day proclaimed as the “chief incendiary” of the Revolution, the “prime mover,” the “patriarch of liberty,” and the target of the British troops – for arrest, or even assassination – whom Paul Revere was riding to warn on April 18, 1775. Schiff is renowned as a formidable researcher and biographer of extraordinary people, including Cleopatra, Benjamin Franklin, the Witches of Salem, Saint-Exupery, and Vera Nabokov (Pulitzer 2000).

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

Books will be available for purchase at the event.

Our most popular Discovery Center is available for private experiences!

Learn about what produce was grown here seasonally, try your hand at daily farm chores, look at historic photos of the farm, milk our mechanical cow, and ride our tractor. The building also has an interesting exhibit describing the history of farming on the property.

We offer two 90-minute exploration sessions every Wednesday and Thursday at 10am and 2pm. Each session is a private experience for your family group of up to 15 people. These experiences are free, but reservations are required.

Please leave your pets at home – only service animals are allowed in our buildings.

Our most popular Discovery Center is available for private experiences!

Learn about what produce was grown here seasonally, try your hand at daily farm chores, look at historic photos of the farm, milk our mechanical cow, and ride our tractor. The building also has an interesting exhibit describing the history of farming on the property.

We offer two 90-minute exploration sessions every Wednesday and Thursday at 10am and 2pm. Each session is a private experience for your family group of up to 15 people. These experiences are free, but reservations are required.

Please leave your pets at home – only service animals are allowed in our buildings.

Our most popular Discovery Center is available for private experiences!

Learn about what produce was grown here seasonally, try your hand at daily farm chores, look at historic photos of the farm, milk our mechanical cow, and ride our tractor. The building also has an interesting exhibit describing the history of farming on the property.

We offer two 90-minute exploration sessions every Wednesday and Thursday at 10am and 2pm. Each session is a private experience for your family group of up to 15 people. These experiences are free, but reservations are required.

Please leave your pets at home – only service animals are allowed in our buildings.

Our most popular Discovery Center is available for private experiences!

Learn about what produce was grown here seasonally, try your hand at daily farm chores, look at historic photos of the farm, milk our mechanical cow, and ride our tractor. The building also has an interesting exhibit describing the history of farming on the property.

We offer two 90-minute exploration sessions every Wednesday and Thursday at 10am and 2pm. Each session is a private experience for your family group of up to 15 people. These experiences are free, but reservations are required.

Please leave your pets at home – only service animals are allowed in our buildings.

Our most popular Discovery Center is available for private experiences!

Learn about what produce was grown here seasonally, try your hand at daily farm chores, look at historic photos of the farm, milk our mechanical cow, and ride our tractor. The building also has an interesting exhibit describing the history of farming on the property.

We offer two 90-minute exploration sessions every Wednesday and Thursday at 10am and 2pm. Each session is a private experience for your family group of up to 15 people. These experiences are free, but reservations are required.

Please leave your pets at home – only service animals are allowed in our buildings.

Our most popular Discovery Center is available for private experiences!

Learn about what produce was grown here seasonally, try your hand at daily farm chores, look at historic photos of the farm, milk our mechanical cow, and ride our tractor. The building also has an interesting exhibit describing the history of farming on the property.

We offer two 90-minute exploration sessions every Wednesday and Thursday at 10am and 2pm. Each session is a private experience for your family group of up to 15 people. These experiences are free, but reservations are required.

Please leave your pets at home – only service animals are allowed in our buildings.