Among the images added to the this website's presentation of extended excerpts from Edgar Alan Nutt's The Rikers: Their Island, Homes, Cemetery and Early Genealogy in Queens County, NY are NYCHS photos taken during a June 5, 2005 tour of the Lent Riker Smith Homestead graciously given by its resident-owner/restorer Marion Smith to benefit the Queens Historical Society. Click the image to access the book excerpts presentation and the homestead virtual tour (inside the house, on the grounds and in the cemetery) that the NYCHS images provide..

National Parks Service to Conduct Reconnaissance Study To Preserve NYC’s Oldest Inhabited Dwelling

Queens, New York – Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-Queens & Manhattan) and Joseph Crowley (D-Queens & the Bronx) announced today [Oct. 31, 2006] that the National Parks Service will be conducting a reconnaissance study to determine whether the Lent-Riker-Smith Homestead in Queens, New York City’s oldest house still being used as a home, may be eligible for favorable consideration as part of the National Park System. This preliminary reconnaissance study is the first of three steps in the process to include a new unit in the National Park System.

If the results from the Park Service’s preliminary study are positive, Reps. Maloney and Crowley will initiate the second step by introducing federal legislation to authorize a detailed study of the 350-year-old farm house and property. Once that detailed study is completed, Maloney and Crowley will then begin the third and final step by introducing an Act of Congress that would include the Homestead in the Park System.

Study Process Criteria for parklands are applied by the professional staff of the National Park Service. The first step is usually a reconnaissance survey to collect basic information about a proposal and assess the resource's significance. If the area appears to have some potential as a unit of the National Park System, Congress will be asked to authorize a detailed study of management options. The 1998, National Parks Omnibus Management Act established a new process for identifying and authorizing studies of new units. The National Park Service periodically sends a list of study candidates to Congress. Individual members of Congress propose study authorizations, and Congress decides which studies should be conducted. The National Park Service can collect some basic information to determine if an area is a good candidate for study, before a complete study for inclusion in the National Park System is initiated it must be authorized by a specific act of Congress. Studies are conducted in consultation with other interested federal, state, and local agencies, Indian tribes, and the public. The format for public involvement is determined by the study team considering the type of resource and level of interest in the proposal. The public may be invited to participate through informal contacts, workshops, meetings, and opportunities to review draft documents. At least one public meeting in the vicinity of the study area is required. The Crowley/Maloney on-line press release linked to the NPS web page explaining criteria for inclusion in its system. Above is some information excerpted from that page. Click above NPS image to access full page.

Rep. Maloney said, “Built over 100 years before the American Revolution, the Lent-Riker-Smith Homestead offers New Yorkers a priceless opportunity to experience our nation’s history. As we begin working with the Park Service to protect this national treasure, I want to thank Rep. Crowley joining me in these efforts.”

Rep. Crowley said, “The Lent Riker Smith Homestead is a great historical treasure that helps trace back the multi-ethnic foundation of Queens and the United States. It was built before the birth of our nation, when so many people who had migrated to these shores in search of a new life were settling in this area. Almost four centuries later, this home remains emblematic of the founding of our nation by immigrants, whose legacy is still celebrated in Queens’ rich cultural and ethnic diversity. This house also has a great significance for Irish Americans, who remain an important part of the borough’s ethnic fabric, as a few early prominent Irish settlers are buried in the property’s cemetery. Preserving the Lent-Riker-Smith Homestead would ensure that this magnificent historic link to our remarkable past will remain for future generations.”

The Lent-Riker-Smith Homestead was built around 1655 by Dutch immigrant Abraham Riker, a member of the prominent family that owned property throughout the New York region and for whom Rikers Island is named. The one-acre property includes a cemetery with 132 marked graves.

Among the individuals buried on the cemetery property are Ann Tone, wife of Wolfe Tone, the leader of the 1848 Irish revolt, and exiled Irish Catholic patriot, Dr. William J. MacNeven, who married into the Riker family. Also interred on the site is another Abraham Riker, who was killed at Valley Forge in 1778. Current owners of the house and property are husband and wife Michael and Marion Smith, who have worked to restore the site over the last 25 years.

For more information on the study process and criteria applied by the National Park Service in evaluating new park proposals, see http://www.nps.gov/legacy/criteria.html