Carriage Barn

The Carriage Barn Education and Visitor Center features our largest Discovery Center. Surrounding a reproduction Governess's Cart (kids can climb in it!) you'll find five boxes to explore - each full of hands-on items, including clothing, tools, games and household objects. 

Main Barn

The Discovery Center in our Main Barn emphasizes the Homestead's agricultural past. Learn about what produce was grown here seasonally, try your hand at daily farm chores, look at historic photos of the farm, and milk our mechanical cow. Don't miss the interesting exhibit in this building describing the history of farming on the property.

School House

An original 1826 one-room school house includes a Discovery Center addressing early American education. Learn what the standard punishment was for tardiness, sleeping in class, and other rule infractions; complete arithmetic problems on an abacus; make your own hornbook - an early primer; and find out how a typical school day today is different from the day of instruction the Jay children would have experienced.

Play House

Constructed in 1925 by Eleanor Jay Iselin for her young son "Buddy," this small playhouse is a fun location for our youngest of visitors to play "house" with traditional handcrafted toys. The adjacent Children's Garden and sandbox, recreations of originals dating from the early 20th century, provide a lovely fair weather activity area.

Summer Kitchen

Furnished entirely with reproduction furniture and objects, the kitchen is the one room in the historic house where visitors may immerse themselves in the early 19th century experience, learning through hands-on interaction with the objects and space. The completely refurnished Summer Kitchen provides visitors with a sense of the daily routine of the servants and slaves who served the Jay family. Vignettes in this Discovery Center emphasize the labor involved in laundry day, the different methods and materials used in candle and soap making, and show how the kitchen would often serve as living quarters for some of the slaves.

Potting Shed

Adjacent to the Herb Garden are two potting sheds that served the formal and cutting gardens in the 19th and 20th centuries. The larger of the two sheds features a Discovery Center focused on horticulture and the more formal, man-made landscape features of the Homestead. View a 1932 aerial photograph of the property showing the vast formal gardens, learn more about the varieties of flowers and herbs grown at the Homestead today, and plant your own flower to bring home with you. Be sure to visit the many beautiful gardens on the property.

Back Parlor Exhibit Opens

Reflections on our Past:

A Viewer Response Exhibit

A varied selection of seldom exhibited objects, both items that belonged to the Jay family and objects that were later donated by local benefactors, has been assembled for the Reflections exhibit. 

A wide spectrum of people from John Jay Homestead's community, from eminent scholars to local children, from public officials to friends and neighbors, have each selected on object to comment on in whatever medium they wish.  Their submissions are available to visitors in a guide booklet to peruse while looking at the exhibited objects.  The responses take a great variety of forms, including essays, poems, drawings, works of fiction, and photographs. Viewers of the exhibit are invited to give their own response to three of the objects. 

The fifty objects themselves are displayed in the historic house in the Back Parlor Gallery, and include a Civil War sword, a 1930s lady's tweed riding coat, a document signed by John Jay in the 1790s, a Victorian sausage stuffer, portraits, antique furniture, old silver, and a Chinese birdcage.   

The exhibit can be seen as part of a regularly scheduled house tour or during gallery hours: Sundays 12 to 2 or Mondays 10 to 2. 

Shoppers will enjoy 62-acres of historic grounds and are welcome to explore flower, herb and vegetable gardens, a chicken-and-egg co-op and a 12-hive apiary, along with wooded trails and a pond. They can tour the historic Jay house, discover the new Education and Visitor Center in the newly restored Carriage Barn, featuring state-of-the-art computerized interactive displays or explore the new children's Discovery Centers in 5 of the site's other historic buildings, filled with hands-on activities.

"We have lots of exciting things planned for opening day including singer/songwriter, Ian Charles and the SPCA of Westchester, who will be on hand with their adorable rescue dogs, "said Jennifer Gordon, Market Manager. "We will continue to feature local talent and partner with a local non-profit each week, as well as offer free children's craft programs the second Saturday of every month, "said Gordon.

Two Special Programs on Opening Day  

(No registration required )

Family Fun at the Farm Market

June 22  

10 am to 1 pm  

Visit our new Carriage Barn Education and Visitor Center where we will experience its discovery boxes, participate in a scavenger hunt, and do a craft activity.  This is a free, walk in program for families with children ages three to ten.

Sustainable Property Management

June 22

11 am

Join Bedford 2020 and John Jay Homestead for a program to learn simple steps you can take in your yard that make a big impact on protecting our community's water quality and the health of your family. All with no extra time and no extra money. John Jay Homestead has done this successfully on 60+ acres, you can do it too!

The Farm Market has a new Facebook page:  "John Jay Homestead Farm Market".  Please visit our page and "LIKE" us to keep up on all fresh news about the market.

July 22nd - 26th - Struggle for the Continent: The French and Indian War

History Adventure Days are for children entering 2nd - 7th grade and are scheduled Monday-Friday, 9 am - 3 pm. The cost is $250 per week. There is a 10% discount for members of Friends of John Jay Homestead (Family memberships and above). Advance registration is required.   

To download registration forms,  

• Become a steward of a priceless national treasure, helping to preserve and restore the historic house, grounds and outbuildings
• Enable our educational programs to reach more than 5,000 school children each year
• Support the schedule of programs and events that has made the Homestead a vital center of recreational, cultural and community activities