Bird Homestead (Rye)

The Bird Homestead is a rare, surviving 19th-century farmstead in densely developed lower Westchester County. It is located on the banks of a tidal estuary. It was home to three prominent scientists, Henry Bird, and his sons, Roland T. and Junius. They achieved international stature in their respective fields of entomology, paleontology, and archaeology. Owned by one family from 1852-2009, the site's three historic buildings retain a high degree of authenticity. The main house, built in 1835, is modest in size, yet exhibits hallmarks of the Greek Revival style on both the exterior and interior.

The Bird Homestead, a 19th-century farmstead on the banks of the Blind Brook estuary, was the residence of Henry Bird and his sons, Roland T. and Junius, three leading scientists in their fields. The 1835 Greek Revival house remains remarkably intact, in large part, because one family owned it for five generations, the Bouton-Bird-Erikson family. The property twice descended through female members of the family, Elmira Bouton Bird and Alice Bird Erikson. The changes in surnames of the owners were due to marriage. Seymour Bouton, (1787-1871) a sloop captain and father of Elmira, bought the house in 1852.

The site also contains a 19th-century barn and a woodworker’s shop with an attached chicken coop. The property overlooks salt-marsh habitat and the estuary. In this setting, alongside the daily rhythms of the tide, Henry Bird and his sons were inspired to lead lives of science. Their pioneering work still informs research in the fields of entomology, paleontology, and archaeology. Many of their discoveries remain on view at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).

Henry Bird (1869-1959), son of Elmira, was an entomologist specializing in Lepidoptera. He was the world authority on the moth genus Papaipema. He discovered and named one moth genus and fourteen species. From 1927-1928, he was president of the New York Entomological Society. He wrote 45 papers published in scientific journals. After his death, the AMNH accessioned his collection of 1,118 specimens, all prepared at the Bird Homestead. Although a distinguished entomologist, he made his living as a woodworker and a nurseryman. Combining his expertise in entomology and horticulture, he was an early opponent of spraying crops with pesticides.  

Working under famous paleontologist Barnum Brown, Roland T. Bird (1899-1978) was key to the 1934 excavation of Howe Quarry, Wyoming, one of the greatest deposits of dinosaur fossils in the world. Afterward, he produced a large map on the parlor floor at the Bird Homestead, drawn from his field records. It depicted the inter-relationships of 3,000 bones and is still studied. In 1938 near Glen Rose, Texas, he discovered the first sauropod (herbivorous dinosaur) footprints ever recorded. This discovery was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1968 under the name Dinosaur Valley. Along with his discovery of sauropod tracks in Bandera County, Texas, it revealed previously unknown evidence of dinosaurs’ herding behavior and mode of locomotion. 

This entry was written by Anne Stillman, President and CEO of the Bird Homestead and Rye Meeting House Conservancy.

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