Bedford Road Historic District

The Bedford Road Historic District is a scenic east-west corridor located in the hamlet of Armonk in the Town of New Castle in northern Westchester County, NY. The district, which encompasses the area between today’s Main Street and Maple Avenue, memorializes the mid-1800s birth of Armonk. It is anchored by the 1842 Greek Revival St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, which was the first building erected in the hamlet. Six surviving private residences and a contributing outbuilding also make up the Bedford Road Historic District, all of which date to the 1850s, except for the 1880’s home at Number 44 Bedford Road. The houses reflect the taste for unornamented, Neoclassical style-inspired buildings that characterized many hamlets in this region of the country in the pre-Civil War years. Also included in the district is the cemetery adjacent to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church; the earliest gravestone here dates to 1844. The Bedford Road Historic District has retained its historical and architectural significance for over 175 years. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

In the eighteenth century, the area of Armonk where the Bedford Road Historic District is located was an agricultural community. Settlers in this scenic valley enjoyed access to the fertile land surrounding the Wampus River, which runs in a north-south direction across Bedford Road. Bedford Road itself is an east-west road, which for generations served as an integral link in the overland transportation system of the region. Into the nineteenth century, the Bedford Road area developed with the construction of residences. Many decades later when Interstate 684 was built nearby, Armonk Road (NY Route 128) was turned into a main thoroughfare, and the “new” NY Route 22 (Main Street) was realigned. A number of the original mid-1800s homes in the Bedford Road Historic District were left undisturbed.

Six of these private residences make up the Bedford Road Historic District, along with an outbuilding, a church, and a cemetery. Visually, the streetscape is enhanced by the uniform setback of the buildings, their spacing, and the regularity of the Greek Revival style.

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church dates to 1842 and is the oldest surviving structure in the Bedford Road Historic District. Carpenter Ziel J. Eggleston built the Greek Revival church, which is marked by fluted Doric columns on the front of the recessed porch entry. Adjacent to the church is the cemetery of approximately 450 graves, the earliest of which dates to 1844. Once a much larger piece of land, in the mid-1880s, the property surrounding the church was subdivided for residences.  

The six homes in the Bedford Road Historic District include Number 12, Number 16, Number 24, Number 30, Number 40, and Number 44. Except for Number 44, which dates to the 1880s, all were built around 1850 and illustrate both the Federal and Greek Revival taste, as it was interpreted in the regional rural vernacular. Four of the six houses are sided with synthetic materials that cover and replicate their original wooden clapboard sheathings. While this alteration affects the material integrity of the district, the form, details, and association of the district components are dramatically evident.

Number 12 Bedford Road was built about 1851 for a man named John B. Williams. The modest two story house features six-over-six windows, a paneled entrance door with sidelights, a wraparound veranda, and a central brick chimney. 

Number 16 Bedford Road is a two story house that belonged to local resident Emily Husted. Originally constructed ca.1850, it was moved to its present site about 1888. It rests on a stone foundation, features a central brick chimney, and six-over-six windows.

Number 24 Bedford Road from ca.1850 is a two story house originally owned by Reuben B. Tyler. A bay window was added in 1880. Two interior brick chimneys, six-over-six windows and two-over-two windows, sidelights, and Doric pilasters are features of the construction.

Number 30 Bedford Road is a ca.1850 two story, clapboard building known as the Nehemiah Searles House. Named after its first owner who served as a vestryman of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church for a total of thirty-five years, beginning in 1843. The Searles House features six-over-six windows and six-light casement windows. It was sold to St. Stephen’s in the 1940s when the church’s original parsonage was demolished to provide a site for town offices.

Number 40 Bedford Road was built ca.1850 as the parsonage of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. It was later acquired by the second rector of St. Stephen's, Isaac Dyckman Vermilye. After Rector Vermilye's passing in 1864, it was owned by his widow, Josephine, who lived there for at least another twenty years. It remains a private residence. It is two and a half stories with a gable roof, two exterior brick chimneys, six-over-six windows, three-light casement windows, and a Greek Revival half-round main facade entrance porch. There is a contributing outbuilding.

Number 44 Bedford Road is the youngest residence in the Bedford Road Historic District. A one and a half story house, it was constructed about 1880. The building features a gable roof, hip roof veranda with turned posts, and a shed roof addition in the rear.

The Bedford Road Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Information and photos for this entry were contributed by the North Castle Historical Society. Special thanks to Sharon Tomback, North Castle Town Historian.

1. “Bedford Road Historic District #85002903.” National Register of Historic Places. United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. 1985. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322951
2. North Castle Historical Society website. Accessed November 2022. https://www.northcastlehistoricalsociety.org/
3. The Old Burial Grounds of The Town of North Castle, NY. Accessed November 2022. https://www.northcastleny.com/sites/g/files/vyhlif3581/f/file/file/the_old_burial_grounds_of_the_town_of_north_castle_ny_for_web.pdf
4. Tomback, Sharon and the North Castle Historical Society. Images of America: North Castle. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. 2017.
5. Town of North Castle website. Accessed November 2022. https://www.northcastleny.com/planning/pages/historical-society-documents