The Samuel Allen House is located in the Old Chappaqua Historic District in the Town of North Castle in Westchester County, New York. The area was originally settled by Quakers in the 1730s. The Samuel Allen farm, which included a tenant house, currying shop, and barn, was part of land previously owned by early settler Thomas Underhill, dating back to 1776. The house is across the street from the 1753 Quaker Meeting House and was built by Allen around 1830. The residence is a solid representation of the old Eyebrow Style of architecture, meaning that it contains a row of narrow windows mounted above the full-size windows on the floor below. The houses in the Old Chappaqua Historic District owe much of their survival to the fact that development of the hamlet grew around the railroad which arrived in 1846, leaving this section of Quaker Road more rural. The Old Chappaqua Historic District, including the Samuel Allen House, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The area along Quaker Road (once named “Pines Bridge Road”) where the Old Chappaqua Historic District is located, including the Samuel Allen House, was originally settled by members of the Society of Friends around the year 1730. Indigenous people referred to this area as “Shapequaw” which is known today as “Chappaqua.” The Quakers had moved across the mainland of New York (Westchester County) from Long Island where they had “established a Meeting” as early as 1645. Their first Quaker Meeting House in Chappaqua still stands in the same spot where it was originally constructed in 1753.

The Samuel Allen House is located across from the Quaker Meeting House. It was built around 1830 by Samuel Allen, a local farmer, who also oversaw an orchard and a nursery garden known as “Ulwine Sylvia.” Allen had a currying shop on his property, which is today’s 400 Quaker Road (ca. 1820). While the term “currying” has different meanings, it is suspected that this particular shop was likely used for the preparation and dressing of leather. Allen’s large barn was later converted into a home and is at 401 Quaker Road (ca. 1833). The tenant house is today’s 407 Quaker Road (ca. 1850).

Samuel Allen was married to a daughter of Caleb Underhill, who may have been a brother of the Thomas Underhill, who owned the farm property at the time of the Revolutionary War. Samuel Allen and his wife had two daughters. In addition to farming and other commercial activities, Allen also served at various times as Inspector of Common Schools, Overseer of Highways, and Commissioner of Highways. When Samuel Allen’s wife passed away, it is believed that he moved into the smaller tenant house next door and rented out his former home. After Samuel’s death in 1880, the farm, house, and tenant house were sold to Alfred Underhill. In 1890, Hannah Underhill, Alfred’s widow, sold the property to Charles Dodge, who rented one of the houses to Louisa Riggs Seaman, who later bought both houses. In 1919, Mrs. Seaman sold the houses to Ralph Gleason. It remained in the Gleason family until 1946 when it was sold to Burton and Ordway Wadsworth. Shortly afterwards, the property was partitioned and the houses became two separate lots. 

The wood-frame Samuel Allen House is four bays in length. On the interior, it possesses hand hewn beams in the cellar and attic, wooden pegs, and wide floor boards. The Samuel Allen remains a well maintained early nineteenth century private dwelling. It is included in the Old Chappaqua Historic District, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Information and photos for this entry were contributed by Gray Williams, author of Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County, ex officio of the North Castle Historical Society, and Chappaqua and Horace Greeley expert.

1. Chappaqua Historical Society, Town of New Castle. Prepared by Dorothy Whitney Gruber in collaboration with Isabelle A. Haight. The Early Quaker Hamlet of Old Chappaqua: Its Houses, Its People, Its Way of Life. Chappaqua, NY. The Chappaqua Historical Society. 1973.
2. Chappaqua History Committee and Gray Williams. New Castle: Chappaqua and Millwood. “Images of America” series. Charleston, SC: Acadia Publishing, 2006.
3. “Old Chappaqua Historic District #74001319.” National Register of Historic Places. United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. 1974. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75323143 
4. Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. Westchester County Historical Society. 2003.