Alcove Historic District
SR 11 and Alcove Rd., Alcove, NYThe Alcove Historic District is a small nineteenth-century rural community, the result of hydraulic industrial development along the Hannacrois Creek. Originally known as Stephensville, the village was settled about 1790 by Casparus Ackerman and Archibald Stephens. Early hydraulic industries in the vicinity of Alcove included a grist mill, a flax mill, a paper mill, a saw mill and a carding and cloth mill.
This district is significant because it is the architectural remnant of a small but once flourishing, mid-nineteenth century mill center. The William Briggs homestead reflects the wealth which the milling business produced. Its main section, simple but substantial, has some simple Greek Revival detailing. The homestead is the most impressive structure in the area. The remaining structures represent a variety of architectural styles. The handsome cut stone warehouse building with stepped gables is representative of the Federal style.
The other structures, though modest in scale and decoration, contribute to the simple rural crossroads character of the district. The district gains its significance from the survival of these largely intact nineteenth-century vernacular structures. They retain their original rural setting along the banks of the creek which was the economical reason for Alcove's existence.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.