Community

Historic corridor meeting Thursday night at Jamesport Meeting House

The Jamesport Meeting House. (Barbaraellen Koch file photo)
Jamesport Meeting House. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)

There will be a meeting Thursday at Jamesport Meeting House from 7 to 8 p.m. to discuss a proposal to create a Main Road National Register Historic District.

The meeting will include a brief presentation about the district, which stretches six miles on Main Road from Aquebogue to Laurel, said Richard Wines, chair of Riverhead’s landmarks preservation committee. The meeting will also discuss the district’s history and the benefits of a National Register listing.

The proposed historic district would comprise 354 parcels — 312 in Riverhead Town and 42 in Southold Town — and includes landmarks like the Old Steeple Church in Aquebogue, built in 1862, and Aquebogue Cemetery, which dates back to 1755.

If the historic designation becomes official, property owners within the district would be entitled to potential grants and tax credits.

“The Riverhead and Southold Landmarks Preservation Commissions believe this proposal is a way to recognize the historic resources along this segment of Main Road and make them eligible for federal and state restoration tax credits and bring other benefits while at the same time not brining any restrictions that would interfere with the property rights of owners,” Mr. Wines wrote in an email.

The National Register of Historic Places was created in 1966 and now includes more than 85,000 individual places.

The purpose of the program, run by the National Park Service, is to “coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our historic and archeological resources,” according to the organization.

[email protected]