Lemuel Haynes House

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The Lemuel Haynes House is a historic home on County Road 27 in South Granville, New York. Built in 1793, it was the home of Lemuel Haynes (1753–1833) from 1822 until his death. Haynes is known as the first African-American clergyman ordained in North America. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2009 it became a private residence, purchased by Bo Young and William J. Foote, and it is not usually open to the public.

The house sits in a rural area on the south side of Route 27 near its junction with Route 149. It is a one-and-a-half-story wood-frame building with a gabled roof, a central chimney, and clapboard siding. The front faces east and has five bays with windows on either side of the central door. While not a standout example of a particular architectural style, the house retains period features such as wide floorboards and a large kitchen fireplace with a pot crane and a beehive oven.

Lemuel Haynes’s life: He was born in 1753 to a white mother and a father of African descent. He was put into indentured servitude, but his master educated him and introduced him to the Congregational church. After serving in the Granville militia during the Revolutionary War, he was ordained as a Congregational minister in 1780. He served as minister in the Middle Granville church, becoming the first known African-American preacher to lead a predominantly white congregation. He later led a church in Rutland, Vermont, before ending his ministry in Granville, New York.