Hearing set on Maine Maid Inn landmarking
Photo of Valentine Hick's home, circa 1840's, almost a century before it became Main Maid Inn. Credit: Jericho Public Library Archives
Historic preservation organizations and civic groups Tuesday will try to persuade the Oyster Bay Town Board to declare the Maine Maid Inn in Jericho a landmark.
The board has scheduled a 10 a.m. hearing on the town's Landmarks Preservation Commission's unanimous recommendation to designate the vacant 222-year-old Valentine Hicks farmhouse, which is thought to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad.
No vote is expected Tuesday.
The East Norwich Civic Association made the nomination for historic designation to protect the building from possible demolition. The restaurant that operated at the inn, at 4 Old Jericho Tpke., has been closed for more than two years.
Building owner Rajiv Sharma did not attend commission hearings. His lender, Georgia-based Ciena Capital, which has begun foreclosure proceedings on the inn, has written to the town opposing the historic designation.
The town has been reluctant to make landmark designations over the objections of owners.
The board designated another Quaker farmhouse, the Jackson House in Jericho, in 1983 under pressure from community groups. Town officials had said they feared having the landmark ordinance challenged in court. The Jackson House was the only one of about 36 town-landmarked structures designated over the owners' objections.
The East Norwich Civic Association hired a lawyer specializing in land-use and preservation to make its case before the board Tuesday.
The attorney, Richard Handler of Amityville, said, "there is a lot of rich detail . . . concerning its relationship to the Hicks family and the role of the Hicks family as abolitionists and in the Underground Railroad."
The Hicks family were members of the Quaker community that founded Jericho. Hicksville was named after Valentine Hicks, who was the second president of the Long Island Rail Road, Handler said.
Even though there's aluminum siding around the house, many of its colonial-style features still exist.
"These structures are being lost regularly and need landmark protection," Handler said.
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