Downtown Riverhead may get historic designation

The State Board for Historic Preservation has recommended that downtown Riverhead be added to the state’s register of historic places and also be recommended for addition to the national register.

It was one of 31 places recommended by the state agency, which now has about 90,000 buildings and locations across New York on its list.

Downtown Riverhead was the only place in Nassau or Suffolk to be recommended, just as the Wallabout Industrial Historic District in Brooklyn was the only site noted in the five boroughs of New York City.

The recommendations must be reviewed and approved by the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation before additions are made to the state list.

The agency noted that the cluster of buildings “represents Riverhead’s importance as the center of business, culture, entertainment and government” on the East End of Long Island.

Among the other places recommended for inclusion on the state registry of historic places are a Lake Champlain shipwreck and a 200-year-old Catskill inn.

The board is part of the Historic Preservation Office.

SEE PHOTOS50 historic Long Island sites

Photo: Olivia Sulzer, 3, of Aquebogue looks at one of the windows that was decorated for the downtown Riverhead holiday window contest. (Dec. 4, 2011)