Oyster Bay hearing on potential landmark

The Oyster Bay Town Board voted Tuesday to hold a hearing Nov. 15 on whether to designate the 222-year-old Maine Maid Inn (above) in Jericho a town landmark.

If the board votes for the designation, it would bar demolition of the vacant structure built as a farmhouse and believed to have been a stop on the Underground Railroad.

The town Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to recommend landmark designation. The restaurant has been closed for more than two years. The East Norwich Civic Association, which made the nomination to the commission, is fearful the inn will be demolished.

The building, originally the home of prominent Quaker Valentine Hicks, was built in 1789 and later served as a post office before it became a stagecoach stop and restaurant.

The hearing will be at Town Hall at 10 a.m.