Details
Hinchey Homestead
Home of Gates Historical Society
634 Hinchey Road
Rochester, NY 14624
Phone: 585-464-9740
Email: gateshistoricalsociety@gmail.com
Website: www.gateshistory.org
Admission: $8 non-member/$5 member
Hours Open for 2022:
Wednesday: 10-2 (Jan-Mar)
Wednesday: 10-3 (Apr- Dec)
1st & 3rd Sunday: 12-3 (May-Oct)
About Us
The Hinchey Homestead was built in the 1870s on the site of the first clapboard home in Gates c. 1810 which is now gone. It stands today as the only structure in Gates listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Hinchey family was active in the Town of Gates from the early 1800s to the mid-1900s and introduced the Holstein breed of dairy cattle to the Town. The homestead remained in the family until after the death of Harmon Hinchey in 1998.
With modifications only for electricity and water service, the homestead remains virtually untouched since its initial construction. This is what makes this structure so unique. The interior has only been minimally remodeled or changed.
Visitors to the home today can still see the intricate woodworking details that were highlights of the craftsmanship of the day. All of the rooms are just as they were, including the hand-operated water pump in the kitchen, the indoor two seat privy, and the attic cistern that provided an early version of running water.
Original and period furnishings, the gift of Wolcott Hinchey, remain in each room. The period of significance for the house is 1870-1910.