Steeped in history and loaded with charming and utterly authentic architectural details, this tucked-away stone villa in the woods is just 15 minutes north of the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan.
Known as Stonehurst or the Dederer Stone House, the 6,453-square-foot manse at 65 Rockland Road lies at the western edge of Tallman Mountain State Park in picturesque Sparkill, New York — just over the New Jersey border in Rockland County’s Orangetown. The fairytale three-story home is on the National Register of Historic Places and has long been a favorite on local history tours.
Completed in 1865, this Gothic Revival showpiece is mostly granite, with local sandstone used for the window lintels, sills, and quoins. The clipped, gabled slate roof features four distinctive chimneys, and the eaves are decorated with ornamental bargeboards. Other architectural details within the 12-room main house include diamond-paned windows, elaborate plaster rosettes, a black marble fireplace in the parlor, pocket doors in the library, a center-hall staircase, high ceilings, and hardwood floors. Some of the door moldings on the first floor are eight inches wide.
The home’s provenance is uniquely local. In the early 1870s, Isaac M. Dederer served as Orangetown’s Town Clerk, Postmaster, and Supervisor. Other prior residents include Horatio G. Prall, former Rockland County District Attorney, who owned the home from the mid-1870s until 1905, when it was bought by George Clarence Shoup, a politician, member of the Southern Society and president of the Autographic Register Society. In the 1950s and ’60s, it was owned by Albro C. Gaylor, former mayor of Piermont and editor of the Journal of Pediatrics. In 1968, the Paronetto family fell in love with the property within minutes of driving through those front gates and have been in residence ever since.
Stonehurst is a short drive from the quaint riverfront villages of Piermont and Nyack, known for their thriving restaurant scene, boutique shops, easy walkability, scenic piers and marinas, and outright friendliness.
BY INHABIT EDITORS
In Rockland County,
A Legacy in Stone
Six extremely private park-like acres surround the seven-bedroom home, which is set beyond a long driveway. Just past the front gates is a c.1823 sandstone gatehouse that is said to be where the Dederers holed up while the main residence was being built. It is now a whimsical and fun guest cottage, suitable as a legal rental or studio space. The grounds are filled with landscaped gardens, rolling lawns, sculptures, native and specimen plantings, and majestic mature trees. There’s also a charming gazebo and historic barn, now a three-car garage with a loft.
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