The C. Edwards Lester House: An 1810 Federal Colonial in Spencertown

A state historic marker on the front of 13 Elm Street identifies it as the home of C. Edwards Lester—abolitionist, author, and US Consul to Genoa under President John Tyler—who lived here from 1855 to 1860. Lester was a descendant of the theologian Jonathan Edwards, a delegate to the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, and the man who transcribed and published Chains and Freedom (1839), the autobiography of Peter Wheeler, a formerly enslaved man who had settled near Spencertown and whose story Lester helped bring to print.

Lester had also served as pastor of St. Peter's Presbyterian Church just down the road before his diplomatic career took him to Europe. It's an unusually layered provenance for a house that has otherwise aged quietly in one of Columbia County's most intact Federal-period hamlets.

The house itself was built circa 1810, and its original character is largely intact: wide-plank floors, period window trim, a grand staircase, and 3 fireplaces with their original mantles. Every mechanical system has been updated. At 3,173 square feet total, the main floor holds a living room and formal dining room each with a fireplace, a large kitchen with full pantry, a den with a wood-burning stove, a sun porch, powder room, and laundry. Upstairs, the primary suite has a walk-in closet and en-suite bath; two additional bedrooms share a full bath, one with its own fireplace; a loft sits above.

The outbuildings make this a compound rather than simply a large village house: a separate cottage suited to guests or a workshop, a pavilion, a dedicated office, and an oversized two-car garage with attic storage. Spencertown's four National Register properties—the Baldwin House, the Pratt Homestead, the Academy, and St. Peter's—are all within walking distance. Chatham, Hawthorne Valley, and Hudson are close.

13 Elm Street, Spencertown (NY) is listed at $1,598,000, offered by Peter Newman at Beach & Bartolo Realtors.