Locale

The John Green House (JGH) is located in Nyack, New York near the foot of Main street, steps from the Hudson River. Fly-down from high above the Hudson to the JGH site in the video below - can you spot the (temporarily) blue-tarped roof of the house?

(Note: watch additional aerial and drone video on the John Green House YouTube channel.)

Green had a deep connection with the nearby Hudson River. He became wealthy transporting lumber from the Albany area to New York City in Hudson River sloops. He was instrumental in forming the Nyack Steamship Association, serving as its chairman and major investor. Steamship operations were a growing industry at the time and Green's association built their own ship and named it the Orange. The ship made its maiden voyage in May of 1828.

The map below depicts a modern-day aerial view of Nyack's downtown. The colored overlays convey the extent of the land near the waterfront that Green purchased in 1818. The red overlay* shows the land he purchased. The yellow square shows the house location. The darker red (outlined) extension running out towards the water depicts an estimation of Green's dock. The dashed blue line shows the shoreline during Green's time. Note how Green's land was strategically placed and how he had space to accommodate various other buildings - not shown here - required for business operations including a general store, lumber yard, lime storage building, stable, carriage house, outhouse, and a well.

(*rough estimates only. Imagery via Google Earth, OpenStreetMap, and OSM Buildings)

The Nyack Steamship Association (NSA) was, as mentioned above, a growing concern as a thriving business. The image below is an undated historical letter from Green himself written to the New York Evening Post newspaper. The letter seems to indicate that he (Green) would like to run an ad for the NSA in the newspaper.

The scan pictured below helps to illustrate the kind of activities that a Steamship business operator would partake in. Here, we find an undated fragment of a deed paper from Green to George Dickey George; the verbiage describes the sale of a sloop (sailing ship).

To examine these - and over 60 more - interesting historical documents relating to Green's business affairs you may visit our annotated public gallery of historical receipts and documents.