Gary Snell Sr. displays the Parishville Snell 1823 marking.
BY MATT LINDSEY
North Country This Week
PARISHVILLE – If you build it, they will come. In some cases, they may stay nearly a lifetime.
The historic Luke Brown house was home to Parishville’s first white settler and his family. It still stands today, two centuries later, as an impressive piece of North Country history.
In 2003 the Luke Brown house was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
“Architecturally, the Luke Brown house is significant as a substantial example of a Federal style resilience constructed of coursed rectangular blocks of red Potsdam sandstone,” a statement from the National Register of Historic Places said.
The home, built in 1823, is now owned by Gary Sr. and Jane Snell.
“The listing on the National Register was made possible because of the research and work done by John and Susan Omohundro and Bob and Ellen Burns,” Snell said.
Gary Sr. has reason to feel a connection to the home. He was born inside the residence in March of 1941. He was cared for as a baby inside the home. Years later he would own it himself.
Members of the Snell family have called the residence home for over 100 years. Gary’s grandfather rented the Luke Brown residence in 1911 and purchased the home in 1918. Gary Sr and his wife purchased the home in the mid-1980s.
Parishville was once inhabited by the Mohawk Indian Tribe. The state made a treaty with the Mohawk Indians on March 29, 1791, in which they surrendered the title to their lands. The lands were put up for sale according to an act of the legislature with the principal purchaser being Alexander Macomb. The land was eventually sold to David Parish Dec. 2, 1810.
Parishville’s first settler, Brown, built a log cabin after purchasing 347-acres of land from David Perish for $4 per acre.
Brown and other workers came from Springfield, Vermont to work on what would become State Highway 72. Parish offered him a substantial piece of…
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