William Nichols Cobblestone Farmhouse

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. 8 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1902.

From the record

“William Nichols Cobblestone Farmhouse is a historic home located at Benton in Yates County, New York. The farmhouse was built about 1844 and is an example of Greek Revival style, cobblestone domestic architecture.”
Wikipedia article William Nichols Cobblestone Farmhouse, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 66 National Register listings published here for Yates County · listed in 1992 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Listed as. Nichols, William, Cobblestone Farmhouse - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. Alexander Rd. W of jct. with Thistle St. Rd., Benton, 14527
When was it listed? May 1992
Category. building
Also known as. Cobblestone Architecture of New York State MPS
Town. Benton town
Architectural style. Greek Revival architecture
National Register reference number. 92000437 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

53 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 53 fires within 5 miles of William Nichols Cobblestone Farmhouse between 2002 and 2018, burning about 22 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 14 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	23
Arson/incendiarism	14
Debris and open burning	7
Smoking	3
Natural	3
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Other causes	1
Misuse of fire by a minor	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
5 September 2010	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
1 September 2010	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
9 August 2002	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
23 August 2008	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
17 August 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
16 August 2012	Natural	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
16 August 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
12 August 2002	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named

Every fire recorded in Yates County

Mines and quarries near this property

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of William Nichols Cobblestone Farmhouse: 3 producers, 2 past producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Benton Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Benton Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Guyanoga Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Guyanoga Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Roberts Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Yates County

Storms near this property

6 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Benton, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 4 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$10,000	Strong thunderstorm winds brought down trees and wires.
May 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down a large tree across Route 14A in Benton.
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$2,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down a tree that took down wires on Havens Corners Road.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$1,000	Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down wires.
May 1998	Hail	Benton	-	A thunderstorm briefly produced nickel sized hail as it crossed over the northern end of Keuka Lake in Benton township just before 1:40 pm EDT.
June 2025	Hail	Benton	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Yates County

Maps showing this location

8 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1902 USGS Phelps quadrangle1:62500 - 7 printings
1942 USGS Stanley quadrangle1:31680
1950 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1952 USGS Stanley quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
1958 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1962 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
1965 USGS Elmira quadrangle1:250000
1983 USGS Canandaigua quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Barden Cobblestone Farmhouse	1.7 miles	1992
Jephtha Earl Cobblestone Farmhouse	3.1 miles	1992
Angus Cobblestone Farmhouse and Barn Complex	3.8 miles	1992
Whitaker House	4.0 miles	1994
Abner Woodworth House	4.8 miles	1994
Yates County Courthouse Park District	6.6 miles	1979

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 92000437 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Yates County	All 66 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.