John Tears Inn

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. 10 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1904.

From the record

“The John Tears Inn is located along Goshen Turnpike between the hamlets of Circleville and Scotchtown in the Orange County, New York, town of Wallkill. It was built approximately 1790 and provided a stopover for travelers on the Goshen Turnpike due to its location midway between Bloomingburg and Goshen.”
Wikipedia article John Tears Inn, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 187 National Register listings published here for Orange County · listed in 1997 · category: Building.

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

The listing

Listed as. Tears, John, Inn - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. 1224 Goshen Tnpk., Wallkill, 10941
When was it listed? August 1997
Category. building
Town. Wallkill town
Architectural style. Federal architecture
National Register reference number. 97000940 - 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

548 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 548 fires within 5 miles of John Tears Inn between 1998 and 2020, burning about 430 acres in total. 21 started naturally. 82 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	358
Arson/incendiarism	82
Debris and open burning	42
Natural	21
Equipment and vehicle use	19
Smoking	13
Misuse of fire by a minor	6
Power generation/transmission/distribution	5
Recreation and ceremony	2

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
9 September 2002	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
8 September 2015	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	NA
8 September 2015	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	NA
7 September 2016	Arson/incendiarism	1.3 acres	Fire Department of New York	N/A
7 September 2014	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
7 September 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
7 September 2005	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Fire Department of New York	not named
6 September 2016	Debris and open burning	1.3 acres	Fire Department of New York	N/A

Every fire recorded in Orange County

Mines and quarries near this property

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of John Tears Inn: 4 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Grosso Materials	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Bloomingburg Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Bloomingburg Pit and Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Crystal Run Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Crystal Run Pit and Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Wallkill Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Wallkill Pit and Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary

Every working recorded in Orange County

Maps showing this location

10 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.

1904 USGS Ellenville quadrangle1:62500
1906 USGS Ellenville quadrangle1:62500 - 7 printings
1943 USGS Pinebush quadrangle1:31680
1950 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000
1953 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000
1956 USGS Pine Bush quadrangle1:24000 - 3 printings
1959 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1962 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1965 USGS Scranton quadrangle1:250000 - 2 printings
1986 USGS Monticello 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
Crane House	3.3 miles	2018
New York, Ontario & Western Railway Company Middletown Station	3.8 miles	2014
Cash-Draper House	4.3 miles	2017
Grace Episcopal Church	4.3 miles	2010
Christ Church	4.3 miles	2008
Robert A. Thompson House	4.4 miles	1998

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 97000940 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Orange County	All 187 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.