Jay Heritage Center at the Jay Estate, a 23-acre park & historic site

News & Upcoming Events

ADA pathways in Jay Estate Gardens

JHC Receives $150,000 Parks & Trails Partnership Grant

We are enormously grateful to be recipients of a $150,000 Parks & Trails Partnership Grant for the construction of ADA pathways in the historic Jay Estate Gardens designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz. This transformative funding will allow a greater number of visitors and partners to enjoy the award-winning gardens and social justice programs.

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced $1.8 million in grants to support 28 not-for-profit organizations involved with stewardship of state parks, trails, historic sites and public lands, the highest amount awarded in the Park and Trail Partnership Grants program history. The grants support partner group efforts to raise private funds for capital projects, engage in maintenance and beautification projects, provide educational programming, and host special events that promote public use of the parks.

“We are proud to support the work of the incredible grassroots partner organizations that elevates the stewardship and programming of our state parks, historic sites, trails and public lands,” Governor Hochul said. Read more here.

Nicholas C. Cassin Joins Jay Heritage Center Board

Welcome to our Newest Trustee!

Please help us welcome our newest trustee, Nicholas C. Cassin! Nicholas is a partner in the Investment Funds Group of Sidley Austin, where he focuses on private equity secondaries transactions. Prior to joining Sidley, Nicholas practiced law at Kirkland & Ellis and Debevoise & Plimpton, both in New York and in London. He brings a wealth of legal expertise and experience to our non-profit.

Nicholas was born and raised in Luxembourg, educated in both Belgium and the United Kingdom, and moved to New York City in 2011. He and his wife Josephine moved to Orienta (Mamaroneck) in 2020 and have a 2-year-old daughter, Margot. Nicholas has a passion for languages and history (principally European and US) as well as a keen interest in racquet sports and gardening.

June 11 at 4pm

Juneteenth Event - Boneyarn with David Mills

Commemorate Juneteenth with poet and historian David Mills on June 11. Mills “will read from and reflect upon the research behind ‘Boneyarn,’ the first-ever book of poems about slavery in New York City. His work amplifies the human narratives underlying Manhattan’s African Burial Ground, the oldest and largest known excavated burial ground in North America for both free and enslaved Africans. Today the site he has memorialized in verse has been designated a National Monument. “Fifteen thousand enslaved and free Blacks, some Native Americans, and poor whites are buried there. Mills creatively ‘excavates’ the tragedies and triumphs of New York’s enslaved and free Black community. He writes about those who toiled as cooks, childhood chimney sweeps, sailed the Atlantic, fought in the Revolutionary War, maintained African traditions when burying the dead, built the ‘wall’ where Wall Street gets its name.”

Co-sponsored by the Friends of the African American Cemetery in Rye. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – REGISTER HERE First 40 registrants will receive a FREE copy of Boneyarn.