Restoration of the historic Perkins Carriage House, known as the Yellow Barn, at Riverhead Free Library will be getting a $25,000 boost in state funding secured by Assembly Member Jodi Giglio.
Giglio has earmarked the funding for the town-designated landmark, which the library has been working to renovate and restore, inside and out.
The Yellow Barn opens seasonally as a bookstore operated by Friends of the Library, an all-volunteer organization that raises money to support Riverhead Free Library. Proceeds from the sales of gently used books — most offered for no more than $1 — are donated to the library.
“It’s a great place and a gem of a building,” Giglio said.
Giglio, a former Riverhead Town Board member who during her tenure served as the town board’s liaison to the Riverhead Landmarks Preservation Commission, said she loves to use her position in the State Legislature to help historic projects wherever she can.
“It’s so important to hold onto history and it’s amazing what the library did to restore and preserve the deteriorating little barn,” Giglio said.
The Yellow Barn was built in 1873 as a carriage house on the homestead property of John R. Perkins, a prominent Riverhead businessman, who served for 20 years as a justice of the peace and as Riverhead town supervisor for 14 years, from 1878 to 1892.
After horse-drawn carriages gave way to automobiles, Perkins’ youngest child Clara used the carriage house as a workshop, where she restored and refurbished wood furniture.
The homestead property was donated to the Riverhead Library Association in 1958, after the death of Perkins’ last surviving child, Alice.
The Perkins family home was demolished, but the carriage house, built later but in the same Victorian style, remained standing.
The Riverhead library was built on the property in 1964 and the carriage house, which became known as the Yellow Barn, was first restored by the Friends of the Riverhead Free Library in 1965. The Yellow Barn was designated a town landmark in 2017 at the recommendation of the town landmarks commission.
The library has undertaken an ambitious restoration and repair effort to preserve the historic building.
“It really needed some TLC to bring it up to snuff and protect it,” Library Director Kerrie McMullen-Smith said in an interview yesterday.
Interior renovations have already been largely completed at a cost of more than $60,000. The second phase of the project consists of exterior renovations anticipated to cost more than $100,0000.
The library launched a fundraising campaign in 2021 to undertake a major restoration and repair project for the nearly 150-year-old building. The campaign has a goal of raising $185,000. To date, the library has received donations of $151,675.
The library is grateful for the tremendous support shown by the community, which has made the restoration possible, McMullen-Smith said.
“We also appreciate Assemblywoman Giglio’s effort to secure aid in the 2023 state budget,” she said.
The fundraising drive remains ongoing. It includes a “buy-a-brick project,” which offers donors the chance to have a personalized inscription on a memorial brick: a 4-inch by 8-inch brick for donations of $100 or an 8-inch by 8-inch brick for donations of $250. Donations of $500 to $2,000 will be recognized with plaques.
To donate by cash or check, download a donation form here. Drop off donations at the library’s circulation desk or mail the form and check to Riverhead Free Library, 330 Court Street, Riverhead NY 11901.
To donate online with a credit card, visit the Yellow Barn donation page on the library’s website.
https://www.riverheadlibrary.org/yellow-barn
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