Hendrick I. Lott House

Built in 1800, the Hendrick I. Lott House incorporates the earlier 18th-century home of his grandfather Johannes E. Lott, a colonel in the American Army.<br><br>The Lott House is a quiet reminder that during the Revolutionary War, Kings County consisted mostly of farms and small villages. The County boasted fewer than 4,000 inhabitants, one-third of whom were enslaved. The Lotts themselves had twelve slaves working a farm that originally encompassed at least 200 acres.<br><br>After landing on the shores of Gravesend Bay, the British redcoats and Hessians marched to Flatlands along Kings Highway, the northernmost boundary of the Lott property, in preparation for the Battle of Brooklyn. Tents and equipment for 20,000 men soon covered the fields belonging to Lott and other farmers. According to family tradition, members of the Lott family conducted a daring raid on one enemy camp, making off with a cast-iron fireback bearing the crest of General Charles Cornwallis. It remains in the Lott family to this day.<br><br><i>The Hendrick I. Lott House is owned by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, is operated by the Hendrick I. Lott House Preservation Association, and is a member of the Historic House Trust of New York City.</i>