Akin Free Library

Akin Free Library
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Library building in March 2007
Location:	97 Quaker Hill Rd., Pawling, New York
Coordinates:	41°33′32″N 73°32′57″W
Area:	1.7 acres (0.69 ha)
Built:	1908
Architect:	John A. Wood
Architectural style:	Late Victorian
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	91001726
Added to NRHP:	November 21, 1991

The Akin Free Library on Quaker Hill is a historic eclectic late Victorian stone building in the hamlet of Quaker Hill, town of Pawling, Dutchess County, New York, USA, listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic place of local significance since 1991.

The Akin Free Library was a gift from the Quaker Albert J. Akin (1803–1903), founder of the Bank of Pawling and the Mizzentop Hotel on Quaker Hill. The building was designed by the architect John A. Wood and constructed in the years 1898 until 1908.

The library itself is located on the first floor of the building. Among others, its holdings of several thousand books contain books of local interest and by local authors, a children's section, and newspaper collections.

Museums

The Historical Society Museum occupies the second floor of the building. Its collections include objects pertaining to the local history such as period and Quaker clothing, tools and artwork, bowling pins from the Mizzentop Hotel, and the service window from the old Quaker Hill Post Office.

The lower floor of the building houses the Olive Gunnison Natural History Museum, which displays about 200 mounted birds, rocks and minerals, as well as a shrunken human head.

Location

The address of the library is 378 Old Quaker Hill Road, Pawling, NY 12564.

External links

• online article by the Historical Society of Quaker Hill and Pawling
• travel article in the New York Times
• online travel article on Pawling
• web page on the bird collection of the Gunnison Natural History Museum