Committee to Save the Bird Homestead

For many decades during the 19th and 20th centuries, the Meeting House on Milton Road was integral to the life of the surrounding village. Initially a one-room schoolhouse at another location, it was moved to its present spot in the heart of Milton village in 1867. It soon was transformed into an Episcopal chapel, and the south addition housed a reading room and circulating library. In 1959, it became a Meeting House for the Religious Society of Friends, giving it the name we know today. Next door, a cluster of 19th-century small-farm buildings still stands on the banks of a tidal estuary. A modest, but beautiful, Greek Revival house conveys the spirit of a homestead loved and lived in for generations. This property nurtured the careers and lives of an extraordinary family.

From giant dinosaurs to tiny insects, from Arctic voyages to South American excavations, from original art works to imagination’s gateway at the children's library, generations of the remarkable Bird family embarked on adventures in science, nature, and opening young minds that ranged over thousands of miles, delved millions of years back in time, and touched many lives – all from their historic homestead in Rye.

The men of the Bird family each made indelible marks in their respective fields: Henry, the father, in entomology and his sons Roland and Junius in paleontology and archeology. Many of their discoveries can be seen at the American Museum of Natural History to this day. The women of the Bird family also left a significant legacy - from the atmospheric nature illustrations of Alice Bird Erikson to Doris Bird’s more than forty years as Rye ’s beloved children’s librarian.

These historic properties are operated by the not-for-profit Committee to Save the Bird Homestead, with plans to: 

Restore the historic buildings.

Safeguard this precious habitat for shore birds and aquatic life.

Produce and expand educational programming for the public.

Inspire and foster scientific curiosity in young people and adults.
Plan and establish a kayak access point.

Make the Meeting House and Bird Homestead places of learning and enjoyment for all ages.