It was built ca. 1785 for Charles Doughty, the son of Benjamin Doughty, a wealthy Quaker who purchased land on the old turnpike in Flushing. The two-and-a-half-story homestead was built in a style once common in the area–the Long Island half-house. The name “Kingsland” derives from Doughty’s son-in-law, British sea captain Joseph King, who bought the house in 1801.

Captain King’s daughter Mary married Lindley Murray of Manhattan’s Murray Hill family. After her husband’s death, Mary King Murray moved back to Kingsland with her four children. Descendants of the original families continued to live in the house until the 1920s.

In 1968, the Kingsland Preservation Committee saved the house from demolition and moved it to its present location in Weeping Beech Park. The park had been the nursery of famed 19th-century horticulturalist Samuel Bowne Parsons, who, in 1847, planted the first weeping beech tree in America in the park. This landmark tree survived for 151 years, and today seven direct descendants continue to shade Kingsland Homestead and their namesake park.

The Queens Historical Society organizes local history exhibitions in the first floor rooms, where a permanent exhibit on the homestead and its people is also on display. An archive and library of primary and secondary source materials covering the 300-year history of Queens is available by appointment. Public programs offered by the Society include tours, talks, and concerts.

Kingsland Homestead is owned and operated by the Queens Historical Society and is a member of the Historic House Trust.

If you would like to donate to Kingsland Homestead directly, please click here.