[1][3] In 1708 Antoine Lispenard bought from Jacob Leisler's son a half interest in the large peninsula, or "neck", jutting out from the mainland between New Rochelle Creek and Long Island Sound.

Nearby the mill, on the neck itself, Lispenard built his home, a stone house of one-and-a-half stories, with the front eaves extending to form the roof of a wide porch.

Generations of the Davenport family, and other owners after them made further changes to the house, so that the original structure built by Antoine Lispenard and Joseph Rodman is largely invisible.

Restoration by the late Louis Ferguson managed to reveal and preserve several elements of the original structure such as the hand-hewn beams of its frame and the lime mortar made from local oyster shells, used to cement its stone wall.

The ensuing events, renowned locally as the Battle of Davenport's Neck, involved a false alarm that caused the entire militia to flee the area mistakenly believing they were under attack.

This began a process whereby both branches of the family sold large plots of acreage to wealthy persons who established handsome homes and estates on the neck.

Based on the financial successes of their predecessors, the later Davenports enjoyed a comfortable leisurely lifestyle, traveling to Europe, providing community services and participating in the sophisticated social circle that had enveloped around the prominent estates built in the neck.

[8] Sometime after Newberry Davenport's demise the house was dramatically altered to conform to more of an estate taste with the addition of a gambrel-roofed second floor, porches and interior changes.

The property had been reduced in size to only a few acres as a result of the sale of waterfront lots immediately before the house to Adrian Iselin, a New York financier, and Clarksen N. Potter, former Congressman.

These stages of development reflect the changing lifestyles and design taste in New Rochelle as it grew from a coastal settlement to a maritime center and residential satellite of New York City and convey a sense of the area's history over two centuries.

Rodman further developed the milling business and was a member of the growing Quaker community that was expanding along the Sound and contributing to the industrial and mercantile sophistication of the area.

Within the 129 years of their ownership, the farmhouse was completely transformed into an elegant country seat and the farm was subdivided into independent waterfront estates owned by Davenport descendants and others.