The Poillon-Akerly-Omsted Farmhouse was a large farm and modest Dutch farmhouse on one of the higher hills overlooking Raritan Bay, and Sandy Hook in the distance on Staten Island purchased by Olmsted's father and given to Frederick Law Olmsted in 1848 to grow crops, plant trees and clear for pasture for livestock. The first owner of the property was Dominic Petrus Teaschenmaker who acquired a patent on the property from Governor Thomas Dongan on November 3, 1685. The property was acquired in the late 17th century (c. 1696) and he stone basement of the structure was enlarged into a Flemish Style farm house by Jacques Poillon, the Richmond County Road Commissioner under Governor Slaughter, and one of the original Huguenot settlers of Staten Island.