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“George Washington Slept Here”*

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“George Washington Slept Here”* A Self-Guided Walking Tour of Sparta’s Historic Houses Use Sparta’s houses as a roadmap to its legacy. The tour starts at the Jug Tavern where Rockledge Avenue meets Revolutionary Road. Enjoy your tour and welcome to a taste of our local history! 3 8 2 7 “George Washington Slept Here”* 4 9 Sparta, a small hamlet of a dozen or so acres, is the oldest surviving settlement in the Town of Ossining, 6 5 which includes the Village of Ossining (formerly Sing Sing) and part of the Village of Briarcliff Manor. 1 23 10 1685 The story starts in 1685, when 1785 Davis bought his farm from the 1849 The Hudson River Rail Road Frederick Philipse, of Dutch descent, acquired Commissioners for 600 pounds sterling, but extended its service to Sing Sing and 29 land from the Sint Sinck tribe on August 24, defaulted on a mortgage on 70 acres of land Peekskill. In 1901 The Village of Sing Sing 30 22 completing his acquisition of all the land in 1794. He owed money to Charles Williams changed its name to Ossining to distinguish along the eastern bank of the Hudson River of New York City since 1772 and gave the itself from Sing Sing Prison (opened in 1826). 28 11 from Spuyten Duyvil Creek in the Bronx to mortgage to Williams to cover the debt. 27 the Croton River. Williams signed the mortgage over to James 1906 Sparta was incorporated into the 12 Drowley, an English hardware and dry-goods 26 Village of Ossining to benefit from the services 25 32 1698 Charles Davis settled with his importer. Drowley, wanted to lay out a from the village. 24 brother David and sister Angelique on a plan for a housing development but died section of Philipsburg Manor near White before he could fulfill his dream. 1919 Frank A. Vanderlip, President of Point, later to be called, Sparta Dock. They National City Bank in New York, and his wife had been born in Canada of Huguenot 1795 More than 200 years ago, Sparta was Narcissa Cox lived in Beechwood (near 13 refugees from France, who had lived in the transformed from a piece of farmland into a Scarborough), and personally undertook the 31 West Indies before moving to Montreal. residential community. The neighborhood was redevelopment of Sparta in 1919. Sparta had 21 14 first mapped out in November 1795 at the become the reputed center of drug and liquor 1758 Charles Davis’s sixth son Peter southern end of the Village of Ossining. It was smuggling into Sing Sing Prison. Prostitution 20 married in 1758 and built his home, now incorporated into the Village of Ossining in and murder occurred. The Vanderlips formed a 15 known as The Jug Tavern. Peter was a 1906. The first known recording of the name corporation, purchased many of the decaying tenant farmer who rented 200 acres on Sparta, was on April 22, 1795, in the record houses, hired architects and contractors to 19 Philipsburg Manor, including the land that book of the Town of Mount Pleasant. redesign and restore the houses worth saving. 16 later became Sparta. A license was issued to William Hall to operate Some houses were torn down; others moved to a tavern. (The Town of Ossining was part of relieve the crowding. The houses were rented 17 True, or not, stories abound about George The Town of Mount Pleasant in 1845.) Sparta to teachers and others of modest income. The 18 Washington* stopping at The Jug Tavern, using prospered because the dock at White Point, Vanderlip Corporation retained title to many 1 Rockledge Avenue as a headquarters and sleeping where sloops could load farm products bound of the houses for more than 50 years, as the at the hotel that was once at 12 Liberty Street. for New York City, and unload manufactured houses were gradually sold to private owners goods ordered from the city. Local deposits over the period from 1930’s to the 1970’s. The Commissioners of Forfeitures 1784 of marble and silver would later provide jobs confiscated Philipsburg Manor after the in quarries, a mine and a limekiln. The Town of Ossining and The Revolutionary War because the Lord of the 1974 Ossining Restoration Committee purchased Manor, Frederick Philipse III, had been a The Village of Sing Sing, now The Jug Tavern jointly. In 1986 title to The loyalist to the British Crown during the 1813 Ossining, became the first incorporated village Jug Tavern was passed to The Jug Tavern of American Revolution. The Commissioners in Westchester County. The name reflects Sparta, Inc., a tax-exempt not-for-profit divided Philipsburg Manor among 287 new the original residents of the Sint Sinck tribe. corporation, whose sole purpose is to preserve owners, including 11 whose land was located the historic building. near Kemeys Cove and Sparta Brook. marked the beginning of the 1820 economic decline of Sparta with competition 1975 The Village of Ossining designated from the cheaper docking fees at the Sing Sing Sparta as the Sparta Historic Architectural and This map was produced by The Jug Tavern of Sparta, Inc. dock and the rerouting of the Albany Post Road Design District. For information on our activities from Revolutionary Road to its present location or membership go to along Route 9, which made Sing Sing’s dock www.jugtavern.org easier to reach than Sparta Dock. or email [email protected] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 74 Revolutionary Road. The foun- 60 Revolutionary Road. This shingle 58 Revolutionary Road. This 3 Still Court. Built in1896. 5 Still Court. This farmhouse 12 Still Court. Built in 1900, this 10 Still Court. This Greek-revival 8 Still Court. Built in 1880 by Isaac Still. dation of The Jug Tavern is one of house was originally clapboard and house was built in 1840 by Peter was built after the Civil War much added-onto cottage is set farmhouse was built in about 1870 Ossining’s oldest. Rebuilt in 1883, was one of the earliest houses in Fowler for his daughter, Almyra, and has a small center chimney back from the road and almost by Isaac Still. it was listed on the National Register Sparta. The porch and peaked dormer who married Isaac Still. that was designed for a stovepipe, hidden by the surrounding woods. of Historic Places in 1976. were probably added in about 1850. not a fireplace. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 76 Revolutionary Road. This 1870 14 Rockledge Avenue. Also known 6 Rockledge Avenue. This house 4 Rockledge Avenue. This clap- 12 Liberty Street. Known for its 8 Liberty Street. This gray-shingled, 4 Liberty Street. This gray-shingled 2 Liberty Street. Thomas Agate built house along Sparta Brook is still owned as the “Captain’s Cottage,” this brown built about 1840 became a restaurant board house is believed to have been Georgian-style curved front, this pegged-frame house was built in house of classic revival style was built this white clapboard house of Federal by the builder’s descendants. Further shingled farmhouse was built before in the 1930s as the Pine Tree Inn. built in 1848. It was apparently a home was once the Union Hotel 1795 by Captain Delanoy, master of around 1830, probably of clapboard design before 1821. The wrought-iron downstream is the site of the mustard 1820. It was owned by a Captain Lewis Later it was Dudley’s and then Gold- rental house until 1869. A Mrs. Bou- (1860s) and the Washington Inn one of the packet vessels sailing be- construction. The sun porch was fence came from the New York Custom mill owned by Rhodes and Kemey, Brady, an African-American fisherman, fish. The house is believed to have ton or Boughton lived in the house (1895). The local lore is that George tween Sparta and New York City. added later. The house was owned by House at 55 Wall Street before it which operated from 1796 to 1820. born in the late 18th century. been a speak-easy during Prohibition. before 1864. Washington once slept there. William Jones in 1862. became the National City Bank Building (Frank Vanderlip, president). 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 2 Hudson Street. The original 32 Hudson Street. 7 Liberty Street. This white clap- 9 Liberty Street. This house, 11 Liberty Street. This stucco house 23 Liberty Street. Built in 1910. 29 Liberty Street. Built in 1920. 329 Spring Street. This farmhouse house on this lot was built in 1820. board house was built before 1820, built in 1855, was moved from was built before 1800. Once a hotel was built in 1834, probably of It was later remodeled in the and the chimneys are original. The across the street and turned called the “Branch House,” it was clapboard. The porch and a wing Second Empire style. front door and porch were moved sideways during the Vanderlip also the grocery and general store at were added later to the side of the house for privacy. renovation project in 1920. the turn of the century. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 325 Spring Street. This white 321 Spring Street. Built in 1840 6 Fairview Place. This house, 14 Fairview Place. Built in 1900. 15 Fairview Place. Built in the 11 Fairview Place. This stone house 338 Spring Street. Bray Prince, 1 Rockledge Avenue. The original clapboard farmhouse is typical this stucco building was once the ordered from Sears, Roebuck and early 1900s, this house is believed to was built in 1888 as the Sparta or an African-American, built this center portion of this brick house, built of the “Carpenter Gothic” style Sparta School.
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