published by The Historical Society of Rockland County 20 Zukor Rd., New City, 10956

Vol. 21. No. 2______April-June 1977

WILLIAM W. SNOW. IN MEMORIAM Mrs. Tyro. R. Chapman BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE Mrs. Frank deNoyelles David Parker James A. Collishaw Lillian R. Perry Dorothy G. (Mrs. Richard) Lyman Margaret S. Dodge LIFE MEMBERS Anne Gugler Mary Ellen Schou Paul Werther ELDER MEMBERS Ellen Ferretti OFFICERS FOR 1977-78 John R. Zehner, pres. Dr. George R. Sharpless, treas. J. Erwin Perine, 1st v.p. Harriet Hasbrouck, corr. sec. Mrs. Joseph G. Dodge, v.p. Gwendolyn Rudell, rec. sec. Richard W. D. Jewett, v.p. Isabelle K. Saveli, sr. historian Daniel deNoyelles, Sr., v.p. NEW MEMBERS OF THE ON NOMINATING BOARD OF TRUSTEES COMMITTEE WERE Dorothy Green Edwin R. Langer, ch. Robert P. Lewis Jean Davidson Robert Franklin Daniel deNoyelles, Sr. Daniel deNoyelles, Sr. Louis W. Evans John F. Hopf, Jr.

In bis annual report for the building committee. Chairman James F. Stoner was enthusiastic about reaching the proposed opening date for the new museum building—July 4, 1977. With most of the outdoor work near completion, the committee is concentrating on loose-end details and seeking funds {some $7P ,000) to cover wind-up costs. Expectations are that the acoustical ceilings, lighting fixtures and carpeting will be installed and the exhibit room ivalls painted by the end of June. Chairman Larry Steve (623-7123) needs volunteers to assist with YANKEE PEDDLER DAY. Collections for the Leland Rickard Meyer Memorial Fund for the colonial kitchen total over $3,000, including $230 recently contributed by the Soroptimist International of Rockland County. Contributions to the Children's Flagpole reached $321.43 by April 18, 1977. Needed is $2,300. The endowment fund, with investments handled by a committee (Dr. George Sharpless, treas., Earl Crum and Dr. William FI. Eland) has assets of $68,687.10 as of Mar. 31, 1977. COVER PICTURE: This portrait of Mr. Snow is from Tompkin s HISTORICAL RECORD. © 1977 by The Historical Society of Rockland County

Acting Editor: Mariruth Campbell Printed by Executive Editor: John R. Zehner PRINT SPRINT

2 MY LIFE by William Wait Snow (part two) My trip to Alexandria reminds me of a former trip during the war to the same place. I was in a sleeping car and during the night dreamed that I went to Alexandria, went on board a train to go to the front to see the soldiers, and while going we were held up by Mosby’s Cavalry. We were taken prisoners and sent South, where we remained for several months. After visiting B. P. Lamison, the master car builder, I went to the superintendent’s office, which was my usual custom, and after finishing my call I started to go, when he said to me, “Snow, don’t you want to go to the front.-'” I said, “Yes, I would like very well to go out and see the troops.” So he gave me a railroad pass and I went to the door to take the cars, and on looking up I saw the same train in the same position as that which I had seen in my dream the night before. I did not go, but strange to relate, I watched the papers and saw that the very train I was to have taken to Fairfax was captured by Mosby’s Cavalry and all the inmates were sent South. Now that was a case of my good angel watching over me, and so it is all the way through life. There is some influence that guides one’s thoughts and actions, call it what you will. I arrived at Jersey City and found a letter from George Coffing, asking me to meet him at the St. Nicholas Hotel and talk over the subject of getting a larger place or shop where we could make a greater quantity of wheels. I told him of a conversation I had had with the president of the Erie R. R., and it was decided that we go to Ramapo and have a talk with Henry L. Pierson, who was a prominent director of the Erie R.R. Company at that time. We went, and decided we would locate at Ramapo. This was in the year 1866, before Jim Fisk and Jay Gould got possession of the road. Here comes another episode in my life which may be of interest in the years to come. We were furnishing the road with all their car wheels and all at once they stopped purchasing wheels from us. This was after they moved their office from West St. to 23rd St. Not receiving any orders for wheels and our freight bills getting very large, I called at the office in 23rd St., to ascertain the reason why they had stopped ordering wheels. 1 called first on Mr. Fisk and stated the case to him. He said, “Why should we buy wheels from you?” I said, “Our freight bills are getting very large and we owe the Company about $50,000.” He said, “The H--- you do!” and calling a boy said, “Tell Mr. White to come here.” Mr. White was the treasurer. When Mr. White came in Mr. Fisk said, “This man says his Company owes the Erie R. R. $50,000.” Mr. White said, “I think he is correct.” Fisk then said to him, “Why in H—- don’t you collect it?” Mr. White replied that the railroad company was generally indebted' to the Ramapo Wheels & Foundry Company to a larger amount than I had mentioned, and he supposed they would continue to do so. Mr. Fisk said, “That is all Mr. White,” and turning to me said, “Snow, I will give you an order for 400 wheels and that will pay our company all you owe them.” Strange to say, on going to his hotel that same afternoon, Mr. Fisk was shot on going upstairs by a man who had been waiting there for him to come home. So I did not get the order. I then went to see Jay Gould, the president of the road, and after two or three interviews with him finally got an order for 200 wheels, which paid about one-half of the amount we were then owing the road. I kept on urging for more orders and finally got more. Next came another change which 1 made in our business. We had been buying castings from many shops in New York and Jersey City and it occurred to me that if we

3 owned a soft iron foundry it would be better and we would save money by making our own castings instead of buying them from others. With this idea I prevailed on our people to let me build a soft iron foundry near our Ramapo wheel foundry and make our own castings. They agreed to do this and I bought 20 acres of land from Mr. Suffern and built a foundry for making our own castings and to supply others. We named the new company the Ramapo Iron Works. After building the foundry, we built 20 dwelling houses and a store which furnished the people all they needed for supplies and was the beginning of the Village of Hillburn, while at that time had a greater population than the Village of Suffern and was the first to be incorporated as a village. Now comes the most important event of my life. After the death of George Coffing, I divided my real estate and stock among my children, giving each a part. I will now go back in my history to say that when we started our business at Ramapo it was partly owned by the stockholders of the Richmond and Salisbury Iron Works. Among them was George Church, a man in whom I never had much confidence. Mr. Coffing thought very highly of him and I acquiesced in his judgment, believing and hoping it might turn out all right. Mr. Church, being a stockholder in the Ramapo Iron Works, wanted his say in all things done. It was here we came to a disagreement. This occurred about the year 1888, after we increased the capital stock from $60,000 to $ 125,000. The Ramapo Iron Works was incorporated about the year 188 1. The disagreement in the course of events led to a proposition to buy or sell out at some given price all the stock owned by the Snows and Churches, and the Snow interest became the owner of the stock in the Ramapo Iron Works. This circumstance, together with some other reasons caused me to leave Ramapo and settle at Hillburn, where I built a fine home, and where I expected to end my days. When we increased the capital stock of the Ramapo Iron Works from $60,000 to $125,000, myself, family and R.J. Davidson became the owners of over one-half of the capital stock. This led to much jealousy from the Church interest and they, claiming the increase was illegal, prosecuted me to prevent my holding, with my friends, a majority of the stock. To settle the matter amicably an agreement was drawn up for the Church interest, by a lawyer by the name of Stimson. It was very one-sided but in order to keep in harmony with my associates in business I signed the agreement. This led to a very serious condition. My three children, Fred, Nora and Clara, united to prosecute me and the Ramapo Iron Works. The case was taken to the highest tribunal and the Supreme Court of New York State decided the case in favor of my children. And to tell the truth, I was not sorry. I will have to go back in my history, as another matter has come up which I have neglected. I was quite a successful inventor in my day. I invented car wheels, brake shoes and other railroad devices. Although not the first to invent brake shoes, yet I think I was second. I traded with a man by the name of Congdon, who was in the employ of George Pullman, of Pullman sleeping car fame. I bought an interest in a shoe he had patented, commenced making the shoe at Ramapo, built a shop there for making the shoe, was very successful, sold a great many and made much money in the enterprise. This branch of our business finally led up to our purchasing a tract of land from Robert Johnson (Andrew Winters?) at Mahwah, N.J , to build a brake shoe foundry. We then needed more assistance and I wrote to my son-in-law, Elmer J. Snow, then in the Hawaiian Islands, to come and help us out. He came and after some time the establishment grew up to vast improvements, and as I write this history it is called the American Brake Shoe & Foundry Company and deserves careful considera­ tion for its magnitude. As I stated before, we bought an interest from Mr. Congdon in his patent shoe and furnished the Pullman Palace Car Company and the Pennsylvania R. R. Company

4 shoes for all their passenger cars and locomotives. This was in January, 1876. Other people seeing what we were doing in brake shoes .were led to invent other shoes. The first that we made and introduced after the Congdon was the Ross shoe, which took in the flange of the wheel as well as the tread, and gave more friction for the shoe. Then came the Meehan shoe, which was the Ross shoe with the Congdon strips added. We then called it the Ross-Meehan shoe. Other shoes were invented and patented, among which were the Lappin, patented in 1884; Corning shoe in 1896; Diamond shoe in 1897; Streeter shoe in 1899; U shoe in 1900; and Herron reinforced shoe in 1890. As several firms were making these different shoes it was suggested at a meeting that we consolidate the different companies. This was done and called the American Brake Shoe & Foundry Company, to distinguish it from other companies. The principal office as I write this is located at 170 Broadway, . Speaking about my father on the first page of this history, I will add my father was married three times. His first wife was a sister of Dr. Dean of Greenfield, Mass., a very prominent physician in those days. They had two children, Asaph and Lucy. His second wife was a girl by the name of Baldwin, from Heath. She had but one child, who was named David Addison. His third wife was Miss Susan Wait, daughter of William Wait, of Deerfield, Mass. She had six children. I was the fifth. Their names were Susan Reed, Sarah Baldwin, Amelia Amanda, John Dean, William Wait, and Joseph, who was drowned at sea while going around Cape Horn on a whaling expedition. My father was born in 1779, during the war of the Revolution. My grandfather, Corp. Joseph Snow, served in that war. My father was a major in the War of 1812 and afterwards became of the regiment. This closes my account of our family history. Speaking of Otis H. Cutler and his connection with the American Brake Shoe & Foundry Company, I wish to say, to illustrate his character, that I not only knew him well, but also his father, who was in early history superintendent of the Hannibal and St. Joseph R. R. My cousin, William Wilson Snow, who was a member of congress from Oneonta was the means of getting a large donation from congress to finish that road when it was being built, and when I first became acquainted with Mr. Cutler’s father, he asked me if I was a relative of Mr. Snow of Oneonta. I told him he was my cousin, which pleased him and we became acquainted at once. I took a deep interest in his boy and at that time I was quite a leader in county politics. Noticing the boy took an interest in politics, I got a few of the boys together and asked them to nominate Otis H. Cutler for the assembly. We elected him with a large majority for three successive years. This encouraged him very much and he made up his mind he would like to go to congress. I heard of it and sent for him to come and see me. He did so and we had a talk. I told him that he already had all the politics that was necessary in business, and advised him to come with the Ramapo Iron Works and we would give him a good position as selectman. I knew his winning ways and he made a great success from the start. I mention this to show how some little things may change a man’s whole career of life. Mr. Cutler, from a humble sales agent became president of one of the largest manufacturing companies in the .

In an organization such as our historical society volunteers are of tremendous importance. Many over the years have contributed hundreds of hours of valuable service. If you occasionally have free time and would like to become involved in a meaningful venture at the history center, why not telephone 634-9629 and offer your services? Especially needed are volunteers for clerical work and for assistance in setting up exhibits.

5 IN ROCKLAND COUNTY by J. Mitlof Of the many and varied visitors to Rockland County throughout the years, seldom has there been one as colorful or as controversial as Aaron Burr. Our area was still part of Orange County in the fall of 1776, when the young officer first traversed the countryside. He had distinquished himself in the Battle of Quebec when he singlehandedly attempted to remove the lifeless body of his fallen leader, General Richard Montgomery, from the battlefield. He was hailed as one of the first heroes of the Revolution and was immediately as­ signed to the staff of General as aide-de-camp. This, much to his dismay, turned out to be a boring and thankless position. Burr requested and received a transfer to the staff of General Israel Putnum, a move which he later felt unintentionally slighted General Washington and which seemed to cast him in unfavorable light throughout much of his career. This young man who was to become the future attorney-general of New York, as well as one of its United States senators, and who was to come within one vote of becoming the third president of the United States and did become the third vice-president, was considerably more content working with “Old Put”, as the general was affectionately called, but still yearned for excitment and action. As a youth at Princeton University, he studied endlessly about the strategy and careers of such famous military minds as Hannibal and Alexander the Great and he must have longed to put his knowledge to practical use. The opportunity soon presented itself: while stationed at Peekskill with General Putnam's brigade, Burr received word of his promotion to lieutenant colonel and his reassignment to Colonel William Malcolm’s regiment, encamped at the strategic Ramapo Pass in Orange County. He was just twenty-one years of age and the youngest officer in the entire army to reach such an advanced rank. Burr wasted .no time in crossing the Hudson River by skiff and proceeding by horseback across the Rockland countryside to Suffern’s Inn and Tavern, where Colonel Malcolm had his headquarters. Upon his arrival at the Ramapos, the young officer was both elated and chagrined. The condition in which he found the troops troubled him greatly. Some men were without adequate clothing. Some were without weapons. Many were slovenly and undisciplined and this, more than anything, perturbed the meticulous young officer. His personal discipline was severe and he expected much from his men.

Author Joseph Mitlof of Congers, a great admirer of Aaron Burr, recently organized a Rockland County chapter of the Aaron Burr Association, founded some 30 years ago by Dr. Samuel Engle Burr, Jr., of Virginia.

6 Before the Revolution began, Colonel Malcolm had been a local merchant. Being advanced in years, this true and faithful patriot preferred, as he put it, to be the father of the regiment and to leave the fighting and the disciplining to his lieutenant colonel. And discipline Burr did. Malcolm and Burr personally financed the purchase of the needed clothing and weaponry. That fact and Burr’s personal dedication and egalitarian treatment of the men were responsible for the achievements accomplished by the regiment and for its loyalty to the young officer. In a short time, the regiment become a model for the whole army. While creating this outstanding unit, Burr managed to endear himself to his troops. Some 30 years later Judge Don Gardner of Newburg commented, “I served in Malcolm’s regiment the entire time it was under the command of Colonel Burr and during the entire time, he never permitted corporal punishment to be inflicted in a single instance, corporal punishment at that time being not only accepted but quite common, yet no regiment in the army was better disciplined, nor was any regiment more respected.” It was during September of 1777 when the young commander stationed at the Ramapo Pass first received word the British, commanded by New York’s Governor William Tryon, had crossed the Hudson and were ravaging the Jersey and New York border area with some 2,000 armed troops. Burr with less than 300 men proceeded immediately toward the British forces to drive them back across the Hudson. En route they were overtaken by a messenger of General Putnam advising Burr to remove his entire regiment and all the stores in its possession into the Ramapo Mountains so as not to be overrun by the marauding British. Burr, exhibiting the mixture of sagacity and hubris that were inherent in his nature, promptly sent a reply to the old general that he was not of a mind to retreat from an enemy that he had not yet seen and that he would take complete responsibility tor the stores as well as the men under his command. By nightfall he and his men had reached Paramus, where the British troops were engaged in a systematic plunder of the farms in the area. He posted his own unit in a manner so as not to have them surprised in the night and, after selecting several of his most trusted and able men, set out to find the exact location of the enemy. About three miles from Hackensack, in the vicinity of which the British plunderers had last been reported, Burr after personally reconnoitering and accom­ panied by his trusted comrades thrust onto the main picket guard and captured 30 men after killing two of them. He then sent word to the main body of troops at Paramus to join him. The story of Burr’s successful capture of 30 of the King’s regulars spread quickly across the Jersey countryside and was considered no little feat at a time when the majority of colonials still desperately feared the British redcoats. Burr’s forces, once more assembled, prepared to march against the enemy when word reached them Governor Tryon had heard of the exploits of the previous day and, thinking Burr’s forces far superior to what they were in actuality, had retreated across the Hudson—leaving behind all the stores and cattle plundered from the Jersey and New York farmers. Advised of the retreat, Burr proceeded to remove his regiment to the clove. Arriving there, he received orders from Commander-in-Chief General Washington to join the main body of the army quartered in Pennsylvania at . The winter spent in Valley Forge and the subsequent battle at Monmouth eventually ruined the young colonel’s health and forced his resignation from the army. In August of 1778, after having been appointed to the board of commissioners to

7 detect and defeat conspiracies in Orange County, Burr returned to the Rockland area. His duties included transporting to New York City those residents from the county who refused to take the oath of loyalty. Some very prominent citizens were so disposed. Among them were the former lieutenant , Cadwalder Colden, and the former state attorney general, William Smith, with whose family Burr was to get quite involved. Upon completion of those duties, Burr was assigned to West Point and for an interim period, between commanders, was in charge there. During October of 1778 he returned to Haverstraw, where he took command of a brigade consisting of Malcolm’s regiment as well as parts of Spencer’s and Patton’s regiments. Among other objectives, Burr’s assignment was to arrange for a defense of the pass at the Long Clove and also to assist in the strategy of the Rockland Shore Guard. One day while a guest at the home of the Haverstraw militia commander, Colonel A. Hawkes Hay, Burr heard a cry for help. Racing outside in answer to the desperate pleas, Burr found Colonel Hay’s youngest son, Samuel, had fallen down the well. He jumped into the well and saved the youngster from drowning. Some 50 years later, the records of Clinton County (New York) show that Aaron Burr represented Michael and Thomas Hay in several real estate transactions. Quid pro quo. In December of 1778 Burr was assigned to the Westchester lines and from there, it is said, that on several occasions he crossed the broad Hudson by skiff during the middle of the night and made his way across the Nyack hills through Tappan and down to Paramus to visit his future bride, Theodosia Prevost, and returned to his camp before daybreak. In the spring of 1779 the young officer, then only 23 years of age, his fortune almost depleted and his health seriously impaired, submitted his resignation to General Washington. Although personally disliked by the commander-in-chief, he was considered by Washington to be one of the most trusted and able officers in the army. Thereafter, the general, always a pragmatist, was to call upon his former officer for matters of import and Burr, his health withstanding, could be seen crossing and recrossing the local countryside with commands from General Washington at Pompton to General Putnam at Fishkill, then the capital of New York. During one of these sojourns and while a guest at the home of Thomas Smith, Burr had occasion to meet with Joshua Hett Smith. The latter, though tried and acquitted for his connection in the Arnold and Andre’ treason affair, was being brought to West Point supposedly to be handed over to the civil authorities. While en route and after lunching at Judge Coe’s Tavern in Kakiat, located at the present intersection of Route 45 and New Hempstead Road, Smith pleaded with the troop commander, Lieutenant Jacob Myttenger, for them to stop to see his family who were staying with his brother, Thomas, at Haverstraw. Myttenger conceded and the party arrived at the home in the late afternoon. After a tearful reunion, the party dined and prepared to depart for West Point. Burr, seeing the effect the hasty visit had on Mrs. Smith, prevailed upon the troop commander to stay the night and so the Smiths were reunited for one evening before a separation which was to last for more than a year. History unfortunately has not recorded the conversation that transpired in that house on that particular evening and Burr, of course, had no way of knowing the parallel that his life would continue to take with that of Joshua Hett Smith. Their fathers had been co-founders of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. Burr's father served as the first president of the school. Both men were to have daughters named Sarah, though Burr’s only survived until the age of two. Both had promising law careers until one fatal incident forced them into obscurity and defama­ tion. Both of them were to be tried for treason and acquitted. They were driven into

8 exile only to return to New York and live out their lives in an equivocal fashion. Shortly after the meeting with Smith, Burr left Rockland but returned the following summer to continue his apprenticeship under the tutelege of Thomas Smith at Haverstraw. During this time, Washington often called upon Burr to deliver messages to various parts of Orange County. It was on one of these assignments that Burr had an amusing incident happen to him. En route to Washington’s headquarters at Pompton Lakes, while crossing through our area, Burr arrived at the home of a family named Townsend who operated an iron works. Riding a worn out horse, he attempted to obtain a new mount. None was available. However, a half-broken mule named Independence was finally procured and the colonel mounted. But Independence refused to obey orders and a battle ensued. The mule ran off with its rider and they ascended a high bank on the side oi which stood a coal house filled through an aperture on the top with coal. Independ­ ence, in the hopes of clearing himself of his burden, entered the coal house at full speed. Burr firmly kept his seat. Both came down an inclined plane of coal not less than 30 feet in height. On reaching the ground without injury, Burr hired a man to lead the animal a mile or two away and then again mounted him and proceeded on his journey. This incident on a hot July day amid a cloud of coal dust was one of Burr’s favorite anecdotes for the remainder of his life. Burr’s legal and political career was to bring him back to Rockland County quite often. His wife, Theodosia Prevost Burr, owned a home located on Montebello Road near Suffern. It was deeded to Burr several years after their marriage by the colonel’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Ann deVisme. The home is owned by a Henry Schwartz and is part of the Pine Tree Farm Estate. Several original letters of Burr’s are still at the house, copies of which were recently obtained by this writer and will soon be included in a compilation of Burr’s correspondence. During the 1790’s, Burr represented part of our area in the state assembly and during that time stayed in many homes and inns throughout Rockland. In 1800 the State legislature passed an act creating the Orange Turnpike Company, created for the purpose of building and maintaining a highway through the Ramapo Pass. Among the principal stockholders of the newly formed company were such county notables as John Suffern and Peter Townsend with then U.S. Vice- President Aaron Burr. This public thoroughfare ran through the same area which Burr had so ably defended against British passage some 23 years earlier. Records of various churches throughout the county contain reierences to a number oi Burr family descendents. Factories in both West Nyack and Nyack were also once owned by members of the Burr family.

THE BICENTENNIAL IN PALISADES (SNEDEN’S LANDING) The Bicentennial Committee of Palisades, Ernest Quick, chairman, provided a weekend of outstanding events. It commenced on July 3 with a parade, directed by the history-minded postmistress, Laura Ebmeyer, to the flagpole on Rt. 9W, where a ceremony planned by Helene Stansbury included speeches by James Anderson, Alice Haagensen, Mildred Rippeyand the burial of a Time Capsule, whose contents were selected by a committee headed by Arnold Finck and William Eberle. The brilliant sunny day and the large crowd (for such a small village) and the many colonial costumes made it a festive occasion. Later in the day at the Community Center there were games, folk-dancing, historical and craft exhibits and food, followed by square dancing with Nancy Sneden Zakrowski’s husband as caller. On sale throughout the day was a booklet describing the centennial celebration of 1876 with a photographic section on Palisades in that time. The Fourth of July was marked at the Palisades Presbyterian Church by an Ecumenical Community Service with a musical setting of Jefferson’s Declaration of Rights, composed for the occasion by Michael J. Shapiro. The service was followed by a dedication of the Palisades Liberty Pine Tree near the church and by a chicken dinner on the church lawn. A glass medallion of the Liberty Pine was created especially for the occasion by Cynthia Yeo.

THE PIONEER ETHIC by James K. Anderson {A condensation of the speech at the Palisades' flagpole during the community's Bicentennial observances. A retired colonel, U.S.A.F.R., Mr. Anderson serves as Personnel Officer for Rockland County.) As a descendant of pioneers, reared on the century farm, a part of the donation land claim proved up in the Oregon Territory by my great grandparents after they had crossed the prairies by covered wagon in 1846, I feel a closeness to America and to its land. They and their parents had left the eastern seaboard in the early years of our nation to seek out a good life, first in the Ohio Valley and later in the Willamette Valley of what is now the State of Oregon. As a young man I reversed their journey and settled here in Palisades almost three decades ago—not too far really from where my ancestors left almost two centuries past. They were free to go and I was free to return because our nation was free and it had remained free. Yes, despite red tape and government and corporate restrictions, we are still free. Free to choose where we will live and what we will do with our lives. Free to select those who govern us and free to replace them with others. Free to speak out on issues and to criticize those in high office. Free to worship, or not, as we please. These freedoms are not to be taken lightly by anyone. And there are some in our society who have yet to achieve the full measure of these freedoms. But it must always be remembered that freedom is relative—it is not and cannot be absolute for any one person. The exercise of my freedom ends when it begins to impinge upon yours and vice versa. Our free state of affairs today has many roots and the course of our freedom has not been either easy or straight forward. Today we are celebrating a special anniversary—the anniversary of one of the most symbolic acts of our nation’s history, the Declaration of Independence. On the second of July of 1776, the united colonies, in Continental Congress assembled, did formally resolve to dissolve all political connection with Great Britain and to be free and independent states. Months of debate had preceded this action for there were many who hoped that reconciliation with Britain could still be brought about. Three weeks previously a test vote showed only seven colonies in favor of immediate separation. It was during this period from June 11, 1776 to July 2, 1776 that Thomas Jefferson, chairman of a special committee of five members designated by the congress to prepare a declaration, wrote and rewrote a draft of the Declaration oflndependence. While the great debate over the resolution raged about him, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail. He commented on the pros and cons of the timing of the act and the declaration, holding that since the matter had been discussed, debated, written about throughout the thirteen colonies, passage now would promote unity rather than spark dissent. He saw the date, the second, as a memorable one in the history of America. In his words to Abigail: “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as

10 the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day ot deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” It took the 50 delegates nearly two and a half days—from July second to the early evening of July fourth—to modify, add to, delete from and generally polish Jefferson s draft of the declaration into the language we know today. And in support of these principles and relying on the protection of divine providence, these brave men mutually pledged to one another their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. It would be six long years of war before the indepen­ dence which was declared that July fourth was finally won on the battlefield. 1 he pledge was very very real; until the last battle was won, the declaration was a treasonous act! In the ensuing two centuries, the declaration has been both praised as a great statement of American principle and criticized as overblown rhetoric. It has been remembered as Adams thought it should be and it has been all but forgotten as expressions of patriotism became “old-fashioned”. Although the declaration has not the force of the constitution or even that of a simple statute, nonetheless I believe it has been a moral force in the shaping of America. “All men are created equal.” some may try to dismiss this as an obvious overstate­ ment. Yet, is it? Does it not say that before God and before his fellow-man each person is equal in his right to pursue his own way. Each man and woman may well be endowed with different abilities but this principle holds: when it comes to rights each is equal to the other. “. . . endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.” To look outside of one’s self to a higher authority for moral guidance and law goes back to Moses and beyond. To consider man’s rights granted by his creator is not amiss even in this Twentieth Century. And unless a right is unalienable, that is, incapable of being removed, it really wouldn’t be a right in any real sense, would it? “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The right to life is non-debatable; without life all else is meaningless. Without liberty or freedom, or the hope thereof, life is meaningless. Thus the rights of life and liberty are the cardinal ones. Whether Patrick Henry truly said it or not, the phrase “Give me liberty or give me death is but another way of emphasizing the essentiality of liberty to the development of man. We come now to the third of the unalienable rights selected for enumeration in the declaration—the pursuit of happiness. Not happiness, but the pursuit of happiness. Neither Jefferson nor the other framers of the Declaration deemed happiness per se to be a right guaranteed to man. But in their view man had the right to pursue happiness—to pursue his own ends in his own way according to his bent and his skill. More than anything else, the pursuit of happiness fostered the spirit, the ethic of the pioneer in America. . . but the pioneer realized that to do his own thing required an accommodation to his fellow-man. In order to pursue one’s own bent, the pursuits of others had to be taken into consideration. This was the pioneer ethic. On this, the second centennial anniversary of the declaration of the independence of our nation, let us do more than dust off this historic paper and pay lip service to its principles. Let us strive to understand how each one of us can grow in our own freedom and liberty by enhancing the freedom and liberty of others. The Society acknowledges with thanks a contribution of $2,000for the museum made from funds raised by the Rockland County Bicentennial Commission. MY RECOLLECTIONS OF MR. GILMAN by Mildred Post Rippey To most of you Winthrop Sargent Gilman is just another name. I am one of a few who remember him as an historian, astronomer, a humanitarian, and first and foremost, a man of compassion, living according to the tenets of his faith. Mr. Gilman came to Palisades an 1861, a young man fired with ambition. He had attended Williams College but left to study architecture in France. Upon his return he worked in his father’s bank in New York City. When the bank failed and he was without a job he actually was happy because he could devote his time and talents to Palisades. Being a zealous Presbyterian, he had an overwhelming Winthrop S. Gilman, Jr. desire to see a Presbyterian church in our 1839-1923 community. The only church at that time was Methodist. His wish was finally fulfilled with the help of local builders (under Mr. Gilman’s direction) and the church was completed in 1863. \nxhe Local History, which Mr. Gilman wrote at a later date, he says: “I had the honor of designing the edifice and of working upon it. . . Mr. Charles Park, Jr., and I rang the bell for the first time of a New Year’s night, 1864, in a blinding Northeast snowstorm. By a ladder we ascended the roof on the west side, our lanterns going out in a gust of wind the instant we reached the ridge. But we made our way in the dark of the tower and rang the bell, alarming some of the inhabitants. Mr. Martin Parsells claimed he was much frightened w'hen he heard the novel sound, above that of the tempest that was raging. But Mr. Parsells was a good deal of a wag, as all that remember him know.” In addition to taking part in all of the church’s activities, Mr. Gilman served on the library board, put together a remarkable hand-written cross-reference file of all the books, compiled The Story of The Ferry and The Local History. He toured the chateau- country of France and exhibited in the library the slides he had brought back, using a stereopticon viewer, a form of magic lantern. I have at home four or five boxes of these slides and I think it would be great fun if sometime we could have another viewing. In 1876 Mr. Gilman and other Palisadians planned the centennial celebration which we are reenacting today—right down to the lemonade! Archer Stansbury and I were told by our parents and grandparents that a capsule was planted at the time of the centennial celebration and, when 9W came through in 1927, it was destroyed together with the beautiful centennial white pine. I find no written proof of this, so perhaps it is one ol the “floating legends that have always been current at Palisades” as Mr. Gilman states in the Local History. I might add legends are still “floating”. The whole community interested Mr. Gilman. He was aware of 94-year-old Aunt Peggy Parsells’ aches and pains, knew when a child needed glasses and did something about it. He was a caring person, involved in humankind—not an island, but part of the main. Despite ail his going about here and abroad, he was a shy, reserved man with lew smiles and little sense of humor. We respected him and stood in awe of him— especially the very young. The school was one of his primary concerns. At the turn of the century the

12 windows had diamond-shaped panes, excluding much of the light. This was quickly remedied when Mr. Gilman served on the school board and now we have large, clear glass panes in the Old Schoolhouse, the present Community Center. He visited the school frequently, dashing into the classroom to bring us up to date on current events or to relate some exciting piece of news, such as the discovery of the planet Uranus. All classwork ceased when Mr. Gilman came. He usually finished his remarks with a Bible verse or a prayer. On the Uranus occasion it was a poem ending with these lines which I have never forgotten: “The stars will live for a million years, A million years and a day, But God and I will live and love When the stars have passed away.” When the Lusitania was the largest ocean-going liner in the world, Mr. Gilman took four young children to see it docked in New York harbor. He had a child by each hand and the other two held the tails of his morning coat! I was one of those. Another group was taken to the Fulton Street and Washington Street markets and the children were given baskets of fruit to take home to their parents. As he grew older, Mr. Gilman wrote many letters to the Palisades children, even though he saw them every Sunday in Sunday school. I have one of his letters written in 1910 and I quote part of what he said to a little nine-year-old girl unspotted by the world: "We see wickedness all around us and wonder why God allows it. We never will know all the reasons until we get to Heaven. We must not expect to understand God’s ways, but we should, as dutiful and loving children, believe he knows what is best, and will make us more lovely every day in his sight, if we will try to please him.” I revered him as a great and good man with a faith in God which could never be shaken, and I joy to remember Winthrop Sargent Gilman today on the occasion of our Bicentennial celebration. Hallelujah!

REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER LAWRENCE by Alice Munro Haagensen The Lawrence family is an important one in the history of this village (Palisades) and in the history of the Revolution. There have been Lawrences here since 1749. In that year the first of four successive Jonathan Lawrences bought the “Big House”, which we now call Joe Hyde’s Old Library, and before his great-grandson, the fourth Jonathan Lawrence, died in 1883, Joe Hyde’s great-grandfather, from another branch of the family, came to Palisades, and the relatives of one and the descendants of the other have been here ever since. Of all these Lawrences I want to tell you about the third Jonathan Lawrence, because he fought in the Revolution, and because we have so many interesting facts and stories about him. His grandfather, the first Jonathan Lawrence, lived in the Big House until his death in 1777, but his father became a business man in New York. When the Revolution broke out he was one of the bureaucrats who served on commission after commission to manage the business affairs of the Revolution. His son, Jonathan Lawrence Jr., a boy of fifteen when the war began, was apparently a worry to him at that time. We have a letter from General Clinton, written eighteen months later saying, “Old Mr. Lawrence applied to me to recommend his

13 son . . . although he has been a wild young lord in times past, this campaign he has been attentive to duty and sober”. He may have had a better reason than many teenage boys to rebel against his family. In 1776, while his father was at Fort Constitution, overseeing the construction of barracks, the Committee of New Windsor complained to Congress that Mrs. Lawrence had opened a shop where she sold Bohea tea, contrary to the resolve of Congress, at eight shillings a pound—six shillings for the tea itself and two more for the bag to put it in. When one of the members waited on her to complain, she removed the tea to Fort Constitution under the care of her husband and son, which disgusted the inhabitants. We may be sure this embarassed her son, a patriotic lad. As a matter of fact, he left his parents that same year and came here to stay with his grandfather; and we know that he served as one of the guards ol the ferry in 1776, when the British were across the river, threatening to attack Fort Lee in New Jersey. The next year his grandfather died, and he joined the army as a second lieutenant in Colonel William Malcolm’s regiment. When the army moved to Valley Forge that winter, it is pleasant to know that at least for the month of January when conditions there were at their worst, he was on furlough, probably with his Uncle Nathaniel in the Big House. Certainly he was back at Valley Forge in March and fought in the Battle of Monmouth on the way north. The next we hear of him is in a letter from Colonel Malcolm to Washington from West Point, dated July, 1778 saying, ‘T presume again to request the service of Mr. Lawrence, every day convinces me of the necessity of such an appointment”. His service record shows that he was thereafter appointed assistant adjutant general to the garrison and promoted to full lieutenant. A very important part of his duty under Colonel Malcolm was to secure intelli­ gence for General Washington; and we have copies of letters from him giving facts about the enemy which could have only been obtained at the greatest personal risk. Even this, however, doesn't seem to have been enough action for him, because in late 1779 he became a captain in the levies raised to protect the frontier; and we are told that in 1780 he saw active service in the Mohawk Valley, fighting against the British regulars and Brant’s Indians. Then, as the action came nearer home, he was back near Dobbs Ferry (on the west bank), watching the enemy, reconnoitering, and fighting in frequent skirmishes. In July, 1780, just before our blockhouse was built, he succeeded where many others had failed. He captured the famous spy, James Moody. He delivered him safely to West Point. It wasn’t his fault that Moody later escaped. By this time General Washington knew all about the young man, asked him personally to collect intelligence, and trusted him to conduct a delicate interview with a well-know loyalist, Thomas Ward, who wanted to come over to the Americans, but didn’t have much to offer. In May, 1781, writing to Lawrence’s superior officer about a proposed attack, Washington said, “You will trust no officer but Lawrence. He is sensible and appears discreet”. During the summer of 1781, while Washington and Rochambeau were en­ camped across the river, in what we now know as Dobbs Ferry, Lawrence was busy guarding the river; and when the armies marched to Yorktown—and victory—he was probably kept in New York because of his familiarity with the terrain. After Yorktown there was a long trying period of waiting and watching the enemy; and the years of fatigue and deprivation caught up with the young man. In August, 1782, he wrote to Washington, enclosing a doctor’s certificate saying “His complaints of the Breast are of such alarming nature as require the stricktest and

14 The ‘‘Big House", home of the Lawrences, as it might have looked about 1770. This drawing has been made by Cynthia Yeo, Palisades artist, after careful research into pre-Revolutionary Dutch houses and the reading of W. S. Gilman’s notes. The “Big House" was probably built c. 1729. earliest attention (particularly so far as it relates to Diet) to remove;” and he assured the General that he would not have asked for leave if his corps had not been on garrison duty. The leave was granted; and in November, Lawrence, apparently no better, was forced to resign from the army. After all he had been through, he was still barely 23 years old. When peace came in 1783, poor Lawrence was at a low point—his health broken, what property he had destroyed, and no bonus to receive because he had had to leave the army before the end. Gradually, however, things began to look up. He married 17-year-old Jennie Neale in 1784 and they had three children before misfortune again struck and she died in 1790. Then fortune turned again. He was granted two hundred acres of land in Delaware County, Ohio, in 1789, which he sold; and by 1794 he was able to marry Mary Mann of this village and buy back The Big House, which had passed out of the family for a couple of years. There they lived, we hope in peace and happiness, until his death in 1802 at the age of 42. We have pictures of three of his sons: Jonathan, the fourth, who married Nicholas Gesner’s daughter and is mentioned often in Gesner’s Diary; George, Palisades’ first postmaster; and Herbert, who inherited The Big House, and gave the land on which the flagpole stands. Stangely enough, Herbert, who often talked to Winthrop Gilman about his memories of Palisades, hardly spoke of his father. This courageous young man, admired and respected in spite of his youth, who contributed so much to the Revolutionary effort, had been forgotten in the place that meant so much to him.

The Author notes: I have obtained information from the Force Papers, Fitzpatrick’s Writings of George Washinton, a genealogy of the Lawrence family, The National Archives and Veteran’s Administration in Washington, the New York State Library in Albany, and the New Jersey Archives in Newark, as well as the tombstones of various Lawrences in the Palisades Cemetery.

15 When author Isabelle K. Saveli submitted this manuscript she had no idea Palisades’ Bicentennial Celebration material was slatedfor this issue nor that her ivork would prove a fine companion piece to Mildred Post Rippey’s remembrances.

PALISADES IN THE 1880’s by Isabelle K. Saveli A series of letters recently made available to the historical society by Mrs. Eric Gugler of Snedens Landing provides Rocklanders with a flashback of life in the hamlet of Palisades in the mid-1880’s. Written by Winthrop S. Gilman Jr., an inveterate chronicler of ideas and events, and the hamlet’s Boswell, the letters were addressed to Mary Trimble Lawrence, a neighbor, then studying art in Europe. Mary Lawrence’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Effingham Lawrence, lived in a manorial stone house on an estate in Snedens called Cliffside. Winthrop Gilman and his family lived on an adjoining estate, caWedNiederhurst, in what his daughter called "a young Victorian architect’s conception of a French house.” During the summer, Mr. Lawrence, a merchant, and Mr. Gilman, a banker and sometimes architect, commuted to New York by way of the Northern Railroad at Sparkill, noting as they crossed on the ferry at Pavonia, the big ocean liners going grandly up and down the Hudson which not infrequently bore members of their families or their letters to and from Europe. When late fall arrived, both families generally moved back to New York for the winter. In the spring of 1886 Mary Lawrence sailed for Europe with her Aunt, Miss Annie Underhill, and other members of the Lawrence family, to study art. The elder Lawrences spent the summer at Cliffside, and since Mrs. Winthrop Gilman and the Gilman children were spending the summer in California, Mr. Gilman stayed for a while with the Lawrences at Cliffside. There he undertook to keep Mary informed of what was going on back home (and to guide her art education while abroad) through a series of letters he called Chronicles of Cliffside. Later, when he and his family were reunited in their own home, he continued the letters, calling them Chronicles of Niederhurst. Not all of the Chronicles have survived, and it is doubtful that anyone but Mary Lawrence ever read them, for most are written in a script so tiny as to be undecipher­ able except with a magnifying glass. Under a glass, however, they are almost as sharp as metal type. For the most part, the life that Mr. Gilman chronicled at Palisades was serene, almost idyllic—a catalogue of gardening, teas, Sunday school and Sunday school picnics, kaffee klatches and community events. Interspersed with these were trips to the city for plays, concerts, lectures and weddings. Both in New York and at Palisades some members of the two families did a great deal of horseback riding, especially Mr. Gilman, who mornings, evenings and weekends, often cantered up to Grand View, Nyack or West Nyack or even as far as West Point. Once he and his daughter rode horseback to Snedens from their home in New York, a five-hour trip including the hour it took to cross on the 125th Street ferry. Among their favorite rides were the woodland trails atop the Palisades between Snedens Landing and Alpine. In August, 1886, while Mary Lawrence was enjoying the Danube at Linz, Austria, Mr. Gilman wrote her about the bucolic life on the Hudson, where he and Mary’s father frequently enjoyed a late afternoon cigar on the piazza at Cliffside while watching the sailboats on the windless river, moving only with the tide. There was, he wrote, ‘‘the usual parade of Pekin, Aylesbury and Rouen ducks which came waddling along uttering suppressed quacks and settling themselves in front of us. . . like painted birds on a level expanse of (green) water. Not a sound escaped from a single one of the hundred ducks for a long time. Finally, just before the (supper) gong sounded, they separated into two bands, and a portion bore off to the southwest in search of new countries, while the more conservative of them returned to the barn quietly soliloquiz­ ing each to him or herself.” Supper was served in a room where the moon could filter in upon them, and "it was remarked that ‘the beautiful blue Danube’ could not look prettier at Linz than the Hudson {tom. Cliff side today. The full moon appeared over the Dobbs Ferry mountains as we sat at table. What a glorious sheen it threw across the water!” With supper over, the family and their guests would settle in to an evening of music or reading. Mr. Gilman often played hymns on the piano or organ while the Lawrences sang, and sometimes he would read aloud to Mrs. Lawrence from The Life of Longfellow. Back in his own home, he took up Dante’s Inferno, reading it in both the English and Italian, and eventually, through study and classes both he and the Lawrences acquired a command of Italian, as well as French. But the Gilman letters were by no means confined to the Snedens landscape. They ranged through a wide gamut of subjects—from gossip to astronomy, from ruchings to religion, from Henry Ward Beecher to the Statue of Liberty; from Dwight Moody, the evangelist, to the relative merits of the Mayflower and Galatea, the 1886 contenders in the America’s Cup Races. He often wrote about religion, for he was one of the founders and a pillar of the Presbyterian Church at Palisades, but he was skeptical about some of the more flamboyant preachers of the day. In his Chronicles of August 16, 1886, he dwelt at some length on a sermon by Henry Ward Beecher which "contained some real gems of thought” but he feared that Mary would be "turned away from the truth by Mr. Beecher’s nonsense.” “I do believe that he is a dangerous teacher in one respect,” he wrote, "viz., that he exalts one part of the gospel to the neglect of others.” Nevertheless, he sent her one of Beecher’s sermons to ponder while abroad. The next month he wrote apprehensively and with distaste of the approaching visit to Palisades of Dwight Moody, the noted evangelist. Moody was a fire-eating, earthy fundamentalist who preached salvation of society through individual regenera­ tion rather than social action. Gilman deplored his methods. "The neighborhood is all agog concerning the advent of Mr. Moody, the evangelist next Sabbath, when he will be a guest at Hill crest,” he wrote to Mary. {Hillcrest was the Sneden’s home of Dr. C. R. Agnew, a noted oculist, who lived where the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory now stands.) Moody "is to preach morning and evening at our church, also in the Methodist and twice in Piermont. .. Our heads seem turned by it. Of course our church will not hold a quarter of those who will come to hear Mr. Moody, and Dr. Agnew proposes a large tent, 40 x 75. I think this idea will be carried out. As I particularly dislike such performances, I shall go to Catskill or Asbury Park for next Sunday. (Don’t tell anybody my reason. . . My head is not greatly turned by the Moody incident except that it is turned to Catskill or some other quiet spot.)” As things worked out, Mr. Gilman did not go to Catskill or Asbury Park but went instead to the Hotel St. George in , having left Palisades "solely to avoid Moody and the consequent excitement” and having decided for business reasons to stay in Brooklyn rather than go farther away. Characteristically, for he was a man who found delight in almost everything, he was thoroughly pleased with the "elegant new

17 hotel” and decided, since he was alone and with time on his hands, to take a trip to Bedloe’s Island for a closer inspection of the Statue of Liberty. “The voyage to Bedloe’s Island was accomplished without incidents in 55 minutes,” he wrote to Mary. “... A Canaletto sky and atmosphere! The bright red campanile of the Produce Exchange, the yellow and purple Cotton Exchange and the ghostly gray and white East River bridge were very striking objects in the view.” But the Bartholdi figure of Liberty displeased him. “Was disappointed in the statue. All is finished with the exception of the top of the head and the upper portion of the uplifted right arm. Two derricks are seen cropping out of the former. The face is poor; the head seems jammed down on the shoulders. The statue appears like a great bundle of very much folded olive-colored blankets—a mass of folds instead of a graceful figure. I was surprised at this. It is too bad.” To illustrate what he meant, he drew a picture, TheStatue of Liberty from Brooklyn Heights, seen over Castle William, with the head unfinished and two sharp derricks rising out of the arm that would eventually lift a lamp beside the golden door. In the foreground are some tall masts with squaresails, rising from the Brooklyn waterfront. “By the by,” he added, remembering the reason he’d elected to spend the weekend in town, “I should inform you that Moody preached to very full houses at Palisades last Sunday morning and evening, 300 being present at the latter service which was from 7:30 to 10. Nannie (his daughter) was dreadfully worked up and sobbed hysterically on reaching home, and Mrs. Gilman spent a considerable part of the night getting her quieted down. I do not approve this method of preaching the gospel except for those who are hardened to evil and have had no religious privileges to speak of.” Palisades eventually resumed its usual tranquility, but the Statue of Liberty continued to pique Mr. Gilman’s interest and engage his pen. In April of 1887 he went to Brooklyn to give an hour’s talk on astronomy and then walked back from the Academy of Music neighborhood, across the Brooklyn Bridge to the Astor House. (“Oysters on the half shell at the latter place, and I cannot tell you how I enjoyed it.”) “The night was fine and the stars were shining cheerfully. I was greatly surprised at the increase in the number and size of the electric lights about the City of New York and especially along South Street from South Ferry on the extreme left to Grand Street Ferry on the extreme right. "And then too, I saw for the first time, the Statue of Liberty illuminated, or rather the base of it, for the statue cannot be seen at all, though the stone pedestal is curiously prominent.” Nearing the center of Brooklyn Bridge, he stopped to make a drawing for Mary, showing an illuminated pedestal with nothing whatever visible atop it, but in the foreground, a lighted ferryboat leaving South Ferry. By the summer of 1887, Mary Lawrence’s year of travel and study abroad was drawing to a close, and her family and friends were awaiting her return with interest and anticipation. “You have been away from home now 374 days,” Mr. Gilman wrote her on July 19, “and by the time you get back, it will have been 381 or a year and a fortnight. I doubt if it has seemed so long to you, because you have been so on the go. ..” Then, resuming his recital of life at Snedens, he described a recent picnic atop the Palisades. This was no casual pause under the trees at a designated state-owned picnic area, however. It was an all-day affair, involving extensive preparation and transportation arrangements, the blazing of a trail along the Palisades and finally the felling of trees

18 and clearing of a road so that the picnic wagon, in the wake of preceding horseback riders, could get to the edge of the cliff. “Just a week since, we went on a picnic to the Devil’s Blow Hole, for all day. We were singularly fortunate in the day which, though warm, was very breezy, and our stay in the woods was perfectly delightful every moment. A perfectly clear day without clouds. “Miss Nannie Barnard and I proposed to ride to the camping ground by the roundabout way of Ruckman’s Road, so we started at eleven, expecting to meet the wagon at the Blow Hole. The wagon would get the baskets and pails and then come on by the Boulevard. It was hot riding down by Mr. Boltings and the Closter Road, part of the time, but on reaching the top of the hill where the Ruckman road crosses the Boulevard, we had all the breeze we desired. The horses went splendidly. We turned north at the Boulevard crossing until we came to the wood road a distance of a quarter of a mile.” Mr. Gilman drew a map to show Mary exactly where they went, but unfortu­ nately it has not survived. “Here I marked ‘ 12:10' on a piece of white paper and put it on a branch of a tree, placing another piece under a stone in the road. Then we rode on toward the deserted house on the cliff. Halfway out to it, a wood road branches south (at A on enclosed map.) This was the one we were to take to the ‘Blow Hole’. We stopped and put other pieces of paper on bushes near to show the remainder of the party where to turn. I set to work to pry out a great stone from this branch road, and Miss Nannie, seeming me thus occupied, insisted on dismounting and rendering assistance. Just as we had it pried out of its snug resting place, we heard voices and soon saw the wagon approach­ ing . . . Mr. Everett with our “glove streacher” (large pruning shears) I with another, George with an axe laid to among the bushes and trees to clear the road a little. In a very short time our work was done and we were at the great oak (where I mark B on the enclosed map) by the wood road (E. side of it) where the wagon was to be unloaded. While the others carried the camp utensils and provisions to the cliff, I began to trim out a roadway by which hereafter we might ride, wagon and all, to the very edge of the Blow Hole. George cut a dozen or so trees and a good road was the result. To be sure the stones are pretty large, but we selected the least rough ground for our avenue and we succeeded in getting a fair road, as Palisades cliff roads go. “A fire was started and in about two hours we had a good dinner of boiled eggs, coffee, potatoes roasted to a cinder, and many other things which had been cooked the Christian-fashion—that is, at home in the kitchen. The air was invigorating and as clear as a bell and the breeze splendid. We had no mosquitoes whatever. The hammocks were swung so that an unobstructed view was had of the river and Crum Rock, a mile or less to the north, and from Tarrytown to Hastings. After dinner I read to the camping party of six souls Sister Todhunter’s Heart. Then it was time for Miss Nannie and me to take our afternoon ride, which was to be to Rest-a-While and the Race-Course where a charming view to the north (at C) is had, with Rest-a-While in the center of the picture. The ride was elegant! It took us one hour. The air was very clear. Long Island Sound seemed full of sailing craft and the upper part of New York City around the Catholic cathedral plainly visible from Rest-a-While cliff. We cantered the whole length of the ‘Race Course’, three quarters of a mile. It is in good shape. Miss Barnard was charmed with it. “The woods were deliciously cool until our return home, which was about 7 p.m., after a supper on the very edge of the cliffs in sight of the river. Torrey Everett and Bertha rode home, and the rest of us followed in the wagon.” Where today are all these alluring places which so enhanced the outing of the

19 A facsimile from a section of the Oct. 4, 1886 letter in CHRONICLES OF NIEDERHURST series, showing the minute calligraphy of Mr. Gilman.

picnickers—the Devil’s Blow Hole, the Race Course, Rest-a-While Cliff and Crum Rock? The writer consulted a number of people familiar with the lore of the Palisades—and got varying answers. One thought the Blow Hole was about a half mile north of Clinton Avenue, Tenafly, east of Route 9W, and Crum Rock about a half mile south, and that both, in days gone by, had been “pitching places”, i.e., places at the edge of the cliff from which trees harvested on top of the Palisades could be pitched to the shore below, and there loaded on boats for sale in New York. Others suggested that both the Blow Hole and Crum Rock were shorefront places, the latter possibly named after the Crum family who lived for many years at Undercliff. The Gilman letter implies, however, that both were much farther north. Some diaries of the period refer to the Lookout at the state line as “Crum’s Rock”. A third supposition was that the Blow Hole could have been a geological phenomenon on the former Burnett estate, near the New York-New Jersey border, where there was a “bottomless” hole in the rock formation. But a surviving guard from the Burnett estate remembered that formation as having been called a “chimney”, never a blow hole. Similarly, there were recollections of a “race course” near Demarest and another on the top of the Palisades near Fort Lee, both working courses; but the letter’s text suggests a much less formal place, possibly just a clearing on the cliffs, smooth enough for a brisk gallop. No one could identify a place called “Rest-a-While Cliff”. As Charles Quadri, superintendent of the New Jersey section of the Palisades Interstate Park, said, “So many people just applied their own names to various places in the park; they differed with each camper or hiker.” In any event, with time and the coming of the Palisades Interstate Park, they have all been swept into history. David R. Gould, associate exhibit planner for the New York State Museum, Albany, and an associate at the museum, Dale A. Fanning, supervisory exhibit planner for natural science, were guests of the society at the annual meeting. Their talks centered on the state’s Bicentennial celebration, exhibits at the Albany museum and “packages” being made available to all historical societies throuhout the state under a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Shown was the Albany museum’s orientation film, CHRONICLES OF CHANGE.

20 MONSEY’S FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE When my sister’s and my grandfather took possession of the 134 acres of land he had purchased from Abram and Sarah DeBaun in Monsey, he brought to the location not only his wife but also his mother. She, dear lady, could neither read nor write. Grandfather Remsen was born in 1820 and, as we’ve always been told, was a great Bible student. I mention that here because I am sure his use of the Bible must have permitted great-grandmother to realize how valuable an ability it is to read. Great-grandmother Remsen gave her son the money to have built a one-room “wooden roof’ school (the words of the deed) so that the youth of the community could be taught to read and write. That school was attended by her son’s two sons—one of them our father, George; the other Garrett Erwin—and a daughter who lived to be 102 years old, our Aunt Martha Agnes. Garrett Erwin later attended the Spring Valley Academy. Its foundation, I am told, was laid in 1871. Our mother’s second older sister, Minnie Young, also went there. Both she and Garrett Erwin studied algebra and German. That building is in complete ruins. Long it could be seen as one went down Lawrence Street. The Monsey School building was in use from 1866 until it was returned to the Remsens when it no longer provided enough room lor the growing population. That was in 1889. The transaction of return was completed by the town’s authorities in Nyack and in England at Liverpool. Since great-grandmother could not write, her signature was a cross, acknowledged by grandfather’s signature beneath it. Grandfather and Grandmother Remsen and the children, of course, were great Methodists and the dominies, as they often called their ministers “way back when”, were frequent partakers of Remsen hospitality. When they visited, there was a reading of the Scriptures and a discussion. I’ve often heard, as my sister did also, that Dominie Howland used to say to our grandfather, “John, I wish I knew my Bible as well as you do yours.” I feel confident Great-grandmother Remsen must have been motivated by her son’s and his family’s devotion to the Book of Holy Writ and by their desire to learn to have given $800 to have the school building constructed and given to the community. I am also sure that dedication of hers to learning must have been passed on to me. I was fortunate many years later to go to Mount Holyoke and to have taught 43 years in the State of New York—in Steuben, Suffolk and Rockland counties. I always loved my profession and my association with the youth of the land. —Ethel M. Remsen

Framing lumber recently salvaged from a building on Rt. 39, Monsey, was once part of the “old Monsey schoolhouse", whose construction had been made possible by funds given by Martha Vanderbilt Remsen many years ago. The lumber will be incorporated in some of the history center's accessory buildings, including the small dairy house envisioned by the late Leland Rickard Meyer.

A much appreciated Bicentennial project was carried out for the society by Af rs, Naomi Phillips, who researched and prepared 93 news releases on county histoiy. These were broadcast periodically over WRKL, which graciously included them in its programs.

HELP THE PIERMONT EXCHANGE TO HELP US: Volunteers are urgently needed at The Woman’s Exchange, 516 Piermont Ave., Piermont. See story p. 9 SM/20:2 and, if you can offer your services, call Mrs. Burck at 359-2455.

21 The State of New York Legislature has sent the society a copy of the resolution introduced in the senate by and in the assembly by Eugene Levy and Robert J. Connor "applauding and complimenting the late Leland Rickard Meyer, noted educator, historian and churchman for the heroic and noble accomplishments of his life." The resolution was adopted in senate Feb. 22 and in assembly Feb. 24.

The New York State Council of the Arts has approved in 1977-78 grant of $8,000 toward the salary of the society's co-ordinator. The Rockland County Legislature has budgeted $1,500 toward 1977 history center operating expenses.

The society's assets have included stock certificates contributed by members in the following companies: A.T. & T., ASARCO, Avon Products, Freeport Minerals, 0 & R Utilities, Ralston Purina. Have you considered transferring some of your stockholdings that have appreciated in value?

The society's audit committee (Ralph B. Stever, ch., E. R. Langer, G.W.Hadeler) reviewed the records of the treasurer of the society and found the recordfor April 1, 1976 through March 31, 1977 to be in order.

Mrs. Garrett Buchanan is serving as chairman of the 1977 doll house festival and Christmas bazaar to be held at the history center's museum Dec. 10-18. Mrs. Helen Norman of Palisades has generously promised again to contribute one of her doll houses as a prize to be awarded on the 18th. Members interested in exhibiting their doll houses may arrange committee inspection through Airs. Kobbe at 357-2520.

Airs. Harriet Dusanenko and Mrs. Luba Hochko were responsible for the demonstration of Ukranian coloring of eggs at the Easter bazaar, which attracted many visitors to the history center. Flowers were furnished by the Rockland County Retail Florists Association and were arranged by members of the Clarkstoivn and the Valley Garden Clubs. Girl Scouts of Troops 161 and 43, West Nyack, served refreshments.

Late in January four fireproof steel desks donated by Lederle Laboratories were delivered to the new museum building.

On January 26, Airs. Virginia Resnick gave the initial presentation of her mobile exhibit, "The Changing Roles of Toys during the History of America", at Congers Elementary School.

With a promise of assistance from the America the Beautiful Fund, the historical society is arranging for publication of a children's coloring book, featuring scenes from Rockland County and its history. Junior and senior high school students throughout the comity have been invited to submit sketches for the book through their school art directors, who have shown great interest in the project. Submissions are to be made by June 11. An award committee of school art directors will choose those sketches to be included in the book and the students who created the winning sketches will have their names announced at the society's annual awards program, scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, June 19, at the New City history center.

22 photo by Jay Ferine

The maker of this stove was sufficiently proud of his work to put thereon his name—T. SOUTHARD PEEKSK1LL, N. Y. 1855. The stove, given some time ago to the society and stored at the Leland Meyer home, was recently completely refurbished for museum display by J. Erwin Ferine.

FISHING IN THE HUDSON The sport of fishing in the Hudson River, before our age of pollution, must have been among the very best in the country. And it might have been really dangerous, if the following account in the Rockland County Messenger of September 1, 1859 can be believed. “On Thursday August 18th, Mr. Gilbert Sutton and Robert McKellar of Peekskill, with several male and female relatives, numbering eleven in all, took a boat for a picnic excursion to the Dunderberg. Returning, they stopped to notice the THOMAS POWELL, a fast river steamer, on her way up the river. To prevent an accident from the swells and the number in the boat, Mr. Sutton cautioned all to remain perfectly still. “While the boat thus awaiting the swells, a sturgeon sprang from the water and fell across the boat, striking Mr. Sutton the head and shoulder and knocking his nephew to the bottom of the boat, bruising him so severely that he has not recovered now several weeks later. The sturgeon seemed partially stunned and was thrown into the water by Mr. Sutton. Had the fish fallen into the bottom of the boat, the whole party would, scarsely escaped a watery grave. The sturgeon was a large size, and McKeller and Sutton think he was 7 to 8 feet long." Thus it seems somewhat over a century ago, the Hudson teemed with fish of great size. But it had its hazardous side since a giant fish could leap directly from the water into a boat with such weight and force as to injure the fishing party or to crush the bottom of the boat sending it below the waves. —Daniel deNoyelles

23 The society’s history center at 20 Zukor Road, New City, is open every Wednesday and Sunday from 2 to 5 p. m. Special tours are available by appointment: phone 634-9629- DATES TO REMEMBER May 22 (Sunday) 2-5 p.m. spring open house: craft demonstrations, slide program on year’s activities June 19 (Sunday) from 2:30 annual awards program and strawberry festival July 23 (Saturday) from 9:30 YANKEE PEDDLER DAY, Spring Valley High (Rain date: July 30) School, Rt. 59. . . 100 dealers, parking, food.

Vol. 21. No. 2 April-June 1977 Two historical society booths will be in operation at the annual YANKEE PEDDLER DAY. One will feature items normally handled at the sales shop in the Jacob Blauvelt House at the New City history center; the other will handle members' items on consignment. The consignee, who may offer small pieces (bric-a-brac, jewelry, pewter, china, porcelain, glass, etc.) will receive 75 % of the agreed sales price and may at 2:30 p. m. lower the price on any item not sold. Consignees must deliver their own goods to the booth by 8:30 a.m. (YPD opens to the public at 9:30 a.m.) and must pick up unsold items between 3 and 3:30. Further information is available through Mrs. Dorothy Green, ch., 336-1134. G. Hilliard Ross, former village clerk at South Nyack, has turned over to the society a record of World War 1 service by residents of South Nyack. Prepared by Mrs. Grace Sayres, it is an excellent example of local history. Other Rockland communities may make donations of similar historical facts for permanent fling in the society’s history-reference library. Annual dues for membership in The Historical Society of Rockland County are $3. A check or money order sent to the Historical Society at the History Center, 20 Zukor Road, New City, N. Y. 10936, will cover a wide variety of privileges and insure your receiving by mail the quarterlies for the year. Abex Corporation was originally organized as The American Brake Shoe & Foundry Company in 1902. The original plant, in Mahwah, N.J., still serves as a production foundry for ferrous castings. Most of the present complex is devoted to research. Last year Abex shipped $374 million in automotive products, specialty castings, hydraulic equipment and railroad products from 60 plants in North America and Europe.

For brake shoes, track work, wheels, bearings—see your Abex man. He’s always in reach. Rail­ road Products Division, Abex Cor­ poration, 530 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10036. i4)tx CORPORATION