South oh the Iflfjountaind

published by The Historical Society of Rockland County Orangeburg, New York

Vol. 18, No. 4 October-December 1974

—photo by Anne Mellett

A miniature of the DeWint House (Washington’s Headquarters), Tappan, is held in the hand of the artist who recreated it in his own modern version of Early American poker art, discussed on pages eight and nine. IN MEMORIAM Norman Hastings G. Prescott Fuller Laura Heminover Blauvelt

LIFE MEMBERS Royal W. Taplin Joseph J. McCormick, Jr.

MUSEUM FUND Mr. and Mrs. J. Sherwood Smith of West Nyack have given the society $3,000 as sponsors for the kitchenette in the New City Center museum building.

PICTURE CREDITS The Immermann-Dector photo in Vol. 18, No. 3 was by Michael Helper of Pearl River. The Brady photographs illustrating "Reconnaisance Baloons” (Vol. 18, No. 3) were from an album of 18 reprints lent the society by Mrs. William C. Swanson of North Tarrytown, Rockland-born granddaughter of diarist Henry Martyn Wood. Selected from the ten-volume "Photograph History of the Civil War”, published by Review of Review Company, New York, they were issued for the 1911 semi-centennial celebration of the war. The nega­ tives, made by order of President Lincoln, had been in an obscure file for almost 50 years and were discovered just prior to publication.

AVID HISTORIAN This quarter we are indebted to Daniel deNoyelles, for many years senior historian-of the society, for two articles: his Rockland Historical Societies and part two of his Vivid Memories of World War I (see Vol. 18, No. 2 for part one). Mr. deNoyelles received an accolade from the Society for Industrial Archeology in that society’s July 1974 NEWSLETTER for his reprinting of an indexed and expanded The Story of Brick by Charles Ellery Hall, 1905. Said the NEWSLETTER, "Excellent account of the technology of the industry in the Hudson Valley, well illustrated with photos of machinery, yards, kilns, clay pits, company towns, etc. A valued addition to the precious little docu­ mentation of an important industry.” The industrial archeological society is a unit for the National Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.

©1974 by The Historical Society of Rockland County Acting Editor: Mariruth Campbell Printed by Executive Editor: John R. Zehner PRINT SPRINT

2 ENTERPRISES’S FLAG FLOWN AT NEW CITY (photos, except flag, by William Rothschild) William H. Hand of South Nyack, Harry Aviron of Lipsett, Inc. (demo- lishion contractors) and society presi­

dent John R. Zehner of Nyack gaze through time and space to see a battle flag of the carrier Enterprise flying above the Jacob Blauvelt Homestead, New City, on the day ground was broken for the new museum building. The flag was given Hand and Zehner for the historical society when demoli­ tion work started some years ago in New York. Mr. Hand, who served as one of the vice presidents of the Tap- pan Zee Historical Society, is on the committee responsible for room plaques throughout the museum. According to E. M. Eller, Rear Ad­ miral, USN (retired), director of naval history, Department of the Navy, our flag was "associated with one of the most gallant ships in U.S. Naval history (and) must indeed be considered a prize possession.”

3 ROCKLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY by Daniel deNoyelles If the proper study of mankind is man, then the proper study of a nation is its history. And all true patriots should encourage, in every way, the associ­ ations which record the great deeds and failures alike of the forefathers of our people. This sentiment of President Theodore Roosevelt has over the years been the guiding spirit of all our historical societies. Many of our citizens—men and women, young and old—have been and still are concerned with the preservation of Rockland County’s historic heritage. Though local historical societies have commenced with a great burst of enthusiasm only to have their ardor cooled with the passing years and finally expire, nowadays, with Rockland’s booming population, it seems interest in our past is growing steadily and historical societies with some degree of perma- nance are flourishing. There are societies at Tappan, Spring Valley and Pier- mont. There is also a North Rockland group which tried to engender in its citizens an enthusiasm for our county’s history. Then there are designated tracts of land at Tappan, at West Nyack, and one contemplated for Stony Point, which control the upkeep and preservation of certain regions of historical significance. But all told, the Historical Society of Rockland County, with its recent purchase of land and a magnificent house, re-construction in 1834 from local brick on the foundation of red sandstone from an earlier dwelling on the Street in New City, is by far the largest and most comprehensive of all. This society is the result of a consolidation of the Rockland County Society and the Tappan Zee Historical Society on September 1, 1965. It is chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York as a non­ profit educational corporation to be guided by a board of 27 trustees elected by the membership from all sections of the county and from several states. The Reverend David Cole in his "History of Rockland County” published in 1884 listed the aims of an early society, an ideal still valid today: "Some generations ago, a few Rockland County citizens began to consider the ques­ tion of preserving for future generations the story of the origin, progress, and vicissitudes of its beginnings ’ere that story should have become altogether legendary”. Our present society is endeavoring to acquaint residents with the county’s heritage so that knowledge and interest will sustain a broader understanding of our state and national history. Thus the aims of the Historical Society of Rockland County are all-inclusive with two concrete long-range purposes of establishing a modern fireproof museum building and of publishing an up-to- date history of the county. A temporary museum at Orangeburg opened in 1958, when Irving Maid- man of Upper Nyack, lent an 18th century, red sandstone house as the society’s headquarters. Displays were co-ordinated by Richard J. Koke, museum curator of the New-York Historical Society, and by Robert G. Wheeler, former director of research, Sleepy Hollow Restorations. Volunteer guides were at the museum every Wednesday and Sunday afternoon.

4 With the purchase of the Jacob Blauvelt Homestead in New City, the historical society owns for the first time a headquarters building and a parcel of land. Title was secured December 11, 1970. The original title to this prop­ erty is much older, of course, going back to pre-Revolutionary days with deeds dating to land grants to John Blauvelt by King George II and again in the 1760’s by King George III. Eleven generations of Blauvelts lived on this property, part of the Kakiat Patent that stretched into the present townships of Ramapo, Clarkstown and Orangetown. The road serving the site was always called The Street and wound through the farms along the base of the moun­ tains, through the hamlet of Centenary, up over the defile called Short Clove to form a highway to the village of Haverstraw with its docks to accommodate shipping produce of central Rockland’s farms. It is probable the house on the property was constructed of Haverstraw brick, which might have been hauled by oxen over the Short Clove to The Street, for by 1834 the brick industry in the vicinity was booming. One of the earliest attempts to preserve local history was made by the West Shore Historical Society launched, according to the columns of the Rock­ land County Journal of Nyack, November 27, 1869. A collection of noted Nyack citizens held an annual meeting December 7th for the election of officers and selected John Eadie as president. The society, however, was short­ lived. It expired in 1871. The organization of the Historical Society of Rockland County, N.Y., took place February 29, 1878 at South Nyack’s Rockland Female Institute, a build­ ing later housing the Nyack Club. The first officers were: President Hon. John W. Ferdon; Vice-presidents Hon. A. E. Suffern, Albert Wells, Joseph Snider, Dr. W. Govan and Cyrus M. Crum; Corresponding Secretary W. S. Gilman; Recording Secretary Henry Whittemore; Treasurer Garret VanNostrand; Direc­ tors Dr. C. R. Agnew, John Salisbury, C. W. Miller and Walter T. Searing. These were all eminent citizens and historians of the Town of Clarkstown. Three weeks after the formation (March 23, 1878) the association’s name was changed to the Historical and Forestry Society of Rockland County. To raise funds this new historical society held a series of lectures and entertainments. Some of the first costs were to be defrayed by an exhibition of historical relics. Part of the fund so obtained was for "purchase an old farm­ house at Tappan which had such an illustrious role in Revolutionary history’’. Beyond doubt this was the DeWint House, which rightfully could be called the De Clark or De Klerck House since it had been built in 1700 by Daniel De Klerck, born in Zeeland, Holland c. 1673 and died at Tappan c. 1730. Society members made an aggressive effort for the passage of a law in 1878 whereby the property would be purchased by the State of New York. An act for this purchase was actually passed, but vetoed by Governor Lucius Robinson. It might be said in justification of the veto that Robinson’s tenure in office followed that of Governor Samuel J. Tilden. He had broken the Tweed Ring and the Canal Ring of grafting politicians and was fulfilling a program of economy and reform. Many years were to pass before the recovery of "the old farmhouse at Tappan” was complete. In 1932 the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of New York State bought the land with its famous house. In 1954

5 the Grand Lodge had the house taken down with each segment numbered and re-erected in a sounder state with some new materials for additional strength. The Historical Society of 1878 filed incorporation papers at Albany, Febru­ ary 4, 1879. These stipulated "the duration of the Society is to be for the term of twenty years”. Why the founders placed a termination for the society cannot be determined but the original zeal for Rockland County history vanished, leth­ argy set in and the last recorded annual meeting was February 22, 1898, just missing the twenty year limitation. Time rolled on! Rockland County prospered in industry and farming. The year 1912 was deemed auspicious for another try at a permanent historical society. So a county-wide group of men, all solicitous of Rockland’s fame and future welfare, consulted together at a luncheon December 14 at the Broadway Central Hotel, New York. A proposed constitution and a set of by-laws were read for a new organi­ zation—the Rockland County Society of the State of New York. A charter members’ luncheon was held at the Hotel Astor, New York City on January 25, 1913. The elected board of managers was comprised of F. R. Wood, presi­ dent; Dr. George A. Leitner, vice-president; Charles Campbell, treasurer; Dewitt H. House, registrar; Josiah W. Dolson, secretary; John C. Heyn, his­ torian; Calvin Tomkins, Everett Fowler, Wilson P. Foss, Hon. Arthur S. Tompkins, A. Wilson Milburn, Lucien H. Washburn, John D. Dunlop, Martin Driscoll and Walter T. Searing, trustees. The following is an extract from the 1915 annual report, signed by John D. Dunlop, retiring president: "Ours is an old, historic and honored County and there are no means within our power that can demonstrate our faith and honor and love for our home County, perpetuate its glories and add more permanently to its influence as a real, alive and active part of our State and Country, than by our efforts to enlarge the Rockland County Society, so that it will have among its membership, all the responsible men of the County. Let us make it for Rockland what the Legion of Honor is to France, an organiza­ tion every boy of Rockland will earnestly strive to be honorably eligible to when he enters manhood”. First annual banquet of the R. C. Society, Hotel Astor, May 10, 1913. —photo by Drucker & Co., N.Y.

6 The 1917 report notes the purchase of Liberty Bonds, for World War I was then at its height. The report adds "patriotic activities and development within our country give positive and glorious proof that the Rock in Rockland is not crumbling to decay". In 1920, for some reason, the Society was re-organ­ ized and incorporated October 22 with a membership of 143 and eight honor­ ary members. The social side of this historical society was far from neglected. Held each year was a banquet, followed by the reading of annual reports, entertainment, music and dancing. To enjoy the long evening of fellowship, these historians came attired in full dress and their ladies in beautiful gowns. To safeguard for future generations local historic landmarks, this society each year featured one such spot by the erection of a bronze tablet. The report of 1930 lists ten such markers. With the help of Cornelia F. Bedell, George H. Budke and others, the society purchased and installed display cases in the basement of the county courthouse. Here were exhibited various historic arti­ facts, including a superb collection from Rockland’s Indian life (in storage since the conversion of the museum space into a law library). With the deaths of Mr. Budke at the age of 80 in 1948 and of Miss Bedell in 1951, the historical society languished and the esprit de corps so evident in its statement equating it with the Legion of Honor became so much ennui. Interest, engendered by the unsuccessful efforts of the Nyack Garden Club to preserve the Salisbury House in South Nyack as a cultural center, initiated in 1954 the forming of the Tappan Zee Historical Society. Construction on the house had been started in 1770 by Michael Cornelison, who used the prevelant red sandstone quarried nearby. On an exposed bank of the Hudson, the house bore scars from British guns and raiding parties as did most river mansions of patriots during the Revolution. The Tappan Zee Historical Society, constituted to carry on the activities of the dormant Rockland County Society and granted a charter by the N.Y.S. Board of Regents September 24, 1954, could not preserve on the site or move the Salisbury House, which was rased in 1958. Meanwhile (in 1957), however, the Tappan Zee Historical Society com­ menced an admirable venture with the publication of its quarterly, South of the Mountains, which today stands high on the list of excellent historical pub­ lications. With the assistance of corporate sponsors and volunteer writers this quarterly has brought a degree of permanence to and widened the range of the society’s goals. Another of the society’s most worthwhile aims is the preservation of Rockland County’s legacy of historic sites and homes. This is being achieved by the formation of a Committee on Historic Site Preservation. Much valuable work has been done in attempting to perpetuate Rockland's glorious past. Attempting is the correct word, for many priceless structures have fallen before the builders’ bulldozers or the planners’ unconscionable schemes. To conserve what is left of our heritage and to pass it on if possible, it was decided in 1965 Rockland would best be served by combining the two existing historical societies. In September the Rockland County Society merged with the Tappan Zee Historical Society to form the Historical Society of Rockland County.

7 HEATED POKER TECHNIQUE GIVES PICTURES EARLY AMERICAN LOOK (photos by Anne Mellett) Anthony Komornick of Piermont, whose painting of Rockland scenes has added a bright note to many a local art show, is recreating an Early American art form. Known in colonial days as heated poker art and revived in the late 1890’s as pyrography, it is a wood burning process this artist employs to enhance outline, shading and texture. A couple of years ago, whiling away time in scanning an old Americana en­ cyclopedia, Komornick came across PYROGRAPHY and decided it would be fun to combine the burnt-wood process with his own use of acrylics on wood. He purchased one of the wood- burning kits and started to experiment. Obviously planned for merest begin­ ner or dilettante, these kits could not satisfy Komornick’s needs, so he set about devising his own "hot poker”. And came up with a tool that not only Anthony Komornick has a degree of permanence but also a choice of points. He utilized an electric soldering iron, with three degrees of heat, and sub­ stituted his own burning tips for the single hot-welding point. He sought for and found simply designed brass finials (used by electrical workers and having a helical thread that matches the one in the soldering iron). These he shaped with varied edges by grinding them on the rotating solid stone wheel in his home-workshop. Komornick has been using small oblongs of pine, cut from milled lengths so as to eliminate knots, as his "canvas”. Usually, a narrow frame of Philippine mahogany, one wood that does not warp, protects the soft edges and holds firm a small brass swivel hanger. Using a spiral flip-top pad and an ordinary lead pencil, Komornick makes rapid on-the-spot sketches—true working drawings for lightly limned arrows point to a color-key Komornick pencils in the sky area to avoid messing up the drawing. A variety of elevations record the scene and one trip to a site suffices. At home, the artist, in free hand, gets his outline on board. He burns a scalloped edging with the shank of his soldering iron, uses his hot points to incise whatever outlines and shadings will be needed, adds color and, finally, fixes his completed work with an acrylic floor varnish. Occasionally, Komornick produces a picture in pyrogravure without color as the turn-of-the-century burnt-wood artists did. But these are rarely as popular as his painted works.

8 Komornick is experimenting with birch and some maple as these woods take a much finer line than pine. He is also adding some pen-and-ink lines when the burning process does not quite satisfy his feeling for the work. Fortunately for us, Komornick is in­ tensely interested in local history and is depicting houses, barns, public build­ ings and sites associated with the rich heritage of west-bank Hudson activities in both Rockland and Bergen counties.

A scalloped edge is burned with the shank of the modern hot poker.

The artist lightly sketches in pencil the preliminary outline.

• Attorney William A. Perry, Jr., 37 No. Broadway, Nyack, is arranging to notify known members of the Rockland County Society of New York for the purpose of suggesting a merger of that society with the Historical Society of Rockland County. Interested persons may contact Mr. Perry. • Richard J. Koke, museum curator for the New York Historical Society, New York City, is serving a consultant on interior design for the new museum at the New City History Center, 20 Zukor Road. • If you missed "America’s Remarkable Desert Zoo” by Jean George in the September 1974 Readers Digest, go back and read about society member William H. Carr, who initiated the Trailside Museum at Bear Mountain.

9 NAVAL BATTLES ON THE HUDSON

War came to the Tappan Zee and Haverstraw Bay in mid-1776, when the words of the Declaration of Independence were still reverberating through the colonies. The summer and fall of that year saw two naval engagements between the formidable forces of the British and the small but feisty vessels of the Americans. Unequal contests, they served dramatic notice on the residents of Orange (then including all of Rockland) and Westchester Counties that the conflict was joined and that those living along the Hudson would be in the midst of it. The first of these conflicts began on July 12, 1776, when two British frigates—the Phoenix, 44 guns, and the Rose, 20 guns—dropped anchor in the Tappan Zee. They tried unsuccessfully to send landing parties ashore but were driven off by the Americans and, weighing anchor on July 16, they proceeded upriver to Haverstraw Bay. Taking soundings, probing the shoreline, directing occasional lire at homes and inhabitants, receiving an occasional shot in return from the apprehensive Americans. They went as far as Verplanck’s Point. Once they sent ashore a letter from General Howe to "George Washington, Esq." The Americans huffily rejected it as improperly addressed to their Commanding General. On July 26, the frigates hoisted sail and moved back to Tarrytown. There they were attacked by a small squadron of American row galleys and a whale­ boat, including the Washington, the Lady Washington, the Spitfire, the Shark, and others. After a 90-minute battle, during which both sides sustained casual­ ties and damage (accounts differ as to the number of casualties), the Americans fell back to Dobbs Ferry, down but not out. "We wish to give them another drubbing," Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Tupper reported to Gen. Nathaniel Woodhull, president of the Convention in New York. Two weeks later, they did.

10 By that time the British squadron had moved to the vicinity of Yonkers. On August 6, the Americans, utilizing two fire sloops sent up from New York, attacked. Under cover of darkness, they drove one of the sloops, laden with combustibles, against the Phoenix and the other against a tender. The tender burned to the water’s edge, but the Phoenix, towering over her small attacker, was able to sever the chain which held her to the burning sloop. Dropping her foresail and wearing away into the darkness, she eluded her tormentor. She sustained some fire damage and injury to her hull and rigging, but was not disabled. Meanwhile, on July 16, the Americans, still in command of New York and in the hope of obstructing further British incursions upriver, ordered con­ struction of a chevaux-de-frise across the Hudson between Fort Lee (then called Fort Constitution) and Fort Washington. The Phoenix, slipping back to New York from Yonkers, found her way safely through this barrier and the Americans redoubled their efforts to make the chevaux-de-frise formidably dangerous and ugly to shipping. Both the British and Americans recognized the vital strategic importance of the-Hudson River and on October 9 the British again sent a squadron to the Tappan Zee. It consisted of the Phoenix, and the frigate Roebuck, each mounting 44 guns, the Tartar with 28 guns, two tenders and a schooner. Although the narrow passage between Forts Washington and Lee bristled with the underwater iron-tipped spikes of the chevaux-de-frise, the British ships led by the battle-hardened Phoenix succeeded in getting through by sailing close to the Fort Washington shoreline, where a channel had been left open. As Col. Tench Tilghman, Washington’s aide, reported to the New York Committee on Safety (October 9, 1776) "to our surprise and mortification, they all came through without any apparent damage from our forts, which kept playing on them from both sides of the river.” Worse yet, the British ships flushed out a covey of small American craft moored off Fort Lee. Fleeing in hope of escape upriver before the British these vessels included the row galleys Crane and Independence, two or three sloops, two large vessels which had been built to be sunk into the chevaux-de-frise and a schooner laden with wine, rum and sugar. Again the contest was highly one-sided. The British fired on and sank one of the sloops. They overtook the schooner and seized its cargo. They drove ashore, beached and seized the galleys and left undisturbed only the two hulls which had been constructed to be sunk into the chevaux-de-frise. With the sinking of one of the sloops, the Americans lost also their first and only submarine, the Turtle. It had been built near Stonington, Conn., by David Bushnell in a plan for reducing the enemy fleet by underwater attacks. An iron and oak contraption, capable of submersion and underwater operation, with devices to permit an operator to affix to the keel of an enemy craft a magazine filled with explosives to be detonated by a clock mechanism, it had been used unsuccessfully against H.M.S. Eagle in New York harbor. After the British captured the city in August 1776, the Turtle was spirited overland and placed aboard one of the sloops, hopefully to fight another day. Regretfully, it met an inglorious end.

11 "Mr. Bushnell had great confidence of its success,” General Heath reported to the New York Committee of Correspondence, "and had made several experiments which seemd to give him countenance, but its fate was truly a contrast to its design.” The loss of the Turtle marked the end of sub­ marine warfare for the duration. After the Revolution, the British and French agreed that the use of any such naval devices was "unfair”. The Yankees went right on experimenting, however, and in 1864 successfully sank a Confederate ship in Charleston harbor with a sub-launched torpedo. Before the Revolution was over, the Tappan Zee and the water above and below it would be the scene of many stirring and portentous events. British men-of-war and their auxiliary vessels were a common sight and sound on the river. They came to encourage the loyalists, cow the rebels, forage for supplies and, occasionally, to fight. Some resident welcomed them out of loyalty to the King. Others because they thought the British would win. And some to collect the substantial bounties which the British offered to adherents. Those of different mind enlisted in the Shore Guard and carried on guerrilla warfare against the British men-of-war throughout the conflict in a time of highly ambivalent loyalties. In November 1776 virtually the entire American Army moved from Westchester to New Jersey following the disastrous engagements in New York and White Plains. Part of the Army went across the Tappan Zee, the remainder via Kings Ferry. A year later, a squadron of British ships laden with troops sailed upriver to Tarrytown, took on additional troops and proceeded to the highlands to attack and capture Forts Clinton and Montgomery. In December of 1778, a flotilla of 26 British ships sailed upriver to awe and intimidate the countryside and forage for supplies for New York City. During a few hectic days in July of 1779, the fort at Stony Point was successfully stormed by American troops and then relinquished because Wash­ ington concluded more naval support than could be mustered would be needed to hold it. The following year Washington ordered construction of the block­ house at Sneden’s Landing—to harass British shipping, serve as an intelligence post and to be a checkpoint for'persons traveling between the lines under flags of truce—and warfare in that area intensified. In September the H.M.S. Vulture, with Major Andre aboard, stole upriver for the rendezvous with Benedict Arnold. Later it dropped downstream under fire from American shore guns and finally fled to New York with Arnold aboard. Andre was left to his eventual capture and a spy’s death on Tappan Hill although the schooner Greyhound came upriver October 1, 1780 with emissaries from Sir Henry Clinton, making a last-ditch futile effort to save Andre. Generals Washington and Rochambeau with a detachment of 150 men crossed from the river’s east to west shore at Sneden’s July 18, 1781 to recon­ noitre British positions in the New York City area. Subsequently the transfer from the east to west bank of French and American troops bound not for New York but for the climactic engagement at Yorktown, was accomplished. Finally, after the shaky peace was signed (May 5, 1783), H.M.S. Per­ severance and the Greyhound brought General Sir Guy Carleton and his aides to Rockland’s shores to meet with General Washington and to fire the first formal and official salute by the British to the new United States of America.

12 Not all of these events were depicted for posterity, but the two Hudson River engagements of 1776 were sketched by contempories'and subsequently translated into paintings and prints. Originals by Dominique Seires (1722- 1793) were used for William Joy’s oil (p. 10) and for a colored aquatint after Wallace (below). —photo courtesy New-York Historical Society, N.Y.C.

Mrs. Saveli is indebted to the Rockland County Librarians Association for their facsimile editions of The History of Rockland County by the Rev. David Cole, D.D. and by Frank Bertangue Green, M.D.; the Rockland County Public Librarians Association for The Role of Orange town in the Revolution by Viola M. Lucanera and for Rockland Record—American Revolution by George H. Budke; The Rockland Record edited by Budke and published by the Rockland County Society of the State of New York; Forcing the Hudson River Passage by Richard M. Koke, curator of the museum, New-York Historical Society Quarterly, October 1952; History of Westchester County by J. Thomas Scharf; Encyclopedia Britannica, 14th edition.

DATES TO REMEMBER December 7 (Saturday) 9:30, 11:00 a.m., 12:30, 2:00, 3:30 p.m. ST. NICHOLAS CELEBRATIONS for children at New City, Val. Foster, chairman. Reservations must be made through Mrs. J. D. Dodge at EL 9-0616. Parents may visit the Jacob Blauvelt House while the children attend. The programs are in the Street School auditorium across Zukor Rd. from the center. Zukor Rd. is the extension of North Main Street.

13 VIVID MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR I IN HAVERSTRAW VILLAGE (second of three parts) by Daniel deNoyelles Not long after President Wilson announced the declaration of war on the Imperial German Government on April 6, 1917, the Haverstraw High School and the grammar departments (called K-8 today) gathered in the large assem­ bly room of the old building on Hudson Avenue for a great patriotic meeting. At 12 noon we all jammed the capacity of the hall to hear our faculty and Superintendent L. O. Markham tell us the dramatic events which had happened to our country just a few days previous. We all knew in advance what had been going on from the excitement in our homes and by reading the local Rockland County Messenger and its rival newspaper, The Rockland County Times. The Messenger was published by the Freyfogle family and The Times by Michael McCabe, a distinguished village editor. The school program was excellent though we had to delay our lunch until the afternoon. However, we were rewarded by an early dismissal from class routine. We began by singing a hymn. Mr. Markham then read a passage from the Scriptures, as was his custom in morning assemblies, and all recited the Lord’s Prayer. Miss Anne McCabe (daughter of The Times editor) delivered a poem, "Your Flag and My Flag”; Miss Ruth DeBaun gave a recitation, "America For Me”; and John W. Gillies, president of the board of education followed with an address on the recent cataclysmic events of war with Germany. Mr. Gillies later read a resolution which passed the assemblage unanimously and was sent to President Wilson, telling him of our devotion to our country. The Salute to the Flag was given and we sang the Star Spangled Banner on the way to the lower floors. Most of us boys were ready then and there to go off to fight and we talked all day on how we could help the war effort. We hardly needed such a school demonstration to get us keyed up to the stirring events piling one after another every day of our lives. We had followed the war since its beginning in 1914, were incensed at the submarine warfare with the sinking of the Lusitania and the loss of many American lives in May of 1915, were impressed by the preparedness parades all over the land. Empha­ sizing to our young minds the fact of our involvement was the arrival on April 2nd, 1917 of the 1st Bath, 71st New York Infantry to guard the tunnels and bridges of the West Shore Railroad from sabotage. Sixteen men were left at Haverstraw and it was reported that a hundred were left to guard Bear Moun­ tain and the surrounding hills as a protection for the ammunition depot at Iona Island. Louis King and Ambrose Larkin were Haverstraw men in the 71st. The youngsters of North Rockland got their chance to help the war effort about a week after the big assembly meeting. Word came that pupils would have the option of leaving school April 14th provided they take up farm or garden work. They would receive full credit for the term’s work with marks being the average of all work up to the time of leaving. There was some supervision provided, for each farmer had to submit a weekly report of the work and hours put in by each boy. Each boy had to show attention to his

14 farm production and the school authorities sent out weekly bulletins of the work missed at school if anyone wanted to keep up with his courses. The girls did not take part in this program but they did have their own gardens at home. The first boys.to enlist in this endeavor were Louis Spiegel, Gus Shankey, John Anderson, Harold King and Ray Springer. I think all five went to work on the Mott Farm in Tomkins Cove. Since Rockland County was largely farm­ ing area then, boys went to work on many farms though trying to stay within walking or bicycle range. By the time May 1917 arrived, with the early spring planting at hand, there were about 50 boys working to help win the war in local farms, dairies and poultry yards. I was not so fortunate as to be planting, weeding or hoeing under spring skies rather than sitting in a classroom in the "Yellow Prison.’’ When my father had built our home high above the brickyards and under the lofty High Tor, he employed Louis Degener, a retired farmer-butcher, to manager the plantings and the livestock. We farmed the acreage between the State Road and the West Shore Railroad tracks, filled in later by stone when Route 9W was widened and where gas stations and taverns are today. The land between the rear of the house and the foot of the mountains was also used. To the north we had a poultry yard with some 400 silver-laced Wyandottes. To the south was a shed for a cow and a run for about ten pigs. So, with the entire family lending a hand, we were as usual tilling the land around us. One of the family’s main concerns was the brick market in wartime. The price had opened the year of 1917 at $10.00 per thousand and had climbed to $14.00, which later in 1918 was to advance to the munificent price of $20.00 per thousand. Since brickmaking was a non-essential industry, it was hard to get the raw materials which went into production. The brick plants started work in early April 1917 with some promise of average times when a one-day strike halted production on May 13th. The brickmen had added 15 cents a day to the pay rates but the workers said they preferred last year’s pay with the "small pit". From 1890 until 1925 there was always a struggle between the men and the owners on the issue of pit size. The "big pit" was 25,000 brick for one-half day’s work, while the "small pit" was 22,500. The New York Metropolitan market was using some brick and the DeNoyelles Brick Co., along with others, tried to make what it could in order to supply needed construction and to keep the steady family men out of finan­ cial difficulties and their families intact for the better days to come after the war was won. While the country was getting into fighting shape, brick produc­ tion was about normal, but as the war continued and the brickyarders were drafted, production slowed to a walk. In fact our brick company ran only one machine during the spring of 1918 and, when we youngsters were out of school for summer, the company managed two machines—some 45,000 bricks a day. While the kilns of "green” brick were burned during the war years, most of the production in 1918 was not shipped until 1919, when a boom started following the end of hostilities. Brick would not deteriorate after burn­ ing so no harm was done by letting the kilns remain closed in the frame kiln sheds. One of the thrills I shall always remember in the early years of American participation was the visit of Marshall Joffre to Washington’s headquarters in

15 Newburgh on Friday, May 10, 1917. I was thirteen then and dad thought it was an historic occasion which I should not miss. The famous head of the French army stood at the south end of the old Hasbrouck farmhouse and, with other notables, told the gathered crowd of citizens just how terrible the con­ flict was. We all hoped for victory for the Allies but no one knew in 1917 just how strong the Central Powers were. There were very few automobiles so most of the crowd had taken the West Shore Railroad to Newburgh, walked up the hill to the celebration and listened to the speeches on the need for men, arms and money to overcome Kaiser Wilhelm’s dreams of world domination. Dad and I returned to Haverstraw with a strengthened determination to face whatever hardships lay ahead of the American people. Probably one of the local changes which affected North Rockland more than anything else at the time happened a little before our entry into the war. Since colonial times the entrance to North Rockland’s waterfront and ships was by the King’s Highway through the Long Clove at the far southern end of Haverstraw. Over the years there had been much agitation to have an easier crossing of the mountains for Haverstraw’s tradesmen and for the farmers of central Rockland taking their produce to market. On January 25, 1917, at a sessions of the board of supervisors, plans for the improvement of the Short Clove were approved as presented by the N.Y. State Highway Department. The road was to be cut down to a size which automobiles and horses could safely ascend and descend. Eugene Cavallo of Haverstraw entered the lowest bid (about $15,500) and John A. Jova of Newburgh was next. These bids were opened on May 10th and, though we were at war by then, the supervisors decided to go ahead with the road as important to the war effort. This is the Short Clove of today and I am sure the colonists who lived in New City, Centenary and along The Street would have dearly loved to have had this more direct entry to Haver­ straw’s riverfront in the early days of the county’s settlement. Most of us youngsters knew that the Great War was coming close to home when two camps opened in Rockland County. Camp Bluefield at Blauvelt, mostly a rifle range for gunnery practice, did not last long when the nearby homeowners complained of the riflemen missing the targets altogether and endangering their lives. Camp Pershing, opened at Congers July 1, 1918, was managed by the Junior Training Camp Association with third year West Point cadets as officers to maintain West Point discipline among the 1000 boys who would train there. Regulations stated that the boys should be between 14 and 16 years old to sign up for a two month’s training period. Training would end for the boys on September 1st but the camp would remain open for any local drafted men who wanted to take some preliminary training. The Congers Red Cross backed the camp with serious thought and action as the citizens planned to run a sort of post exchange to care for the would-be soldiers. Profits, if any, were to go to the Congers Red Cross. The Palisades Park Commission lent part of the park at Rockland Lake for this encampment and, when any of us went to Congers, we saw the great changes made by an army of workmen rushing construction. The park commis­ sion had its own engineers on the grounds to get the sanitary facilities and

16 —photo courtesy oj Charles M. t'ales, Stony Point

Haverstraw WWI veterans after the Memorial Day parade of May 3 0, 1919 stand on "the Bank Corner” to decide "Where can we get a cool one?” (1 to r) Louis Lynch, Vincent Fox, Fergus Redmond, William Flynn, Lawrence Shankey, James Brems, James Larkin and Tom Shankey. water supplies in shape. And the old dance pavilion went to war by turning into a barracks with steel double-deck bunks. Incidentally, when Camp Pershing closed after the war had ended, much of the remains were bought by the brick­ yards for their laborers’ tenements. Congers people did a noble job for no one could guess the length of the war and no one knew what sacrifices of time and effort would be needed to take care of future soldiers. The head of the Congers Red Cross, Mrs. John Dickenman, Sr., was really in charge of the PX with Dr. Ralph DeBaun, chair­ man of the supervisors along with other Congers rank and file—John Dicken­ man, Jr., Victor Eckhart, William Huffman, Edward McCormack, Walter Jacobsen, Edgar Jolliffe, Dr. Ruhl Batchelor and many others doing a great job caring for the wants of the young men. The sellers in the PX had the most to do for it was open from 9 to 9 daily and until 11 p.m. on weekends. These were Mrs. Dickenman, Mrs. L. W. Marshall, Mrs. C. H. Peterson, Mrs. Gibson Hague, Mrs. C. H. Fessenden and Miss L. Cattelain. One of the war occurrences which tried the patience and the forecasts ot our local politicians, but which didn’t bother us teenagers, was a notice that appeared in the Rockland County Messenger in late February, 1917 The village voting up to this time had been done with paper ballots and, according to our parents, the results could be finagled. Under cover it was whispered that this was common in the rabid politics of Haverstraw. The newspaper notice which caused all the concern read something like this:

17 All Citizens are cordially invited to witness a demonstration of the American Voting Machine in the Goldsmith Building, 68 Main St., Haverstraw. Feb. 28-Mar. 10, 1917. Bring a friend and see why public officials, civil organizations and public spirited citizens endorse this machine. A great change in our young lives during World War I was the passing of our river steamboats. Early in March 1917, Captain David C. Woolsey, who owned the Chrystenah and the Emeline, was undecided what to do with his two ships. First, he planned to charter the Chrystenah to the Keensburg Steamboat Co. to run between New York City and Keensburg, N. J. The Emeline had been a losing proposition for some years with automobiles hurting her pas­ senger sailings and motor truck lessening her freight billings. One final blow came with the 1917 epidemic of infantile paralysis, which ended the wonder­ ful (and profitable) summer excursions. During the epidemic, doctors banned all public gatherings and this almost spelt the knell for the Emeline. Then came the fierce winter of 1917-1918, probably one of the coldest ever experi­ enced in the Hudson River valley. Temperatures dropped to 15 and 20 degrees below zero and the Hudson froze across with 12 to 18 inches of ice. The boilers in the school building burst during the 1917 Christmas vacation so when we returned to classes, the remaining boilers could only heat part of the school- house. Therefore, scholars in the lower grades attended mornings only and high school students afternoons. You can image the skating we young ones enjoyed most of the winter with the ponds and the Hudson frozen in the tight grip of such an extraordinary winter. On February 14, 1918, the good ship Emeline sunk at her berth at her Haverstraw mooring on the north side of the Rockland Prints Works dock. The hull is there to this day. The old riverboat captain David C. Woolsey remained aboard until friends almost dragged him from the craft. He took ill immediately with a heavy cold. Old and discouraged, the captain died August 14, 1918 just six months to the day after the Emeline’s destruction. Efforts were made during World War II to raise the copper-bottomed hull but none were successful. One rude change during the war was for years to come to affect all of us, our drinking habits and our saloons in the Rockland County villages. We all knew the value of food production in winning the war. Many of us and our friends were in the school-release farming program to help feed our allies. We were aware grains were of prime importance. Early in 1917, the Raines Liquor Tax Law had been introduced in the state legislature with the primary purpose of cutting down the number of saloons throughout the state. About one-half of the old North Rockland bars were eventually closed (if one couldn’t see very clearly) and many of the young owners while awaiting their draft call were serving a legal near-beer which was one-half of one percent alcohol. 4 he Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League had been trying for some 80 years to close the drinking spots all over the nation and now was a first-class time for success. It did not bother us teen­ agers then but there was lots of flack both pro and con at our supper tables at home. Most of the men folk I knew treated the new restrictions with the same contempt that our ancestors had shown the British Stamp Act. It didn't

18 help either that wartime hatred of the Germans (many of whom were our leading brewers and distillers) was enlisted in the cause of Prohibition. The upshot was that the 18th Amendment to the Constitution rolled through the Congress in December 1917 and it was ratified to become law by the 36th state, Nebraska, Jan. 16, 1919. The brewers were given one year to wind up their affairs and find new occupations. But I don’t believe these events ever made much of a shift in our elders’ drinking habits. To enforce Prohibition, when it became effective at midnight Jan. 16-17, 1920, Congress adopted a bill proposed by Rep. Andrew J. Volstead declaring any beverage to be "intoxicating” if it contained more than one-half of one percent alcohol by volume; the standard beer had previously been 3.7 percent alcohol. If you were a teenager at that time you would have been amazed at the hustle and bustle to load up cellars with any alcoholic potable to carry one’s family over the dry spell. And that’s what many thought—a wartime dry spell. At the start all the stay-at-homes agreed to the food conservation’s war-winning connation but, when it came to cutting out the fun after the war was over, that was going too far. Returning veterans warned us young fellows "that the deal was put over on us while we were in the service but just wait a while.” We did wait and, when we in turn grew up, we saw no change in North Rockland’s drinking habits. That area had always been an oasis for an all-night poker game, a high-stakes crap game, a side-street store where one could wager on a horse race, or numerous speakeasies where one could taste some­ thing stronger than the chaser. It was their personal liberty, residents told us youngsters, to drink. And we believed them, especially the veterans back from the fighting fronts.

DATES TO REMEMBER

January 13 (Monday) 8:15 a.m. Dr. Barbara Graymont will outline her forthcoming book, "Indians of Rockland County” at English Church, New Hempstead Rd. just each of Rt. 45. February 9 (Sunday) 2:00 p.m. Slide program on activities of society, in Little Theatre, St. Thomas Aquinas College, Rt. 340, Sparkill. Jay Perine, chairman. March 20 8:40 p.m. Antrim Playhouse benefit of "Private Lives” tickets $4; Alice Kinney (947-1635), chairman. April 15 8:15 p.m. Annual meeting at O & R auditorium, Rt. 59, SV.

19 MUSEUM HOURS Sundays County History Center, New City, 20 Zukor Road...... 2 to 5 p.m. (caretakers at the Jacob Blauvelt House—Mr. and Mrs. Glenn A. Fisher, 634-9629)

In establishing $250 life memberships, the society also established $100 life memberships for those over 65. These life membership dues are, in their entirety, placed in the endowment fund.

putting it all together.

that’s what wn do best of all... as one of Rockland’s leading general contractors we take pride in our past accomplishments and are looking forward to the challenge of the seventies GENERAL CONTRACTOR AW ROWER JOHN FORNI CONSTRUCTION CO., INC.

FRANCHISED BUILDER

334 SO. MIDDLETOWN ROAD, NANUET, N.Y. est. 1917 NA3-3818