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History of the Town of Kings Bridge

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History of the Town of Kings Bridge ’ KING S B RIDGE . a n t intermediate one , having their axes parallel wi h o f N e w the Palisades Jersey , and a direction north 1 f northeast . Spuyten Duyvil Ridge , rom Yonkers v w th e city l ine to Spuyten Duy il Creek , an d bet een ’ 1 n Hudson o the west an d Tippett s Brook on th e east . 2 u - f Greatest el evation , two h ndred and eighty two eet , f 2 o n o . lan d Frederick Goodridge , Riverdale Valen ’ s f lVest tine Ridge , rom Yonkers l ine to Farms l ine , 3 ’ and between the Bronx on the east and Ti ppett s Brook on the west . Greatest el evation , two hundred f l l f Voo d aw n . V a n 3 . an d orty eet , near Heights o r tla n dt f C Ridge , i ntermediate , rom Yo nkers l ine to ’ a on a V ult Hill , between Tippett s Brook the e st and v its main branch on the west . Greatest el e ation , two f . hundred eet , n ear Yonkers city l ine ’ s Tippett s Brook , the m ai n stream , rises in Yonker , flows southwesterly unt il it forms Van Co rtla n d t ‘ w Lake , belo wh ich it is a tidal stream to its outlet into v Spuyten Duy il Creek . About twenty l esser brooks , varying in length from five hundred to te n thousand ’ f p eet , flow into the Hudson , the Bronx and Ti pett s Brook . f The geological ormations are very ancient , consist 1 G a n r a n d So called after eorge Tippett , early settler and prop ietor, of ‘ ' b ilt s Mosho lu late corrupted into Tib Brook . Its Indian name was It d r r e has also been known as M l C eek and Yonke s Ri v r . 2 The highest ground within the limits of N e w York City . The eleva s t w o tion of Fort Wa hington , the greatest on Manhattan Island , is hun - dred and sixty four feet . 3 S o called after Jonas Bronck , the earliest white settler and proprietor ’ ” ' - W w B ronck s r a r cl N e . of Land , now Morrisania , Twenty thi d , York 4 A n Cor tland t ir u m 1700 artificial pond , formed by Jacobus Van , c c , b ’ dammi ng Tippett s Brook . ’ K ING S BRIDGE . 1 in o f f g mainly micaceous gneiss or gran ite , the ormer - n f in di a t l argely preponderati g , the exposed sur aces c ing subj ection to intense heat and pressure , with so great d t a isplacem en t tha the strat are nearly vertical , out u le d es n ot cropping in numero s parall el g , continuous , en echelon b but , and giving steep incl ination to ill 2 A of sides . coarse, crystallized limestone varying - o u t hardness , ranging about north northeast, crops at ’ King s Bri dge an d on th e Whiting and D elafi eld . On d estates , Spuyten Duyvil Ridge the latter ri ge the surface o f the primary rocks is strewn with trap boulders . — 1 DISCOVE RY . Th e earliest known visitor to this 0 c alit n y was Henry Hudson . Goi g up the river which bears his name , he skirted its westerly shore Septem 1 3 1609 a n d h is c ber , , , on return , was attack ed , O 2d f S hor a c/c- K o oc/r o f tober , rom p p , the Indian nam e 3 u S puyten D yvil Poi nt, and the kill or creek at its bas e . — of INDIANS . Th e Indian nam e this section was ’ ” W ecle u a eslreek - — an d q , the birch bark country , its ' res id ents were known to the first settl ers as W ic/le'r s ’ 1 - 1750 A tfor d iu g b uilding stone of fine quality . Before quarries of k th e broken stone were wor ed on Spuyten Duyvil Ridge , whole ex tent of which is scarred by them . The large quarries at Spuyten Duyvil P 1 8 oint were worked until about 50 . ’ 2 r a Known as K ing s B idge M rble . It was extensively quarried early i n r P the century on the no therly end of Manhattan Island . erkins Nich “ ’ olls h ad a marble - sawing mill at D y c k m a n s Cut (which was ex ca vat ed fl ow to supply power to this mill by the ebb and of the tide) , and ’ . On another at the King s Bridge the banks of the Hudson , along the m base of Spuyten Duyvil Ridge , were several kilns for making li e from this stone , all of which have been disused for many years . 3 According to tradition , the natives had a castle or stronghold on th e poi nt . ’ KI NG S BRIDGE . /c I n cr ee . Indians person they were tolerably stout . Their hair was worn shorn to a coxcomb on top , with lo ok S a long depending on one ide . They wore bea fur in ver and other skins , with the inside winter and m o f f outside in sum er, and also coats turkey eathers . They were valiant warriors . Yea , says De Vries , they say they are Ma netto— the devil himsel f " n of Their leading sachems, at the adve t white set t lers Te uem et Rech aw a c Pa cka mien s f , were q , g and , rom u f A u whom the D tch director , Kie t, purchased , i n u 16 39 g st, , the tract This tribe gradually w d indled , until its remnant finally disappeared b e f o f t he ore the end eighteenth century . — FI RST SETT LE ME N T . The earliest white resident A d ra i n a n D n k . e o c u r i3 and proprietor was Dr V der , j t r f f u tr iu s ue d oc o o . ff o q , Leyden He had been sheri o f Re n ss lae rsw c k 1 4 1 the Colonie e y since 6 . Having aided Director Kieft in negotiating an important I n a t t b dian treaty For Orange , Al any , the latter 1645 e granted him , in , a large tract on the N p 1 er h a em - p River, Yonkers , where he built a saw mill , laid out farms and plantations and had actually r e sol ved to continue . But that indispensabl e requi I o f a f w as . n site Dutch arm , salt meadow , lacking S o f f earch this , Van der Donck ound , about a mile ’ w a din - la ce abov e the g p (King s Bridge ) a flat, with b e some convenient m eadows about it, which promptly secured by purc hase from the Indians and f f f t in a urther grant rom Ki e t . His n ew acquisi ion f cl uded the area under consideration , extending rom 1 “ h m Hence the name of Saw Kill , by whic this strea became known . K I N ’ G S BRIDGE . f the Hudson to the Bronx , and rom the Spuyten Duy vil Creek to the N epp erh aem tract . Here he located bower ie - f - fi eld his , or home arm , with its planting , and near the l atter he had already begun th e erection o f f 1649 his house , be ore going to Holland , in , as the representative o f the commonal ty of New Amster ’ D on ck s - fi eld dam . Van der planting was on th e or of Cortla n dt b e plain flat the Van estate, lying ' th e r esen t l tween Broadway and p ake . an d extending ’ f 1 up to the southerly end o Vaul t Hill . It is prob ou an d loc ated abl e that his house was the flat , f , per w o f Cor tla n d t haps , here the old house Jacobus Van f f 2 a terwards stood until the early part o this centu ry . ’ D o nc k s Whil e absent in Holland , Van der lands were erected into the fi ef or Colonie o f Nepper f (Jolen haem (or, as he called it a ter his own name , d onclc ) , an d h e was m ade its patroon . Pursuant to ” th e Freedoms an d Exemptions , h e sent out to it, f o f S o f rom Holland , a number colonists with uppl ies 1652 farming stock and impl ements . In he was about to return to his colonie , and had already embarked h is w f i e, mother , brother and sister , with an ampl e of w th e stock goods , h en West India Company pre fi” vented his d ep a r tu r e During his detention he got 1 It m ay have also stretched eastward across the brook and beyond the site of the present lake . 2 l Its site was just behind the present grove of ocusts, north of the Van Cortla n d t Mills .
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