South Ot the ^Yhfountciind

South ot the ^yhfountciind

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

Vol. 19, No. 3 July-September 1975

Present Dutch Reformed Church Dutch Reformed Church

Iuilt 1835. As Rk-Built in 1788.

-jrom Cole’s History of Rockland LIFE MEMBERSHIPS William H. Hand

BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE Edward T. Lovatt Albert W. Munson Vern Wenger Mrs. Sophie J. Wilson

IN MEMORIAM Robert Doscher Mrs. Evelyn Nelson Malcolm G. Field George W. Rhine Edward T. Lovatt R. Newton Sneden Albert W. Munson Mrs. Margaret S. Tomkins Mrs. Sophie J. Wilson

A comprehensive checking of the society’s mailing list is under way. If you know of a member who is not receiving South of the Mountains, please •call or have that person call 634-9629 so that the society’s list and stencils may be corrected. Changes of address should be sent the society as soon as possible. Did you know that South of the Mountain reaches members in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massa chusetts, Mississsippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Caro lina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin ?

COVER PICTURE: fourteen of the county’s churches were featured in a Faith of Our Father’s Historic Church Tour early in May of this year. Presented by the Clarkstown Garden Club, the Garden Club of West Nyack, Ramapo Valley Garden Club, Tappan Zee Garden Cub and the Garden Club of Spring Valley as a joint benefit for the historical society’s museum fund and the garden club’s civic projects, the tour was enhanced by special floral arrangements for each of the churches. These were supplied by the participating clubs, which also prepared a brochure pointing out historical, structural and decorative features of each church visited. Included in this first tour were the Russian Orthodox Church of South Nyack, Grace Episcopal Church of Nyack, the Old Stone Church of Upper Nyack, the Greek Orthodox Church of West Nyack, the Clarkstown Reformed Church of West Nyack, Central Presbyterian Church of Haverstraw, St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church of Haver- straw, St. John’s in the Wilderness of Stony Point, Congers United Methodist Parish Church, the New Hempstead Presbyterian Church, Brick Church (Reformed) of Spring Valley and Wesley Chapel of Suffern, the Tappan Reformed Church and the Palisades Presbyterian Church. Our cover shows the oldest church in the county, founded in 1694. Within the circle is the earliest structure. To the left is the present building.

2 ANNUAL AWARDS MAIN FEATURE AT STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL The annual awards made by the society to Rockland County high school students nominated by their faculties for outstanding interest and excellence in American history were for the first time made at the new Rockland Coun ty History Center in New City. Elaine Wilson Ward, standing in for her husband, William F. Ward of Suffern, donor of the awards who was hospitalized, made the presentations as each of the recipients was intro duced by society president John Zehner. Each student received a Funk and Wagnalls dictionary that may one day be a collector’s item as the vol Koshel photo umes were chosen from a last-of-the- Mrs. Ward and John J. Koshel type printing with leather bindings. Those so honored were Rosemary Olive and James Donaghy of Albertus Magnus, Bradley Andeozzi (in absentia) and Betsy August of Clarkstown South, Barbara Smith and Dale DeNunzio of Clarkstown North, Larri Harris and Robert Izenberg of Nanuet, Janice Fain and Steven Rabinowitz of North Rockland, Corinna Gardner and Frank Schwartz of Nyack, Michael Heinz and Sandra Zeralski (in absentia) of Pearl River, Beth Magalnick and Steven Miles of Ramapo, Gary Bowitch and Risa Weinrit of Spring Valley, Dale Lum and Carol Stella of Suffern, Patricia Castelli and John Koshel of Tappan Zee. A prayer "to the Creator of the Universe, who established for us the fact of history’’ and a plea that all assembled are ever made mindful of that fact and given an appreciation of our heritage was voiced by the Rev. John H. Maheras, pastor of The Church of St. Constantine and Helen, West Nyack. Speaker for the festival event was Charles V. Sansone, principal of the Fox Lane Middle School at Bedford, whose delightful "History on a Sunday afternoon” is well remembered by members who attended the 1972 strawberry festival at the Orangeburg Museum. Again, his message was, "History is very much alive!” Claiming the subject is not deadly, disinteresting or just to be tolerated—as some people seem convinced—but truly one way to study human beings, Mr. Sansone urged, "Enjoy the excitement of history.” "Hopes, aspirations and commitments have not changed over the years,” he said. As a schoolman, Mr. Sansone felt local history is the basis for all historical studies; that local history does not have to fight for a place in the curriculum (though there might be battles over how local history should be taught and studied); and that we can either turn young people off or encourage their interest and zest. And here, in this sparking of enthusiastic concern and curiosity, he suggested, is where a society such as ours can exert great influence. (see also pp. 18 and 19)

3 SPECIAL REPORT General Fund Raising Chairman Robert W. Reardon reports an encour aging response to his May 15th letter to members soliciting gifts to the museum fund. Donors contributing $1,000. or more and exclusive of those who are sponsoring rooms or other designated areas, include Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Allison, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burghardt, John J. Crowley, The Dellwood Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. W. Arnold Finck, Miss Eleanor Fitch, Mr. and Mrs. John L. Gibbons, Dr. and Mrs. John F. Hopf, Jr., Leland Rickard Meyer, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph T. St. Lawrence, Mr. and Mrs. Dean B. Seifried, Mrs. Gustav Svahn, Miss Gladys G. Weber, Mr. and Mrs. John R. Zehner, Mr. and Mrs. Garret Buchanan, Dr. and Mrs. George R. Sharpless, Schofield and Colgan, In Memory of Regolo Venturini. Their names will be listed as patrons on the bronze plaque in the entrance lobby of the new building. The following have been sponsored or are being reserved by request: library, map room, three exhibit windows, sales (display), collection preser vation and east exhibit on the first floor; kitchenette and vault on the ground floor. Miss Gladys G. Weber, chairman of the advance gift committee, will welcome inquiries about memorial opportunities still available in the new museum building. Her phone is 634-6970. *Gifts to the society for endowment HISTORY FOR SALE with accent or museum purposes through estate on Rockland’s people, places and settlements will be credited to the events through membership in the newly established Benefactors Fund. Historical Society of Rockland The first such gift recorded is from County. Membership includes re the estate of Miss Ethel Storms of ceiving the society’s quarterly. Nyack in the amount of $5,000. Cost through December 1976 is When drawing or revising your only $5. Makes a wonderful gift will, your thoughtfulness can have tre for friends or relatives. Mail check mendous implications for the society’s or money order to the Rockland permanence and financial well-being. County History Center, 20 Zukor * Business corporations and profes Road, New City, New York sional offices of attorneys, physicians 10965. and dentists may join the society as PLOT FOR SALE: residentially group members for the period from zoned (R22); 100-fqot frontage, October 1, 1975 to September 30, adjoining Orangetown, on the east 1976. Dues range from $10 and $25 side of Greenbush Road, West to $50. Group Members receive the Nyack; approximately one acre; quarterly, South of the Mountains, owned by Historical Society of and all notices. Upon request addi Rockland County. Interested? tional copies of each quarterly issued Contact the society’s executive will be forwarded for distribution in secretary, Mrs. Anese Ash, 634- their offices. 9629. * *The County Trust Company has contributed generously to the production of the 1860’s version of the play, "Rip Van Winkle”, sponsored at Sunnyside of the Sleepy Hollow Restorations (Washington Irving’s home in Irvington) by the New York State American Revolution Bicentennial Commission. 4 ELIXIR OF LIFE GROWN IN HAVERSTRAW by Daniel deNoyelles In the early days of this century, in the cool shaded arbors of latticework at the southern end of Hudson Ave nue, Haverstraw, grew a secret plant. Not the marijuana or poppy of today’s culture but a truly beneficient plant if you believed its mystic powers. It was not grown for local consumption but destined for Chinese families of great wealth or for drug dispensers in the Orient. The plant was called ginseng. In the Asia of those days (and maybe today also) its root was literally worth its weight in gold. The gardener of the fabulous plant was Josiah Felter, a noted businessman of Haverstraw. He was a scion of well-known North Rockland family and one of the political greats of the township. Growing ginseng in America often turned out to be somewhat like the —from auothor’s photo file Dutch tulip bulb scandal of the 17th An exceptionally fine root Century, or like the romantic Spanish gold mine which vanished before a prospector’s gloating eyes, or perhaps like the gold brick swindle of the 1880’s. During the 19th Century thousands of Americans were victimized by fly-by-night promoters who promised easy riches to those who would grow ginseng at home under artificial cultivation. Mr. Felter’s dream of great wealth faded but it remained vivid for about twenty-five years (1895-1920) and it is probable that someone will unearth the history of his enterprise, for it involved quite a financial investment for those days and an untold amount of hard work. Josiah Felter was a native of Thiells, whose family lived long ago in a magnificent mansion with four Georgian pillars and resembled the plantation residences of the antebellum South. It was built at the corner of what is now Route 202 and Rosman Road but in Mr. Felter’s days it was the center of fertile farms over graceful, rolling hills. His wife was Annie Christie, a member of another old Thiells family and a cousin of DeNoyelles Christie, who later lived in New City. Mr. Felter and Henry Christie, DeNoyelles’ grandfather, ran a brickyard in Thiells which in the 1870’s was producing some 3,000,000 brick annually. This company was located in the valley south of the old Disbrow house, at one time part of the Letchworth Village institution. It was the only far inland brickyard in the county and the valley as it exists today is no doubt

5 the result of the clay excavation. There are ruins of this brickyard in the piles of moss-covered, culled brickbats scattered through the woods where the men of long ago loaded the railway cars. This or transportation by horse-drawn wagons was the sole method of shipment. Anyway, Josiah Felter was a town supervisor of excellence, as his public support shows. He was elected first in 1880 and re-elected continuously until 1903. Elected again in 1906, he served until 1909. He was re-elected for the last time in 1912 and was in office until 1915. This is an outstanding record. But the meager supervisor’s salary in those days would not balance out to his style of living so ginseng growing was his way of augmenting his official salary. Eventually it all came to grief though he worked by day in the shaded shelter covering his plants and labored at his supervisor’s problems at night. His vast garden spanned what is now two blocks of houses bounded on the north by Tor Avenue, east by Clove Avenue, south by the woods bordering the stately home of the King’s and Kaemmerlen’s, and on the west by the West Shore Railroad. There was one home there, then settled by the Keller family, which in the middle of the 19th Century had been the famous Moun tain Institute presided over by Professor Lavalette Wilson, a graduate of Wil liams College and a friend and classmate of President Garfield. Whether the root, which is the valuable part of the plant, was as magical as supposed, I cannot say. In the Orient it was deemed a cure for almost all diseases and especially those caused by exhaustion of body and mind. It was also listed as an aphrodisiac. In Oriental folklore it was said if one sipped ginseng tea on one’s deathbed, life would be prolonged for five days, giving the necessary time to wind up one’s affairs and pay one’s debts on earth. Ginseng was listed in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia from 1840 to 1880 but was later classified as an unofficial drug-plant. Ginseng is thought by some to be mentioned at least once in the Old Testament but scholars now agree that the Biblican spikenard is a distant cousin of both ginseng and ginger. It is known that the ancient Manchurians cultivated ginseng extensively and that it was native to Chinese Tartary. One Chinese emperor paid $10,000 for a single root of choice design. Maybe Josiah Felter had such a figure in mind when he entered this bizarre horti culture, but he never attained such a sum. The story of ginseng as a valuable item of export dates back to the 18th Century when a Catholic priest, Father Jartoux, who had been serving in China, went as a missionary to the wilds of Canada. There he noticed a root growing in abundance though smaller than the ones gathered in Manchuria and Korea and considered of great value by the Chinese. He gave a few roots to a ship captain and asked him to take it on his next trip to show it to a trusted friend in Hong Kong. Word came back several years later that the Chinese were very much interested in the American root and would be willing to pay fan tastically high prices for it. Thus many Americans started to grow this delicacy. The reputation for ginseng’s medical efficacy comes from the ancient Chinese "Doctrine of Signatures’’. This says all plants have some virtue even though only to the gods. To assist man in discovering these virtues, the gods placed on each plant a signature. For example, the walnut kernel is shaped like a brain—and cures brain fevers. Plants shaped like a liver, cure diseases

6 —from A. R. Harding’s ''Ginseng’ A ginseng garden with lath shading to simulate forest-floor conditions. of that organ. The ginseng root often forked, resembles the human body with two legs. Thus it should cure any disease in any part of the body. Nothing remains of the woodwork which enclosed Mr. Felter’s entire acreage. Ginseng could not flourish in sunlight so the small green plants were arranged in tiers and protected by lattice fences on the sides and shutters overhead. Many of us Haverstraw youngsters were wont to peer through the openings to view this secretive operation. Many of us recall sledding on Pop Wilson’s hill (named after the professor, of course) in the wintertime, trudg ing up that familiar Haverstraw height, glancing every now and then at the spooky-looking ginseng plant enclosures, looming darkly in the moonlight. It is true that not much is known today of that farming venture of long ago but Josiah Felter’s business experiences must have seen some profit from his hard work and that of his sons. This famous Chinese "Elixir of Life’’ is still grown in some parts of the United States and I relish the fact that at one time in our Haverstraw village this legendary plant was raised and that the tiller was one of our notable public officials. *

*The Valley Cottage Free Library proclaimed June "Valley Cottage Month’’, thus spurring its members collection of historical data, and amassed a large group of photographs taken over the years in the community. A full-scale photographic exhibit was so enthusiastically received it had to be extended throughout the summer.

7 WEST SIDE OF THE HUDSON HOLDINGS OF THE PHILIPSE FAMILY

by Isabelle Saveli

Generally identified with the 144- square mile manor which bore their name, the Philipse family of West chester and New York, had extensive though now forgotten holdings west of the Hudson River in New York and in New Jersey. They owned land in present-day Ulster, Orange, Rock land, Bergen, Hudson, Monmouth, Middlesex and Essex Counties. They possessed woodlands, farms, town lots and buildings, and they had title to a large part of the great salt meadows in Piermont. Acquisition of these lands began with the first Frederick Philipse in the mid-1600s. In 1668 he received a grant of several properties in the vicinity of Kill van Kull, in what was then the Town of Bergen from Gov ernor Philip Carteret, an uncle of Sir George Carteret who, along with Lord Berkeley, owned the entire Prov -courtesy of the New-York Historical ince of Nova Cesarea or New Jersey. Society of Netc York City The grant included two tenements or

One of the Philipse family (said to be house lots, a large garden plot, Frederick III) meadowlands and woodlands, and it totalled 98 acres. The Town of Bergen extended at that time to the Arthur Kill and the Kill van Kull. It included what is now known as Hudson County. Title to these early Philipse holdings in New Jersey must have been jeopardized in 1673, when the Dutch briefly regained control of their colonies. When in 1674 the English again drove them out, the king’s lawyers decided the brief Dutch conquest had extinguished all the rights of proprietors and the land again all belonged to King Charles II. They thereupon divided the State into two roughly equal parts and gave Sir George Carteret only the eastern half. Frederick Philipse appears to have ridden out these legal complications, however, for on his death in 1702 he left to his daughter Anneke and her husband Philip French a house lot in the Town of Bergen, a large garden, a plantation of 15 acres, about 16 acres of meadow ground and "ye right and priviledge in the undivided woodlands of two farms.”

8 Meanwhile (in 1658) Frederick Philipse, who was a carpenter by trade, had accompanied Peter Stuyyesant to Ulster County to assist in the construction of a fort at what is now Kingston as a protection for the Dutch settlers who were at loggerheads with the Indians. While in Ulster, Philipse doubtless noted and admired the lush and beautiful countryside, eventually he acquired some of it, either outright or through mortgage foreclosures. In his will he left to his daughter Anneke almost a thousand acres in Ulster, described as "all those of my lands in the County of Ulster, (to witt) a piece of land at Mombachus Creek containing about 290 acres and a piece of land at the Rondout Creek mortgaged to mee by John Ward containing about Seaven hundred acres.’’ Mombachus is a small community about fifteen miles southwest of Kingston. Frederick’s heirs and assigns were also active in the acquisition of land in Ulster, for there are notations in the family records of the acquisition of one-fifth of a tract of 10,000 acres by Adolphe Philipse, Frederick’s son, lying along the Paltz River, and subsequently the sale of farm lands along the Dwarse Kill purchased from the heirs of Frederick Philipse and the widow Philipse. Ulster, in those days, reached from Sawyer’s Creek near Saugerties on the north to Murderers Creek at Cornwall on the south. Its western boundary reached down to the New Jersey line. Adolphe Philipse, the son of Frederick I, was especially active in buying up lands on the west side of the Hudson. On March 3, 1709, he and five partners acquired a tract of 3000 acres in Orange County. This they held until August 22, 1721. Then, after the legal fashion of those days, they leased it to one Vincent Mathews of Ulster County for five shillings and a peppercorn. The next day they sold it to him for one thousand pounds. The tract is de scribed in the deed as being in the vicinity of Maringeman’s in Wigwam. To Rocklanders, the most interesting of the Philipse’s west shore holdings were the salt meadows below Piermont. Acquired by Frederick I from George Lockhart in 1684 and 1685, they were part of the original Lockhart patent. At that time they were in New Jersey, for the wandering boundary line be tween New York and New Jersey did not come to a fixed halt until 1769, almost a hundred years later. In his will, dated October 26, 1700, Frederick I divided the meadows between his son Adolphe, and his grandson, Frederick II. Eventually the entire tract descended to Frederick II. He in turn left it to his son, Frederick III, from whom during the American Revolution it was confiscated or as they say, "forfeited”. David Pye, a surveyor and one of the Commissioners of Forfeiture, prepared a map of the Philipse salt meadows tract in 1784. It is on file at the Rockland County Court House in New City and shows about 67 acres of meadowland along the River, which for purposes of sale were divided generally into two-acre lots. On July 3, 1782, these lots (and another 100 acres of Philipse land near Goshen) were sold to one Daniel Gano for 929 pounds 12 shillings. The price suggests the meadows were regarded as very valuable and this is more than borne out in the application Frederick Philipse III made to the Crown for compensation for his forfeited lands. He described his manor in West chester as a tract roughly 24 miles long and six miles wide and said he valued it at 150,000 pounds. He added he knew he had some salt meadow land (he 9 was unsure how much) which he thought would sell at 30 to 40 pounds per land, and they included, in the dry legal language of the indenture, one full acre. In point of fact, some of the lots were resold September 25. 1797 and and equal and undivided tenth part, and one full and equal and undivided brought from $101 to $176 per two-acre lot, a most respectable price in those twelfth part of the Province of New Jersey. If my arithmetic is correct, that days though not as much as Philipse thought they were worth. amounts to more than one-sixth of the Province. John Foulerton sold this This data is interesting on several counts. First of all it tells us that the property plus some undescribed lands in New York’s Ulster County to his salt meadows were there, and prized, 150 years before the Erie Railroad built cousins for 200 pounds plus the cancellation of a debt of 350 pounds which its long pier into the Hudson. The salt meadows were not caused by the pier. his father had owed to Frederick Philipse. The total, including the bad debt, They were and are the delta of Tappan Slote, now called the Sparkill, which was 550 pounds. continues to this day to drain its basin of silt and distribute it in the Hudson. By any yardstick, I think you will agree, this was quite a handsome bargain And it tells us that the meadows have been prized for at least three centuries for the Philipses, each of the five was to get one-fifth of this large acreage. for fishing, hunting and trapping, as well as for their salt hay, which is sup The lands were located in Middlesex, Monmouth, Essex and Bergen Counties. posed to impart an especially delicate flavor to the meat of sheep and cattle. The Philipses promptly set about disposing of the holdings. On Decem The meadows are now almost fully owned by the Palisades Interstate Park ber 8, 1753, they sold 104 acres on the Raritan River in Piscataway to Daniel Commission. Seabring. Included were the "woods, underwoods, trees, timber, pastures, The largest acquisition by the Philipse family on the west side of the meadows, marshes, swamps, ponds, pools, waters, watercourses, runs and Hudson began after the death of Frederick II, second Lord of the Manor. In streams of water, fishing, fowling, hunting, hawking, mines and minerals (gold 1752, his widow, Johanna, and her children, Frederick III, Philip, Mary (then and silver mines only excepted) which now or hereafter shall be standing, a spinster) and Susanna (the wife of Beverly Robinson) bought a huge tract growing, lying or found in or upon the above granted tract”. The price for of land in New Jersey as well as more land in Ulster. these 104 golden acres was 450 pounds in current money of the Province of The lands had belonged to their cousin, John Foulerton of Galery, Scot New York.

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10 11 On January 25, 1755, the Philipses sold a tract of land in Middlesex County on the Delaware, then called the South River, and a tract of meadowland to one John Bissett for 475 pounds. In January of 1758, a slight crimp occurred in this euphoric situation. Mary Philipse, up to that time a spinster, although she had been wooed but not won by George Washington, married Roger Morris. There was an elaborate wedding ceremony at Philipse Manor. The bridal couple stood under a crimson canopy adorned with the family crest, a lion issuing from a coronet. According to legend, an Indian wrapped in a bright red blanket suddenly appeared at the ceremony and said, "Your possessions shall pass from you when the Eagle shall despoil the lion.” Then he vanished. Whether or not this happened the forces that precipitated the American Revolution were beginning to coalesce; the American eagle with the lion in mind was beginning to sharpen its talons. Meanwhile the Philipses went on disposing of their holdings in New Jersey at very good prices. On September 22, 1760, they sold 375 acres in Middlesex County for 700 pounds and the same day they sold another 150 acres in the same county for 300 pounds. On May 25, 1762, in the second year of George III, as the deed notes, they disposed of 170 acres of land in Middlesex, 120 acres in Monmouth, 300 acres in Essex, and 500 acres on the Passaic for 750 pounds. This deed is affirmed by William, Earl of Stirling who, pursuant to custom, merely signed himself "Stirling”. Thus in the space of ten years, the Philipses disposed of about 1800 acres for some 2625 pounds—a 500 per cent accretion of their original investment. And these 1800 acres represented only a minuscule part of their Jersey holdings. Whether they were able to retain their remaining holdings through and after the Revolution, I have not ascertained. New Jersey early took action to confiscate and sell the holdings of Tories who fled the State and. though the Philipses never lived there, one must assume their lands in the Garden State were forfeited as were their lands in New York. That and many other facts remain to be dug out of the old records—and it isn’t easy. The first Frederick Philipse spelled his name in many ways. When he declared his loyalty to England, after the British had supplanted the Dutch, he spelled it Filipzen. When he made his will, he spelled it Flypsen. When George Lockhart sold him the salt meadows in Piermont, the deed was listed as to Frederick Phillips alias Flypson, which seems a little unfriendly. Finally he appears in some of the old documents as Flipse. There are enough variations to give a researcher fits. I would like to close on a note that will give comfort to the women’s libbers in the audience. In all of the deeds of sale involving Susanna Philipse, wife of Beverly Robinson, and Mary Philipse after she married Roger Morris, it is carefully set forth in the precise 18th century script that the ladies were interrogated by an official "out of the presence of their husbands” and affirmed that they were selling the properties freely and without "threat, fear or com pulsion” from their husbands. Over 200 years ago some pioneer feminist must have gotten that requirement written into the law.

(The above was given as a talk at Mercy College last fall) 12 *Membership in the Historical Society of Rockland County offers more than just a passive absorption of local lore and a spectator’s attendance at society functions. If offers also an opportunity to volunteers to assist in a wide variety of activities (see enclosed card for partial list). As the society grows, so does the individual member’s chance to expand his efforts in helping to preserve Rock land’s historical heritage and to find new ways of amassing facts of interest that will reveal to generations to come how people have since earliest colonial days lived and worked in this area. With the completion of the museum building, now under construction, safe storage and display places will be available to store artifacts, maps, books, papers and other items that will help bring history alive.

SAVELL REFERENCES FOR The society’s first THE P H I L I P S E HOLDINGS: BICENTENNIAL POST CARD from the Philipse files at Sleepy is on sale in the Museum Shop Hallow Library, Tarry town; IN FULL COLOR deeds in the office of the Secretary a Dexter delight of State, N. Y.; "Extracts from made from a transparency from the the Sales of Forfeited Lands in U.S. Naval Academy of a painting the Revolution” and deeds in the by the eminent British naval artist, Orange County clerk’s office, Dominique Serres (1722-1793) Goshen; deeds in the Archives and and showing the British attempt of History Bureau, N. J. State Li Oct. 9th 17/ 6 to move up the lower brary, Trenton; maps at the Hudson. Rockland County clerk’s office, New City . . . books, including Winfield’s Land Titles of Hudson The May 1783 meeting between County, New Jersey, 1609-1871, Gen. Washington Samuel Smith’s History of the and Colony of Nova Cesarea; Zinn’s Sir Guy Carleton Southeastern New York, Eber- lein’s Manors and Historic Homes is told in of the Hudson Valley, Leiby’s Revolutionary War in the Hack WINE AND BITTERS ensack Valley . . . with valuable by assistance from Howard I. Durie Isabelle Saveli of the Bergen County Historical * * * Society; E. Richard McKinstry, reference librarian of the N. J. "Mrs. Saveli’s book illuminates an Historical Society; William P. event of great significance in the Scnweikert of the Westchester His birth of our nation.” torical Society; and Mrs. Cush —D. P. Moynihan, man Haagensen, chairman of the U.S. Representative to the U.N. bicentennial committee of the Palisades Free Library. 64 pp. $4. at the Museum Shop

13 LETTERS ABOUT LOCAL HISTORY Excerpts from tivo of the four letters in our mailbag are reproduced, in part, to focus on research and writing. We hope the portions printed are self-explana tory. from Mariruth Campbell to Dale M. Titler, YANKEE magazine, Dublin, N.H.: Your BENEDICT ARNOLD LOVES PEGGY SHIPPEN in the January 1975 YANKEE has thrown into a tizzy some of our local history buffs. The presi dent of the Historical Society of Rockland County on reading your story wrote posthaste to his friend, Richard Koke of the New-York Historical Society, because he felt you were wrong in having Peggy at the Andre-Arnold talks in the Joshua Hett Smith House. He also asked Koke, "Would it be possible for you as one of the foremost authorities on the subject to write a few paragraphs that we could use in the next issue of SOTM?” Mr. Koke’s few paragraphs would take a page and a half in the quarterly! Briefly, he claims you are in error on five counts: The American commandant at King’s Ferry in 1780 was not Robert but James Livingston.// There was no inti mation that Arnold was sending the information about Washington’s being at King’s Ferry and Peekskill on Sept. 17 so that GW could be captured. That mes sage was just part of a long-prevalent practice of forwarding information to the enemy and your conclusion is "loose and completely improbable.”// The date of Arnold’s offer to sell West Point for £20,000 was made July 15, 1780, a year later than your date.// Burr’s knowledge of Peggy’s hysterics was not first-hand but from Theodosia; and there were only a few days not a few weeks consumed by the business between Arnold and Washington over the West Point appointment . . . with talks in the Hudson Valley and lack of time for Peggy to get word at Philadelphia.// Peggy was "sound asleep in the Robinson House in the Hudson Highlands, nearly fourteen miles to the north” when Andre and Arnold met on the river bank in the dark morning hours and "when Andre and Arnold later parted at the Smith House the young woman had probably just arisen”. reply from Dale M. Titler, training instructor at Keesler Air Force Base, Gulfport, Mississippi, and an established writer: It was kind of you to write to me about my article in the January issue of Yankee. I’m pleased to hear that you enjoyed the story but I’m truly sorry about the five counts of error found by Richard Koke. Unfortunately, a crowded writing schedule will not permit me to retrieve my somewhat scattered sources of research but I’d like to say that Mr. Koke is no doubt right on the offer-to-sell date and the Livingston name matter. If these were in error they were simply oversights on my part. As to the other items I must reserve judgment and suggest that possibly the local history buffs really have more of an argument with the research sources (I consulted twelve books and several articles on the subject) rather than with me. Although I’m a commercial writer, I have never consciously sacrificed what I understand to be historical fact, for a dramatic effect. You’re certainly right in saying that accuracy is not always easy to establish. In 1972 I completed sixteen years of hard, intense research into the manner of the death of von Richthofen (The Red Baron) for my book THE DAY THE

14 RED BARON DIED. I learned quite a lot about historical reporting—mainly that a great many historians are like everyone else—they believe what they want to believe. For this reason we get diverse reports in the history books. I was born and raised in Pennsylvania and well remember the differing stories I read—and heard—about the battles fought there during the Revolution. I suppose free-lance writers and historians have quite different objectives. Historians do strive for accuracy and work hard to attain it; writers of non-fiction —while still responsible for accurate reporting—try to present the facts with color, imagination, and passion. I’m sorry I cannot spare the time now to check into the other points made by Mr. Koke and I hoped I’ll not be judged too harshly by the history buffs.

♦Robert D. King of Spring Valley, a member of the historical society, is so enthusiastic about Gardner Watt’s historical hikers’ program that he has written a song, "Historical Hiking”. A freshman hiker (he’s only been with the group since the fall of 1974), Bob expresses the joy he finds in the out of doors in a 14-line lyric for which he has composed a. musical score. ♦The museum’s Chippendale chair c. 1780 and the two ladder back chairs c. 1750, photographed and written about by Jay Ferine in the first of the society’s quarterlies for 1974, were reproduced with our permission in the June 1975 The Blauvelt News. The same issue carries a long story on interest ing Blauvelt, Morris C. Van Houten of Nauraushaun, and many shorter items about Rocklanders.

A WORD TO CONTRIBUTORS...... All material for South of the Mountains should reach the editor no later than the seventh of the first month of the quarter. Address Mariruth Campbell, RD Bx. 348 Old Mill Road, Valley Cottage, New York 10989. All manuscripts must be typed, double-space, ope side of the page only with a two-inch margin at the top of the page and one-inch margins at the bottom and at both sides. Each page should end with a completed paragraph, even if that makes the margin greater than one inch. Submit an original and one carbon copy and keep a carbon copy. Photos must be sharp contrast black and white. Prints one-quarter, one-half and full-page size (four and one-half by seven inches) are excellent. Professional prints of five by Seven are preferred over eight by ten.

15 Inglese photo —courtesy of The Journal-News

Gladys G. Weber of Phillips Hill Road, New City, and Ted Schultz of South Mountain Road, Pomona, point out the location of their historic homes to society vice president Jay Ferine during the Sunday afternoon set aside at the Rockland County History Center for the distributing of numbers to residents whose homes are shown on the newly printed LANDMARKS of Rockland County map, prepared under the direction of Claire K. Tholl.

16 GOOD TO KNOW *The Pilgram Baptist Church of South of the Mountains (the society’s Nyack is celebrating its centennial. quarterly) and notices of society Special observances and a souvenir activities. Dues for the period through journal are planned. December 1976 are $5. Student mem *The Stony Point Bicentennial Com berships for the same period are $1. mittee has planned a volume of pic tures that will depict the historical A list of the fall term colonial background of the township. Hope craft courses sponsored by the fully, the book will also include tales society appears in the enclosed of early settler’s experiences and some newly designed brochure. The local folklore. program has been expanded to in *With perfect weather, a goodly at clude Early American decoration, tendance of enthusiastic customers and candle making, stitchery and dealers, and lots of children to pet model ship building. Yankee Peddler Lenore Pryor’s horse, Learning a colonial craft can King, the sixteenth annual Yankee be an exciting and rewarding ex Peddler Day, held July 26 at the perience for the entire family. Spring Valley High School Field, Rt. Why not celebrate the Bicenten 59, was another in the long string of nial holidays by giving a hand highly successful annual days of trad crafted gift of your own choice ing. Deputies from the Sheriff’s and design? Candles, laces, quilt- Mounted Patrol, Spring Valley Aux top pillows, braided rugs, pewter iliary Police and the use of Orange plates and samplers make lovely and Rockland’s parking facilities en and thoughtful gifts. sured excellent traffic and parking Classes are open to all inter control. William Eberle and Laurence ested students. Society members Steve headed the corps of volunteers receive reduced tuition. whose hard work made possible the earning of a substantial addition to The long-awaited map the museum fund. LANDMARKS ♦Society member John B. McCabe of of Rockland County Lincoln, R. L, former North Rock- by Claire K. Tholl lander, has been the subject of a spe cial article in his local newspaper, the has been printed on heavy paper Cumberland-Lincoln News Leader, be with the assistance of the cause of his writings on historic Rock America the Beautiful Fund, N. Y. land County. These writings are part of a new "Sketch Book” of the Hud Edwin B. S. Olsen as coordia- son River being considered for pub ator and some two dozen contribu lication. tors, the map’s main focus is on ♦Each year, as of September 1, the pre-Civil War buildings. society seeks applications for member ship by those interested in Rockland At the Museum Shop $8.25 County history. New residents, senior includes tube citizens, researchers and students are for mailing, especially invited to join and partici postage and tax pate in all programs. Members receive

17 OTHER FESTIVAL EVENTS

Informality was often the keynote of the day. Prior to the presentation of awards, groups of members and friends strolled photon on this page the grounds or conversed in small groups. and the bottom of the next Later they lined up for refreshments. (Note huge strawberry decorations.)

Another highlight of the festival afternoon was the presentation of a special gift to the society by the Daniel DeClerque Chapter, Daughters of the American Colonies. This gift, which will be on view at the History Center, is an indenture, dated April 15, 1776 and signed by the Tory lawyer of Haverstraw, Joshua Hett Smith. It transfers a small parcel of land (19A on the Minisceongo Creek) from Gilbart Hunt to David TenEyck. Later, this property was in the hands of Elisha Peck of Samsondale (now West Haverstraw). This historic deed was secured by the local chapter. D.A.C., from Mary Peck Schwarz, a great-great-granddaughter of Elisha Peck now living in Connecticut. The presentation was made by D.A.C. member Clare McVickar Ward, who explained an indenture is similar to a two-piece jig saw puzzle. The legal form, written in duplicate, was made with wavy edges that had to interlock to prove validity. One piece was held by the property owner, the other by the county clerk. The rare signature of Joshua Hett Smith, Mrs. Ward added, is to be prized, for Smith had lent his home to Arnold and Andre for the meeting that preceeded Andre’s capture and was in disfavor with local patriots. Program chairman for the afternoon was Anne R. Shaida, one of the society’s trustees. Louise Mehl headed the refreshment committee, which in cluded Mary Armstrong, Louise Miller, Barbara Myneder, Naomi Plunkett and Adelaide Rau. Pictured on the opposite page are Vice President Jay Perine, Mrs. Clare McVickar Ward and the regent of the local D.A.C., Gwen (Mrs George S.) Writer.

18 by Bridget Ward

Mary (Mrs. Samuel) Kennedy, the Pearl River authority on quilts and quilting, who served as coordinator and instructor for the society’s Bicentennial Quilt Program, showed some of the blocks to be included in the finished quilt to interested guests at the Jacob Blauvelt House open house, held in conjunction with society’s annual strawberry festival. The Jacob Blauvelt House and the grounds of the Rockland County History Center, 20 Zukor Road, New City, are open every Wednesday and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. and by appointment. Ap pointments may be made by phoning the society’s executive director, Mrs. Anese Ash, at her office in the Jacob Blauvelt House (634-9629). Office hours for Mrs. Ash are 9 ami. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

DATES TO REMEMBER

Sept. 25 (Thurs.) Dinner meeting at Holiday Inn, Rt. 303, Orange burg. Cocktails available at 6:15, dinner at 7, program at 8:30 with guest speaker Gilbert Hagerty, former director of school services at Old Sturbridge Village, on "Translating the Past into a Meaningful Tomorrow." Reservations required. Dinner tickets $10. per person.

Sept. 28 (Sun.) Annual Homelands Day at center 2-5 p.m. Kevin Sullivan, chairman

Oct. 19 (Sun.) Fall Open House at center 2-5 p.m. Jay Ferine, chairman

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