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

Vol. 25, No. 2 April-June 1981

Picking (and eating!) wild strawberries on the Allison farm, Stony Point, circa. 1901, when wild strawberries were plentiful throughout the county. — from the Dan deNoyelles print collection. PALISADES CHILDHOOD By Mildred Post Rippey (part one) Mildred Post Rippey, a lifelong resident of Palisades, recently celebrated her 80th birthday and took to her typewriter to reminisce about it. Her thoughts flowed freely, but her typewriter gave her some trouble. As a result, the members of the Palisades Presbyterian Church presented her a new typewriter as a birthday present. She describes the following article as lithe story of a little girl who grew up in Palisades around the turn of the century. ” The ancestors of the Post (Poost) family, my family, were Hollanders. There is no factual account of the immigration of the Posts to this country but it was probably between 1700 and 1730. The indomitable spirit of freedom caused many persecuted and distressed families of Europe to come to the shores of this western continent. Here they built a civilization founded on mercy and truth. We find the name Abraham Post of Orangetown (Colony of New York) as one of the signers of the General Association in 1775 at the outbreak of the Revolu­ tionary War. (This Association grew out of a meeting in 1775 at what is now known as the ’76 House in Tappan.) Every man was called on to declare his allegiance to the cause of liberty or to be reckoned among the enemies of his country. Names in the family were alternated from generation to generation. Abraham’s eldest son was named Jacob, his eldest son was Abraham, and so it went until it came to my great-grandfather who was Abraham, born in 1813, died 1872. My great-grandfather had eight children, six boys and two girls. He was a fruit farmer in 1854 and had many acres in Palisades. His prime crops were apples and strawberries. (I had one of the pint strawberry baskets with his initials A. P. lettered on it.) During the strawberry season (early June to the Fourth of July) as many as 8,000,000 basketsfuil of strawberries were shipped downriver to New York City. Shipments from Bergen, Orange and Rockland County farms were made every night except Saturday and Sunday. Abraham took his produce down the hill in a wagon to Sneden’s Landing and drove out on the 500-foot Hudson River pier, where it was loaded on small boats and taken out to the channel to be put on large boats and shipped to New York City. Sometimes people made the trip on these boats. This happy arrangement continued until the Northern Railroad of New Jersey came to Piermont in 1859. Then the pier was no longer used. Abraham’s beautiful strawberries and apples were shipped to the city by rail freight. When Abraham’s eight children married each was given an acre or two of land on which to build a house. Two of great-grandfather’s children were build­ ers. In 1864, my great-uncle, Henry, built the house in which I live. Six of the children built their houses all in a row (Oak Tree Road). The other two chose different spots on great-grandfather’s acreage. When I was seven years old my father, Andrew Post, bought Uncle Henry’s house for $900.

1981 The Historical Society of Rockland County Editor: Mariruth Campbell Editorial Associate: Marianne Leese Printed by PRINT SPRINT 2 My life followed an even pattern — school which was two doors away and also built by my great uncle Henry, Sunday School at both churches, Presbyterian in the morning and Methodist in the afternoon. We had picnics in the summer, sleigh rides and hay rides in the winter, weekly trips to the library —all the things that children did in those lively peaceful days in quiet little towns. The library was a good one, organized at the turn of the century by Mrs. Henry Lawrence, who loved books and wanted us to love them too. She started with a nucleus of 200 books set up in one of the houses she owned down by the river. When in 1891 the library moved up the hill to the Big House, it became a com­ munity center where we held plays and exhibits and looked at stereoptican slides and watched “prestidigitators.” On Twelfth Night we ate tasty iced cakes and ice cream made in molds. I was happy to be allowed to go to the library in the early evening and stay until closing time, 9 o’clock. I helped the dear librarian close up and we walked down the road together in the soft warm dark with her lantern casting a small path before us. There were no street lights, no paved roads, no cars —just us and the crickets. In those long ago days the seasons seemed more sharply defined — three months of spring, three of summer, three of fall and three of winter. We had ice skating all winter. There was a huge pond just below our back field. I could put on my skates at home and walk down to it. Around the edge of the pond the young boys built fires but they didn’t warm me. Very soon I would run home. More than skating I believe I enjoyed the sleigh-riding parties and sledding down the hills on bob sleds. Then spring would arrive at its appointed time, around March 21st. The air became balmy, the mud gooey, and the birds came back to Palisades. This was what was known as the “mud season.” Cars (when they finally came on the scene) got stuck in the mud on spring Sundays in the so-called “Boulevard” (now 9-W) and my uncle and cousins pulled them out with their great team of horses hitched to block and tackle. We all watched and as the cars drove off we shouted “Get a horse.” Playing marbles was the thing in the spring, as well as snap the whip and Red Rover. And to our great joy we shed our heavy winter clothes, such as long drawers and serge sailor suits. In the spring, as regular as clockwork, the gypsies came to Palisades. They camped below Oak Tree Hill and each day went through the town looking for handouts of money and food. They read palms and told fortunes if anyone was brave enough to let them come that close. They were, generally speaking, a thieving lot and stole anything from jewelry to horses. They saved most of their really grand thefts until they were ready to move on On June 21st summer arrived. One morning you woke up and the thermometer would be hovering around 80 degrees and you knew it was summer. Church picnics were in order, with barrels of iced lemonade, good homemade food and lots of family games. Swimming holes were popular and of course you could stretch out on a blanket under a tree. At the end of summer we all looked forward to the Orangeburg Fair, which lasted about a week and closed with a “Children’s Day.” This fair was a great institution — I still miss it. There were exhibition halls which displayed baked goods, jellies and jams and all sort of needlework and quilts. There was farm

3 produce of all kinds, farm animals (especially horses, cows and pigs) and farm equipment. Of course there were the fun things —a merry-go-round, a ferris wheel, all the usual midway entertainment. But the greatest thing as far as I was concerned was the harness racing on the track. My uncle had horses and raced them at all the local fairs. On the last day of the fair the children took over. They came from all the schools in the county. We had games, races and jumps, anything that would bring prizes to the schools and joy to the participating children. I remember how happy I was and how I cheered when our school won a trophy. During the games a balloonist climbed way up on the mountain (now covered with graffiti) and took off from a rocky platform to fly way above us against the blue sky. It was breathtaking and exciting to watch. Later we sat on the grandstand and listened to the band music and watched the horses and sulkies dash by. In September we said, “Fall is here, and in six weeks we will have our first frost.” This was a happy season, raking leaves and burning them (I will never forget the pungent smell of burning leaves); walking through the woods and watching the little creatures preparing for winter; getting ready for Hallowe’en by dressing up in funny old costumes and doing all sorts of devilish pranks, though not as devilish as our parents, so I’ve been told. On to winter and a beautiful Christmas, with the snow squeaking under our boots, the church lighted with candles and decorated with wreaths which we had helped to make. I’m glad that I lived in those long-ago days. It seems like another world, as I look back, but a precious one. I almost forgot to mention the scissors-grinder coming through town once or twice a year, and the meat peddler and the fish peddler who came often. They were part of my young life too. I well remember the meat man and how he made my mother laugh. No matter what the weather might be —rain, snow, or a sunny day —his one remark would be, “lovely weather.” Mother always agreed with him and came in the house laughing. There is still evidence of the fish man when we dig in the driveway and come upon oyster and clam shells. How could I forget the iceman who cameth almost daily! And the dear rag­ picker. Someone wrote a song about him, I think. I wasn’t allowed to do some of the exciting things I would have enjoyed doing, such as “walking out” on Sunday afternoons with my friends or sledding in the winter after dark. And oh how thrilling that was! Throwing yourself belly-whoppers on your sled and rushing down hill in the dark and dragging your feet so you wouldn’t plunge into the river. I was glad that, thanks to my mother, I had a few furtive trips. Sometimes the river froze over and horses and sleds could drive across to the other side, because there were no boats keeping the channel open. My uncle and my mother did this several times. Grandfather had an ice pond and all the men in town came to cut the ice. Sometimes they worked on Sunday and father would take me to watch. I am a little vague about what happened but I believe I remember the horses going out on the ice pulling some sort of ice cutter that carved squares in the ice. Then the men sawed through those squares and in some fashion (how did they keep from being submerged?) and the ice cakes were pushed on a moving trestle, dropped into the ice house and packed in sawdust. I recall that long poles were used. There was much shouting and swearing and one day when

4 grandfather had drunk too much apple cider, he fell headfirst into the pond! I didn’t see this happen but it was the talk of the town for days. Everybody made apple cider in the fall and it was considered most delicious when it started to bubble. No one seemed to consider it an alcoholic beverage, but what a kick it had! Poor grandpa! I recall that grandma never said he was drunk — he was just sick, but I could hear him singing lustily. In our kitchen we had a huge black stove which my mother always polished. She used to incinerate egg shells and lemon and orange peels under the back lids. In the late summer she made crabapple and grape jelly. A cloth bag was suspended from the stove shelf and juice dripped into a kettle on the stove. Every once in a while mother would give the bag a good squeeze. She also made grape juice and stored it in the cellar. Sometimes it would ferment and we could hear the bottles exploding. In front of our big stove we had our Saturday night baths in a huge galvanized tub. Oh how happy we were when water was piped to Palisades and there were no more W.C’s, no more pumps, no more cisterns! In those days when the Republicans were in power, we had a Republican Postmaster and a Republican mail carrier. The same was true when the Demo­ crats were in the driver’s seat. The mail carrier used his own horse and wagon (car later on) to pick up mail at the West Shore station in Tappan. I beljeve he made two daily trips, delivering the outgoing mail to the station and picking up the incoming mail. During a Republican regime, David Man was the mail carrier. On nice days he used his beautiful Shetland pony and two-wheel pony cart for deliveries. He lived halfway down Oak Tree Hill in a fine old farmhouse. His father worked on the farm but I don’t believe young Dave helped a great deal. I know he liked children. When he drove his pony cart he would often take a child or two with him. Sometimes he took my sister and me. Ponies and pony carts were stylish during that period. Rich people along the river front and in Palisades drove their children around the countryside in pony carts. I loved Mr. Man’s best of all because he took such good care of the pony and the cart. I can’t recall the pony’s name but he was always curried and combed and beautiful and the two wheel basket cart was clean and handsome. (to be continued)

The Rockland Record, 1931-2, edited ^y George II Budke, notes “With the advent in 1827 of a steam-propelled vessel plying between Nyack and New York and stopping at all landings on the right bank of the river, many of the farmers in Rockland and Bergen Counties turned to the cultivation of straw­ berries as a means of increasing their incomes. Practically the entire supply for the city came from points not more than fifty miles away...” By 1854 the business had attained such magnitude that a vessel, known as the “Strawberry Boat” of the Nyack steamboat line, was sent down the river every night (except Saturday and Sunday), while berries were ripe, for the purpose of conveying the fruit to market —Piermont Plank Wharf at 10:30; Closter at 11. In ’55 the great city.. .consumed no less than 8,000,000 basketsful during the season, which the metropolitan epicures purchased at the rate of five cents per basket, while the farmers received half that sum out of which they paid the freight. Freight cost on the “Strawberry Boat” was 6 cents per 100 baskets

5 A CHILD REMEMBERS: Hudson-Fulton Exhibition 1909 by Mildred Post Rippey

Out on the cliffs in the deep, dark wood There's a hole in the ground where a castle stood. And the weeds grow lush, and the trees grow tall, And no one ever comes there at all. Long, long ago there was a day When the castle was beautiful and gay, The view from the cliffs was an artist’s dream With the river, flowing calm and serene. A little girl with cheeks aglow Watched the boats on the water below. She saw Hudson’s Half Moon that day And Fulton's Clermont puffing away. There were the Moon’s blue and gold sails That had weathered many historic gales, And gallant Clermont steaming alongside — Its paddle wheel turning with the tide. A mist came up from the river quite soon It all disappeared as did Brigadoon. The little girl left the spot in tears And dreamed about it for many years. She waits. She knows the boats will return And up the river again they will churn. The castle will spring from the ground and then She'll be a little girl again.

Julian H. Salomon, a 35-year resident of Suffern, is especially interested in American Indian hand crafts. He has been landscape architect; director of planning and construction for Girl Scouts of U.S.A.; field coordinator, National Park Service; Executive, Boy Scouts of America and has received a citation from the American Camping Association. He is a member of the American Association of Landscape Architects, Architectural League of New York, National Conference on State Parks, American Camping Association. Born April 4, 1896 in Norwich, Conn., Mr. Salomon is an active member of the his­ torical association, writes for South of the Mountains and is author of the society’s forthcoming Indians of Rockland County. His Book of Indian Crafts and Indian Lore (Harper, 1928) in the society’s library is still in print after 53 years. His other publications are the U.S. Gov’t Printing Office’s Organized Park Facilities (1938); with A. H. Townsend, Camping and Scout Lore (Harper, 1930) and Camp Site Development (GS, U.S.A. 1948).

6 The author at the Hogencamp cabin

LAST LOG CABIN IN THE RAMAPOS By Julian Harris Salomon In the depths of the Great Depression (1932), Fred Hogencamp, a member of one of Rockland County’s oldest mountain families, found himself in need of more living space. The big house on the mountainside near Suffern, in which he was living with his married son and daughter, was becoming a bit crowded with their growing families and, while he loved the young children, there were times when he longed for a little peace and quiet. As a skilled carpenter and craftsman he knew he could build a house of his own but the price of lumber was high and cash was not only scarce but very hard to come by. He decided to solve his housing problem as his ancestors would have done-by erecting a log cabin. At the time there were still in the Ramapos a great number of sound dead chestnut trees that had been killed by the blight. Those at lower elevations had mostly been gathered and cut up for firewood and fence posts so to obtain his materials Fred had to climb to the top of the ridge and over it to Pine Meadow. With his axe he trimmed off the top, butt and roots, hoisted the log to his shoulder and carried it down the rough rocky trail to a site he had selected off to the side of the big house. More than 66 eight-inch-in-diameter logs were needed just for the walls so the mere gathering of materials required consider­ able persistence and a lot of hard labor. The site for the cabin was leveled off with a pick and shovel. Then a dry- stone foundation was laid. As was customary, the cabin was sited to be

7 “square with the world” (that is with the points of the compass and the front facing due south). Selected for the sills were four of the heaviest logs, half- lapped at the corners into which were cut notches to receive the ends of the flat- topped floor beams. As further log courses were laid, the top and bottom sides of each log were flattened and end notches carefully cut to make a tight fit. The protruding ends were neatly sawed off and openings cut for the door and win­ dows. It took fifteen logs to reach eaves’ height and just before that was reached, squared logs were notched in across the frame, as floor beams for the loft. Above that there was a departure from conventional log cabin construction: squared-off small logs were used to frame the roof as is done in frame structures. Still another concession to the times was the use of corrugated galvanized iron sheets for roofing. Factory-made door and window frames and tongue-and- groove wood flooring were others. About a year after he moved in, additions were made to the side and rear to provide another bedroom and kitchen. Across the front, a neat front porch was built. The latter has since disappeared but the rest of the cabin, which has been unoccupied since the death of its builder, still stands in reasonably good con­ dition. In building the log cabin, Fred had turned back to the building methods the pioneers had brought with them from northern Europe. Log construction was a craft that had originated in Russia, Scandanavia and the forests of Germany. It was not known to the English and Dutch, both of whom built their houses with frame construction. So there were no log cabins in Jamestown, in the Pil­ grim settlements at Plymouth or in Dutch New Netherlands. In 1650 van Tienhoven, Secretary of the Province of New Netherlands, wrote: “Those in New Netherland, and especially those in New England who have no means to build farmhouses at first.. .dig a square pit in the ground, cellar fashion, six or seven feet deep, as long and as broad as they think proper; case the inside with wood all around the wall and line the wood with the bark of trees or something else to prevent the caving in of the earth; floor this cellar with plank and wainscot it over head for a ceiling; raise a roof of spars clear up and cover the spars with bark or sod, so they can live and be warm in these houses for two, three and four years.” These cave-like dwellings served the settlers until frame houses could be built. The dutch stone and brick houses with their gracefully curved gambrel roofs and overhangs came later. It was in 1778 that a British officer marching through Kakiat, Paramus and Aquackononk wrote: “These towns are inhabited chiefly by Dutch people; their churches and houses built mostly of rough stone, one story high. There is a peculiar neatness in the appearance of their dwellings.” All the evidence points to the Swedish and Finnish settlers on the lower Delaware River as the first to build log cabins in this country. They were fol­ lowed shortly in Pennsylvania by Germans who also brought with them skill and knowledge of log construction. The Indians (who were adept in adopting the newcomers’ ways) saw quickly the advantages over their bark wigwams or dwellings that were warm in winter and cool in summer and soon learned to build them. At the same time and from the same teachers they learned how to make splint baskets. The knowledge of both skills spread quickly to the north and west and from one tribe to another. It was perhaps in this way that the craft of log cabin building first came to Rockland County.

8 An 18th C. pioneer cabin, showing the shakes held by weight-poles. Construc­ tion is of dove-tailed joined logs; chimney and fireplace are of clay-lined sticks.

There is a record in Cole’s 1884 History of Rockland County that notes the first house in the Town of Ramapo was a log cabin built by a German settler named Philip Vors near Suffern in about the year 1700. He later changed his name to Fox and in 1792 built a stone house on the foundation of his second cabin. We do not know if that is still standing as the history is not very exact in describing its location. Log cabins multiplied because their construction was fairly simple and the only tool needed was an axe. For finer and more finished work, tools such as a broad axe, adze, gouge, framing chisel and saw were necessary additions to the cabin builder’s kit. The quickest way to build was to peel the bark and lay the round logs up by cutting a half round notch near each end. The rough and ir­ regular ends were allowed to protrude or were trimmed off to even lengths after they were in place. This method left between the logs open spaces that were later chinked with moss, grass or straw plastered over with mud or clay. Some­ times to shut out drafts the entire interior walls were mud or clay plastered. Where the necessary skill, time and tools were available, the upper and lower surfaces of the logs were smoothed off or entire logs were squared off to make them fit tightly together. This also required great care in making the end notches. Another method was to substitute dovetail corner joints for the notches. Other and more intricate types of joint were used to effect tight join­ ing of the logs. Before it was pulled down in 1935, Ramsey Conklin of Pine Meadow used to point with pride to the dovetailed corners of his cabin, built by his grandfather in 1779. Roof shingles, or "shakes" as they were called by the mountaineers, were long thin slices of chestnut or black oak, split off a four-foot long block from a large tree, selected because it was straight-grained. The special tool used for this purpose was called a froe, a thick wedge-shaped knife blade, a foot or so long and with in one end an eye through which a handle was placed at right

9 angles to the blade. The upper edge of the blade was struck with a club or maul and given a slight twist to rive off the shake. It could be done by one man but naturally went quicker when two were on the job, one to handle the froe and the other to do the striking. Nails were not to be had, or were just too expensive to use when they were, so shakes were laid the length of the roof along purlins called “butting poles”. The overlapped courses were held in place by “weight poles”, placed over them. Clapboards were riven out like shakes and were used to floor the loft which generally was the sleeping place for the children. The loft was reached by a corner ladder or a few rungs set in the log walls. Such a sleep­ ing place with a thick floor covering of dried leaves was the “nest” of the You- mans’ children on Round Mountain as late as 1925. The floor of that cabin and many others was simply tamped earth or clay, wetted down and daily swept clean with a shaved hornbeam broom. As time went on a better floor was sometimes made of puncheons —split logs, two or three inches thick, hewed smooth and squared off with a broad axe. The door was made from the same material and swung on wooden pins or hinges. It was held closed with an inside wooden latch that could be lifted by a thong or string from the outside. So the “latch string is always out” became an expression of hospitality. Puncheons were also used to make tables, stools and other furni­ ture with stools three-legged because four could never sit evenly on the rough cabin floors. A fireplace, lined in back and on the sides with stone when available, was built at one end of the cabin. If suitable stone was not available the lining was made of logs and sticks heavily plastered inside with mud or clay. Stoves did not come into use until the late seventeen hundreds and when they appeared they were not always welcomed. Jonathan Williams, an Orange County pioneer tells us: “In those days stoves were not used and people had to keep fire all night. They had no matches, so if the fire went out they would have to go a mile or more before they found someone who had fire. The first stove in the neighbor­ hood caused as much excitement as an earthquake would these days. James Worden had the first stove I ever saw and it would be quite a show if one of them could be seen now. The women were much opposed to using the new machine. They were sure they would never get to like it, as the old was good enough. They knew they could get a meal much sooner by cooking in a long- handled pan on some coals and hanging the old tea kettle on the crane. As for baking, no better way could be found than to use the tin oven before the fire­ place.” That opinion was shared by another pioneer who wrote: “My sister, on Sunday morning and at no other time, made short biscuit for breakfast —not these greasy gum-elastic biscuits we meet with now, rolled out with a pin, or cut out with a cutter; or those that are perhaps speckled or puffed up with refined lye, called saleratus; but made out, one by one, in her fair hands, placed in neat juxtaposition in a skillet, or spider, pricked with a fork to prevent blistering and baked before an open fire —not half baked and half stewed in a cooking stove.” Log cabins were the commonest type of dwelling in the Orange-Rockland area during pioneer days. Here is Mr. Williams again: “I was married in 1805 in a frame house but had never lived in one. After I

10 was married we lived in a log house.. .The first frame house I ever lived in is the house where James Purdy lives (burned in 1888). My parents were living in a log house my father built when I was a small boy on the same farm. The old log houses are gone; only one remains. William Kirk lives in one I built and lived in about five years. When I built my first frame house the timber was all prepared from my own farm. I did all of the work with the help of my two eldest children, who were quite young, but in those days every child worked as soon as old enough.” When he wrote that in 1872 he was not quite correct about the log houses all being gone, for there were still many in the mountains. Cole’s 1884 history also mentions larger log buildings like the log church in Hillburn and the log school in Sandyfields. A reporter for the New York Sun wrote in the late 1890’s that Johnsontown (near Lake Sebago) consisted of: “Twenty log houses scattered loosely over a square mile and no one visible from any other... The houses are almost all built of logs. Occasionally one will be found of frame and sometimes a log house boarded over...He’s a poor mountain man who cannot build a log house. Some of these log houses are extremely picturesque.” And so they were. Fred Hogencamp’s little cabin was, as far as we know, the last of its kind to be built in the county. It still stands. Perhaps a way should be found to restore and preserve it as a symbol of pioneer life.

Building a log cabin in 1800: gable ends are being closed in with planks whip- sawed by man on trestles; a pine bough nailed to the roof is in accordance with the old north European custom of celebrating the completion of the frame and roofing.

References: Cole, David [Yd.) —History of Rockland County, J. B. Beers, 1884; Ruttenber, Edward M. and Clark. L.H. (Eds.) —History of Orange County, Everts and Peck, 1881; Howell, William T.—Among the Basket Makers, from “The New York Sun” (n.d. circa 1898) through Monroe Library Research Associates.

11 ISAAC NICOLL: DEFENDER OF LIBERTY (1741-1804) By Marvin Rasnick

In public and private life Isaac Nicoll of Plum Point, Orange County, was a staunch defender of liberty. He was a colonel in the county militia, led a regi­ ment of minutemen, served as sheriff of Orange County and after moving across the New York-New Jersey border, was a prominent member of the New Jersey General Assembly. From Goshen in mid-January of 1779, Nicoll wrote to New York’s Governor George Clinton to ask for mercy and clemency for prisoners Amy Auger, Mat­ thew Dolson and John Ryan. He wished no leniency for Claudius Smith and James Gorden and wrote, “...I shall take pleasure in seeing them executed.” Captain Ebenezer Woodhull of Bloomingrove, Nicoll’s brother-in-law, had been among Claudius’ victims. Woodhull was fortunate in escaping with his life when his home, near present-day Washingtonville, was ransacked by Claudius and his gang. Woodhull’s brothers were zealous patriots in the War of Independence: Jesse was the colonel who organized the first regiment of men in Cornwall Precinct and Nathaniel was a brigadier-general of militia for Suffolk and Queen’s Counties. A sister, Deborah, had married Colonel Isaac Nicoll in 1763, the year George Clinton’s older brother James inherited property in the Town of New Windsor from his father Colonel Charles Clinton. The Clintons and the Nicolls were neighbors on their lands in and about New Windsor. Colonel Charles Clinton and his little group of settlers occupied the area on the outskirts of New Windsor Town in the vicinity of Bull Road at Little Britain. Isaac Nicoll’s grandfather, John Nicoll the First, a founder and benefactor of the First Presbyterian Church of New York City, owned property along the Moodna (Murderers Creek) on lands that had belonged to Colonel Patrick McGregorie. McGregorie and his brother-in-law, David Toshack, were the first white settlers within the present boundaries of Orange County, where they built a log cabin at Plum Point on the New Windsor-Cornwall town line in 1685. Prominent settlers of the New Windsor area included Joseph Horton, who made his home nearly opposite the Nicoll homestead on the west bank of the Moodna. During the struggle with the mother country, Horton’s home quartered officers of the Continental Army. To the east, Colonel Thomas Ellison erected his dwelling and was honored when General George Washington chose it for his headquarters during the summer of 1779, time of the Battle of Stony Point. The Nicoll property was strategically located for defense. In 1778 Captain Thomas Machin, who helped construct the Great Chain between Constitution Island and West Point, installed a series of batteries and chevaux-de-frise between Plum Point and Pollpel Island (later Bannerman’s Island). Two years later, Dr. John Cochran, Director-General of the Medical Department of the Continental Army, was billeted at the Nicoll home. Isaac Nicoll’s father, John the Second, had married Frances Little, daughter of the Reverend Mr. John Little of nearby Salisbury Mills. A rather amusing note in Mr. Little’s account book shows him to be somewhat impatient with his son-in-law, for there is record of Nicoll “...taking horses out of the stable and riding them through the country without leave or liberty...”

12 The Squire Nicoll House on the Moodna

Isaac’s oldest brother, John Nicoll the Third, was a second lieutenant in Captain William Ellison’s Militia Company of Foot in the Second Regiment under Colonel Thomas Ellison. With a younger brother, Leonard, John took part in the seemingly hopeless defensive of the Highland fortification of Mont­ gomery and Clinton in the autumn of 1777. The year had been a fateful one in the Hudson Valley as the colonists strove to declare their independence and es­ tablish state governments. A maurauding force commanded by Sir Henry Clinton, a distant cousin of the New Windsor Clintons, swept up Hudson’s River in an attempt to annihilate the American defenses on the banks of the Popolopen Creek. Opposing the British force of nearly 3,000 trdops were Generals George and James Clinton’s little band of about 500. George Clinton was fortunate in escaping the enemy. Under cover of darkness he scampered down the circular path to a waiting boat which conveyed him to the east shore of the Hudson. Several weeks before this escape, Clinton had appointed Colonel Isaac Nicoll sheriff of Orange County, a post Nicoll would fill for the next four years. He was well qualified for his new role, for in 1776 he had been commissioned a colonel of a regiment of minutemen as well as a colonel of militia for Orange County. He commanded the garrison at Fort Constitution in the spring of 1776 and later directed campaigns at Haverstraw, Peekskill andWhite Plains. The spring following Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown (October 19, 1781), Washington set up headquarters at Newburgh in the home of Jonathan Has- brouck and the Continental Army made its final encampment at New Windsor. Peace with Great Britain was announced in April of 1783. At about this time Colonel Isaac Nicoll retired to civilian life and moved his residence to the Albert Zabriskie property in Schraalenburgh, New Jersey.

13 Zabriskie, a Tory, was forced to relinquish his homestead at a sale in June of 1779. For £4,734 Nicoll became the new owner. Nicoll’s oldest child, Frances, ten years later married another of the Albert Zabriskies, son of Yost (George) and Annetje Terheun Zabriskie. Upon taking residence at Schraalenburgh (Dumont), Nicoll was in possession of “... 230 acres, three horses, eight horned cattle, one slave, one riding chair”, according to the 1784 Tax Ratables, Hackensack Township, Bergen County, New Jersey. The following year he purchased from Albert Zabriskie “...five acres of land on Hackensack River... beginning at Does Creek... on the southerly corner of John Romeyers Meadow...” Nicoll was to prove as able in politics as he was in military affairs. From 1785 to 1793 he served seven terms as a Bergen County member of the N.J. General Assembly. Reference to his name is made in records for 1789 regarding legislation to adopt the Bill of Rights for the Constitution of the United States. Three years later, Nicoll served on the Committee to Examine the Accounts of the Loan Office at the Annual Meeting of the Justices and Chosen Freeholders of the County of Bergen. When he retired from public office in 1793, he filed a petition ’’...for a road from his mill to the road leading from Tappan to Schrallenburgh...” Moving to a portion of the Zabriskie land on the Flatts in New Milford, he reserved this fulling mill to be used as the first schoolhouse. In the tradition of his grand­ father, John Nicoll the First, he believed support of the local church was an integral part of a growing community. It is fitting the Old North Reformed Church of Schraalenburgh, which he helped found, should be chosen for his final resting place, where in October 1804, he was interred. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Jeanne Altshuler, historian, Dumont, N.J.; Howard Durie, historian, Mount Ivy: Michelle Figliomeni, historian, Town of Bloomin- grove; Mel Johnson, curator, Washington’s Headquarters Museum, Newburgh; Richard J. Koke, Curator of the Museum, New York Historical Society; Henry Pomares, historian, Town and Village of Goshen; Mrs. Jean Sharp, head libra­ rian, Local History and Genealogy, Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh; Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Shorter, owners of the Nicholl Homestead, New Windsor; Goshen Library and Historical Society, Goshen; Johnson Memorial Library, Hacken­ sack, N.J.; Local History Department, Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh; Washington's Headquarters Museum, Newburgh.

REFERENCES: H. Jeanne Altshuler, Dumont Heritage, Old Schraalenburgh, New Jersey, 1969; Donald F. Clark, “Revolution in the Highlands: The Story of the Battle of Fort Montgomery" (in) Orange Co. Historical Society Bulletin #9, 1979; Marion M. Mailler and Janet Dempsey, 18th Century Homes in New Wiridsor and Vicinity, National Temple Hill Association, 1969; William L. Nicoll (compiler), The Nicoll Family of Orange County, N. Y, New York Genea­ logical and Biographical Society, 1886; Public Papers of George Clinton, War of the Revolution Series, Vol. IV, Albany, 1900; Edward M. Rottenber, History of New Windsor, 1911; Town of New Windsor Bi-Centennial Committee, Town of New Windsor Bi-Centennial Celebration —1713-1963, Pub. 1963; Woodhull and Stevens, The Woodhull Genealogy, Philadelphia, 1904; Anne Camat Nicoll Wightman, “Nicoll Family of New Windsor” (in) Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands, Vol. XXXVI, 1950.

14 QUERIES FOR READERS • Is anyone missing a b/w transparency used in an Old Rockland slide show at the Rockland Center for the Arts several 3'ears ago? • Does the name H. Ben Tae ring any bells? A watercolor of Clausland Mt. is so signed. • Was there a family-type cemetery east of 9W and south of Lake Rd., Valley Cottage? Possibly used by a Hill family about 1824. • Does anyone have a photograph or rubbing of the no-longer-in-existence gravestone of ferry woman Molly Sneden?* Or can anyone complete the epitaph, partially decipherable in the 1902 photo of the tombstone in possession of the Historical Committee of the Palisades Free Library? Mary Sneden, d. Jan. 31, 1810. 101 years 18dd. God of our days__ by whose hand/__ time upon our score/__ is for all/when time shall be no more. • Florence Garrison, president of the newly organized Association of Ackerson/ Eckerson Descendents, may be reached at 324 Ovington Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11209; vice-president Dorothy Moos, secretary, at 16 Beech St., Westwood, NJ 07675; Pat Bedson, genealogist, 60 Stonocker Dr., Lawrenceville, NJ 08648. Are you an Ackerson/Eckerson descendant? • Are you a Hereclerede-Meier Myers) descendant? Contact Philip G. Brown, 665 River Rd., Fair Haven, NJ 07701. • Are you a Parker? It is believed earliest was John Parker, b. ca. 1695 on Long Island and thought to have moved to Precinct of Haverstraw between 1720- 1730 with a son, Isaac, born Haverstraw 1736. Interested? Contact Robert E. Parker, 2519 29th Ave. Court, Moline, Illinois 61265. • Mrs. Austin Gowan seeks info on parents of SARAH RAPAIJE, m. 1654 TUNIS GYSBERT BOGAERT, also parents of JOHN THEW, m. AELTJE CUYPER (KUYPER) ca. 1752...all Rocklanders. • Elaine S. Kohler is researching the GOEWEY family, especially the branch that went to Albany from Amsterdam in the mid-1600's. Edgar Goewey (m. Marion Eleanor Park) lived in Nyack in the 1950’s. Do you know any Goeweys in this area? • Edith M. Watson says, My grandfather, George C. MacLaughlin, lived in the Town of Orangetown (census, 1900); listed as a builder. Anyone have details? • Joseph C. Powers is researching the STRAUT family of Rockland. Particularly wants info on parents of his grandfather, Edward H. Straut, who died in Suf- fern Nov. 7, 1907. • Mrs. Mary W. Hamilton would appreciate information on the Woodruff/ Litchelt family. • Mrs. Agnes H. Brown seeks maiden name of Anna Youmans, w. of Jeremiah Youmans. Anna, who d. Nov. 8, 1876, was listed in the 1850 and 1870 census rolls. Her children in 1850 were Edward, Jessy, Spencer, Marinda —living with her; 1870 she lived with Marinda, wife of John Keusler. • Sections of wood from the huge walnut tree taken down by William Olori and Russ Williams (see centerfold SM/25:1) are available for purchase at the History Center. Do you need a slab of walnut? Know anyone who does?

15 AT THE ANNUAL MEETING APRIL 13: Outgoing president Robert P. Lewis was warmly applauded for his year of service; especially noted was his success in strengthening the society’s committee system. Harriet Hasbrouck, chairman of the accessions committee and outgoing recording secretary was honored with a gift in recognition of her many volunteer services. Margaret Davidson, chairman of the personnel committee, reported the resignation of Curator Richard Zgritta and noted the committee is conducting interviews for a museum director with professional background and administrative ability. William F. Eberle, chairman MacKenzie Estate Committee, reported the sale of the acreage left to the society under the will of the late Wallace MacKenzie of Tappan; proceeds will be applied to the endowment fund. Treasury report in­ formation is available to members and may be secured by applying at the information desk. Trustees elected to serve through 1984 include Joan Bruckler and Harold Lindland of New City, Miss Margaret Davidson and R. W. D. Jewett of Upper Nyack, Mrs. W. Arnold Finck of Palisades, James F. Stoner of Suffern, John R. Zehner of Nyack; with the following officers elected to serve one year —William F. Eberle of Palisades, president; Richard W. D. Jewett of Upper Nyack, first Vice-president; Miss Margaret Davidson of Upper Nyack, John Scott of West Nyack, Miss Gladys G. Weber of New City, John R. Zehner of Nyack, vice-presidents; Dr. George R. Sharpless of Pearl River, treasurer; Miss Gwendolyn Ruddell of Upper Nyack, corresponding secretary; Robert P. Knight of Congers, recording secretary. Continuing to serve as trustees (elected in 1979 and 1980 for two or three year terms) are Robert B. Allison, J. Martin Cornell, Mrs. James W. Cropsey, Louis W. Evans, Mrs. Robert N. Gessler, Miss Harriet Hasbrouck, Robert F. Rubin. Mrs. Isabelle Saveli of Grandview continues as senior historian. Members of the advisory council are Nash Castro, F. Gordon Coyle, John Gumming, Daniel deNoyelles, Robert G. Franklin, Dr. Charles F. Gosnell, Morton J. Hornick, Richard J. Koke, Edwin R. Danger, Theodore F. Schultz, John A. Stefan, Frederick R. Van Wort, Jr.

LELAND RICKARD MEYER KITCHEN DEDICATED: “Now, the Blau- velt House is complete!” That spontaneous comment (made as a member of the society first glimpsed the new facility) was echoed many times at the Feb. 15, 1981 dedication. The focal point of the room is the fireplace wall with open hearth, swinging-arm crane and beehive oven. The fireplace is based on the design Mr. Meyer had researched and built in his own kitchen. From him, too, are many of the rare old utensils, such as reflector oven, tipping teakettle, re­ volving trivet and upright bird spit...The Meyer kitchen also includes a modern serviceable section. In keeping with the Dutch tradition, this area has Delft blue cabinets and blue-tone ceramic tiles on counters and floor. The wall­ paper features an old-fashioned stencil design. During a preview in January the kitchen was the center for a function recognizing the work of the society’s volunteers. Many members of the society helped create the kitchen. Contributions to the Meyer Memorial Fund formed the starter nest egg. Further funds were raised by the Women’s Committee, whose members also provided the necessary money for the modern kitchen they felt was a “must.” Donations came from many people —there were Haverstraw-made bricks from the Dan deNoyelles Collection, old ceiling boards from Gerald Vis, and a wide variety of accessories

16 First Vice President Richard W. D. Jewett with Fireplace Cookery Instructor Ginny McCarthy and Chairman Margaret Davidson of the Leland Rickard Meyer Kitchen Committee examine some of the goodies prepared for the Janu­ ary 7 preview party held in the newly completed kitchen. from the membership. In the modern kitchen many of the essentials were given outright or supplied very reasonably by the makers of Whirlpool Appliances, American Olean tile, Delf blue Wood-Metal cabinets, Elkay stainless steel sinks, Thomas light fixtures and Jones & Erwin stencil-patterned wallpaper. As chairman of the kitchen committee, I appreciate the cooperation and talent of society members. Wallace Heath, the architect drew many a plan until the best way was found to use the limited space, Floyd Accola, the contractor, demonstrated a special feeling for restoration work. Committee members Harriet Hasbrouck, Ginny McCarthy and Elizabeth Finck not only shared in making decisions and schedules but tackled such jobs as stripping rust from old spiders and cleaning up spattered paint. A highlight of the dedication ceremony was the presentation of Leland Rickard Meyer portrait in oil by Gwendolyn Ruddell, who created the painting from a photograph used as a cover picture for SOUTH OF THE MOUNTAINS. The painting has been hung in the Blauvelt House hallway. — Margaret Davidson A formal tribute to Leland Rickard Meyer was adopted by the New York State Legislature in February of 1977. Introduced as a legislative resolution in the senate by Senator Winikow and in assembly by Messrs. Levy and Conners, it notes, “The Legislature of the State of New York recognizes and applauds individuals whose lofty character, breadth of vision and dedicated service to their fellow men lift them beyond adequate praise.”

17 Ginny McCarthy, instructor in fireplace cookery in the Leland Rickard Meyer Kitchen is a home economist and former student in Mr. Meyer's open- hearth cooking classes. Her springtime cookery classes were filled; autumnal classes are being planned.

ROCKLAND’S FOREMOST FIREPLACE COOK By Ginny McCarthy

Leland Rickard Meyer was an extraordinary man —teacher, churchman, historian and expert on many things, among them Indians, antique lighting, and colonial cooking. An accomplished fireplace cook when he died in 1976 at the age of 77, he had learned his craft at Cooperstown. Nothing pleased him more than using his antique cooking utensils in the huge fireplace of his 1752 Eckerson farmhouse in South Spring Valley to cook a succulent meal for good friends or students. Most of the restoration work on the house was done by Mr. Meyer after his retirement as principal of Spring Valley High School in 1961. When it came to cooking in' the fireplace, he did not romanticize the early Rockland housewives’ task. Families were large; the iron pots were big and heavy. He would heft his 15-gallon iron kettle (40 pounds —empty) and say with a twinkle, “Back in those days, men were men and women were women!” He taught his fireplace cooking classes with scholarly astuteness embellished with personal reminiscences: his mother’s dinner pie, made of thinly sliced apples all slathered with butter and served up hot with a generous dusting of cinnamon and sugar —“licking good!”; his grandmother’s sweeping the hot coals out of her beehive oven and baking 36 pies —nonstop; his great-great­ grandmother Polly Snell Rickard’s recipe for Olykoeks, Dutch doughnuts stud­ ded with citron, fresh apple and raisins. Mr. Meyer was born in West Sand Lake of Dutch ancestry. He was proud that one of his ancestors, Casparius Meyer, had preceded him to Rockland. Casparius built the Yoast Mabie tavern in Tappan, the inn that was to gain fame as the prison of Major John Andre. Leland came to the county in 1922 and, in the years that followed, was a tire­ less worker for many of the county’s historical groups — The Rockland Society, The Rockland County Historical Society, The Sons of the American Revolution and the Historical Society of Rockland County. He was a prime mover in the construction of the county’s first fireproof museum and the restoration of the Jacob Blauvelt homestead. It was his plan to give his splendid collection of old cooking utensils to furnish the kitchen, which he was very much pleased to know would be named in his honor. Today his dream of cooking in the fireplace of the Blauvelt House is a reality. In March, fires were kindled for the first fireplace cookery classes in the Leland Rickard Meyer Kitchen, where the perfume of newly baked bread mingled with memories of Leland Meyer, Rockland’s foremost fireplace cook.

Deadlines for all SOUTH OF THE MOUNTAINS copy fall on the seventh day of the first month of each quarter —Jan. 7, Apr. 7, July 7, Oct. 7.

18 IN MEMORIAM

Margaret Anderson Dorothy Parshall Eugenia E. Berry Dorothy Isenbarger Dana Quackenbush Mrs. Sydney Bradshaw ^r- Clifford L. Lord Mrs. Raymond N. Roberts Judith Lee Dismukes Mrs- Kathyrine MacCalman Vivian R. Sichol William F. Gessel The Rev- Mr\ Peter Malet Sylvia Solomon Eugenia Maud Gibson Mrs. Genevieve Malley Mrs. Carrie R. Venator Nelson A. Hall Garry Onderdonk Margaret Furness Wheeler

These names are also listed in the Book of Remembrance when doiyitions are made in their honor. Our apology to new member Dorothy Sickels for incorrect spelling of her last name in the January-March quarterly. A very warm welcome of new life member Ruth A. Morris and to the January, February and March new members: Frederic A. and Martha G. Ailing, Abe and Edith Bersson, Agnes H. Brown, Ted Buonocore, Cipe Pineles Burtin, Margaret H. Carruthers, Richard W. Caunitz, Ms. P. T. Colwell, Sr., Dorothy Cox, Russel C. W. Crom, Donald H. Demarest, Ferdinand Eiseman, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest G. Ekback, Carolyn Ferellec, Fred Flugger, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Philip J. Frohling, Jr., Mrs. Patricia H. Fromer, Schatzi Garrecht, Michael Goldfarb, Doreen L. Gordon, Mrs. Austin W. Gowan, Rosemarie Hackett, Linda Harakidas, Mrs. Audrey Hendrickson, Janice Conklin Hesselink, Ka­ therine L. Iveton, Patricia Iveton, Glynis Jones, Eleanor Klein, Joseph and Ve­ ronica Koenigsberger, Nicholas G. LaBate, Mr. and Mrs. L. T. Lilliston, Helen P. Lucas, Eleanor Lyall, Frank Mac Donnell, Mrs. Margaret L. Mason, Mr. G. Milo, Mrs. A. C. Nuessle, Marie Luise Olsen, Elvira and Chas. Pavarini, Drs. Russell and Susan Petro, Joseph E. Powers, Kathryn Roscoe, Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Rosenberg, Mr. and Mrs. Alec Rosenzweig, Ernest Ross, Ms. Jane E. Schmoll, Selma Seligson, J. Brian Sheehan, Mrs. Jean Van Cora, Robert C. White, Fort H. Wilkerson.

The Women’s Committee announce the following awards, in connection with the society’s fifth annual doll house festival: 12-room Victorian Doll House to Megan Jones of Valley Falls; Coachlight Theatre tickets to Fay Smith of Valley Cottage; Airmont Holidrome dinner to Lucile Weinker of Nanuet; West Nyack Clarksville Inn dinner to Doris Marrazzo of Pearl River; and gift certificates from Miniatures of Park Ave., Suffern, to Pat Ireton of New City-from My Doll House, Nyack, to Judy Weiss of New City-Craft World Arts & Crafts Center, Nanuet, to Ceceilia Helbig of West Haverstraw-Cropsey Farm, New City, to N. B. Martin of Englewood Cliffs-from Davies Farm, Congers to Ann Antonucci of Congers-The Orchards, Pomona, to Cathy Paradise of Valley Cottage. Friends of the late Dorothy Isenbarger have contributed $254 to the historical society for the purchase of library books which will carry a bookplate noting the book has been contributed in her name by Liberty Street School friends. Arrangements for the gift were handled by Mrs. William Fulmor of Grand View.

19 Every Sunday and Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m. the History Center at 20 Zukor Rd., New City, is open to the public. Special center hours may be arranged by telephoping 634-9629. Unless otherwise noted all events are held at the History Center. Memberships, which include mailed copies of SOUTH OF THE MOUNTAINS, are $12.50 (family), $8.50 (individual), $2.50 (student).

COMING PROGRAMS

May 24 (Sunday) Spring Festival and Open House: demonstrations, book 1-5 p.m. sale, Vanishing Rockland slide lecture by Robert Burghardt, refreshments... G. Roland Mills, chrm. June 14 (Sunday) Student Award Program, Dr. T. B. Litchfield, chrm., with speaker Dr. A. T. Klyberg, director, R.I. Historical Soc. and former associate at Clements Library, U. of Mich., Ann Arbor, and Annual Strawberry Festival, Mrs. Carl Colby, chrm.

Gladys G. Weber as chairman of the society’s preservation committee has been working with the Hudson Valley Regional Council on the preservation awards May 19 at a conference at the Hotel Thayer. The awards program —for outstanding achievements in preserving environments and natural landscapes — is part of the all-day event titled, “Restoration, Rehabilitation and Re-use: The Economics of Preservation.” The Capture of Major Andre, a steel engraving, can be purchased at the History Center’s gift shop. Restruck in limited edition, the engraving is after the Asher B. Durand painting in the Worcester, Mass., Museum of Art. On fine French handmade paper, the 22 x 30 inch print is priced at $30. Also available at the shop are medallions commemorating the recent bicen­ tennial observances of the Andre-Arnold affair.

PROVIDENT SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATION

Home Office: 38 New Main Street, Haverstraw

AVON PRODUCTS, INC. of Suffern

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