The Historical Society of Rockland County

Vol. 32, No. 3 July-September 1988

Maxwell Anderson

MAXWELL ANDERSON ON SOUTH MOUNTAIN ROAD STREET SCHOOL SIXTY YEARS AGO TO SAVE A MOUNTAIN-HIGH TOR IN THIS ISSUE

The Rockland Years: Maxwell Anderson on South Mountain Road .. Page 3 Alan Anderson, the second eldest son of playwright Maxwell Anderson, writes about his father’s move to Rockland, his work habits as a writer and his associations with the other writers and artists who lived on “The Road” in New City.

Street School Sixty Years Ago Page 11 Maxwell Anderson’s eldest son, Quentin, recalls the one year he attended the two- room Street School in New City.

To Save A Mountain — High Tor Page 14 Isabelle Saveli reconstructs the events that led to High Tor and nearby land being incorporated into the Palisades Interstate Park system.

BOARD NOTES: Ira M. Hedges of Pomona has been elected by the Board of Trustees to serve as 2nd vice president. John Scott of West Nyack has accepted the position of senior historian. Myra Starr has been hired as receptionist/secretary for the Society. We thank Gretta Balias for serving in the position during the difficult period following the death of Louise Winkley.

THE SOCIETY’S ADVISORY COUNCIL: Robert B. Allison, Joan D. Bruckler, Nash Castro, J. Martin Cornell, F. Gordon Coyle, Patricia D. Cropsey, John Gum ming, Daniel deNoyelles, Sr., Elizabeth A. Finck, Dr. Charles F. Gosnell, Thomas A. Griffin, Jr., Dr. John F. Hopf, Jr., Robert P. Knight, Edward C. Leber, Robert P. Lewis, Harold Lindland, Robert F. Rubin, Frederick R. Van Wort, Jr., and John R. Zehner.

COVER PICTURE. Maxwell Anderson as a student at the University of North Dakota, 1908-1911. Photo courtesy of Alan H. Anderson.

2 The Rockland Years: Maxwell Anderson on South Mountain Road

by Alan Haskett Anderson

The imagined world of the writer is three years old and they were living in peopled with himself, his family, his Andover, Pennsylvania, his father was friends and his villains. The images offered a Baptist ministry and promptly against which his people move and the took it, happy to quit working on the things they touch are the houses, the railroad. Granddad had no particular trees, the streams, the laundry lines of background for the ministry except that his life. he had a good voice, some knowledge of Interwoven in his mind are the words, the Bible and was well liked. He was the music and the images from the hale, hearty, bluff, good-natured, and Greeks to Greenwich Village. bombast came easily to him. He studied When my father was 34 years old, he at night and soon became so popular that came to New City with his secret he had no trouble finding another parish storehouse of words and music, and when the church elders refused to among the myriad images were the vast increase his miniscule pay. Either stretches of North Dakota, the sea through disaffection on one side or the pounding on the rocks of Big Sur, the cool other or because he heard of a better and shaded spring in the shallow ravine opportunity, the moves from church to at his grandmother’s farm in western church went on and on. Pennsylvania. Maxwell, the eldest son, inherited his * * * mother’s personality and none of his father’s. He was quiet, reserved and James Maxwell Anderson’s world thoughtful. His mother managed to began in a tiny, farmland community in supply her children with books to read, Atlantic, Pennsylvania—difficult to find and Max, as he was nicknamed, devel on the map. By the time he was 19, his oped a voracious appetite for reading. He father had moved the family 11 times to devoured the English poets and the plays other little farming communities of and poems of Shakespeare and began to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa and North write poetry, a pursuit he hid from every Dakota, to a new town, a new house, a one but his sisters for a time. Writing new school and new friends every year poems was not considered acceptable or, at most, every two years. activity for a healthy young male in the There was a reason for William Middle West farm communities. Lincoln Anderson to suffer his family After Max graduated from high school this nomadic life. When Maxwell was in Jamestown, North Dakota, he was on

3 his own for the first time. For several about 1880 or 1890 and was quite un years he continued the peripatetic life of distinguished. The property on which his father. He was in Grand Forks for this third one stood did, however, have three years, until he graduated from the one very distinctive feature: a wide, deep University of North Dakota. After ravine lined with caves with a magnifi graduation, Max married his classmate, cent waterfall over which a large brook Margaret Haskett, a tiny Irish beauty, splashed and roared impressively. bright and independent, who loved words as much as he. They moved to Dad simplified the choice for the other Minnewaukan, North Dakota for a year, two by announcing that he had decided then to Stanford University for his M.A., on the humblest house of the three. to Palo Alto, California, to Whittier, to Frank chose the one right across from San Francisco, and, in late 1918, to New Dad because it had flat land on which he York City. could build a tennis court. Rollo was happy with the third, which he called By now Dad needed a home for a Brook House for the very good reason family of four. My brother Quentin was that it was snugged between “The Road,” born in 1912 in Minnewaukan and I as South Mountain Road was often appeared in 1917 in Whittier. Dad was referred to, and a fast-running trout hired first by the New Republic maga stream, the same stream that created zine and then as an editorial writer for Dad’s waterfall. It has occurred to me the New York World. Frank Hill, who that the moment Dad saw the waterfall had been a classmate at Stanford and he was aware that it was a far grander was now on the paper with him, told Dad version of the shallow ravine and spring about Rockland County. Maxwell sent at his grandmother’s farm in Atlantic, for his family and we all settled in a little Pennsylvania, where he spent a glorious house in Grand View-on-Hudson—for summer when he was 12 years old and one year. The nomadic life had not ended. fell in love for the first time—a love affair Next was Glen Cove, Long Island, then that was the subject of a novel, Morning back to a bigger house in Grand View for Winter and Night, that he wrote under a another year and finally, in 1922, to pseudonym in 1952. South Mountain Road. By then, brother We spent the summer and some Terrence was one year old, born in New weekends on The Road. While he was still York, and we were a family of five. working for the newspaper, Dad rode his bike to Haverstraw, took the West Shore The Move to Rockland Railroad to Weehawken and the ferry to There were three or four farm families Manhattan. We spent the winter in a who owned large stretches of South rented apartment in Greenwich Village. Mountain Road. Among them were Coming to Rockland was to begin the George and Peter Jersey. Peter Jersey most creative period of my father’s life. had over a hundred acres for sale with Once White Desert was produced on three houses. Dad and two friends, Broadway in 1923, he was determined Frank Hill and Rollo Peters, an actor, that the theater would be his career. The decided to buy the land and the houses next year when he read the rave reviews together. That done, the next problem of What Price Glory, he phoned his boss was to decide who would get which at the World and said, “Pm not coming in. house. Two of them were built in the I’ve quit,” and hung up. Teaching and 1700s and were far more attractive and newspaper work were behind him valuable than the third, which was built forever. For the first time, the nomadic

4 The waterfall that attracted Anderson to the farmhouse. pattern was broken. Dad’s life was to Have seen long lights on a dim shore, center on South Mountain Road for the Heard the reluctant waters’ roar, next 30 years, during which he wrote an Felt the soaked leaves beneath my feet astounding 39 plays, 28 of which were And known the earth, that it was sweet. produced on Broadway. Of the remain —from “You Who Have Dreams” ing 11 full-length plays, several were produced in regional or university She walked as one who thought herself theaters. In addition to this massive unseen, productivity, he wrote several radio A slim child clad in heavy peasant’s wear, plays, which were broadcast during and Fog clinging to her clothing and her hair. after World War II; a volume of poetry, —from “Storm Flowers” which was published in 1925; and the We all became familiar with Dad’s novel about his childhood, published in passion for wet weather. Water was more 1952. than a need in his life—more than drinking and washing—it did something Love of Water for his spirit and his dream mechanism. Dad’s love of the waterfall was just “It’s raining!” he would announce another facet of his love of water. This triumphantly, leaving us to cancel our passion was a strong element of his life plans while he went peacefully to his and of his writing. His poems are filled study. with allusions to water in all its forms. We learned that a day of rain was to him a good day for work. When it was The ashes gain upon the fire: raining, he went off cheerfully to his The wind has risen; a storm is born; desk, at peace with the sound of rain on I hear the sweep of rain the roof or, even better, rain driven by a In the long, dead grass. high wind, spattering on the window -from “In Winter” panes, while he read a book that was

5 background material for a play or wrote supervision of the remodeling was done another scene—writing in his graceful by a friend who lived just below us. He hand in a bound ledger, fine strokes with was Carroll French, an artist and wood a favorite fountain pen. carver. He and his wife, Dett, had Dad’s writing habits amazed everyone designed, acted and produced little because he seemed to write a whole play theater and puppet shows in the Chicago in a short time. Actually, there were area and then, since coming to New months of preparation before he began to York, in Long Island and in Rockland write. It was his habit to think out the County. play in such careful detail that when it Carroll’s love of wood defined the came time to write, he filled page after character of the remodeling of the house page of the bound record book with the that he did. He managed to buy all the dialogue and descriptions, the scenes and chestnut lumber that was stacked in the acts, with only a few changes here and mill on nearby Saw Mill Farm. Carroll there. didn’t waste a scrap of the chestnut. The In that first summer in the house, there wood was invaluable in 1925 and 1926 was no running water and no well. If we when he did the work, the blight having wanted a shower, we climbed down into killed all the chestnut trees in Rockland the ravine, stripped and showered under County. the waterfall. At the bottom of the Carroll used the chestnut for beams, ravine, there was spring water pouring floors, doors and cabinet work. He out of the sandstone and red rock cliffs. carved indigenous animals, plants and That was our drinking water. And Dad flowers in the glowing, warm-grained used to climb down the ravine bank on wood. Then he went on to build and carve the rough stone steps built by the Jerseys magnificent furniture. and carry two buckets of spring water up It became a unique and very special to the kitchen for drinking and cooking. house. The great beams, the carving, the People living along the stream built warmth and beauty of the wood all little dams. They merely piled rocks created an atmosphere of individuality across the brook and then sealed the and variety that constantly refreshed upstream side of the stones with grass, one’s perception of the world. sticks and mud. Within minutes, the water would be deep enough for a good With money coming in from Dad’s dunking and if you picked a deep hollow success in the theater, his next project to begin with, you might actually swim a was to have a dam built to create a large few strokes and get well cooled off in the swimming pond to replace the modest August heat. There were many of these little pool we had created with rocks, little dunking pools along the stream. We sticks and mud. Again, he turned to a had one behind our house where the neighbor for the job. Mary Mowbray- stream flowed through a little hollow. Clarke, who lived in a lovely old Revolutionary house on The Road, had a son we called Bumper, my brother Remodeling and a New Pool Quentin’s friend. His real name was In 1924, with the success of What Price Bothwell but I never heard it used. When Glory, Dad set about improving our lives Dad discovered that Bumper wanted to in various ways. He began by enlarging be a contractor and had a Chevrolet and improving our house, putting in a dump truck for the purpose, he asked huge fireplace, more bedrooms and more Bumper to build the dam. With the dam space in every direction. The design and finished, Bumper built a boardwalk on

6 On left is the house as it looked when Anderson bought it in 1922; on right, rear view of the house after it was remodeled.

top of the dam to the far shore and a 20th-Century Encroachment diving board from the steep south bank. Dad developed a very deep affection A sand beach was established on the for South Mountain Road and Rockland shore and Carroll designed a stone and County as it was in the years after World cement bathhouse, which Bumper con War I. And although it changed, the structed. change was gradual at first. The dirt The pond was a favorite place for Dad road was paved, electricity and tele and all of us on every hot summer day, of phones were installed, the taxes went up which there were many. Almost in and everyone started to buy cars. stantly, the pond became very popular in the neighborhood and all summer long The Rockland Light and Power Com our friends and neighbors and their pany planned to build a huge high-tension children could be found at “The Ander power line north and south across Dad’s sens’ Pond.” waterfall and house. Captain Ed Jones, a Dad’s perversity about rain also sea captain who had become the chief extended to sun. While the rest of us lay pilot for the Panama Canal, lived next baking on the bathhouse roof, soaking up door to us and the ravine also went the rays of the sun for hours at a time, through his property. Dad avoided direct sunlight as much as Every time the power company fin possible. He had that thin Irish skin that ished surveying their proposed power turned red but did not give him the line, Dad and Ed went out in the middle handsome tan that many sported. So he of the night and removed every one of covered his head with a handkerchief their surveying stakes and markers. with a knot in each corner and soaked in They went to court, wrote letters, got the cool water near the far bank where community support and kept pulling up the trees cast long shadows on the water. the stakes. Eventually, the power com We didn’t know then how much wiser he pany gave in and moved the line was than we. eastward so that it crossed the brook at a

7 part where it ran quietly through a field. the woods for a study. There was no The Rockland Light and Power Com waterfall but there was a small stream. pany had gained a nickname in those Carroll devised a sprinkling system on days, given it by one of our neighbors— the cabin roof, using the brook water so Rotten Loot and Plunder. Like all that Dad could hear the rain and cool the utilities, it was always struggling to cabin when nature was not obliging him. improve its image. And in the South Our neighbors were mostly artists, Mountain Road community, among the writers, musicians, actors, weavers and artists and writers and individualists of other crafts people. And then there was every sort, image was not easy to come Lloyd Orser down the road who, with his by. It took a high degree of honesty. father, had done all the stone work on In the 1930s, Dad and his neighbors our house and on many houses in the were faced with another enemy of their neighborhood. Lloyd was a rare bird. He tranquil valley and the mountain for had grown up in the region and when he which the road was named. The New had made enough money from carpentry York Trap Rock Company had pur or stonemasonry, he would take his chased large sections of South Mountain, fishing rod or his shotgun and just go off including the ridges near High Tor, the for months at a time. When he was highest peak. Their objective was to working on a job for you, he would spend break up the igneous rock and crush it part of the time talking to you. Much of the into various sizes for use in building the characterization of the hero of High Tor thousands of miles of roads that everyone came from Lloyd Orser although in real was clamoring for to smooth the way for life the experience related in the play the country’s newest love object, the was that of Elmer Van Orden. Much of automobile. the character of the hero of The Star Dad became a leading voice in the Wagon came from Carroll French. opposition to the traprock company when it attempted to buy High Tor from the There were characters in Valley owner, Elmer Van Orden. Dad wrote a Forge, The Star Wagon, Knickerbocker play, High Tor, about the philosophical Holiday, Key Largo, The Eve of St. Mark, question involved in fighting to hold onto Joan of Lorraine, Truckline Cafe and a piece of the earth. Barefoot in Athens that were drawn from his family or his friends in Rockland County. When Dad wasn’t drawing on his The Neighboring Craftsmen neighbors for their characteristics, he Everything about Rockland County often drew on their talent for his plays. continued to hold Dad firmly. It was a Millia Davenport designed the costumes one-hour drive to the Broadway theater for Journey to Jerusalem, Kate Lawson district where he had to go when he was designed the costumes for Valley Forge in rehearsal with a play or when he had a and Carroll French designed the sets. meeting with his colleagues at the Play Carroll wasn’t a member of the union so wrights’ Producing Company. He had a Kate signed his drawings to satisfy the study in the attic of our house from which union requirement. Jack Sennott and his he could see and hear the waterfall. And sister, Jean, played small roles in the when my mother died and he remarried, same play. Charles Ellis, the painter, Henry Poor built him a beautiful house played roles in several of Dad’s plays. in the woods on the same property. Dad attracted some of his theater Carroll French built a small wooden associates from Broadway to The Road, cabin within a five-minute walk through or. nearby. Burgess Meredith starred in

8 Anderson’s study, built by Carroll French, was deep in the woods, far enough from his house to make it a chore for anyone to reach. The tiny cabin had a wood en stove, work table, book case, a desk chair, an arm chair for one visitor (not an overly hospitable one) and a cot.

Winter set, High Tor and The Star Wagon felt the same about the world, and and after the first play, promptly bought writing lyrics became an outlet for Dad’s a house in Pomona so that he and his wife love of poetry that gave him a new could be near Dad. Kurt Weill bought impetus in the theater. Brook House from Rollo Peters, and he Barefoot in Athens was the last play and his wife, Lotte Lenya, spent the rest Maxwell Anderson wrote while he lived of their lives there. Kurt and Lenya in Rockland County. It was a play about became close friends of Dad and of my Socrates, a challenge he had been stepmother. Marion Hargrove bought wanting to fulfill for many years. He felt Marjorie Content and Harold Loeb’s some kinship with the Athenian’s lack of house. Loeb had been a central figure in respect for the pompous, the pretentious Ernest Hemingway’s life and therefore and the dishonest, but it was difficult to in The Sun Also Rises. find a flaw in Socrates that would make Helen Hayes, Charles MacArthur, Ben him the subject for tragedy. Hecht and his wife, Katherine Cornell, With the death of his second wife, Dad and Guthrie McClintic had all lived in had to abandon South Mountain Road in Rockland for many years. Helen and Kit 1952 and start a new life with his third Cornell both starred in Dad’s plays; wife. He sold his house on The Road and Guthrie directed five of them, including bought one in Stamford, Connecticut, Winterset and High Tor. about 50 feet from the sound of the waves Kurt Weill and Dad wrote two rolling in on the beach. -4 musicals together, Knickerbocker Holi day and Lost in the Stars, and began a third which was cut short by Kurt’s Photographs are from the collection of death. Lenya played major roles in two of Alan H. Anderson. Dad’s plays, Candle in the Wind and Barefoot in Athens. Kurt’s death was a very serious blow to Dad from which he never fully recover ed. Their collaboration was vitally important to Dad because he was comfortable working with Kurt. They

9 Historical Marker Dedications

OLD CLARKSTOWN REFORMED CEMETERY, Germonds Road, West Nyack. An historical marker was dedi cated at the cemetery on June 26, 1988. Twenty Revolutionary War and 20 War of 1812 veterans are buried here. (1-r) Peter Krell, cemetery historian; John Goddard, commander of American Leg ion Memorial Post #1519, West Nyack (sponsor of the marker); Senior Histo rian John Scott; and William E. Vines.

FIRST REFORMED CHURCH OF NYACK, Broadway, Nyack, May 21, 1988. A small church was built in 1836 as a branch of the Clarkstown Reformed Church, West Nyack. The present brick structure, designed by H. G. & M. L. Emery, was built in 1901-02. (1-r) Society Pres. Thomas F.X. Casey, Nyack Village Historian Virginia Parkhurst, the Rev. Dr. James B. Parsons and Dr. J.J. Weishaar.

ST. CHARLES A.M.E. ZION CHURCH, Valentine Avenue, Sparkill, June 18, 1988. The stone church was built in 1897 as successor to the 1856 Skunk Hol low Mountain Church and the 1865 Swamp Church of Palisades. (1-r) Leonard Cooke; Jacqueline Holland, president of the Afro- American Historical Society of Rockland County (sponsor of the marker); Frances Pierson, Sec retary of the Society; and the Rev. Louis E. Sanders, unveiling the marker.

10 Street School Sixty Years Ago

by Quentin Anderson

My first memory of the Street School is First, I must sketch the scene. An of my mother’s refusal to send me there; imagined visitor from the 1980s would she preferred to instruct me at home. I have noted the rigid rows of brown desks recall that she was summoned to a with inset inkwells, the looming black truancy hearing in New City; how the coal stove in the corner at the front of the matter was settled, I don’t know. But in room and the raised platform on which 1927 I attended the eighth grade there Miss Lahane sat at her desk. She was a (Jannelise Rosse and I were the eighth full-figured, middle-aged woman, pa grade), and graduated that spring. tient and placid, with an air a little worn, At that time Mrs. Annie Blauvelt as if our rambunctiousness had lined her Frances was living across the road on the features. The schoolhouse in which we property now owned by the Historical sat had an exceedingly simple design. Society of Rockland County. The Board The original building, sheathed in brick, had occasion to fret about my behavior as had an entryway in which we hung our well as my mother’s original refusal to coats and piled our galoshes in winter. send me to school. To the surprise of my The water bucket with its dipper and a parents and all the other grownups, I little wind-up phonograph are the only refused to salute the flag! I suspect that other furnishings I recall. this infant rebelliousness was the result Miss Lahane was responsible for of having read Upton Sinclair’s book, grades five to eight. A door near the stove 100%, which I dimly recall as having had led to a clapboard addition in which the to do with the phony patriotism of children of the first four grades were profiteers during the first World War. taught by a colleague whose braided The two school day episodes I remem hairdo and crisp shirtwaists suggested a ber best both concern our teacher, Miss starchier regime among the smaller Lahane, to whom I owe the only children. Outside the addition stood the instruction in mathematics I was ever girls’ privy; the boys’ was on the other able to absorb. The first incidence took side. The bell which marked the inter place on a warm spring day. Twenty vals of our day was rung by hand, and the children were occupied, or pretending to American flag, a map or two, and our be, while passing notes to each other or schoolbooks completed the furnishings. trying to read a page that kept swim There was a yard in front extending to ming under eyes that reflected their Zukor Road, and we found it ample for boredom. our games, Red Rover Come Over, One

11 Street School, circa 1922. —Photo courtesy of Street School Community Center.

Old Cat (a primitive form of baseball) The second incursion into our class and so on. Stone walls, punctuated by a room had a much more homely character. few trees, ran down either side of the It took place in November, on a frosty yard. morning. Kenneth Dilts, a schoolfellow, The drowsy morning I speak of was whose stern, hard-working father had a dramatically interrupted by the en farm on South Mountain Road, below trance of a pleasantly featured man of Roberts Road—Central Highway—had middle height wearing shorts. In the gotten up in the dark to run his trap line. year 1927, a man wearing shorts was a Encountering a skunk, he had not been sight as unexpected as a man wearing a able to forebear attacking it with a stick— beard and a fluffy dress. The whole room there, after all, was a glorious skin, came to fascinated attention. The visitor worth $2.50 on the hoof. He swung his spoke politely to our startled teacher, stick, but the skunk retorted as skunks explaining that he wished to tell the will, and Kenneth was drenched. If he children about his experiences in Japan. did not go to school he might well get a The shorts, capped by a reference to hiding at home. He went. On this Japan, left Miss Lahane speechless: she occasion Miss Lahane knew exactly what moved her chair aside, and the visitor to do and did it at once. School was out in addressed us. two minutes. I don’t remember what he said, Nowadays, when I hear the school although I have a sense that it was quite buses rumbling down the hill, trailing clear and couched in terms that children the high-pitched voices of youngsters, I could follow. He finished, and left with no feel a twinge of regret for them. They more ceremony than he had employed have been deprived of something. I when he came in. It afterwards appeared walked the two miles to the Street that our visitor was more than a little School, and the effort was all my own; it odd, that his behavior was as outlandish gave the yard, the school building and as his dress: he had been discovered those I met there a kind of distinctiveness sleeping in a tree. I heard no more about which is less easy to find now. In our time him. it is much easier to go about, and much

12 harder to find differences that count the past, but to keep our sense of the when you get there. As Gertrude Stein possible distinctiveness of places, occu put it in describing her native Oakland, pations, people and the things they make “There is no there there.” alive for us. Imaginations awakened by One of the things the Historical Society the variety of what is past are more open does is not only to preserve our sense of to the possibilities of the future. 4

One Hundred Years Ago or More . . .

“The Street”

The traveller on the road from barn-yard or his pig-yard. Few farmers Haverstaw to New City strikes midway a who took any pride in their cattle would principal road which is denominated winter them in such a hovel, yet it seems “the Street.” On the corner at the right is to be regarded as good enough to put a building which has long been appro children in for six hours a day, good priated to the noble employment of the enough as the training-place of immortal education of youth. But alas! however youth, the future legislators and citizens excellent this structure might have once of our Republic. been, however fair the proportions or Long and patiently have we waited elegant its adornments, there is at hoping to have our eyes relieved of this present little to its appearance to dilapidated building, but we fear it will indicate this. stand until its remains (for part of the There are thrifty farms in the neigh clapboards are already gone) are blown borhood, with well-built houses, barns away by the wind. and granaries. But we doubt whether any of those farmers would allow such a —Rockland County Messenger looking rookery to disgrace his fields, his Thursday, May 24, 1860

Street School originally was located on the northeast comer of what is now Old Route 30f and Zukor Road. The property was donated by the Blauvelt family, who farmed and lived on the land today owned by the Historical Society. A few years after this article was written, Street School was relocated at the present site on what is now 31 Zukor Road, and a one-room brick structure was built. Once the only academic outpost in rural New City, it was closed in June 1983 due to declining enrollment. Today the building serves as a community center, operated by the Toum of Clarkstown.

13 To Save a Mountain— High Tor

by Isabelle K. Saveli

Against the evening sky, the summitof drive the machinery through the Tor’s High Tor rests secure and quiet now, rocky heart as well. Elmer considered bracketing eons of history, some written, the prediction preposterous, and said as most unwritten. much in loud tones the night they took It wasn’t always so. There was a time a him to the Broadway production of High half century ago when county residents Tor. feared the Tor might be quarried away, But Elmer died in February of 1942. reduced to traprocked anonymity under To settle his estate, the mountain was some six-lane roadbed. Maxwell Ander thrown on the market. The Hudson River son, almost as brooding a figure as the Conservation Society, born a few years Tor itself, wrote a foreboding, poetic earlier out of indignation over the drama about it, predicting that it would quarrying away of Mount Taurus and ultimately be quarried down. Henry Little Stony Point, signed an option to Varnum Poor did a famous painting of buy the upper slope and summitof High the Tor that hangs today in the Tor and the mineral rights in all the Metropolitan Museum. Amy Murray remaining Van Orden lands so they wrote haunting poems about it. Etchers could never be quarried. The Rockland and lithographers, poster artists and County Conservation Association moved photographers drew inspiration from it. right in with them, volunteering to raise Botanists and geologists found it a $5,000 of the $12,000 purchase price. treasury of unwritten history, while By that time, the United States was hikers clambered up its rocky slopes in several months into World War II, and breathless anticipation of a view that money for anything but armaments and sweeps from Connecticut to the Ramapos war-related agencies was scarce. But the and from Bear Mountain to the towers of Conservation Society members, with the Manhattan. faith that saves mountains, started But a great quarry gnawed away at canvassing everyone from school chil Middle Mountain, to the south, leaving dren to nonagenarians. A Committee to only a curtain of mountain to the east so Save High Tor was formed and Maxwell as not to visually offend the travelers on Anderson became honorary chairman. the river side. Old Elmer Van Orden, a Children, who loved the mountain (for its rugged, Rockland County mountaineer craggy top invites young hearts and who owned the western slope of High Tor muscles), emptied their dime banks to reaching to the summit, watched the swell the campaign fund, until the Tor quarry’s encroachment with rising choler. acquired a second name, “The Children’s It was all very well for his neighbor Max Mountain.” well Anderson to forecast, with poetic Berta and Elmer Hader, writers and melancholy, that they would one day illustrators of children’s books, produced

14 }

The view from High Tor, looking southeast toward the Hudson River. To the left can be seen the traprock quarrying still being carried on today. a beautifully illustrated Christmas story ings, pieces of pottery and sculpture about the Tor which went the rounds of from her distinguished employers and the county’s schools. Mary Mowbray- auctioned them off to swell the fund. A Clarke, then county landscape architect, man in Philadelphia sent $5 “rent canvassed the county’s artists and assem money” to pay for a night he spent on bled an exhibition of High Tor paintings, High Tor as a boy 25 years before—“the drawings, etchings and even a stained most exciting night of my boyhood.” So it glass panel by Maurice Heaton. Neigh went. The Tor fund moved sometimes bors wrote to friends who no longer lived slowly but sometimes with spectacular in the Hudson valley and contributions jumps toward its goal. came back. Young men and women, then in the As the campaign proceeded, attention armed forces, sent funds “to make sure turned inevitably to the 470-acre Hunt the Tor is there when I get home.” A ington estate at the foot of the Tor, an college girl asked her father to give her estate which included Little Tor. Archer cash for a birthday present—and turned M. Huntington and wife, Anne Hyatt it over to the Tor fund. A country doctor Huntington, had moved to a Connecticut asked her patients to pay up—to the Tor hilltop a few years earlier. Their house fund. A houseworker in the South and land on South Mountain Road were Mountain Road colony of celebrities unused. gathered together an invaluable collec One day Mrs. Anderson (Mab) called a tion of autographed books, plays, paint representative of the Conservation Society

15 with an urgent message: “Get in touch But it is as a symbol, and a mystical one with Archer Huntington.” An appoint at that, that High Tor holds the loyalties ment was made immediately. and concern of the countryside. Maxwell “And bring a representative of the Anderson peopled it in his play with the Palisades Interstate Park Commission ghosts of Dutch sailers marooned there with you,” Mr. Huntington said. On a 300 years, awaiting the ship which would cold, snowy winter’s day, he welcomed never come. (There were Nanuet bank the visitors in the library of his home in robbers on the mountain as well in his Connecticut. “What do you want from 1937 play.) Amy Murray’s poem, “Look me?” he asked them. ing East at Sunrise,” evokes the spirits “The mineral rights to your land so it that dwell in the Tor’s shadows. Old can never be quarried away,” was the Elmer Van Orden, whose farmhouse was reply. the last habitation before you reached the “The mineral rights!” he said. “I’ll give Tor’s summit, always insisted there were you the whole thing.” And for good ghosts on the craggy peak. “Sometimes measure he added a generous $1,000 come right down to my strawberry contribution to the fund drive. patch,” he would say. I once asked a sober By April of 1943, a total of three miles Wall Street lawyer who lived on South of mountainland overlooking the Hudson, Mountain Road and had been climbing including the historic Tor had been the Tor for 30 years about this. “Ever see secured to the Palisades Interstate Park any ghosts?” He leveled his steely eyes Commission in perpetuity for public use straight at mine and said solemnly, “I and enjoyment. wouldn’t say I haven’t.” There were important historical and geological reasons for all this fervor over High Tor. It is among the most noted Author’s note: While, for obvious rea sites along the Hudson. At its foot Major sons, Rocklanders played a leading role Andre clambered ashore to meet Bene in saving the mountain, concerned citi dict Arnold and negotiate for the zens from New York to Albany supported surrender of West Point. Because of its and assisted in the fund-raising efforts. commanding height, it was a signal Garden clubs, historical societies and tower (or “tor”) eons before wireless many other organizations on both sides of telegraphy. The Indians used it to signal the Hudson joined in the successful effort. the approach of the white man; the It is fair to say, however, that nowhere was colonists used it to signal the approach of the drive as far-reaching, as intense or as the British. personal as it was in Rockland County. Geologists say it is one of the oldest 4 pieces of land above water on earth today—older than the Himalayas or the Rockies, that it has survived the ice age and the slow erosion of the sea, when, at one period of geologic time, it was submerged. Botanists have found on its rocky slopes cacti which occur nowhere else in the east—survivors of a tropical desert period of some 20,000 years ago— and spurges whose seeds, they believe, came here generations ago on the clothes of immigrants from central Europe.

16 Alexandra Bloch of Spring Valley High (1-r) Veronica Becraft, Ruth Krell (par School receives her history award from tially hidden) and Alma Olsen of the Trustee Ticknor B. Litchfield. Director Women’s Committee help serve delicious Debra Clyde and President Tom Casey strawberry shortcake at the Strawberry look on. Festival.

On June 12, 24 Rockland high school students were honored at the 28th Annual Strawberry Festival for their interest and scholastic achievement in American history. They were, from Albertus Magnus: Ben Fuentes and Kristin Tirino; Clarkstown North: Paul Arougheti and Julie Shaw; Clarkstown South: Eric Bravin and Marnie Flaks; Nanuet: William Senenko and Tonia Tyles; North Rockland: Susan Eisner and Matthew Green; Nyack: Allen Firstenberg and Mary Ingrassia; Pearl River: Christopher Klepin and Ann Sechler; Ramapo: Amy Fisher and Nicholas Kramer; Shaarei Torah: Yaakov Nagel and Mordechai Rhine; Spring Valley: Alexandra Bloch and David Levi; Suffern: Jennifer Beck and Timothy Curley; Tappan Zee: Matthew Cohen and Suzanne Ginsburg. Each student was presented the two-volume Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, made possible by Prentice-Hall, Inc., West Nyack, and a year’s membership in the Society, made possible by John Gumming of Frederick’s Feed & Supply Co., Congers.

THE HISTORIANS ROUNDTABLE of Rockland County meets the second Wednesday of September, November, February, April and June. The Roundtable will next meet on September 14, 7:30 p.m. in the History Center Museum. A video on playwright Maxwell Anderson will be shown.

THE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY of Rockland County meets the fourth Tuesday of each month. Its next meeting is scheduled for September 27, 7:45 p.m. in the History Center Museum. The program will be on New England research.

New members and interested persons are always welcome.

17 From the Director’s Annual Report. . .

Historical Society Faces New Challenges

The Historical Society of Rockland ing and enrichment programs for its County is a remarkable institution and a volunteers. Two grant requests sub model historical society, setting a stan mitted to the New York State Council for dard in the state for its interpretive the Arts will, if awarded, provide special exhibitions and educational programs. enrichment training for our guides and Conservative fiscal management and education committee. planned growth have contributed to its Publications is another area of concern success. for 1988. While the Society’s reputation That is not to say the Society is without as a publisher has grown, so has the its share of challenges to improve and number of worthy manuscripts awaiting upgrade its services. funding for publication. At the present time there are approximately 12 items on The Challenges the publications agenda and this has Space and Organization. The Society’s made it increasingly difficult to deter collections have topped 10,000 artifacts mine priorities. The director and publi collected over two decades. A significant cations committee will be working on donation this year of the Harold T. Sher researching foundation, corporate and wood map collection has increased the private funding to enable the Society to need for collections storage by 10% in a bring original research on Rockland building already insufficient for offices, County history to the community. storage and public programming space. Other concerns are humidity control The long-range planning committee has for our collections area, computerized made building expansion a priority item accounting for our financial records, for investigation during 1988. archival management of our manu Membership. While the Society’s 1,800 scripts and maps. count is high compared to other histori cal societies in the region, the numbers The Decision to Expand Staff have leveled off during the past few years The Society has been growing steadily while county population and potential during the past two decades and so has audiences for the Society’s programs and the demand for its services. With the events have grown. The membership increase in ongoing interpretive and committee is addressing this concern educational programming and a regular with a 1988 one-on-one membership schedule of temporary exhibitions, de campaign. mands on the Society staff’s time Volunteers, talented and faithful vol increased as well. unteers, are becoming increasingly scarce In my opinion, we faced a crossroads in as more women return to full-time work 1987—to cut back our activities and keep outside the home. The Society must look our staff at current levels or to increase for ways to improve its recruiting, train our staff and expand and improve our

18 services. As I met with directors of arts volunteers and supporters, I believe we and cultural organizations throughout can do it. the county, I found they were flourishing, Great strides were made under former forward-looking, increasingly profes administrations as the Society moved to sional in their presentations. Could we its permanent headquarters, construct afford to be left behind? ed a museum and hired its first I am pleased to report that the Board of director. We can do it again if we work Trustees chose to take hold of the present together, intent on the same purpose. opportunity to expand our staffing, with May our past successes inspire us to move the full awareness of the increased on to new heights. burden this places on the board and the staff to raise the level of funding. With Respectfully submitted, the help of our board, our members, Dr. Debra Clyde

.WELCOME NEW MEMBERS April 1, 1988 - June 30, 1988

Shirley Goebel Christie Bob Marquardt Mr. & Mrs. Robert F. Clark Dr. Mark S. Masch Clarkstown High School No. Library Tammie Molinaro Helen P. Cooke II Marie Luise Olsen Mr. & Mrs. Francis A. Davis Thomas Prendergast Richard E. Davis Mathilda Rockstroh Beverly DeCaprio Gil & Martha Rosenthal Deborah DeSimone Brenda M. Ross Mr. & Mrs. William Domb The Salamas Marion Ellis Annette Saviet Sveinung Evensen Peter J. Scheibner Dennis & Debbi Gaber Mrs. Helen Screder Robert E. Gabrielson William E. Sherwood John L. Goddard Dr. & Mrs. Ernest L. Siew Betty Greenberg A1 & Ruth Simonds Kathy, John & J.P. Hartmann Jonathan Sion Olive & John Herring Richard Smith Hudson River Maritime Center, Inc. Angela Stimpfle L.L. Hunt Elizabeth Sullivan Edward S. Itkin Aaron Sisco Swann George Lithco Verna C. Tremper Rosemary L. Lobes Maria L. Valdemi Ewan C. MacQueen Ruth Mary Wilkes

NEW LIFE MEMBER Kimball B. Parker

19 ______ACCESSIONS______

* Shanks Village Directory, Nov. 1949. Files on the West Shore Railroad. Gift of John McAlevey.

* Wool petticoat that belongs to a wedding dress donated in 1976. Gavel made from wood from the White House.

* Black satin dress top with jet beads. Black dress top with a raised rose pattern.

* 3 cartwheel hats in a cartwheel hat box with additional plumes. Gift of Imogene Mayer.

* General map of Bear Mountain, Harriman section, Palisades Interstate Park. Gift of Ethel 0. Barnes.

* Copy of the New York Tribune announcing President Lincoln’s assassination.

* Engineer’s map of Camp Shanks, Orangeburg, 1941-42.

* Survey maps: 1) survey of premises formerly portion of property of Otto T. Mallery & Rosemary M. Cregg in West Nyack, 1956; 2) tax map of the Town of Clarkstown, Map No. 70 (1959, latest revision 1971); 3) Cherry Hill East Section in West Nyack, 1955, revised 1956. Gift of West Nyack Library.

* 2 medals which were presented to the donor’s uncles by the Town of Haverstraw upon their return from Europe during W.W. I. Gift of Joseph Kirk.

* 3 baskets made by the Ramapo Mountain People. Framed sketch of the Central Nyack firehouse. Gift of Grace Hunter.

* 2 brochures from the Jewish Home for Convalescents (JHC); State of New York Dept, of Charities Inspection of the JHC, 1928; State of New York Dept, of Social Welfare Inspection of the JHC, 1931; Congressional Record, August 30, 1960, honoring JHC President Harry D. Cohen on occasion of 45th anniversary; 6 patient’s registers for the JHC: 1935, 1942, 1946, 1947, 1952-53, one not dated; marble plaque with gilding, “Dedicated by the Ladies Auxiliary of the Jewish Home for Con valescents.” Gift of John Moss.

* 19 black & white photographs of historic Rockland County houses. Booklet, “The Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of Rockland County Annual Session, October 11, 1881.” Gift of Virginia Johnston.

* New Historical Atlas of Rockland County, New York, Illustrated, Centennial, 1876, F. A. Davis & Co., Philadelphia. Sanborn Map of Haverstraw, June 1887. Official Polyconic Projection Map of Rockland County by Hearne Brothers. Gift of Maryann Fales Mulvenon.

* Collection of 19th-century photographs and tintypes. Gift of Dorothy Crawford.

20 * Child’s dress of irridescent blue satin trimmed with velvet. Gift of Virginia Crum.

* 4 19th-century photographs of Spring Valley. Gift of Jane Boecher Harrigan.

* Black & white prints: 3 interior views of the ’76 House, 1 exterior view of the ’76 House, 1 exterior view of the DeWint House. Gift of William “Tippy” O’Neil.

$ $ $ ’fc $

The following have been donated for use in our ongoing programs and projects: * A reproduction open hearth toaster to be used in the outkitchen. Gift of Jan Whitlock. * 1951 Singer Medallion sewing machine to be used for various sewing tasks in the museum. Gift of Robert & Dorothy Schubart. *****

Donations of items for our museum collection may be made by telephoning Curator Stephan Hadley or Registrar Alison Geiger at 914-634-9629 and arranging a time when either of them can examine the item(s) one wishes to place in the care of the Historical Society.

Historical Documents Survey Comes to Rockland County

Patricia E. White, senior assistant copy free. Other copies are also available archivist for the New York Historical for the price of printing and binding. The Resources Center at Cornell University, data is also submitted to the Research is in Rockland County to survey unpub Libraries Information Network for on lished documents, such as deeds, ledgers, line accessibility nationwide. diaries and photographs, held in public institutions. On July 5, she began looking The project was begun in the fall of through the documents held by the 1978 and is about completed. Counties Historical Society. yet to be surveyed are Orange, Putnam Ms. White is inventorying libraries, and Westchester. Once completed the colleges, historical societies, museums upkeep and updating of the survey will and to some extent, records of municipal be the responsibility of the state. historians. Partially funded by the state, the The survey includes setting up a inventory is part of a national effort by computer network and distributing a the National Historical Publications and printed county guide to the documents. Records Commission to create a data Each participating repository receives a base of archives and manuscripts. 4

21 IN MEMORIAM

Beatrice Barry Mary Ethel Kindle Henry Green Harold Y. MacCartney, Sr. Robert A. Headden Peter J. Mascioli Morton J. Hornick Mabel L. McDade Milton Immermann Margaret Olsen Salomon

HENRY GREEN (1908-1988), resident of Spring Valley since 1925 and Patron of the Historical Society, died on April 1. He was active in numerous civic groups, including the Spring Valley Rotary Club and 62 years in the Highland Hose Fire Co. #5. From 1935 to 1972, Mr. Green was a designer and manufacturer of handbags. Nationally known, he supplied handbags to 23 airlines, such as TWA, Pan American and Eastern, the Wacs during W.W. II and the Waves during the Korean War. During World War II, Mr. Green served on the Civil Defense Board. He is among several Spring Valley figures that appear in a painting of the air-raid center by artist Franz Felix. In 1978, the painting was included in the Society’s exhibit on Mr. Felix. In 1975, Mr. Green and his wife, Dorothy, donated the needlepoint portrait of George Washington, made about 1820, that is hanging in the parlor of the Blauvelt House.

ROBERT A. HEADDEN (1910-1988), a lifelong Rockland resident, died in Blauvelt on June 18. He was graduated from the State University of New York Maritime College and spent 43 years at sea. During W.W. II he earned his master’s license and commanded ships in huge convoys to ports stretching from the South Sea isles to the Artie Circle. Victor Timoner gives an account of Captain Headden’s sea career in South of the Mountains, July-September 1984. In 1972, he retired as a Master of Ship from the American Export Lines in New York City. Capt. Headden for many years assisted at the Society’s annual Yankee Peddler Day when it was held at the Spring Valley High School.

MORTON J. HORNICK (1921-1988), Patron of the Historical Society, died at his New York City home on April 27. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Louis Hornick and Co., Inc., of Haverstraw, the curtain and drapery manufacturer. Along with his wife, Lita, he was a patron of the arts and former board member of the Rockland Center for the Arts. In 1984, the Hornick house on South Mountain Road, New City was on the Society’s Historical House Tour. It was the second house to be built in America in the international style (Bauhaus), popular 50 years ago. In 1976, through Mr. Hornick, his Haverstraw firm presented to the Society the

22 1854 Thompson-Gurnee Quilt. Some three dozen autographs, most of which are North Rockland names, appear on the quilt. It has been described as “a superior example of folk art” and contains appliques rarely found in old quilts. In addition, Mr. Hornick sponsored issues of South of the Mountains and served on the Society’s Advisory Council.

MILTON IMMERMANN, a Life member of the Historical Society, died on May 16 in Nyack. He was a member and trustee of the Tappan Zee Historical Society, forerunner of the Historical Society of Rockland County. Mr. Immermann was the former president and chairman of the board of Walter Dorwin Teague Associates, industrial design engineers in New York City. In 1958, while serving as vice president of the Tappan Zee Historical Society, Mr. Immerman was a member of a small committee that accepted a five-inch casing fired in a 17-gun salute by the destroyer U.S.S. Meredith during the 175th anniversary of the Washington-Carleton meeting in Piermont. The casing was presented by Adm. Chester C. Wood, Commandant, Third Naval District. A similar salute had been fired by the H.M.S. Perseverance in 1783, Great Britain’s first formal recognition of the new country. A full account of the 1783 meeting and the 1958 commemoration appear in Isabelle K. Saveli’s book, Wine and Bitters. Among Mr. Immermann’s other accomplishments was designing the photo mural at Orangetown Town Hall, which was dedicated at the Camp Shanks Commemorative Ceremony on November 12, 1962.

MABEL L. McDADE (1901-1988), resident of South Nyack, died on June 23. She was an active member of the Women’s Committee and made dolls, doll clothing and bed- coverings for the committee’s holiday sales held during the annual doll house exhibits. Mrs. McDade was a department administrator with the U.S. Federal Reserve in New York City.

A NOTE ON BROWSE AND BUY DAY The Women’s Committee will be unable to hold its annual Browse and Buy Day this year but hopes to see everyone next year when the event is again held.

HISTORY CENTER, 20 Zukor Road, New City, N.Y. 10956. Museum hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 12 to 4 p.m.; Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.; at special hours by phoning 914-634-9629. Office hours: Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Coming events, unless otherwise noted, will be held at the History Center. Membership, which includes mailed copies of SOUTH OF THE MOUNTAINS, is $20 family, $15 individual, $10 senior, $7.50 student.

23 COMING EVENTS EXHIBITS______Sept. 18-Nov. 13 —“Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959): Poet, Playwright, Producer.” An exhibition on New City resident Maxwell Anderson; includes other South Mountain Road artists and writers, and Anderson’s work as founding member of the Playwrights’ Producing Company. $2; members free. Nov. 27-Jan. 29 —“Winter Festival and 13th Annual Doll House Exhibit.”

PROGRAMS Sept. 10, Sat. —Jazz Festival by the Rockland County Jazz & Blues Society. 2-6 p.m. Rain date: Sept. 11. $5; $3 members of either society. Sept. 25, Sun. —Homelands Day. 17th annual celebration of Rockland County’s 1-5 p.m. ethnic and cultural diversity. $2, includes admission to museum; $1 members. Oct. 16, Sun. —Autumn Harvest Festival. Early American craft demonstra- 1-5 p.m. tions. $2, includes admission to museum; $1 members. Nov. 13, Sun. —Paul Peabody & J. Popplemeyer’s Old Fashioned Marionette 2:30 & 3 p.m. Theater. Reservations required. $2. ONGOING Sun. —Guided tours of the Jacob Blauvelt House and food demon- 2-5 p.m. strations in the outkitchen.

The History Center will be closed on Labor Day Weekend, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day and November 25.

Haverstraw Office: Orangeburg Office: Stony Point Office: 38-40 New Main St Fit 303 at Fit. 9W Opposite 429-4401 Kings Highway Filers Lane 100 359-4401 942-0444 rtwrivenM/iO' Congers Office: New City Office: Suffem Office: 1888 ■ 1988 ^ Corner Lake Rd. Clarkstown 196 Rt. 59 & Kings Highway Shopping Plaza 1,000 feet West 268-4401 244 South Main St. of Airmont Road Provident 634-4401 357-6400 Weekend Banking: Fridays, All Provident Offices, Open 5:30 to 7:00 PM Saturdays, All Provident Offices, Open 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Savings Except Haverstraw Office. We Will Provide For You fIlic