HISTORY & MYSTERIES
These images are taken from a topographic map of the "Haverstraw Quadrangle," which was surveyed in 1938 by the U.S. Department of the Interior Geological Survey and published in 19431. This map provides so many layers of information—buildings, roads, elevations, vegetation, bodies of water, place names, and more—that we can get a good sense of … Continue reading U.S. Geographical Survey Map, 1943
These newspaper advertisements from the Hudson River Chronicle capture the transition from old to new forms of transportation along the Hudson River in the Croton area. In the early 1800s stagecoaches and sloops were the main forms of transportation between New York City and Albany because there were few steamboats on the Hudson River.1 But … Continue reading Stagecoach, Sloop, Steamboat
These details are from a map of the Town of Cortlandt which accompanied the 1940 census. According to a note on the map it was prepared in January, 1935 "in the office of the County Engineer, with workers supplied by the Westchester County Emergency Work Bureau." The map can be viewed and downloaded from the … Continue reading Census Map of Croton, 1935
These beautiful glass lantern slides show the gardens of Van Cortlandt Manor in 1930, when the property was still owned by Van Cortlandt descendents.1 The photographs are from the Garden Club of America collection in the Archives of American Gardens at the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian's website states that "the Garden Club of America was … Continue reading The Gardens of Van Cortlandt Manor, 1930
Here is an early post card of the "Belle Terre, Log Cabin Restaurant at Camp Broadway, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y." According to the book by the Croton Historical Society in Arcadia's Images of America series, the Log Cabin Restaurant was located near the "present entrance to Arrow Crest." In a previous post we featured a later post … Continue reading Log Cabin Restaurant Revisited
Below is issue 1 of Theodore J. Cornu's extraordinary hand-drawn, hand-lettered, self-published journal, Hudson Valley Echoes. When the publication opens you can click on the pages and enlarge them. The embedded viewer uses Flash, so if you don't see it below because your device doesn't support Flash, you can click here. Issues 2 to 4 … Continue reading Hudson Valley Echoes, Issue #1
Here are ads for three Croton "road houses" from the June 12, 1921 issue of the New-York Tribune. They were part of a full page ad for Westchester hotels and restaurants that appeared under a banner reading "Westchester County, the Motorist's Playground, 900 Miles of Good Roads." It's hard to imagine what driving was like … Continue reading The Motorist’s Playground
Details of the Croton area in 1908 from the Atlas of the rural country district north of New York City embracing the entire Westchester County, New York . . . Compiled from maps on file and surveyors notes and data, maps from actual surveys furnished by individual owners & final field observations by our own … Continue reading Croton Area in 1908
Detail of the Croton area from Colton's Map of the County of Westchester. Drawn, Engraved and Published by G.W. & C.B. Colton & Co. 182 William St. New York. 1886. The entire map is available online at David Rumsey Map Collection.
Detail of the Croton area from the Travellers' Guide of the Hudson River. Published by H.B. Kirkham, for the Proprietor, and for sale on all the Steamboats, and at the principal Hotels in the United States, 1848. The entire map is available online at David Rumsey Map Collection.
CROTON 