HISTORY & MYSTERIES
Clement C. Moore, author of the beloved poem ’ Twas the Night Before Christmas, had a family connection to what was then called the village of Sing Sing. According to the biography by Samuel White Patterson, Moore “had once contemplated making a summer home on the Hudson. In 1839, he bought a beautiful estate at Sing … Continue reading ’Twas the Night Before Christmas in Sing Sing
Here are excerpts from Benson John Lossing’s classic book, The Hudson, from the Wilderness to the Sea, recording in words and pictures a winter on the Hudson River very different from what we experience today.1 From his first night visiting “Peek’s Kill Bay”—where the river was “cold, silent, glittering . . . except a group … Continue reading Winter on the Hudson River
A seller on eBay is currently offering—and has graciously allowed us to feature—a bible bearing the bookplate of Abraham I. Underhill, one of the three Underhill brothers who started the flour mill on the Croton River in 1792, under a lease from the Van Cortlandt family. 1 The bible contains a handwritten page recording Abraham … Continue reading Underhill Bible—on eBay!
Who was the marketing genius behind this bit of Jazz Age cross-promotion? The 1917 ads for Goodyear Cord Tires appeared in magazines ranging from the Atlantic Monthly and The New Country Life to Travel and Forest & Stream . Both feature detailed pen-and-ink drawings of Nikko Inn in the background, suggesting the perfect place you … Continue reading You Can Expect Immediate Benefits
While visiting a home in the Harmon area the owners proudly pointed out the Croton Point bricks used in the floor of what had originally been a large covered porch. Well-worn from more than a century of use, many are stamped with the initials of William A. Underhill, who used the clay deposits to make … Continue reading History Underfoot
This ad for Harmon Hats appeared in the October 1949 issue of Outdoorsman magazine. For the “amazingly LOW PRICE” of $5.45 you could be the proud owner of a “zelan treated” 1 all-purpose sports hat with “genuine mouton ear-neck flaps to guarantee that extra protection.” Whether you ordered #7070—“ideal for mom, pop and the children”—or the … Continue reading Harmon Hats—Everybody Needs ’Em!
On January 17, 1883 the Troy Daily Times ran an ad for a lost watch that will quicken the heart of anyone fascinated by High Bridge, the covered wooden bridge that once soared above the Croton River. LOST—A small sized hunting cased, gold English watch. On the upper case is an engraving of High Bridge, … Continue reading The Mystery of the Lost High Bridge Watch
Here’s a nice postcard of the view looking northwest over the rooftops of Ossining to Croton Point and Haverstraw. The card is postmarked from Ossining, January 18, 1905. This is what’s called an “undivided back” postcard, printed during the period when postal regulations prohibited any writing on the back except the address—hence the note to … Continue reading Croton Point and Ossining, circa 1905
Where are the Devil’s Footprints? This simple question was recently posed to a group of Crotonites—experts in local history, in Hudson Valley geology, and some people who grew up here and explored all of Croton’s old ruins and haunted places in their youth. They all had the same reply: “What footprints?” The answer takes us … Continue reading The Mystery of the Devil’s Footprints
On Halloween, in 1922, the world-famous magician Harry Houdini gave what he called a “pseudo séance” in the Harmon home of his friend, journalist and social reformer Sophie Irene Loeb. He used the word “pseudo” when he recalled the incident in his book Magician Among Spirits, because he was famous not only for astounding feats … Continue reading Halloween with Houdini in Harmon
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