HISTORY & MYSTERIES
Anyone who takes Metro-North’s Hudson River Line is struck by the beauty of the river, particularly in the evening when the sun is setting over the Palisades. Although it’s difficult to imagine, this trip has made an impression on travelers for more than 160 years. Here’s one account of the passage up the river, through … Continue reading What a Delightful Ride
The promenade across Ossining’s famous Double Arch has been restored and will be reopened on Saturday, July 20, with an event taking place from 4 to 6 pm. To celebrate, we've assembled a group of images relating to this famous local landmark. On May 21, 1839, the Westchester Herald said the "stupendous arch" over the … Continue reading Celebrating Ossining’s Double Arch
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
Another example of the innovative advertising Clifford B. Harmon used to sell land in Harmon, “the highest, healthiest, most beautiful, most accessible and most aristocratic part of Westchester County. . . . where the New York Central's million dollar electric terminal is located.” “Don't wait! HARMON is your golden opportunity. . . . $10 secures … Continue reading Cannon Ball Time to Harmon
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 is a post card showing the "Croton River, from Quaker Bridge, where Washington's Army Crossed." Below is a post card from the same period, showing what Quaker Bridge looked like at the time. Except for the unpaved road and the railing it looks the same as it does today, because our beloved Quaker Bridge is … Continue reading The View from Quaker Bridge
The amazing thing about searching with Google is that not only can you find a needle in the internet haystack—sometimes you find needles you weren't even looking for, like this story of Richard T. Underhill's involvement in the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway Company, the company that began the New York City transportation system. First … Continue reading R. T. Underhill—Doctor, Winemaker, and Investor in the First New York City Elevated Railway
This map is interesting because of what it does and does not show. If your car were to break down in 1950 you wouldn't know from looking at this map that there was a railroad (the arch-enemy of gas companies) running along the shore of the Hudson River. But if you looked carefully at the … Continue reading Esso “Happy Motoring” map, 1950
CROTON 