HISTORY & MYSTERIES
One of the treats of this Sunday’s 18th Annual Croton Arboretum Garden Tour will be a chance to see the Purdy homestead on Quaker Ridge Road and a group of 100-year-old family photographs, lovingly preserved and made available by local restaurateur Craig Purdy. Today, the property is a magnificent 23-acre estate—no longer in the family—but … Continue reading The Purdy Homestead on Quaker Ridge Road
Here's a nice view of the nearly-completed New Croton Dam (also known as the Cornell Dam) circa 1907. We can roughly date the image from the state of construction and the card itself because it's an "undivided back" postcard, issued during the period from 1901 to 1907. Until 1907 only the mailing address could be … Continue reading New Croton Dam, circa 1907
Postcard of Quaker Bridge, circa 1914, published by Frank L. Simone, who issued postcards of many scenes of the Croton area. This card is postmarked Oscawana, July 28, 1914. Here are two other Simone cards: View from North Highland Avenue Croton Point Beach
Here's a real treat, courtesy of the Art Wood Collection of Caricature and Cartoon at the Library of Congress. In 1910 Windsor McKay's innovative comic strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland, featured a sequence in which Little Nemo and his companions accidentally land in Sing Sing Prison. After a trip to Mars, Little Nemo, the dwarf … Continue reading Little Nemo in Sing Sing
Here’s a tasty bit of Harmon history, currently being offered on eBay. This vintage menu from the Mikado Inn features two Spring Lamb Chops for $1.50, Filet Mignon Mikado for $3.00 and a Porterhouse Steak for two for $5.00. Just between us, I recommend the house specialty, Chicken or Beef Sukiyaki , “seasoned with Soyu … Continue reading What’s Cookin’ at the Mikado?
This photograph of the nearly completed New Croton Dam gives us a look at the spillway without the usual cascade of water. Below are details from the image, showing the immense scale of the structure—made entirely of hand-hewn stone which was cut, moved and placed without the aid of modern construction equipment. The image comes … Continue reading New Croton Dam Spillway
For the second time in a month we are pleased to have helped the Westchester County Historical Society acquire an important piece of Croton-related history. Last month WCHS purchased an 1804 bible owned by Abraham I. Underhill, one of the three Underhill brothers who started the flour mill on the Croton River. Today the organization … Continue reading A Van Cortlandt Manor Treasure—on eBay!
Here’s a nice route map of the Hudson River Line steamers Albany and Chauncey Vibbard during the Golden Age of steamboats. The New York State Education Department has a fascinating account of Hudson River steamboat travel which includes descriptions of both boats and what was then called the Day Line. Of the many Hudson River … Continue reading Map of the Hudson River Line Steamers, 1883
This magnificent Hudson River School painting, Hook Mountain, Near Nyack, on the Hudson by Sanford Robinson Gifford, shows the view looking west from the southern shores of Croton Point. Hidden in the trees in the foreground is the rooftop and cupola of Richard T. Underhill’s Italianate villa, which he built in 1846 and christened “Interwasser”. … Continue reading Hidden in the Trees
Can you help decode this 19th-century document? Last month we posted pictures of a bible offered on eBay, bearing the bookplate of Abraham I. Underhill, one of the three Underhill brothers who started the flour mill on the Croton River in 1792. We were thrilled (and proud) when the Westchester County Historical Society immediately purchased … Continue reading The Mystery of the Underhill Bible
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