1 ■ ; r"^ All books are subject to recall after two weeks Olin/Kroch Library DATE DUE 44Mp» ■ Ar>r> b GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A. ^^nell University Library F 127 .IMB88 1907 The Hudson:three centuries of histoi 3 1924 021 589 589 Hudson River Panorama FIRST PHOTO PANORAMA OP ANY RIVER EVER PUBLISHED. complete: from new york to albany A Phot6graphic Curiosity, 600 Photographs accurately reproduced, showing both banks of the Hudson. A Picture Ribbon 80 feet in leng!th, bound and folded in handy and convenient form for the traveler. For sale at News Stands of Hudson River Steamers and all trains on Hudson River 'Railroad. BOTH aXTIBE BOOK AND FANOBAU A. Indispensable to the thousands of tourists who pass up and down the Hudson. Both banks of the river reproduced in exact juxtaposition as they appear in nature; minute ol>jects on either shore appear with almost the vividness that they possess when seen from the deck of one of the Day Steamers. Kach city and village, and each objebt of interest on either banlc of the river is marlied so that the possessor has both a guide boolc and a panorama in one.— Albany Express. PERFECT PHOTOGRAPHIC REFRODVCTIOIT. The Panorama presents both sides of the River in perfect photographic repro- duction. With its aid travelers by river or rail on either shore can see at any time exactly where they are. The work is a novelty in its line and should be in the possession of every one who travels on the Rhine of Ameiiaa.—Poughkeepsie Even- ng Wnterph ise. FROM BARTHOIiDI STATTTE TO THE CAPITAL. This unigue and interesting emanation from the press will win the popular fi'-'or at sight. Starting from the Bartholdi Statue it gives a continuous picture of i sides of the river to AVb&UY.—PoagMeeepsie Eagle JSAND SOLI.ARS-A FINE PIECE OF ART-PANORAMA Wi ...d'E HUDSON FROM THE METROPOLIS TO THE CAPITAL. An Interesting and marvelously beautiful publication. Both sides of the river are pictui'ed on the same page; all the villages and cities, and the continuous profile ot the scores being correctly represented. The work has been in progress for a year; both shores of the Hudson were photographed last summer. The entire work cost the publisher $6,W)0.— News-Frees For Sale on all Hudson River Steamers or sent for 50c. by addressing BRYANT UNION COMPANY 81 Fulton Street, New York. HOTEL VICTORIA Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 27th Street NEW YORK i^edueed ^ates'/bT iJieSt ummer Mroadwajf ^rotleus line in ^ew $(prA: Sn the eenter-vf iAe Uheaire and Shopping/ ^i^m^teis George W. Sweeney iProprieidr Cable Address ' VICtORIOLA," N. Y. i^ate iS/- SO and up Caiskill Mountain Railway FROM CATSKILL LANDING on the HUDSON RIVER TO THE CATSKILL MOUNTAINS. SHORTEST, QUICKEST and BEST ROUTE TO THE Summer Resorts of the Catskill Mountain Region, CONNECTING WITH THE NEW OTIS ELEVATING RAILWAY, SXa]^g the ascent of the mountains in 10 uUnutes and Reducing' time firom the Hudson River to the Summit of the Catsbills to 45 Bliuutes. Also reducing time 114 liours from New York Citjr J;o the Catskill Mountain House and Hotel Kaatei'SlidBl and opening New and Quick Route to Xiaurpl HoMSe, Haines' Falls and Tanuersville. Only route to l4e!ms,' $onth Cairo. Lawrencevllle and PalenviUe, via m^iiii line and to Cairo, via Cairo R. R. extension. Stages donnect with Trains at Cairo for Freehold, East jiurham, Oak Hill and Durham; also for Acra, Soii@i Durham, Fast 'Windham and IVindham. Close connections made at Catskill with the Hudson River 'Day Line Steamers, the Steamers of the Catskill tfig^t Iiine, the N. T. Central & Hudson River R. R. JEuad the West Shore Railroad. C. A. BEACH. Oen'l Supt.. Purchase Tickets via Caiskill. Catskill, N. T. Leading Hotel of ALBANY, N. Y. pittEPt<00|3 EUt^OPHAfl PIiH)4 Most Attractive Hotel in New York State Convenient to STATE CAPITOL, otiier. Public Buildings and Places of interest A Deiiglitful Home for those wishing to spend a time in this interest- ing and historic city. ' Omnibuses at all Trains and Boats. Long Distance Telephone in every room. F. W. Rockwell THE HUDSON Three Centuries of History, Romance and Invention BY WALLACE BRUCE Centennial Edition Published by BRYANT UNION COMPANY NEW YORK Copyright 1907 by Wallace Bruce CONTENTS. CENTENNIAL GREETING. , ■ PAGE History, Romance and Invention 9-39 An Open Book 10 The Hudson and the Rhine ' ." n The Half Moon 12 Its Discovery 15 First Description 16 Names of the Hudson 18 Hills and Mountains 19 Sources of the Hudson 19 First Settlement 20 The West India Company 21 Original Manors and Patents 23 The Dutch and the English 24 New Amsterdam 25 New York 26 Sons of Liberty 28 Greater New York 30 Hudson River Steamboats 31 Day Line Steamers 34 The Old Reaches 38 Five Divisions of the Hudson 39 NEW YORK TO ALBANY. Desbrosses Street Pier to Forty-Second Street . . . 41-43 Historic River Front 41 A Great Panorama 41 Statue of Liberty — Stevens Castle 42 Forty-Second to One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth. 43-48 Weehawken, Hamilton and Burr 43 Riverside Drive and Park 45 Columbia University 46 General Grant's Tomb 46 <{LOnient$ ^^^ hundred and twenty-ninth St. to Yonkers 49-50 Washington Heights 49 The Palisades, 52 Island of Manhattan 56 Spuyten Dujrvel Creek 57 Yonkers 58 Yonkers to West Point 59-96 Hastings and Dobbs Ferry 60 Tappan Zee and Piermont 61 Irvington and "Stmnyside" 62 Washington Irving 63 The Headless Horseman 66 Tarrytown and Tappan 67 Sleepy Hollow '70 Nyack 72 Ossining . , ^3 Croton River and Eeservoir 74 Haverstraw "75 Stony Point 77 Peekskill 79 Story of Captain Kidd 80 The Highlands 81 Dunderberg 82 Anthony's Nose 83 Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery 84 Beverley House 87 Arnold's Flight 88 Buttermilk Falls 91 West Point Military Academy 92 Plateau Buildings and Memorials 93-94 Fort Putnam 95 West Point to Newburgh 97-1 04 Northern Gate of Highlands 98 "Undercliff" 99 Storm King 100 Cornwall and "Idlewild" 102 Newburgh to Poughkeepsie 104-128 Washington's Headquarters 104 Refusing the Crown 105 Suffering of Soldiers 106 Cessation of Hostilities 107 4 PAGE Contents Marquis de Lafayette 109 Centennial Celebration 110 Fishkill 113 Duyvel's Dans Kammer 118 "Locust Grove" 119 The Storm Ship 120 Poughkeepsie 121 POUGHKEEPSIE TO KINGSTON 129-146 Hyde Park 130 Mount Hymettus 130 Rhinecliff 135 City of Kingston 136 The Senate House 138 The Southern Catskills 142 Kingston to Catskill 147-168 Montgomery Place 147 Story of Steam Navigation 149 Robert Fulton 152 The "Clermont" 152 Tivoli 154 Saugerties . . ♦ 156 The Livingston Country 157 The "Shad Industry" 158 Germantown 160 Man in the Mountain 161 New York City Water Supply 162 The Clover Reach 163 Catskill 164 Otis Elevating Railway 165 Catskill to Hudson 169-172 Hudson 169 Columbia County 170 Claverack and Hillsdale 171 Hudson to Albany 173-185 Athens 173 The Ice Industry 173 Anthony Van Corlear 176 The Mahican Tribe 177 The Mahicans, Delawares and Iroquois 178 The Old Van Rensselaer House 180 Albany 181 Contents '^^^ upper HUDSON. page Albany to Saeatoga 186-191 Saratoga 187 Historic Saratoga 189 Mount McGregor 190 Saratoga to the Adirondacks 191-201 Saratoga to Lake George 192 Lake George to the Adirondacks 197-201 Ticonderoga 198 Bluflf Point 199 Plattsburgh and the Saranacs 201 Source of the Hudson 201-210 The Tahawas Club 202 The Upper Ausable 203 Haystack and Camp Golden 204 The Deserted Village 205 Indian Pass 206 Tahawas 210 Geology, Tides and Condensed Points 211-224 Geological Formation 211-215 The Hudson Tide 215 Condensed Points — New York to Albany. . . 216-224 1907—1909 CENTENNIAL GREETING Hendrick Hudson and Robert Fulton are closely associated in the history of our river, and more par- ticularly at this time, as the dates of their achieve- Tnents unite the centennial of the first successful steamer in 1807, with the tri-centennial of the dis- covery of the river in 1609. In fact, these three cen- twries of navigation, with rapidly increasing develop- ment in later years, might be graphically condensed — "Half Moon," 1609; "Clermont." 1807; "Hendrick Hudson, " 1 906. Singularly enough the discovery of Hendrick Hud- son, amd the invention of Robert Fulton are also sim- ilar in ha/ving mwny ad/verse claimants who forget the diference between attempt and accomplishment. Everyone knows that Verraza/no entered the Na/r- rows a/ndha/rbor of owr rimer in 15^4, and sailed fa/r enough to see the outline of the PaUsades; that Gomez visited its mouth in 15^5; Cabot still earlier in H98; a/nd various Noo'semen, narnied a/nd ruimeless, for sev- eral centuries before them, coasted along the shore amd indenture of the ^''Rvver oftheManhattoes^'' butfa/iled to acquire or tra/nsmit amy knowledge of the rimer's real course or character, and it was left for Hendrick 7 A century vast of Hudson-fame ' Which Irving's fancy seals'; Whose ripples, murmur Morse's name Ahij flash to Fulton's wheels. Wallace Bruce. Centennial (£)reetinff Hudson to he its first voyager and thereby to have and to hold agadnst all comers the glory of discovery. So Robert Fulton had several predecessors in the idea of applying steam, to navigation — Johm, Fitch in 1785, William Symington in 1788 amd many others who liltewise coasted along the shore and indenture of a great idea, marked by contmnml failure amd final abandonment. It was reserved for Fulton to complete and stamp upon his labor the seal of service and suc- cess, and to stand, therefore, its accepted inventor. In addition to the invention of Fulton who has contributed so much to the business a/nd brotherhood of mankind, the telegraph of Morse ocawpies a prominent page of our Hudson history, and it is sadd that Morse left vmfinished a novel, the incidents of which were associated with the Highlands, in order to work out his idea which game the Hudson a grander chapter. FultorHs and Morse's inventions a/re also happily associated in this, that the steamboat vjas necessary before the Atlantic cable, born of Morses in/vention, could be laid, and, singularly enough, the laying of the cable, largely promoted by Hudson Biver genius and capital, by Field, Cooper, Morse a/nd others on August 6, 1867, ma/rks the very middle of the cen- t&n/nial which we are now observing. A cycle grand with wonders fraught That triumph over time and space; In woven steel its dreams are wrought, The nations whisper face to face. Wallace Bruce. Hfttdrick Hudson^s *^ Half Moon '^ THE HUDSON Among all the rivers of the world the Hudson is acknowledged queen, decked with romance, jewelled with poetry, clad with history, and crowned with beauty. More than this, the Hudson is a noble threshold to a great continent and New York Bay a fitting portal. The traveler who enters the Narrows for the first time is impressed with wonder, and the charm abides even with those who pass daily to and fro amid her beauties. No other river approaches the Hudson in varied grandeur and sublimity, and no other city has so grand and com- modious a harbor as New York. It has been the privilege of the writer of this hand-book to see again and again most of the streams of the old world " re- nowned in song and story," to behold sunrise on the Bay of Naples and sunset at the Golden Gate of San Francisco, but the spell of the Hudson remains unbroken, and the bright bay at her mouth reflects the noontide without a rival. To pass a day in her company, rich A very good land to fall in with and a pleasant land g to see I Hendrick Hudson. grup with the story and glory of three hundred years, is worth ^ a trip across a continent, and it is no wonder that the )^UD0Ott European traveler says again and again: "to see the »-. , Hudson alone, is worth a voyage across the Atlantic." I^iu0t How like a great volume of history romance and poetry seem her bright illumined pages with the broad river lying as a crystal book-mark between her open leaves! And how real this idea becomes to the Day Line tourist, with the record of Washington and Hamilton for its opening sentence, as he leaves the Up-Town landing, and catches messages from Fort Washington and Fort Lee. What Indian legends cluster about the brow of Indian Head blending with the love story of Mary Phillipse at the Manor House of Yonkers. How Irving's vision of Katrina and Sleepy Hollow become woven with the courage of Paulding and the capture of Andre at Tarry- town. How the Southern Portal of the Highlands stands sentineled by Stony Point, a humble crag converted by the courage of Anthony Wayne into a mountain peak of Liberty. How North and South Beacon again summon the Hudson yeomen from harvest fields to the defense of country, while Fort Putnam, still eloquent in her ruins, looks down upon the best drilled boys in the world at West Point. Further on Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and Kingston shake fraternal hands in the abiding trinity of Washington, Hamilton and Clinton, while northward rise the Ontioras where Rip Van Winkle slept, and woke to wonder at the happenings of twenty years. What stories of silent valleys told by murmuring streams from the Berkshire Hills and far away fields where Stark and Ethan Allen triumphed. What tales of Cooper, where the Mohawk entwines her fingers with those of the Susquehanna, and poems of Longfellow, Bryant and Holmes, of Dwight, of Halleck and of Drake; ay, and of Yankee Doodle too, written at the Old Van Rensselaer House almost within a pebble-throw of the 10 Roll on ! Roll on I Thou river .of the North ! Tell thou to all The isles, tell thou to all the Continents The grandeur of my land. William Wallace, steamer as it approaches Albany. What a wonderful book of history and beauty, all to be read in one day's journey! t^UDSOtt The Hudson has often been styled " The Rhine of America." There is, however, little of similarity and iKlOCt much of contrast. The Rhine from Dusseldorf to Man- heim is only twelve hundred to fifteen hundred feet in breadth. The Hudson from New York to Albany aver- ages more than five thousand feet from bank to bank. At Tappan Zee the Hudson is ten times as wide as the Rhine at any point above Cologne. At Bonn the Rhine is barely one-third of a mile, whereas the Hudson at Haverstraw Bay is over four miles in width. The average breadth of the Hudson from New York to Poughkeepsie is almost eight thousand feet. The mountains of the Rhine also lack the imposing character of the Highlands. The far-famed Drachenfels, the Landskron, and the Stenzleburg are only seven hun- dred and fifty feet above the river; the Alteberg eight hundred, the Rosenau nine hundred, and the great Oelberg thirteen hundred and sixty-two. According to the latest United States Geological Survey the entire group of mountains at the northern gate of the Highlands is from fourteen hundred to sixteen hundred and twenty- five feet in height, not to speak of the Catskills from three thousand to almost "four thousand feet in altitude. It is not the fault of the Rhine with its nine hundred miles of rapid flow that it looks tame compared with the Hudson. Even the Mississippi, draining a valley three thousand miles in extent, looks insignificant at St. Louis or New Orleans contrasted with the Hudson at Tarry- town. ' The Hudson is in fact a vast estuary of the sea; the tide rises two feet at Albany and six inches at Troy. A professor of the Berlin University says: "You lack our castles but the Hudson is infinitely grander." Thackeray, in " The Virginians," gives the Hudson the verdict of beauty; and George William Curtis, I have. .been up and down the Hudson by. water. The entire river is pretty, but the glory of the Hudson is at West P6int. Anthony Trollope. 2rf)0 comparing the Hudson with the rivers of the Old World, ^ has gracefully said: "The Danube has in part glimpses lPUDS>On of such grandeur, the Elbe has sometimes such deli- IRitlCt cately penciled effects, but no European river is so lordly in its bearing, none flows in such state to the sea." Baedeker, a high and just authority, in his recent Guide to the United States says : " The Hudson has sometimes oeen called the American Rhine, but that title perhaps does injustice to both rivers. The Hudson, through a great part of its extent, is three or four times as wide as the Rhine, and its scenery is grander and more in- spiring; while, though it lacks the ruined castles and ancient towns of the German river, it is by no means devoid of historical associations of a more recent char- acter. The vine-clad slopes of the Rhine have, too, no ineffective substitute in the brilliant autumn coloring of the timbered hillsides of the Hudson." What must have been the sensation of those early voyagers, coasting a new continent, as they halted at the noble gateway of the river and gazed northward along the green fringed Palisades; or of Hendrick Hud- son, who first traversed its waters from Manhattan to the Mohawk, as he looked up from the chubby bow of his " Half Moon " at the massive columnar formation of the Palisades or at the great mountains of the Highlands; what dreams of success, apparently within reach, were his, when night came down in those deep forest solitudes under the shadowy base of Old Cro' Nest and Klinker- berg Mountain, where his little craft seemed a lone cradle of civilization; and then, when at last, with immediate purpose foiled, he turned his boat southward, having dis- covered, but without knowing it, something infinitely more valuable to future history than his long-sought " Northwestern Passage to China," how he must have gazed with blended wonder and awe at the distant Cats- kills as their sharp lines came out, as we have seen them many a September morning, bold and clear along the '" A stately stream around which as around The German Rhine hover mystic shapes. Richard Burton. horizon, and learned in gentle reveries the poetic mean- gru^ ing of the blue Ontioras or " Mountains of the Sky." How ^^^ fondly he must have gazed on the picturesque hills )bUl)0On above Apokeepsing and listened to the murmuring music , of Winnikee Creek, when the air was clear as crystal Ii\lU0t and the banks seemed to be brought nearer, perfectly reflected in the glassy surface, while here and there his eye wandered over grassy uplands, and rested on hills of maize in shock, looking for all the world like mimic encampments of Indian wigwams! Then as October came with tints which no European eye had ever seen, and sprinkled the hill-tops with gold and russet, he must indeed have felt that he was living an enchanted life, or journeying in a fairy land! How graphically the poet Willis has put the picture in musical prose : " Fancy the bold Englishman, as the Dutch called Hendrick Hudson, steering his little yacht the ' Haalve Maan,' for the first time through the High- lands. Imagine his anxiety for the channel forgotten, as he gazed up at the towering rocks, and round the green shores, and onward past point and opening bend, miles away into the heart of the country; yet with no lessening .of the glorious stream before him and no decrease of promise in the bold and luxuriant shores. Picture him lying at anchor below Newburgh with the dark pass of the Wey-Gat frowning behind him, the lofty and blue Catskills beyond, and the hillsides around covered with lords of the soil exhibiting only less wonder than friendliness." If Willis forgot the season of the year and left out the landscape glow which the voyager saw, Talmage com- pleted the picture in a rainbow paragraph of color: "Along our river and up and down the sides of the great hills there was an indescribable mingling of gold, and orange and crimson and saffron, now sobering into drab and maroon, now flaring up into solferino and scarlet. Here and there the tr^es looked as if their tips had blos- So fair yon haven clasped its isles, in such a sunset gleam, When Hendrick and his sea-worn tars first sounded up the stream. Robert C. Sands. sLV^Z somed into fire. In the morning light the forests seemed JbtlllSDtl ^® '■^ *^®y ^^^ ''®®'^ transfigured and in the evening hours they looked as if the sunset had burst and dropped upon IRltJCt the leaves. It seemed as if the sea of divine glory had dashed its surf to the top of the crags and it had come dripping down to the lowest leaf and deepest cavern." On such a day in 1883 it was the privilege of the writer to stand before 150,000 people at Newburgh on the occasion of the Centennial Celebration of the Dis- banding of the Army under Washington, and, in his poem entitled " The Long Drama," to portray the great moun- tain background bounding the southern horizon with autumnal splendor : October lifts witli colors bright Her mountain canvas to the sky, The crimson trees aglow with light Unto our banners wave reply. Like Horeb's bush the leaves repeat From lips of flame with glory crowned : — " Put oft thy shoes from off thy feet. The place they trod is holy ground." Such was the vision Hendrick Hudson must have had in those far-off September and October days, and such the picture which visitors still compass long distances to behold. " It is a far cry to Loch Awe " says an old Scottish proverb, and it is a long step from the sleepy rail of the " Half Moon " to the roomy-decked floating palaces — the "Hendrick Hudson," the "New York" and the "Al- bany." Before beginning our journey let us, therefore, bridge the distance with a few intermediate facts, from 1609, relating to the discovery of the river, its early settlement, its old reaches and other points essential to the fullest enjoyment of our trip, which in sailor-parlance might be styled "'a gang-plank of history," reaching as it does from the old-time yacht to the modern steamer, and spanning three hundred years. 14, The prow o( the "Half-Moon" has left a broadening wake whose fipplies have written an indelible history, not only along the Hudson's shores, but have left their Imprint on kingdoms over the sea. ' WiUiam Wait. Its Discovery. — In the year 1524, thirty-two years after ^]^0 the discovery of America, the navigator Verrazano, a |V\||»i<*rt*l French officer, anchored off the island of Manhattan and ^ proceeded a short distance up the river. The following IRfiJCt year, Gomez, a Portuguese in the employ of Spain, coasted along the continent and entered the Narrows. Several sea-rovers also visited our noble bay about 1598, but it was reserved for Hendrick Hudson, with a mixed crew of eighteen or twenty men in the " Half Moon," to explore the river from Sandy Hook to Albany, and carry back to Europe a description of its beauty. He had previously made two fruitless voyages for the Muscovy Company — an English corporation — in quest of a passage to China, via the North Pole and Nova Zembla. In the autumn of 1608 he was called to Amsterdam, and sailed from Texel, April 5, 1609, in the service of the Dutch East India Company. Reaching Greenland he coasted southward, arriving at Cape Cod August 6th, Chesapeake Bay August 28th, and then sailed north to Sandy Hook. He entered the Bay of New York Sep- tember the 3d, passed through the Narrows, and anchored in what is now called Newark Bay; on the 12th resumed his voyage, and, drifting with the tide, remained over night on the 13th about three miles above the northern end of Manhattan Island; on the 14th sailed through what is now known as Tappan Zee and Haverstraw Bay, entered the Highlands and anchored for the night near the present dock of West Point. On the morning of the 15th beheld Newburgh Bay, reached Catskill on the 16th, Athens on the 17th, Castleton and Albany on the 18th, and sent out an exploring boat as far as Water- ford. He became thoroughly satisfied that this route did not lead to China — a conclusion in harmony with that of Champlain, who, the same summer, had been making his way south, through Lake Champlain and Lake George, in quest of the South Sea. O mighty river of the North ! Thy lips meet ocean j e here, 'kiid 'm deep joy he lifts his great white brow; and gTves hi^ stormy voice a milder tone. ' ' ■ ^'' William Wallace. Kiticr There is something humorous in the idea of these old mariners attempting to sail through a continent 3,000 miles wide, seamed with mountain chains from 2,000 to 15,000 feet in height. Hudson's return voyage began September 23d. He anchored again in Newburgh Bay the 25th, arrived at Stony Point October 1st, reached Sandy Hook the 4th, and returned to Europe. First Description of the Hudson. — The official record of the voyage was kept by Robert Juet, mate of the " Half Moon,'' and his journal abounds with graphic and pleasing incidents as to the people and their customs. At the Narrows the Indians visited the vessel, " clothed in mantles o€ feathers and robes of fur, the women clothed in hemp; red copper tobacco pipes, and other things of copper, they did wear about their necks." At Yonkers they came on board in great numbers. Two were de- tained and dressed in red coats, but they sprang over- board and swam away. At Catskill they found " a, very loving people, and very old men. They brought to the ship Indian com, pumpkins and tobaccos." Near Scho- dack the " Master's mate went on land with an old savage, governor of the country, who carried him to his house and made him good cheere." " I sailed to the shore," he writes, "in one of their canoes, with an old man, who was chief of a tribe, consisting of forty men and seven- teen women. These I saw there in a house well con- structed of oak bark, and circular in shape, so that it has the appearance of being built with an arched roof. It contained a large quantity of corn and beans of last year's growth, and there lay near the house, for the pur- pose of drying, enough to load three ships, besides what was growing in the fields. On our coming to the house two mats were spread out to sit upon, and some food was immediately served in well-made wooden bowls." " Two men were also dispatched at once, with bows and arrows in quest of game, who soon brought in a pair of pigeons, whieh they had shot. They likewise 16 Down whose waterways the wings of poetry and ro- mance like magic sails bear the awakened souls of men. Richard Burton. killed a fat dog, (probably a black bear), and skinned it in great haste, with shells which they had got out of the water." The well-known hospitality of the Hudson River valley has, therefore, "high antiquity" in this record of the garrulous writer. At Albany the Indians flocked to the vessel, and Hudson determined to try the chiefs to see " whether they had any treachery in them." " So they took them down into the cabin, and gave them so much wine and aqua vitae that they were all merry. In the end one of them was drunk, and they could not tell how to take it." The old chief, who took the aqua vitae', was so grateful when he awoke the next day, that he showed them all the country, and gave them venison. Passing down through the Highlands the " Half Moon " was becalmed near Stony Point and the " people of the Mountains " came on board and marvelled at the ship and its equipment. One canoe kept hanging under the stem and an Indian pilfered a pillow and two shirts from the cabin windows. The mate shot him in the breast and killed him. A boat was lowered to recover the articles " when one of them in the water seized hold of it to overthrow it, but the cook seized a sword and cut off one of his hands and he was drowned." At the head of Manhattan Island the vessel was again attacked. Arrows were shot and two more Indians were killed, then the attack was renewed and two more were slain. It might also be stated that soon after the arrival of Hendrick Hudson at the mouth of the river one of the English soldiers, John Coleman, was killed by an arrow shot in the throat. " He was buried," according to Rut- tenber, " upon the adjacent beach, the first European victim of an Indian weapon on the Mahicanituk. Cole- man's point is the monument to this occurrence." The " Half Moon " never returned and it will be remem- bered that Hudson never again saw the river that he discovered. He was to leave his name however as a Cfje mitiet The sea just peering the headlands through Where the sky is lost in deeper blue. Charles Fenno Hoffman. 17 vLifC monument to further adventure and hardihood in Hud- H^ttliann ^°^'^ -^^y' where he was cruelly set adrift by a mutinous IjsfUU^Un j.j.g^ jjj ^ jjj.j.jg jjj,^^ ^Q perish in the midsummer of 1611. IRftJft Names of the Hudson.— The Iroquois called the river the " Cohatatea." The Mahicans and Lenapes the " Mahi- canituk," or "the ever-flowing waters." Verrazano in 1524 styled it Eio de Montaigne. Gomez in 1525 Rio San Antonio. Hudson styled it the "Manhattes" from the tribe at its mouth. The Dutch named it the " Mauritius," in 1611, in honor of Prince Maurice of Nassau, and afterwards " the Great River." It has also been referred to as the " Shatemuck " in verse. It was called " Hud- son's River" not by the Dutch, as generally stated, but by the English, as Hudson was an Englishman, although he sailed from a Dutch port, with a Dutch crew, and a Dutch vessel. It was also called the " North River," to distinguish it from the Delaware, the South River. It is still frequently so styled, and the East River almost "boxes the compass" as applied to Long Island Sound. Height of Hills and Mountains. — It is interesting to hear the opinions of diflierent people journeying up and down the Hudson as to the height of mountains along the river. The Palisades are almost always under-esti- mated, probably on account of their distance from the steamer. It is only when we consider the size of a house at their base, or the mast of a sloop anchored near the shore, that we can fairly judge of their magnitude. Various guides, put together in a day or a month, by writers who have made a single journey, or by persons who have never consulted an authority, have gone on multiplying blunder upon blunder, but the United States Geological Survey furnishes reliable information. Ac- cording to their maps the Palisades are from 300 to 500 feet in height, the Highlands from 785 to 1625, and the Catskills from 3000 to 3885 feet. IS Beneath the clifFs the river steals In darksome eddies to the shore, But midway every sail reveals Reflected on its crystal floor. Henry T. Tuekerman. THE PALISADES. At Fort Lee 300 feet. Opposite Mt. St. Vincent 400 " ^UD0Ott Opposite Hastings 500 THE HIGHLANDS. Sugar Loaf 785 feet. Dunderberg 865 " Anthony's Nose 900 " Storm King 1368 " Old Cro' Nest 1405 " Bull Hill 1425 " South Beacon 1625 " THE CATSKILLS. North Mountain 3000 feet. Plaaterklll 3135 " Outlook 3150 " Stoppel Point 3426 " Round Top 2470 " High Peak 3660 " Sugar Loaf 3782 " Plateau 3855 " Sources of the Hudson. — The Hudson rises in the Adi- rondacks, and is formed by two short branches. The northern branch (17 miles in length), has its source in Indian Pass, at the base of Mount Mclntyre; the eastern branch, in a little lake poetically called the " Tear of the Clouds," 4,321 feet above the sea under the summit of Tahawus, the noblest mountain of the Adirondacks, 5,344 feet in height. About thirty miles below the junc- tion it takes the waters of Boreas River, and in the southern part of Warren County, nine miles east of Lake George, the tribute of the Schroon. About fifteen miles north of Saratoga it receives the waters of the Sacandaga, then the streams of the Battenkill and the •Walloomsac; and a short distance above Troy its largest tributary, the Mohawk. The tide rises six inches at Troy and two feet at Albany, and from Troy to New York, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, the river is navigable by large steamboats. Of grottoes in the far dim woods, X9 Of pools moss-rimmed and deep, From whose embrace the little rills In daring venture creep. E. A. Lente. Kftiet Cfte Hitter The principal streams which flow into the Hudson be- tween Albany and New York are the Norman's Kill, on west bank, two miles south of Albany; the Mourdener's Kill, at Castleton, eight miles below Albany, on the east bank; Coxsackie Creek, on west bank, seventeen miles below Albany; Kinderhook Creek, six miles north of Hud- son; Catskill Creek, six miles south of Hudson; Roeliffe Jansen's Creek, on east bank, seven miles south of Hud- son; the Esopus Creek, which empties at Saugerties; the Rondout Creek, at Rondout; the Wappingers, at New Hamburgh; the Fishkill, at Matteawan, opposite New- burgh; the Peekskill Creek, and Croton River. The course of the river is nearly north and south, and drains a comparatively narrow valley. It is emphatically the " River of the Mountains," as it rises in the Adirondacks, flows seaward east of the Hel- derbergs, the Catskills, the Shawangunks, through twenty miles of the Highlands and along the base of the Pali- sades. More than any other river it preserves the char- acter of its origin, and the following apostrophe from the writer's poem, " The Hudson," condenses its continu- ous " mountain-and-lake-like " quality : O Hudson, moiintain-borii and free. Thy youth a deep impression talces. For, mountain-guarded to the sea, Thy course is but a chain of lakes. The First Settlement of the Hudson. — In 1610 a Dutch ship visited Manhattan to trade with the Indians and was soon followed by others on like enterprise. In 1613 Adrian Block came with a few comrades and remained the winter. In 1614 the merchants of North Holland organized a company and obtained from the States Gen- eral a charter to trade in the New Netherlands, and soon after a colony built a few houses and a fort near the Battery. The entire island was purchased from the Indians in 1624 for the sum of sixty guilders or about 20 Where Manhattan reigned of old Long before the age of gold In the fair encircled isle Formed for beauty's warmest smile. Wittiam Crow. twenty-four dollars. A fort was built at Albany in 1623 ^|^0 andjmown as Fort Aurania or Fort Orange. From Was- vj. j^^ _ senaer's " Historie van Europa," 1621-1632, as translated ^M OS OH in the 3d volume of the Documentary History of Newjjjj^jgj York, a castle — Fort Nassau — ^was built in 1624, on an island on the north side of the River Montagne, now called Mauritius. " But as the natives there were some- what discontented, and not easily managed, the projectors abandoned it, intending now to plant a colony among the Maikans (Mahicans), a nation lying twenty-five miles (American measure seventy-five miles) on both sides of the river, upwards." In another document we learn that " The West India Company being chartered, a vessel of 130 lasts, called the ' New Netherland ' (whereof Cornelius Jacobs, of Hoom, was skipper), with thirty families, mostly Walloons, was equipped in the spring of 1623." In the beginning of May they entered the Hudson, found a " Frenchman " lying in the mouth of the river, who would erect the arms of the King of France there, but the Hollanders would not permit him, opposing it by com- mission from the Lord's States General and the Directors of the West India Company, and " in order not to be frustrated therein, they convoyed the Frenchman out of the rivers." This having been done, they sailed up the Maikans, 140 miles, near which they built and completed a fort, named "Orange," with four bastions, on an island, by them called " Castle Island." This was probably the island below Castleton, now known as Baem Island, where the first white child was born on the Hudson. In another volume we read that " a colony was planted in 1625 on the Manhetes Island, where a fort was staked out by Master Kryn Fredericke, an engineer. The count- ing-house is kept in a stone building thatched with reed; the other houses are of the bark of trees. There are thirty ordinary houses on the east side of the river, which runs nearly north and south." This is the descrip- tion of New York City when Charles the First W3,s King. Behold the natural advantages of our State; the situ- ation of our principal seaport; the facility that the 91 Sound affords for an intercourse with the East, and the noble Hudson which bears upon its bosom the wealth of the remotest part of the State. Robert R. Livingston. grjhg Moreover, we should not forget that Communipaw out- ranks New York in antiquity, and, according to Knicker- ]pUD0On bocker, whose quiet humor is always read and re-read lIlfVll>r ^''^^ pleasure, might justly be considered the Mother Colony. For lo! the sage Oloife Van Kortlandt dreamed a dream, and the good St. Nicholas came riding over- OLOFFE VAN KORTLANDT'S DREAM. the tops of the trees, and descended upon the island of Manhattan and sat himself down and smoked, " and the smoke ascended in the sky, and formed a cloud overhead; and Oloffe bethought him, and he hastened and climbed up to the top ot one of the tallest trees, and saw that the smoke spread over a great extent of country; and, as he considered it more attentively, he fancied that the great volume assumed a variety of marvelous forms, where, in dim obscurity, he saw shadowed out palaces and domes and lofty spires, all of which lasted but a moment, and then passed away." So New York, like Alba Longa and Rome, and other cities of antiquity, was 22 Below the cliffs Manhattan's spires Glint back the sunset's latest beam; The bay is flecked with twinkling fires; Or is it but "Van Kortlandt's dream?" "Van Kortlandt's dream?" Wallace Bruce. under the immediate care of its tutelar saint. Its destiny was foreshadowed, for now the palaces and domes and lofty spires are real and genuine, and something more ^UDSOtt than dreams are made of. to it. The Original Manors and Patents. — According to a IttluCC map of the Province of New York, published in 1779, the Phillipsburg Patent embraced a large part of West- chester County. North of this was the Manor of Cort- land, reaching from Tarrytown to Anthony's Nose. Above this was the Phillipse Patent, reaching to the mouth of Fishkill Creek, embracing Putnam County. Between Fish- kill Creek and the Wappingers Creek was the Rombout Patent. The Schuyler Patent embraced a few square miles in the vicinity of Poughkeepsie. Above this was the purchase of Falconer & Company, and east of this tract what was known as the Great Nine Partners. Above the Falconer Purchase was the Henry Beekman Patent, reaching to Esopus Island, and east of this the Little Nine Partners. Above the Beekman Patent was the Schuyler Patent. Then the Manor of Livingston, reach- ing from Rhinebeck to Catskill Station, opposite Catskill. Above this Rensselaerwick, reaching north to a point opposite Coeymans. The Manor of Rensselaer extended on both sides of the river to a line running nearly east and west, just above Troy. North and west of this Manor was the County of Albany, since divided into Rensselaer, Saratoga, Washington, Schoharie, Greene and Albany. The Rensselaer Manor was the only one that reached across the river. The west bank of the Hudson, below the Rensselaer Manor, is simply indicated on this map of 1779 as Ulster and Orange Counties. New Amsterdam. — For about fifty years after the Dutch Settlement the island of Manhattan was known as New Amsterdam. Washington Irving, in his Knicker- bocker History, has surrounded it with a loving halo and thereby given to the early records of New York the most picturesque background of any State in the Union. The city bright beiow, and far away 33 Sparlcling in golden light his own romantic Bay. Fitz-Greene HaUeck. ^uD0on Kitiet Among other playful allusions to the Indian names he takes the word Manna-hatta of Robert Juet to mean " the island of manna," or in other words a land flowing with milk and honey. He refers humorously to the Yankees as " an ingenious people who out-bargain them in the market, out-speculate them on the exchange, out- top them in fortune, 'and run up mushroom palaces so high that the tallest Dutch family mansion has not wind enough left for its weather-cock." What would the old burgomaster think now of the mounting palaces of trade, stately apartments, and the piled up stories of commercial buildings? In fact the highest structure Washington Irving ever saw in New York was a nine-story sugar refinery. With elevators running two hundred feet a minute, there seems no limit to these modern mammoths. The Dutch and the English. — From the very beginning there was a quiet jealousy between the Dutch Settlement on the Hudson and the English Settlers in Massachusetts. To quote from an old English history, "it was the orig- inal purpose of the Pilgrims to locate near Nova Scotia, but, upon better consideration, they decided to seat them- selves more to the southward on the bank of Hudson's River which falls into the sea at New York." To this end " they contracted with some merchants who were willing to be adventurers with them in their intended settlement and were proprietors of the country, but the contract bore too heavy upon them, and made them the more easy in their disappointment. Their agents in England hired the Majrflower, and, after a stormy voyage, ' fell in with Cape Cod on the 9th of November. Here they refreshed themselves about half a day and then tacked about to the southward for Hudson's River.' " Encountering a storm they became entangled in dan- gerous shoals and breakers and were driven back again to the Cape." Thus Plymouth became the first English settlement of New England. Another historian says that 24 Before his .sight flowed the fair river free and bright, ,;,The .risipg mist and isles of Bay, Before him in their glory lay. Robert C. Sands. it was their purpose "to settle on the Connecticut Coast ^f)g near Fairfield County, lying between the Connecticut and Hudson's River." ^UDSOtt From the very first the Dutch occupation was con- T^tVjgr sidered by the English as illegal. It was undoubtedly part of the country the coasts of which were first viewed by Sebastian Cabot, who sailed with five English ships .|rom Bristol in May, 1498, and as such was afterwards included in the original province of Virginia. It was also within the limits of the country granted by King James to the Western Company, but, before it could be settled, the Dutch occupancy took place, and, in the in- terest of peace, a license was granted by King James. The Dutch thus made their settlement before the Puri- tans were planted in New England, and from their first coming, *' being seated in Islands and at the mouth of a good river their plantations were in a thriving condi- tion, and they begun, in Holland, to promise themselves vast things from their new colony." Sir Samuel Argal in 1617 or 1618, on his way from Virginia to New Scotland, insulted the Dutch and de- stroyed their plantations. " To guard against further molestations they secured a License from King James to build Cottages and to plant for traffic as well as sub- sistence, pretending it was only for the conveniency of their ships touching there for fresh water and fresh pro- visions in their voyage to Brazil; but they little by little extended their limits every way, built Towns, fortified them and became a flourishing colony." " In an island called Manhattan, at the mouth of Hud- son's River, they built a City which they called New Amsterdam, and the river was called by them the Great River. The bay to the east of it had the name of Nassau given to it. About one hundred and fifty miles up the River they built a Fort which they called Orange Fort and from thence drove a profitable trade with the Indians who came overland as far as from Quebec to deal with them. On his view 25 Ocean, and earth, and heaven burst before him. Clouds slumbering at his feet and thje clear blue Of summer's sky in beauty bending o'er him. Fitz-Greene Halleck. ^fe0 The Dutch Colonies were therefore in a very thriving condition when they were attacked by the English. The lPUU0On justice of this war has been freely criticised even by HfVlPf English writers, "because troops were sent to attack New Amsterdam before the Colony had any notice of the war." The " Encyclopaedia Britannica " thus briefly puts the history of those far-oflf' days when New York was a town of about 1500 inhabitants : " The English Government was hostile to any other occupation of the New World than its own. In 1621 James I. claimed sovereignty over New Netherland by right of ' occupancy.' In 1632 Charles I. reasserted the English title of ' first discovery, occupa- tion and possession.' In 1654 Cromwell ordered an expe- dition for its conquest and the New England Colonies had engaged their support. The treaty with Holland arrested their operations and recognized the title of the Dutch. In 1664 Charles the Second resolved upon a con- quest of New Netherland. The immediate excuse was the loss to the revenue of the English Colonies by the smuggling practices of their Dutch neighbors. A patent was granted to the Duke of York giving to him all the lands and rivers from the west side of the Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay." " On the 29th of August an English Squadron under the direction of Col. Richard Nicolls, the Duke's Deputy Governor, appeared off the Narrows, and on Sept. 8th New Amsterdam, defenseless against the force, was formally surrendered by Stuyvesant. In 1673 (August 7th) war being declared between England and Holland a Dutch squadron surprised New York, captured the City and restored the Dutch authority, and the names of New Netherland and New Amsterdam. But in July, 1674, a treaty of peace restored New York to English rule. A new patent was issued to the Duke of York, and Major Edmund Andros was appointed Governor.'' New York. — On the 10th of November, 1674, the Prov- OR i " All white with sails thy keel-thronged waters flee Through one rich lapse of plenty to the sea. Knickerbocker Magazine. ince of New Netherland was surrendered to Governor ^jkM Major Edmund Andros on behalf of his Britannic Ma- -^ jesty. The letter sent by Governor Andros to the Dutch j^UDlSOtt Governor is interesting in this connection: " Being arrived »ort»^« to this place with orders to receive from you in the itVlUIJl behalf of his Majesty of Great Britain, pursuant to the late articles of peace with the States Generals of the United Netherlands, the New Netherlands and Dependen- cies, now under your command, I have herewith, by Capt. Philip Carterett and Ens. Caesar Knafton, sent you the respective orders from the said States General, the States , of Zealand and Admirality of Amsterdam to that effect, and desire you'll please to appoint some short time for it. Our soldiers having been long aboard, I pray you answer by these gentlemen, and I shall be ready to serve you in what may lay in my power. Being from aboard his Majesty's ship, ' The Diamond,' at anchor near. Your very humble servant. Staten Island this 22d Oct., 1674." After nineteen days' deliberation, which greatly annoyed Governor Andros, New Amsterdam was transferred from Dutch to English authority. " In 1683 Thomas Dongan succeeded Andros. A gen- eral Assembly, the first under the English rule, met in October, 1683, and adopted a Charter of Liberties, which was confirmed by the Duke. In August, 1684, a new covenant was made with the Iroquois, who formally ac- knowledged the jurisdiction of Great Britain, but not subjection. By the accession of the Duke of York to the English throne the Duchy of New York became a royal province. The Charters of the New England Colonies were revoked, and together with New York- and New Jersey they were consolidated into the dominion of New England. Dongan was recalled and Sir Edmund Andros was commissioned Governor General. He assumed his vice regal authority August 11, 1688. The Assembly which James had abolished in 1686 was reestablished, and in May declared the rights and privileges of the people, "Queen of all lovely rivers, lustrous queen 27 Of flowing waters in our sweet new lands, Rippling through sunlight to the ocean sands.*' Anonymous. ^uti0on reaffirming the principles of the repealed Charter of Liberties of October 30, 1683." From this time on to the Revolution of 1776 there is one continual struggle between the Royal Governors and the General Assembly. The Governor General had the power of dissolving the Assembly, but the Assembly had the power of granting money. British troops were quar- tered in New York which increased the irritation. The conquest of Canada left a heavy burden upon Great Britain, a part of which their Parliament attempted to shift to the shoulders of the Colonies. A general Congress of the Colonies, held in New York in 1765, protested against the Stamp Act and other oppressive ordinances and they were in part repealed. A Page of Patriotism. — During the long political agita- tion New York, the most English of the Colonies in her manners and feelings, was in close harmony with the Whig leaders of England. She iirmly adhered to the principle of the sovereignty of the people which she had inscribed on her ancient " Charter of Liberties." Al- though largely dependent upon commerce she was the first to recommend a non-importation of English mer- chandise as a measure of retaliation against Britain, and she was the first also to invite a general congress of all the Colonies. On the breaking out of hostilities New York immediately joined the patriot cause. The English authority was overthrown and the government passed to a provincial congress. New York Sons of Liberty.— In 1767, in the eighth year of the reign of George III. there was issued a document in straightforward Saxon, and Sir Henry Moore, Governor- in-Chief over the Province of New York, offered fifty pounds to discover the author or authors. The paper read as follows: "Whereas, a glorious stand for Liberty did appear in the Resentment shown to a Set of Mis- creants under the Name of Stamp Masters, in the year 1765, and it is now feared that a set of Gentry called The i^nion of lakes — the union of lands — The union of States none can sever — The union of hearts — the union of hands — And the Flag of our Union forever. George P. Morris. Commissioners (1 do not mean those lately arrived at ^hg Boston), whose odious Business is of a similar nature, may soon make their appearance amongst us in order to ^UDSOtt execute their detestable office: It is therefore hoped that roz^pf every votary of that celestial Goddess Liberty, will hold *^*"''*- themselves in readiness to give them a proper welcome. Rouse, my Countrymen, Rouse! (Signed) Pro Patria." In December, 1769, a stirring address " To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and County of New York," signed by a Son of Liberty, was also published, asking the people to do their duty in matters pending between them and Britain. " Imitate," the writer said, " the noble examples of the friends of Liberty in England; who, rather than be enslaved, contend for their rights with king, lords and commons; and will you suffer your liberties to be torn from you by your Representatives? tell it not in Boston; publish it not in the streets of Charles-town. You have means yet left to preserve a unanimity with the brave Bostonians and Carolinians; and to prevent the accom- plishment of the designs of tyrants." Another proclamation, offering a reward of fifty pounds, was published by the " Honorable Cadwalader Colden, Esquire, His Majesty's Lieutenant-Governor and Com- mander-in-Chief of the Province of New York and the territories depending thereon in America," with another " God Save the King " at the end of it. But the people who commenced to write Liberty with a capital letter and the word " king " in lower case type were not daunted. Captain Alexander McDougal was arrested as the supposed author. He was imprisoned eighty-one days. He was subsequently a member of the Provincial Conven- tion, in 1775 was appointed Colonel of the first New York Regiment, and in 1777 rose to the rank of Major- General in the U. S. Army. New York City could well afford a monument to the Sons of Liberty. She has a right to emphasize this period of her history, for her citizens passed the first resolution to import nothing from And not a verdant glade or mountain hoary, But treasures up within the glorious story. Charles Fenno Hoffman. 29 ^j|0 the mother country, burned ten boxes of stamps sent y^tthtfntt *''°™ England before any other colony or city had made IPU (10011 gygn a show of resistance, and when the Declaration was ]Rtt)0t read, pulled down the leaden statue of George III. from its pedestal in Bowling Green, and moulded it into Repub- lican bullets. In 1699 the population of New York was about 6,000. In 1800, it reached 60,000; and the growth since that date is almost incredible. It is amusing to hear elderly people speak of the "outskirts of the city" lying close to the City Hall, and of the drives in the country above Canal Street. In the Documentary History of New York, a map of a section of New York appears as it was in 1793, when the Gail, Work House, and Bridewell occu- pied the site of the City Hall, with two ponds to the north — East Collect Pond and Little Collect Pond, — sixty feet deep and about a quarter of a mile in diameter, the outlet of which crossed Broadway at Canal Street and found its way to the Hudson. Greater New York. — In 1830, the population of Man- hattan was 202,000; in 1850, 515,000; in 1860, 805,000; in 1870, 942,000; in 1880, 1,250,000; in 1892, 1,801,739; and is now rapidly approaching three million. Brooklyn, which in 1800 had a population of only 2,000, now con- tributes, as the " Borough of Brooklyn," almost two mil- lion. So that Greater New York is the centre of about six million of people within a radius of fifteen miles including her New Jersey suburbs with almost five mil- lions under one municipality. Brooklyn. — In June, 1636, was bought the first land on Long Island; and in 1667 the Ferry Town, opposite New York, was known by the name " Breuckelen," signi- fying "broken land," but the name was not generally accepted until after the Revolution. Columbia Heights, Prospect Park, Clinton Avenue, St. Mark's Place and Stujrvesant Heights are among the favored spots for residence. 30 Behind us lies the teeming town With lust of gold grown frantic; Before us glitters o'er the bay The peaceable Atlantic, Charles Mackay. Jersey City occupies the ground once Icnown as Paulus ^j)0 Hook, the farm of William Kieft, Director General of j^ ^ the Dutch West India Company. Its water front, from ^UDSOtt opposite Bartholdi Statue to Hoboken, is conspicuously TRfV|£t marked by Railroad Terminal Piers, Factories, Elevators, etc. Bergen is the oldest settlement in New Jersey. It was founded in 1616 by Dutch Colonists to the New Netherlands, and received its name from Bergen in Nor- way. Jersey City is practically a part of Greater New York, but state lines make municipal union impossible. Hudson River Steamboats. — An accurate history of the growth and development of steam navigation on the Hudson, from the building of the " Clermont " by Robert Fulton to the building of the superb steamers of the Hudson River Day Line would form a very interesting book. The first six years produced six steamers: Clermont, built in 1807 160 tons Car of Neptune, built in 1809 295 " Hope, built in 1811 280 " Perseverance, built in 1811 280 " Paragon, built in 1811 331 " Richmond, built in 1813 370 " It makes one smile to read the newspaper notices of those days. The time was rather long, and the fare rather high — ^thirty-six hours to Albany, fare seven dollars. From the Albany Gazette, September, 1807. " The North River Steamboat will leave Paulus Hook Ferry on Friday the 4th of September, at 9 in the morning, and arrive at Albany at 9 in the afternoon on Saturday. Provisions, good berths, and accommodation are provided. The charge to each passenger is as follows : The wind blew over the land and the waves gj With its salt sea-breath, and a spicy balm. And it seemed to cooi my throbbing brain. And lend my spirit its gusty calm. Riettard Henry Stoddard. To Newburg Dols. 3, Time 14 hours. Poughkeepsie " 4, " 17 " Esopus " 5, " 20 " Hudson " 5i, " 30 " Albany " 7, " 36 " For places apply to Wm. Vandervoort, No. 48 Court- land street, on the corner of Greenwich street, September 2d, 1807." Extract from the New York Evening Post, October 2, 1807. Mr, Fulton's new-invented steamboat, which is fitted up in a neat style for passengers, and is intended to run from New York to Albany as a packet, left here this morning with ninety passengers, against a strong head wind. Notwithstanding which, it is judged that she moved through the waters at the rate of six miles an hour. Extract from the Albany Gazette, October 5th, 1807. Friday, October 2d, 1807, the steamboat (Clermont) left New York at ten o'clock a. m., against a stormy tide, very rough water, and a violent gale from the north. She made a headway beyond the most sanguine expecta- tions, and without being rocked by the waves. Arrived at Albany, October 4th, at 10 o'clock p. m., being detained by being obliged to come to anchor, owing to a gale and having one of her paddle wheels torn away by running foul of a sloop. The following was recently recopied in the Poughkeepsie Eagle, as an old time reminiscence: To Poughkeepsie from New York in Seventeen Hours. — The first steamboat on the Hudson River passed Pough- keepsie August 17th, 1807, and in June, 1808, the owners of the boat caused the following advertisement to be published in prominent papers along the river: S2 But see I the broadening river deeper flows, Its tribute floods intent to reach the sea. Pari Benjamin. Cije STEAMBOAT. FOR THE INFORMATION OF THE PUBLIC. The Steamboat will leave New York for Albany every |^UD0On Saturday afternoon exactly at 6 o'clock, and will pass: ^nzL. West Point, about 4 o'clock Sunday morning. liiluCt Newburgh, 7 o'clock Sunday morning. Poughkeepsie, 11 o'clock Sunday morning. Esopus, 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Red Hook, 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Catskill, 7 o'clock in the afternoon. Hudson, 8 o'clock in the evening. She will leave Albany for New York every Wednesday morning exactly at 8 o'clock, and pass: Hudson, about 3 in the afternoon. Esopus, 8 in the evening. Poughkeepsie, 12 at night. Newburgh, 4 Thursday morning. West Point, 7 Thursday morning. As the time at which the boat may arrive at the dif- ferent places above mentioned may vary an hour, more or less, according to the advantage or disadvantage of wind and tide, those who wish to come on board will see the necessity of being on, the spot an hour before the time. Persons wishing to come on board from any other landing than these here specified can calculate the time the boat will pass and be ready on her arrival. Inn- keepers or boatmen who bring passengers on board or take them ashore from any part of the river will be allowed one shilling for each person. PRICES OF PASSAGE — FROM NEW YORK. To West Point $2 30 To Newburgh 3 00 To Poughkeepsie 3 50 To Esopus 4 00 To Red Hook 4 50 To Hudson 5 00 To Albany 7 00 By palace, village, cot, a sweet surprise ''^ At every turn the vision loolcs upon; Till to our wondering and uplifted eyes The Highland rooks and hills in solemn grandeur rise. Henry T. Tnckerman. FROM ALBANY. To Hudson $2 00 To Red Hook 3 00 To Esopus 3 50 To Poughkeepsie 4 00 To Newburgh and West Point 4 50 To New York 7 00 All other passengers are to pay at the rate of one dollar for every twenty miles, and a half dollar for every meal they may eat. Children from 1 to 5 years of age to pay one-third price and to sleep with persons under whose care they are. Young persons from 5 to 15 years of age to pay half price, provided they sleep two in a berth, and the whole price for each one who requests to occupy a whole berth. Servants who pay two-thirds price are entitled to a berth; they pay half price .f they do not have a berth. Every person paying full price is allowed sixty pounds of baggage; if less than full price forty pounds. They are to pay at the rate of three cents per pound for sur- plus baggage. Storekeepers who wish to carry light and valuable merchandise can be accommodated on paying three cents a pound. Day Line Steamers. — As the cradle of successful steam navigation was rocked on the Hudson, it is fitting that the Day Line Steamers should excel all others in beauty, grace and speed. There is no comparison between these river palaces and the steamboats on the Rhine or any river in Europe, as to equipment, comfort and rapidity. To make another reference to the great tourist route of Europe, the distance from Cologne to Coblenz is 60 miles, the same as from New York to Newburgh. It takes the Rhine steamers from seven to eight hours (as will be seen in Baedeker's Guide to that river) going up the stream, and from four and a half to five hours returning Si Southward the river gleams — a snowy sail Now gliding o'er the mirror — now a track Tossing with foam displaying on Its course The graceful steamer with Its flag of smoke. Alfred B. Street. with the current. The Hudson by Daylight steamers en ^ftr route to Albany make the run from New York to New- burgh in three hours; to Poughkeepsie in four hours, jPUD^Ott making stops at Yonkers, West Point and Newburgh. rat^^f Probably no train on the best equipped railroad in our *'***"''■ country reaches its stations with greater regularity than these steamers make their various landing. It astonishes a Mississippi or Missouri traveler to see the paptain stand- ing like a train-conductor,^ with watch in hand, to let off the gang-plank and pull the bell, at the very moment of the advertised schedule. One of the most humorous incidents of the writer's journeying up and down the Hudson, was the " John- Gilpin-experience " of a western man who got off at West Point a few years ago. It was at that time the first landing of the steamer after leaving New York. As he was accustomed to the Mississippi style of wait- ing at the various towns he thought he would go up and take a look at the " hill." The boat was off and " so was he " ; with wife and children shaking their hands and handkerchiefs in an excited manner from the gang- plank. Some one at the stern of the steamer shouted to him to cross the river and take the train to Pough- keepsie. Every one was on the lookout for him at the Pough- keepsie landing, and, just as the steamer was leaving the dock, he came dashing down Main street from the railroad station, but too late. Then not only wife and children but the entire boat saluted him and the crowded deck blossomed with handkerchiefs. Some one shouted " catch us at Ehinebeck." After leaving Rhinebeck the train appeared, and on passing the steamer, a lone hand- kerchief waved from the rear of the platform. At Hudson an excited but slightly disorganized gentleman appeared to the great delight of his family, and every one else, for the passengers had all taken a lively interest in the chase. " Well," he says, " I declare, the way this While drinking in the scene, my mind goes bacic upon 35 the tide of years, and lo, a vision 1 On its upward path the "Half-Moon" glides. Alfred B. Street. boat lands, and gets off again, beats anything I ever see, and I have lived on the Mississippi nigh on to a quarter of a century." The " Hendrick Hudson.'' In these centennial days of discovery and invention, a description of the steamers will be of interest, furnished by the Hudson River Day Line. The " Hendrick Hudson " was built at Newburgh by the Marvel Company, under contract with the W. & A. Fletcher Company of New York, who built her engines, and under designs from Frank E. Kirby. Her principal dimensions are: length, 400 feet; breadth over all, 82 feet; depth of hold, 14 feet 6 inches, and a draft of 7 feet 6 inches. Her propelling machinery is what is known as the 3-cylinder compound direct acting engine, and her power (6,500-horse) is applied through side wheels with feathering buckets, and steam is supplied from eight boilers. Steel has been used in her construction to such an extent that her hull, her bulk-heads (7 in all), her engine and boiler enclosures, her kitchen and ventilators, her stanchions, girders, and deck beams, and in fact the whole essential frame work of the boat is like a great steel building. Where wood is used it is hard wood, and in finish probably has no equal in marine work. Her scheme of decoration, ventilation and sanitation is as artistic and scientific as modem methods can pro- duce, and at the same time her general lay out for prac- tical and comfortable operation is the evolution of the long number of years in which the Day Line has been conducting the passenger business. A detailed account of this steamer would be a long story, but some of the salient features are as follows: She carries the largest passenger license ever issued, namely: for 5,000 people; on her trial trip she made the fastest record through the water of any inland passenger ship in this country, namely: 23.1 miles per hour. Her shafts are under the main deck. Her mural paintings 36 VCe hear the murmur of the sea, — A monotone of sadness,. But not a whisper of the crowd, Or echo of its madness. Charles Mackay. represent prominent features of the Hudson, which may ^|)0 not be well seen from the steamer. Her equipment far exceeds the requirements of the Government Inspection ipUOSOll Laws. EftJet The "New York." The hull of the "New York" was built at Wilmington, Del., by the Harlan & Hollingsworth Coi, in 1887, and is, with the exception of the deck-frame, made of iron throughout. During the winter of 1897 she was lengthened 30 feet, and now measures 341 feet in length, breadth over all 74 feet, with a tonnage of 1975 gross tons. The engine was built by the W. & A. Fletcher Co. of New York. It is a standard American beam engine, with a cylinder 75 inches in diameter and 12 feet stroke of piston, and develops 3,850 horse power. Steam steering gear is used. One of the most admirable features of this queen of river steamers is her " feathering " wheels, the use of which not only adds materially to her speed but does away with the jar or tremor common to boats having the ordinary paddle-wheels. The exterior of the " New York " is, as usual, of pine, painted white and relieved with tints and gold. The interior is finished in hard-wood cabinet work, ash being used forward of the shaft on the main deck, and mahogany aft and in the dining-room. Ash is also used in the grand Saloons on the promenade deck. One feature of these saloons especially worthy of note, is the number and size of the windows, which are so numerous as to almost form one continuous window. Seated in one of these elegant saloons as in a floating palace of glass, the tourist who prefers to remain inside enjoys equally with those outside the unrivalled scenery through which the steamer is passing. The private parlors on the " New York " are provided with bay windows and are very luxuriantly furnished. In the saloons are paintings by Albert Bierstadt, J. F. Cropsey, Walter Satterlee and David Johnson. The dining-room on the " New York " is located on the main deck, aft; a feature that will commend itself to tourists, Thy fate and mine are not repose, g^ And ere another evening close Thou to thy tides shall turn again And I to seel: the crowd of men. William Cullen Byrant. Kfiier ^hp since while enjoying their meals they will not be deprived from viewing the noble scenery through which the steamer ^UD0On is passing. While the carrying capacity of the "New York " is 4,500 passengers, license for 2,500 only is ap- plied for, thus guaranteeing ample room for all and the absence from crowding which is so essential to comfort. The "Albany" was built by the Harlan & Hollings- worth Co., of Wilmington, Del., in 1880. During the winter of 1892, she was lengthened thirty feet and fur- nished with modem feathering wheels in place of the old style radial ones. Her hull is of iron, 325 feet long, breadth of beam over all 75 feet, and her tonnage is 1,415 gross tons. Her engine was built by the W. & A. Fletcher Co., of New York, and develops 3,200 horse power. The stroke is 12 feet, and the diameter of the cylinder is 73 inches. On her trial trip she ran from New York to Poughkeepsie, a distance of 75 miles, in three hours and seven minutes. Steam steering gear is used on the " Albany," thus insuring ease and precision in handling her. The wood-work on the main deck and in the upper saloons is all hard wood; mahogany, ash and maple tastefully carved. Wide, easy staircases lead to the main saloon and upper decks. Rich Axminster carpets cover the floors, and mahogany tables and fur- niture of antique design and elegant finish make up the appointments of a handsomely furnished drawing room. The Old Reaches. — Early navigators divided the Hudson into fourteen " reaches " or distances from point to point as seen by one sailing up or down the river. In the slow days of uncertain sailing vessels these divisions meant more than in our time of " propelling steam," but they are still of practica,l and historic interest. The Great Chip Rock Reach extends from above Wee- hawken about eighteen miles to the boundary line of New York and New Jersey — (near Piermont). The Palisades were known by the old Dutch settlers as the " Great Chip," and so styled in the Bergen Deed of Purchase, 3° Lose not a memory of the glorious scenes Mountains and palisades, and leaning rooks William Wallace. viz, the great chip above Weehawken. The Tappan Reach (on the east side of which dwelt the Manhattans, and on the west side the Saulrickans and the Tappansi, extends about seven miles to Teller's Point. The third reach to a narrow point called Haver stroo; then comes the Seylmaker's Reach, then Crescent Reach; next Hoge's Reach, and then Vorsen Reach, which extends to Klinkers- berg, or Storm King, the northern portal of the High- lands." This is succeeded by Fisher's Reach where, on the east side once dwelt a race of savages called Pachami. " This reach," in the lang^uage of De Laet, " extends to another narrow pass, where, on the west, is a point of land which juts out, covered with sand, opposite a bend in the river, on which another nation of savages — ^the Waoranecks — ^have their abode at a place called Esopus. Next, another reach, called Claverack; then Backerack; next Playsier Reach, and Vaste Reach, as far as Hinnen- hock; then Hunter's Reach, as far as Kinderhook; and Fisher's Hook, near Shad Island, over which, on the east side, dwell the Mahicans." If these reaches seem value- less at present there are Five Divisions of the Hudson — which possess interest for all, as they present an analysis easy to be remem- bered — divisions marked by something more substantial than sentiment or fancy, expressing five distinct char- acteristics : — 1. The Palisades, an unbroken wall of rock for fifteen miles — Grandexjr. 2. The Tappan Zee, surrounded by the sloping hills of Nyack, Tarrytown, and Sleepy Hollow — Repose. 3. The Highlands, where the Hudson for twenty miles plays " hide and seek " with " hills rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun "—Sublimity. 4. The Hillsides for miles above and below Pough- keepsie— The Picturesque. 5. The Catskills, on the west, throned in queenly dignity — Beauty. ^uD0on On the deck Stands the bold Hudson, gazing at the sights Opening successive — -point and rock and hill, Majestic mountain-top, and nestling vale. Alfred B. Street. 39 SUGGESTIONS. From the Hurricane Deck of the Hudson River Day Line Steamers can be seen, on leaving or approaching the Metropolis, one of the most interesting panoramas in the world — the river life of Manhattan, the massive structures of Broadway, the great Transatlantic docks. Recreation Piers, and an ever-changing kaleidoscope of interest. The view is especially grand on the down trip between the hours of five and six in the afternoon, as the western sun brings the city in strong relief against the sky. If tourists wish to fully enjoy this beautiful view they should remain on the Hurricane Deck until the boat is well into her Desbrosses Street slip. The Brooklyn Annex. — The Brooklyn tourist is espe- cially happy in this delightful preface and addenda to the Hudson River trip. The effect of morning and even- ing light in bringing out or in subduing the sky-line of Manhattan is nowhere seen to greater advantage. In the morning the buildings from the East River side stand out bold and clear, when lo! almost instantaneously, on turning the Battery, they are lessened and subdued. On the return trip in the evening, the effect is reversed — a study worth the while of the traveler as he passes to and fro on the commodious " Annex " between Desbrosses Street Pier and Brooklyn. Surely no other city in the world rises so beautiful from harbor line or water front as "Greater New York," with lofty outlines of the bor- oughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn reminding one of Scott's tribute to Edinburgh: 40 " Piled deep and massy, close and high, Mine own romantic townl" Down at the end of the long, dark street. Years, years ago, I sat with my sweetheart on the pier, Watching the river flow. Richard Henry Stoddard. STATUE OF UBERTY NEW YORK TO ALBANY. Kitiet Desbrosses Street Pier to Forty-Second Street. historic journey fittingly begins at Desbrosses for here, near the old River-front, extending from 3ses along Greenwich, stood the Revolutionary line Lstworks reaching south to the Grenadier Battery mklin Street. Below this were "Jersey," "Mc- l" and "Oyster" batteries and intervening earth- to Fort George, on the Battery, which stood on the old Fort Amsterdam, carrying us back to Knicker- memories of Peter Stuyvesant and Wowter Van . The view from the after-deck, before the p leaves the pier, gives scope for the imagination icture the far-away primitive and heroic days of Tew York. )rosses Street Pier. — On leaving the lower landing ming view is obtained of New York Harbor, the vs, Staten Island, the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty, I clear weather, far away to the South, the High- if Nevisink, the first land to greet the eye of the voyager. As the steamer swings out into the the tourist is at once face to face with a rapidly ig panorama. Steamers arriving, with happy faces ir decks, from southern ports or distant lands; with waving handkerchiefs bidding good-bye to on crowded docks; swift-shuttled ferry-boats, with ig passengers, supplying their homespun woof to sat warp of foreign or coastwise commerce; noisy its, sombre as dray horses, drawing long lines a.1 boats, or proud in the convoy of some Atlantic und that has not yet slipped its leash; dignified :, stately symbol! Holding forth 41 tiy light and hope to all who sit ;hains and darkness I Bejt the earth 'ith watch-fires from thy torch uplitl John Greehteaf Whittier. Kfiiet STftg "Men of War" at anchor, flying the flags of many nations, happy excursion boats en route to sea-side resorts, iPtlDj8>0n scows, picturesque in their very clumsiness and uncouth- ness — all unite in a living kaleidescope of beauty. Across the river on the Jersey Shore are seen exten- sive docks of great railways, with elevators and stations that seem like " knotted ends " of vast railway lines, lest they might forsooth, untwist and become irrecoverably tangled in approaching the Metropolis. Prominent among these are the Pennsylvania Railroad for the South and West; the Erie Railway, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, and to the North above Hoboken the West Shore, serving also as starting point for the New York, Ontario and Western. Again the eye returns to the crowded wharves and warehouses of New York, reaching from Castle Garden beyond 30th Street, with forest-like masts and funnels of ocean steamships, and then to prominent buildings mounting higher and higher year by year along the city horizon, marking the course of Broad- way from the Battery, literally fulfllling the humor of Knickerbocker in not leaving space for a breath of air for the top of old Trinity Church spire. Stevens' Castle. — About midway between Desbrosses Street and 42d Street Pier will be seen on the Jer- sey Shore a wooded point with sightly building, known as Stevens' Castle, home of the late Commodore Stevens, founder of the Stevens Institute of Technology. Above this are the Elysian Fields, near the river bank, known in early days as a quiet resort but now greatly changed in the character of its visitors. On the left will also be seen the dome and tower of St. Michael's Monastery, and above this Union Hill. The Trap Rock Ridge, which begins to show itself above the Elysian Fields, increases gradually in height to the brow of the Palisades. West of Bergen Heights and Union Hill flows the Hackensack River parallel to the Hudson, and at this point only about two miles distant. 42 How still with all lier towers and domes The city sleeps on yonder shore, — How many thousand happy homes Yon starless sky is bending o*er. Park Benjamin. Forty-Second Street to One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth. C6e ^uD0on The 42d Street Pier is now at hand, convenient of -_,^ access to travelers, as the 42d Street car line crosses KtuCt Manhattan intersecting every " up and down " surface, subway or elevated road in the City, as does also the Grand, Vestry and Desbrosses Street at the lower land- ing. While passengers are coming aboard we take pleasure in quoting the following from Baedeker's Guide to the United States : " The Photo-Panorama of the Hudson, published by the Bryant Union Publishing Co., New York City (price BO cents), shows both sides of the river from New York to Albany, accurately repre- sented from 800 consecutive photographs." This new and complete object-guide will be of service to the tourist, and can be had at the steamers' news stands, head of grand stairway, or it will be sent by publishers, postpaid, on receipt of price." Weehawken with its sad story of the duel between Hamilton and Burr is soon seen upon the west bank. A monument once marked the spot, erected by the St. An- drews Society of New York City on the ledge of rock where Hamilton fell early in the morning of the eleventh of July, 1804. The quarrel between this great states- man and his malignant rival was, perhaps, more personal than political. It is said that Hamilton, in accordance with the old-time code of honor, accepted the challenge, but lired into the air, while Burr with fiendish cruelty took deliberate revenge. Burr was never forgiven by the citizens of New York and from that hour walked its streets shunned and despised. Among the many poetic tributes penned at the time to the memory of Hamilton, perhaps the best was by a poet whose name is now scarcely remembered, Mr. Robert C. Sands. A fine pic- ture of Hamilton will be found in the New York Chamber of Commerce where the writer was recently shown the Where round yon capes the banks ascend ^^ Long shall the pilgrim's footsteps bend. There, mirthful heart shall pause to sigh, There tears shall dim the patriot's ejre. Robert C. Sands. C|)e following concise paragraph from Talleyrand : " The three greatest men of my time, in my opinion, were Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles James Fox and Alexander Hamilton and the greatest of the three was Hamilton." The plain marble slab which stood in the face of the monument is still preserved by a member of the King family. It is thirty-six inches long by twenty-six and a half inches wide and bears the following inscription: "As an expression of their affectionate regard to his Memory and their deep regret for his loss, the St. An- drew's Society of the State of New York have erected this Monument." Quite a history attaches to this stone (graphically condensed by an old gardener of the King estate) : " It stood in the face of the monument for sixteen years, and was read by thousands, but by 1820 the pillar had become an eyesore to the enlightened public sentiment of the age, and an agitation was begun in the public prints for its removal. It was not, however, organized effort, but the order of one man, that at length demolished the pillar. This man was Captain Deas, a peace-loving gentleman, strongly opposed to duelling and brawls, and on seeing a party approaching the grounds often inter- posed and sometimes succeeded in effecting a reconcilia- tion. He became tired of seeing the pillar in his daily walks, and, in 1820, ordered his men to remove it and deposit the slab containing the inscription in one of the outbuildings of the estate. This was done. But a few months afterward the slab was stolen, and nothing more was heard of it until thirteen years later, when Mr. Hugh Maxwell, president of the St. Andrew's Society, discovered it in a junk shop in New York. He at once purchased it and presented it to Mr. James G. King, who about this time came into possession of the Deas property, where it has since been carefully preserved." This mansion of Captain Deas afterward known as the " King House on the Cliff " was a stately residence where 4,4 I was an admirer of General Hamilton, and I sicken when I think of our political broils, slanders and enmi- ties. Washington Irving. Washington Irving used to come and dream of his fair iirUf. Manhattan across the river. It was also the head- '^*"' quarters of Lafayette, after the battle of Brandywine. !^UD$On The gardener also said : " the river road beneath us „ , is cut directly through the spot. Originally it was simply *'*ID"'' a narrow and grassy shelf close up under the cliffs, six feet wide and eleven paces long. A great cedar tree stood at one end, and this sandbowlder, which we have also prejgerved, was at the other. It was about twenty feet above the river and was reached by a steep rocky path leading up from the Hudson, and, as there was then no road or path even along the base of the cliffs, it could be reached only by boats." The first duel at Weehawken of which there is any record was in 1799, between Aaron Burr and John B. Church (Hamilton's brother-in-law). The parties met and exchanged shots; neither was wounded. The seconds then induced Church to offer an apology and the affair terminated. The last duel was fought there September 28, 1845, and ended in a farce, the pistols being loaded with cork — a fitting termination to a relic of barbarism. Kiverside Drive and Park. Riverside Drive, on the east bank starting at 72d Street, is pronounced the finest residential avenue in the world. Distinguished among many noble residences is the home of Charles M. Schwab at 73d Street, which cost two million dollars; built on the New York Orphan Asylum plot for which he paid $860,000. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument, 89th Street, a memorial to the citizens of New York, who took part in the Civil War, a beautiful work of art, circular in form, with Corinthian columns, erected by the city at a cost of a quarter of million of dollars was dedicated May 30, 1902. The corner-stone was laid in 1900 by President Roosevelt, at that time Governor. The location was well selected, and it presents one of the most attrac- tive features of the river front. 45 We celebrate our hundredth year With thankful hearts and words of praise, And learn a lasting lesson here Of trust and hope for coming days. Wattace Bruce. ^uD0on IRftJet Columbia University, on Momingside Heights, has a fine outlook, crowning a noble site worthy of the old college, whose sons have been to the fore since the days of the Revolution in promoting the glory of the state and the nation. President Low has happily styled " Mom- ingside," which extends from 116th to 120th Streets, " The Acropolis of the new world." The Library Building which he erected to his father's memory, is of Greek architecture and cost $1,500,000. It contains 300,000 volumes and is open night and day to the public. It also marks the battle ground and American victory of Harlem Heights in 1776. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (Protestant Epis- copal), now in process of erection occupies three blocks from 110th Street to 113th between Momingside Park and Amsterdam Avenue. The corner stone was laid in 1892 to be completed about 1940 at a cost of $6,000,000. The crypt quarried out of the solid rock has been com- pleted and services are held in it every Sunday. Near at hand will be seen the beautiful dome of St. Luke's Hospital. Grant's Tomb, Riverside Drive and 123d Street, has the most commanding site of the Hudson River front of New York. The bluif rises 130 feet and still retains the name of Claremont. The apex of the memorial is 280 feet above the river. Ninety thousand people con- tributed to the " Grant Monument Association fund " which, with interest, aggregated $600,000. The comer stone was laid by President Harrison in 1892 and dedi- cated April 27, 1897, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of Grant's birth, with a great military, naval and civil parade. The occasion was marked by an address of President McKinley and an oration of Gen. Horace Porter, president of the Grant Monument Association. An attempt to remove Grant's body to Washington was made in Congress but overwhelmingly defeated. The speech by Congressman Amos Cummings in the House 46 His glory as the centuries wide, His honor bright as sunlit seas, His lullaby the Hudson tide, His requiem the whispering breeze. Wallace Bruce. of Representatives, was a happy condensation of the facts. ^]^0 He fittingly said: "New York was General Grant's ■chosen home. He tried many other places but finally ^UDSOtt settled there. A house was given to him here in Wash- JRfVigt ington, but he abandoned it in the most marked manner to buy one for himself in New York. He was a familiar form upon her streets. He presided at her public meet- ings and at all times took an active interest in her local affairs. He was perfectly at home there and was charmed with its associations. It was the spot on earth chosen by himself as the most agreeable to him; he meant to live and die there. It was his home when he died. He closed his career without ever once expressing a wish to leave it, but always to remain in it. "Men are usually buried at their homes. Washington was buried there; Lincoln was buried there; Garibaldi was buried there; Gambetta was buried there, and Erics- son was buried, not at the Capital of Sweden, but at his own home. Those who say that New York is back- ward in giving for any commendable thing either do not know her or they belie her. Wherever in the civilized world there has been disaster by fire or flood, or from earthquake or pestilence, she has been among the fore- most in the field of givers and has remained there when others have departed. It is a shame to speak of her as parsimonious or as failing in any benevolent duty. Those who charge her with being dilatory should remember that haste is not always speed. It took more than a quarter of a century to erect Bunker Hill Monument; the ladies of Boston completed it. It took nearly half a century to erect a monument to George Washington in the City founded by him, named for him, and by his act made the Capital of the Nation; the Government completed it. New York has already shown that she will do far better than this.'' The Thirteen Elm Trees, about ten or fifteen minutes' walk from General Grant's Tomb, were planted by Alex- Rest In peace by stately rivers martyred soldiers of the 4,7 free, ' Rest brave captain, at our threshold, where the Hudson meets the sea. WttUaee Brace. --». ander Hamilton in his door-yard, a century ago, to com- ^v^ memorate the thirteen original States. This property !^UD0On was purchased by the late Hon. Orlando Potter, of New , York, with the following touch of patriotic sentiment: HltlCt " These famous trees are located in the northeast comer of One Hundred and Forty-third street and Convent Ave- nue; or, on lots fourteen and fifteen," said the auctioneer to the crowd that gathered at the sale. " In order that the old property with the trees may be kept unbroken, should the purchaser desire, we will sell lots 8 to 21 inclusive in one batch! How much am I offered? " " One hundred thousand dollars," quietly responded Mr. Potter. A ripple of excitement ran through the crowd, and the bid was quickly run up to $120,000 by speculators. " One hundred and twenty-five thousand," said Mr. Potter. Then there were several thousand dollar bids, and the auction- eer said: "Do I hear one hundred and thirty?" Mr. Potter nodded. He nodded again at the "thirty-five" and " forty " and then some one raised him $250. " Five hundred," remarked Mr. Potter, and the bidding was done. "Sold for ^ $140,500 ! " cried the auctioneer. Mr. Potter smiled and drew his check for the amount. " I can't say what I will do with the property," said Mr. Potter. " You can rest assured, however, that the trees will not be cut down." Edgewater, opposite Grant's Tomb on the west bank, lies between Undercliff on the north and Shadyside on the south. The latter place was made historic by Anthony Wayne's capture of supplies for the American army in the summer of 1780 which formed the basis of a satirical poem by Major Andre, entitled "The Cow Chase." The steamer is now approaching 129th street, and we turn again with pride to the beautiful tomb of General Grant which fittingly marks one point of a great triangle of fame — the heroic struggle of the American soldiers in 1776, the home of Alexander Hamilton, and the burial place of the greatest soldier of the Civil War. 48 Woodman, spare that tree I Touch not a single bough 1 In youth it sheltered me. And I will protect it now. George P. morris. One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Street to Yonkers. )^uD0on This upper landing of the Hudson River Day Line has ]^fV)£r a beautiful location and is a great convenience to the dwellers of northern Manhattan. On leaving the pier the steel-arched structure of Riverside Drive is seen on the right. The valley here spanned, in the neighborhood of 127th Street, was once knovra as " Marritje Davids' Fly," and the local name for this part of New York above Claremont Heights is still known as " Manhattan- ville." The Convent of the Sacred Heart is visible among the trees, and Trinity Cemetery's Monuments soon gleam along the wooded bank. Among her distinguished dead is the grave of General John A. Dix whjjse words rang across the land sixty days before the attackl on Fort Sumter : " If any man attempts to pull down tl\e American flag shoot him on the spot." The John A. Dix Post of New York comes hither each Decoration .Day and garlands with imposing ceremonies his grave and the graves of their comrades. Near Carmansville was the ' hoine of Audubon, the ornithologist, and the residences above the cemetery are grouped together as Audubon Park. Near at hand is the New York Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, and pleas- antly located near the shore the Rivbr House once knovm as West-End Hotel. ' Washington Heights rise in a bold bluff above Jeffrey's Hook. After the withdrawal of the American army from Long Island, it became apparent to General Washington and Hamilton that New York would have to be abandoned. General Greene and Congress believed in maintaining the fort, but future developments showed that Washington was right. The American troops, so far as clothing or equipment was concerned; were in a pitiable condition, and the result of the struggle makes one of the darkest Faith's pioneers and Freedom's martyrs steep 49 Beneath their shade: and under their old loughs The wise and brave of generations past Walked every Sabbath to the house of God. Henry T. Tackerman. mfuet pages of the war. On the 12th of November Washington started from Stony Point for Fort Lee and arrived the 13th, finding to his disappointment that General Greene, instead of having made arrangements for evacuating, was, on the contrary, reinforcing Fort Washington. The entire defense numbered only about 2000 men, mostly militia, with hardly a coat, to quote an English writer, "that was not out at the elbows." "On the night of the 14th thirty flat-bottomed boats stole quietly up the Hudson, passed the American forts undiscovered, and made their way through Spuyten Duyvil Creek into Harlem River. The means were thus provided for crossing that river, and landing before unprotected parts of the American works." According to Irving, "On the 15th General Howe sent a summons to surrender, with a threat of extremities should he have to carry the place by assault." Magaw, in his reply, intimated a doubt that General Howe would execute a threat " so unworthy of himself and the British nation; but give me leave," added he, "to assure his Excellency, that, actuated by the most glorious cause that mankind ever fought in, I am determined to defend this post to the very last extremity." "Apprised by the colonel of his peril. General Greene sent over reinforcements, with an exhortation to him to persist in his defense; and dispatched an express to Gen- eral Washington, who was at Hackensack, where the troops from Peekskill were encamped. It was nightfall when Washington arrived at Fort Lee. Greene and Putnam were over at the besieged fortress. He threw himself into a boat, and had partly crossed the river, when he met those Generals returning. They informed him of the garrison having been reinforced, and assured him that it was in high spirits, and capable of making a good defense. It was with difficulty, however, they could prevail on him to return with them to the Jersey shore, for he was excessively excited." 50 Hark I Freedom's arms ring far and wide; Again these forts with beacons gleam; Loud cannon roar on every side — ■ I start, I wake; I did but dream. Wallace Brace. " Early the next morning, Magaw made his disposi- tions for the expected attack. His forces, with the recent addition, amounted to nearly three thousand men. As the fort could not contain above a third of its defenders, most of them were stationed about the outworks." About noon, a heavy cannonade thundered along the rocky hills, and sharp volleys of musketry, proclaimed that the action was commenced. " Washington, surrounded by several of his oflBcers, had been an anxious spectator of the battle from the opposite side of the Hudson. Much of it was hidden from him by intervening hills and forest; but the roar of cannonry from the valley of the Harlem River, the sharp and incessant reports of rifles, and the smoke rising above the tree-tops, told him of the spirit with which the assault was received at various points, and gave him for a time hope that the defense might be successful. The action about the lines to the south lay open to him, and could be distinctly seen through a telescope; and nothing en- couraged him more than the gallant style in which Cad- walader with inferior force maintained his position. When he saw him however, assailed in flank, the line broken, and his troops, overpowered by numbers, retreating to the fort, he gave up the game as lost. The worst sight of all, was to behold his men cut down and bayoneted by the Hessians while begging quarter. It is said so completely to have overcome him, that he wept with the tenderness of a child." " Seeing the flag go into the fort from Knyphausen's division, and surmising it to be a summons to surrender, he wrote a note to Magaw, telling him if he could hold out until evening and the place could not be maintained, he would endeavor to bring oft the garrison in the night. Capt. Gooch, of Boston, a brave and daring man, oifered to be the bearer of the note. He ran down to the river, jumped into a small boat, pushed over the river, landed under the bank, ran up to the fort and delivered the Cf)e iRfiier Up ^d down the valley of the Hudson the contend- ing arm!^ surged like the ebbing and Sowing of the tides. William Wait. 51 Cfje Bitter message, came out, ran and jumped over the broken ground, dodging the Hessians, some of whom struck at him with their pieces and others attempted to thrust him with their bayonets; escaping through them, he got to his boat and returned to Fort Lee." Washington's message arrived too late. " The fort was so crowded by the garrison and the troops which had retreated into it, that it was difficult to move about. The enemy, too, were in possession of the little redoubts around, and could have poured in showers of shells and ricochet balls that would have made dreadful slaughter." It was no longer possible for Magaw to get his troops to man the lines; he was compelled, therefore, to yield himself and his garrison prisoners of war. The only terms granted them were, that the men should retain their bag- gage and the officers their swords. Fort Lee, directly across the river, had a commanding position, but was entirely useless to the Revolutionary army after the fall of Fort Washington. It was there- fore immediately abandoned to the British, as was also Fort Constitution, another redoubt near at hand. It will be remembereid that the American army after long continued disaster in and about New York, retreated southward from Fort Lee and Hackensack to the Dela- ware, where Washington with a strategic stroke brought dismay on his enemies and restored confidence to his friends and the Patriots' Cause. The Palisades, or Great Chip Rock, as they were known by the old Dutch settlers, present the same bold front to the river that the Giant's Causeway does to the ocean. Their height at Fort Lee, where the bold cliffs first assert themselves, is thfee hundred feet, and they extend about seventeen or eighteen miles to the hills of Rockland County. A stroll along the summit reveals the fact that they are almost as broken and fantastic in form as the great rocks along the Elbe in Saxon-Switzerland. As the basaltic trap-rock is one of the oldest geological 52 The Palisades in sterner pride Tower as the gloom steals o'er the tide. For the great stream a bulwark meet That laves its rock-encumbered feet. Robert C. Sands. formations, we might still appropriately style the Pali- sades "a chip of the old block." They separate the valley of the Hudson from the valley of the Hackensack. The Hackensack rises in Rockland Lake opposite Sing Sing, within two or three hundred yards of the Hudson, and the rivers flow thirty miles side by side. Some geologists think that originally they were one river, but they are now separated from each other by a wall more substantial than even the 2,000 mile structure of the "Heathen Chinee." It might also be interesting to note Prof. Newberry's idea that in pre-glacial times this part of the continent was several hundred feet higher than at present, and that the Hudson wai a very rapid stream and much larger than now, draln'ng is it did the Great Lakes: that the St. Lawrence found -ts way through the Hudson Channel following pretty r.cai'y the line of the present Mohawk, and the great river c-nptied into the Atlantic some 80 miles south of Staten Isiand. This idea is con- firmed by the soundings of the coast survey which dis- cover the ancient page of the Hudson as here indicated on the floor of the sea far out where the ocean is 500 feet in depth. A speculation of what- a voyager a few million years ago would have then seen might, however, as Hamlet observes, be " to consider somewhat too curi- ously " for ordinary up-to-date tourists. But even, grant- ing all this to be true, the Palisades were already old, thrown up long ages before, between a rift in the earth's sunace, where it cooled in columnar form. The rocky mould which held it, being of softer material, finally dis- integrated and crumbled away, leaving the cliff with its peculiar perpendicular formation. A recent writer has said : " The Palisades are among the wonders of the world. Only three other places equal them in importance, but each of the four is different from the others, and the Palisades are unique. The Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Ireland, and the mfuer Where the' mighty cliffs look upward in their glory and their glow I see a wondrous river in its beauty southward flow. Thomas C. Harbaugh. 53 Cfte ^uD0on cliffs at Kawaddy in India, are thought by many to have been the result of the same upheaval of nature as the Palisades; but the Hudson rocks seem to have preserved their entirety — to have come up in a body, as it ■were — while the Giant's Causeway owes its celebrity to the ruined state in which the Titanic forces of nature have left it. The third wonder is at Staffa, in Scotland, where the rocks have been thrown into such a position as to justify the name of Pingal's Cave, which they bear, and which was bestowed on them in the olden times before Scottish history began to be written. It is singular how many of the names which dignify, or designate, favorite spots of the Giant's Causeway have been duplicated in the Palisades. Among the Hudson rocks are several ' Lady's Chairs,' ' Lover's Leaps,' ' Devil's Toothpicks,' ' Devil's Pulpits,' and, in many spots on the water's edge, especially those most openly exposed to the weather, we see exactly the same conformations which excite admira- tion and wonder in the Irish rocks." Under the base of these cliffs William Cullen Bryant Dne Sabbath morning wrote his beautiful lines: ' Cool shades and dews are round my way, And silence of the early day ; Mid the dark rocks that watch his bed, Glitters the mighty Hudson spread, Unrlppled, save by drops that fall From shrubs that fringe his mountain wall ; And o'er the clear, still water swells The music of the Sabbath bells. All, save this little nook of land. Circled with trees, on which I stand ; All, save that line of hills which lie Suspended in the mimic sky — Seems a blue void, above, below. Through which the white clouds come and go ; And from the green world's farthest steep I gaze into the airy deep." 54 A mellow sunset was settling upon the hills and waters and a thousand flashes played over the distant city as its spires and prominent objects caught its glow N. P. Willis. There are many strange stories connected with the ^jh* Palisades, and one narrator says : " remarkable disappear- ■' ances have occurred in the vicinity that have never been l^UDj8>0n explained. On a conical-shaped rock near Clinton Point »oiy„,|, a young man and a young woman were seen standing *I*IWV some half a century ago. Several of their friends, who were back some thirty feet from the face of the cliff, saw them distinctly, and called out to them not to approach too near the edge. The young couple laughingly sent some answer back, and a moment later vanished as by magic. Their friends rushed to the edge of the cliff but saw no trace of them. They noticed at once that the tide was out, and at the base three or four boatmen were sauntering about as though nothing had happened (forgetting even, as Bryant did, that a vertical line from the top of the cliff on account of the crumbling debris of ages make it impossible for even the strongest arm to hurl a stone from the summit to the margin of the river). A diligent search was instituted. Friends and boatmen joined in the search, but from that day to this they have never been heard from, no trace of them has been found, and the mystery of their disappearance is as complete now as it was five minutes after they van- ished — a more tragical termination than the story of the old pilot on a Lake George steamer, who, surrounded one morning by a group of tourist-questioners, pointed to Roger Slide Mountain, and said: "A couple went up there and never came back again." " What do you suppose, captain," said a fair-haired, anxious listener, " ever be- came of them? " " Can't tell," said the captain, " some folks said they went down on the other side.'' The old Palisade Mountain House, a few miles above Fort Lee, had a commanding location, but was burned in 1884 and never rebuilt. Pleasant villas are here and there springing up along this rocky balcony of the lower Hudson, and probably the entire summit will some day abound in castles and luxuriant homes. It is in fact within the What love yon cliffs and steeps could tell 55 If vocal made by Fancy's spell I Robert C. Sands. C^i)0 limit of possibility that this may in the future present Ihttflttnn *'^® finest residential street in the world, with a natural l^UUPull macadamized boulevard midway between the Hudson and ilRitJet the sky. It grieves one to see the gray rocks torn away for building material, but, as fast, as man destroys, nature kindly heals the wound; or to keep the Palisade figure more complete, she recaptures the scarred and broken battlements, unfolding along the steep escarpment her waving standards of green. It sometimes seems as if one can almost see her selecting the easiest point of attack, marshalling her forces, running her parallels with Boadicea-like skill, and carrying her streaming banners, more real than Macbeth's "Birnam-Wood" to crowning rampart and lofty parapet. The New York side from the Battery to Inwood, the northern end of Manhattan Island, is already " well peo- pled." Until recently the land about Fort Washington has been held in considerable tracts and the very names of these suburban points suggest altitude and outlook— Highbridgeville, Fordham Heights, Morris Heights, Uni- versity Heights, Kingsbridge Heights, Mount Hope, &c. The growth of the city all the way to Jerome and Van Cortlandt's Park during the last few years has been marvelous. It has literally stepped over the Harlem to find room in the picturesque county of Westchester. The Island of Manhattan. — As we approach the north- em limit of Manhattan we feel that in the preservation of the beautiful name " Manhattan," distinctive of New York's chief borough, Irving's dream has been happily realized. The meaning of this Indian word has been the subject of much discussion. It is, however, simply the name of a tribe. As the old historian De Last says, " On the east side, on the main land dwell the Man- hattoes," and again from the "Documentary History of New York." "It is so called from the people which in- habited the main land on the east side of the river." 56 Pleasant it is to lie amid the grass, Under these shady locusts half the day Watching the ships reflected in the Bay, Topmast and shroud, as in a wizard's glass. Thomas Bailey Aldrich. -a d < I z < 3 z The word Manhattan signifies also it is said: "The People of the Islands," and it was evidently used by the Indians as a generic term designating the inhabitants ©UDSOn of the island itself, and also of Long Island and the l^fVtrr Neversink. This is in accordance with the testimony of Van der Donck. With Irving we all recognize the music and poetry of the name and are proud that our river of beauty is so happily heralded. Spuyten Duyvil Creek. — Above Washington Heights, on the east bank, the Spuyten Duyvil meets the Hudson. This stream is the northern boundary of New York Island, and a short distance east of the Hudson bears the name of Harlem River. Its course is south-east and joins the East River at Randall's Island, just above Hell Gate. It is a curious fact that this modest stream should be bounded by such suggestive appellations as Hell Gate and Spuyten Duyvil. This is the first point of special legendary interest to one journeying up the Hudson and it takes its name according to the veracious Knicker- bocker, from the following incident: It seems that the famous Antony Van Corlear was despatched one evening with an important message up the Hudson. When he arrived at this creek the wind was high, the elements were in an uproar, and no boatman at hand. " For a short time," it is said, " he vapored like an impatient ghost upon the brink, and then, bethinking himself of the urgency of his errand, took a hearty embrace of his stone bottle, swore most valorously that he would swim across en spijt en Duyvil (in spite of the Devil), and daringly plunged into the stream. Scarce had he buffeted half way over when he was observed to struggle violently, as if battling with the spirit of the waters. Instinctively he put his trumpet to his mouth, and giving a vehement blast — sank forever to the bottom." The main branch of the Hudson River Railroad, with its station at Forty-second Street and Fourth Avenue, crosses the Harlem River at Mott Haven, arid, following O legends ftill of life and health, That live when records, fail and die, Ve are the Hudson's richest wealth. The frondage of her history! Wallace Brace. 57 C6e its northern bank, meets the Hudson at this point, where the 30th Street branch, following the river, joins the main line. The steamer now passes Kiverdale, with its beautiful residences and the Convent of Mount St. Vin- cent, one of the prominent landmarks of the Hudson, located on grounds bought of Edwin Forrest, the tra- gedian, whose " Font Hill Castle " appears in the fore- ground, and we come to Yonkers, on the east bank, seventeen miles from New York, at the mouth of the Nepperhan. West of the creek is a large rock, called A-mac-lea-sin, the great stone to which the Indians paid reverence as an evidence of the permanency and immutability of their deity. The Mahican Village at the mouth of the creek was called Nappeche- mak. European settlements were made as early as 1639, as shown by deeds of purchase. Here are many im- portant manufacturing industries: carpet, silk, and hat factories; mowers and reapers, gutta percha, rubber and pencil companies. Its " Recreation Pavilion " on the pier was a noble thing for the city to build — costing $50,000. The structure is of steel and capable of accommodating 5,000 people. It is said that Yonkers derived its name from Yonk-herr — the young heir, or young sir, of the Phillipse manor. Until after the middle of the seventeenth century the Phillipse family had their principal residence at Castle Phillipse, Sleepy Hollow, but having purchased " property to the southward " from Adrian Van der Donck and obtained from the English king a patent creating the manor of Phillipsburgh, they moved from their old castle to the new " Manor Hall," which at this time was prob- ably the finest mansion on the Hudson. This property was confiscated by act of Legislature in 1779, as Frederick Phillipse, third lord of the manor, was thought to lean toward royalty, and sold by the " Commissioners of For- feiture " in 1785. It was afterwards purchased by John Jacob Astor, then passed to the Government, was bought 58 Once more I walk in the dark old street Wearily to and fro: — But 1 sit no more on the desolate pier Watching the river flow. Richard Henry Stoddard. by the village of Yonkers in 1868, and became the City Hall in 1872. The older portion of the house was built in 1682, the present front in 1745. The woodwork is very interesting, also the ceilings, the large hall and the wide fire-place. In the room still pointed out as Washington's, the fire-place retains the old tiles, "illus- trating familiar passages in Bible history," fifty on each side, looking as cleat as if they were made but yesterday. Mary Phillipse, belle of the neighborhood, and known in tradition as Washington's first love, was bom in the " Manor House " July 3, 1730. Washington first met her on a visit to New York in 1756, after his return from Braddock's campaign, as guest of Beverly Robinson, who had married her elder sister. It has been claimed by some writers that he proposed and was rejected, but it is doubtful whether he ever was serious in his attentions. At least there is no evi- dence that he ever " told his love," and she finally married Col. Roger Morris, one of W^ashington's associates on Braddock's staff. The best part of residential Yonkers lies to the northward, beautifully embowered in trees as seen from the Hudson. A line of electric street cars run north along Warburton Avenue. The street known as Broadway, is a continuation of Broadway, New York. Many of the river towns still keep this name, probably prophetic as a part of the great Broadway which may extend some day from the Battery to Peekskill. Almost opposite Yonkers a ravine or sort of step-ladder cleft, now known as Alpine Gorge, reaches up the pre- cipitous sides of the Palisades. The landing here was formerly called Closter's, from which a road zigzags to the top of the cliff and thence to Closter Village. Here Lord Grey disembarked in October, 1778, and crossed to Hackensack Valley, " surprising and massacring Col. Bay- ler's patriots, despite their surrender and calls for mercy." Indian Head (510 feet) about two miles north of Alpine Gorge, is the highest point of the Palisades. Cfte Eve o'er %ili' path is stealing fast; Yon quivering splendors are the last; His latest glories fringe the height Behind us with their golden light. Robert C. Sands. 59 ^UD0On Yonkers to West Point. ][\tU0t Passing Glenwood, now a suburban station of Yonkers, conspicuous from the Colgate mansion near the river bank, built by a descendant of the English Colgates who were familiar friends of William Pitt, and leaders of the Liberal Club in Kent, England, and " Greystone," once the country residence of the late Samuel J. Tilden, Governor of New York, and presidential candidate in 1876, we come to Hastings, where a party of Hessians during the Revolu- tionary struggle were surprised and cut to pieces by troops under Colonel Sheldon. It was here also that Lord Comwallis embarked for Fort Lee after the capture of Fort Washingtori, and here in 1850 Garibaldi, the liberator of Italy, whose centennial was observed July 4, 1907, frequently came to spend the Sabbath and visit friends when he was living at Staten Island. Although there is apparently little to interest in the village, there are many beautiful residences in the immediate neighborhood, and the Old Post road for two miles to the northward fur- nishes a beautiful walk or driveway, well shaded by old locust trees. The tract of country from Spuyten Duyvil to Hastings was called by the Indians Kekesick and reached east as far as the Bronx River. Dobbs Ferry is now at hand, named after an old Swedish ferrjmian. The village has not only a delightful location but it is also beautiful in itself. In 1781 it was Washington's headquarters, and the old house, still stand- ing, is famous as the spot where General Washington and the Count de Rochambeau planned the campaign against Yorktown; where the evacuation of New York was ar- ranged by General Clinton and Sir Guy Carleton the British commander, and where the first salute to the flag of the United States was fired by a British man-of- war. A deep glen, known as Paramus, opposite Dobbs Ferry, leads to Tappan and New Jersey. Cornwallis A lovely country for a summer encampment, breezy 60 hills commanding wide prospects, shady valleys watered by bright pastoral streams, the Bronx, the Spraine and the Neperan. Washington Irving^ landed here in 1776. It is now known as Sneddon's ^|)0 Landing. At Dobbs Ferry, June 14, 1894, the base-stone of a me- ^UOSOtl morial shaft was laid with imposing ceremony by the New l^fVipr York State Society of the Sons of the American Revolu- tion, which erected the monument. There were one thousand Grand Army veterans in line, and addresses by distinguished orators and visitors. The Society and its guests, including members of the cabinet, officers of the army and navy, and prominent men of various States, accompanied by full Marine Band of the navy yard, with a detachment of Naval Reserves, participated in the event. Voyagers up the river that day saw the " Miantonomoh " and the " Lancaster," under the command of Rear- Admiral Gherardi, anchored mid-stream to take part in the exercises. During the Revolution this historic house was leased by a Dutch farmer holding under Frederick Phillipse as landlord. After the war it was purchased by Peter Livingston and known since as the Livingston House. Arnold and Andre were to have met here but providentially for the American cause, the meeting took place at Haverstraw. The Indian name of Dobbs Ferry was Wecquaskeck, and it is said by Ruttenber that the outlines of the old Indian village can still be traced by numerous shell-beds. It was located at the mouth of Wicker's Creek which was called by the Indians Wysquaqua. Tappan Zee. — The steamer is now entering Irving's ■ rich domain, and Tappan Zee lapping the threshold of " Sunnyside," seems almost a part of his very dooryard. The river, which has averaged about a mile in breadth, begins to gradually widen at Hastings, and almost seems like a gentle, reposeful lake. Piermont, whose "mile-long-pier," built many years ago by the Erie Railroad, hardly mars the landscape so great is the majesty of the river, is seen on the west bank with Tower Hill rising above it from which four We have a charming position for our French encamp- 61 m'ent along the Hudson among rocks and under mag- nificent tulip trees. Count Dumas. '"'"* states are seen. The view includes Long Island, the filllllSlltt Sound and the Orange Mountains on the south, with the Catskills to the north and Berkshires to the northeast l^itlCt Louis Gaylord Clark, a friend of Irving, and an early literary associate had a cottage on Piermont Hills. Turning to the eastern shore, we see " Nuits," the Cot- tinet residence, Italian in style, built of Caen stone, " Nevis," home of the late Col. James Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, the George L. Schuyler mansion, the late Cyrus W. Field's, and many pleasant places about Abbotsford, and come to Irvington, on the east bank, 24 miles from New York, once known as Dearman's, but changed in compliment to the great writer and lover of the Hudson, who after a long sojourn in foreign lands, returned to live by the tranquil waters of Tappan Zee. In a letter to his brother he refers to Sleepy Hollow as the favorite resort of his boyhood, and says : " The Hudson is in a manner my first and last leve, and after all my wanderings and seeming infidelities, I return to it with a heartfelt preference over all the rivers of the world." As at Stratford-on-Avon every flower is redolent of Shakespeare, and at Melrose every stone speaks of Walter Scott, so here on every breeze floats the spirit of Washington Irving. A short walk of half a mile north from the station brings us to his much-loved " Sunnyside." Irving aptly describes it in one of his stories as " made up of gable-ends, and full of angles and corners as an old cocked hat. It is said, in fact, to have been modeled after the hat of Peter the Head- strong, as the Escurial of Spain was fashioned after the gridiron of the blessed St. Lawrence." Wolfert's Roost, as it was once styled (Roost signifying Rest), took its name from Wolfert Acker, a former owner. It consisted originally of ten acres when purchased by Irving in 1835, but eight acres were afterwards added. With great humor Irving put above the porch entrance " George Har- Irving choso his residence in the valley, not amid 62 the mountains; by the fields and meadows of the broad Tappan Zee, rather than the Highlands; in a congenial region suited to his temperament. Dr. Bethune. vey, Boum'r," Boumeister being an old Dutch word for C^f)0 architect. A storm-worn weather-cock, "which once bat- IKftTlttntl tied with the wind on the top of the Stadt House of New *^**'*^''*^ Amsterdam in the time of Peter Stuyvesant, erects his 5lftJ0t crest on the gable, and a gilded horse in full gallop, once the weather-cock of the great Van der Heyden palace of Albany, glitters in the sunshine, veering with every breeze, on the peaked turret over the portal." About fifty years ago a cutting of Walter Scott's favor- ite ivy at Melrose Abbey was transported across the Atlantic, and trained over the porch of " Sunnyside," by the hand of Mrs. Eenwick, daughter of Rev. Andrew Jeffrey of Lochmaben, known in girlhood as the " Bonnie Jessie " of Annandale, or the " Blue-eyed Lassie " of Robert Bums: — a graceful tribute, from the shrine of Waverley to the nest of Knickerbocker: A token of friendship Immortal With Washington Irving returns : — Seott's ivy entwined o'er his portal By the Blue-eyed Lassie of Burns. Scott's cordial greeting at Abbotsford, and his persist- ence in getting Murray to reconsider the publication of the " Sketch Book," which he had previously declined, were never forgotten by Irving. It was during a critical period of his literary career, and the kindness of the Great Magician, in directing early attention to his genius, is still cherished by every reader of the " Sketch Book " from Manhattan to San Francisco. The hearty grasp of the Minstrel at the gateway of Abbotsford was in reality a warm handshake to a wider brotherhood beyond the sea. Washington Irving. — While he was building " Sunny- side," a letter came from Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, appointing him minister to Spain. It was unexpected and unsolicited, and Webster remarked that day to a friend : " Washington Irving to-day will be the most surprised man in America." Irving had already In purple tints woven together „„ The Hudson shakes hands with the Tweed, "^ Commingling with Abbotsford's heather The clover of Sunnyside's mead. Wallace Bruce. shown diplomatic ability in London in promoting the settlement of the " North Western Boundary," and his J^UD0On appointment was received with universal favor. Then as „ r, now Sunnyside was already a Mecca for travelers, and, IXilUSt among many well-known to fame, was a young man, afterwards Napoleon the Third. Referring to his visit, Irving wrote in 1853 : " Napoleon and Eugenie, Emperor and Empress! The one I have had as a guest at my cottage, the other I have held as a pet child upon my knee in Granada. The last I saw of Eugenie Montijo, she was one of the reigning belles of Madrid; now, she is upon the throne, launched from a retumless shore, upon a dangerous sea, infamous for its tremendous ship- wrecks. Am I to live to see the catastrophe of her career, and the end of this suddenly conjured up empire, which seems to be of such stuff as dreams are made of? I confess my personal acquaintance with the individuals in this historical romance gives me uncommon interest in it; but I consider it stamped with danger and insta- bility, and as liable to extravagant vicissitudes as one of Dumas' novels." A wonderful prophecy completely fulfilled in the short space of seventeen years. The aggregate sale of Irving's works when he received his portfolio to Spain was already more than half a million copies, with an equal popularity achieved in Britain. No writer was ever more truly loved on both sides of the Atlantic, and his name is cherished to-day in England as fondly as it is in our own country. It has been the good fortune of the writer to spend many a delightful day in the very centre of Merrie England, in the quiet town of Stratford-on-Avon, and feel the gentle companionship of Irving. Of all writers who have brought to Stratford their heart homage Irving stands the acknowledged chief. The sitting-room in the " Red Horse Hotel," where he was disturbed in his midnight reverie, is still called Irving's room, and the walls are hung with portraits taken at different periods of his life. Mine "■* How many such men as Washington Irving are there in America. God don't send many such spirits into this world. Lord Byron. host said that visitors from every land were as much interested in this room as in Shakespeare's birth-place. The remark may have been intensified to flatter an Amer- ican visitor, but there are few names dearer to the Anglo- Saxon race than that on the plain headstone in the burial- yard of Sleepy Hollow. Sunnyside is scarcely visible to the Day Line tourist. A little gleam of color here and there amid the trees, close to the river bank, near a small boat-house, merely indicates its location; and the traveler by train has only a hurried glimpse, as it is within one hundred feet of the New York Central Rail- road. Tappan Zee, at this point, is a little more than two miles wide and over the beautiful expanse Irving has thrown a wondrous charm. There is, in fact, " magic in the web " of all his works. A few modem critics, lacking appreciation alike for humor and genius, may regard his essays as a thing of the past, but as long as the Mahicani- tuk, the ever-flowing Hudson, pours its waters to the sea, as long as Rip Van Winkle sleeps in the blue Catskills, or the " Headless Horseman " rides at midnight along the Old Post Road en route for Teller's Point, so long will the writings of Washington Irving be remembered and cher- ished. We somehow feel the reality of every legend he has given us. The spring bubbling up near his cottage was brought over, as he gravely tells us, in a churn from Holland by one of the old time settlers, and we are half inclined to believe it; and no one ever thinks of doubting that the " Plying Dutchman," Mynheer Van Dam, has been rowing for two. hundred years and never made a port. It is in fact still said by the old inhabi- tants, that often in the soft twilight of summer evenings, when the sea is like glass and the opposite hills throw their shadows across it, that the low vigorous pull of oars is heard but no boat is seen. According to Irving " Sunnyside " was once the property of old Baltus Van Tassel, and here lived the fair Katrina, beloved by all the youths of the neighborhood, but more l^utiison Here w»s no castle in the sir, but t realized day- dream. Ifviag was tliere, as genial, humorous and im- aginative as if he had never wandered from tlie primal haunts of his childhood and his fame. Henry T. Tackerman. 65 Cfte especially by Ichabod Crane, the country school-master, and a reckless youth by the name of Van Brunt. Irving tells us that he thought out the story one morning on London Bridge, and went home and completed it in thirty- six hours. The character of Ichabod Crane was a sketch of a young man whom he met at Kinderhook when writing his Knickerbocker history. It will be remembered that Ichabod Crane went to a quilting-bee at the home of Mynheer Van Tassel, and, after the repast, was regaled with various ghost stories peculiar to the locality. When the " party " was over he lingered for a time with the fair Katrina, but sallied out soon after with an air quite desolate and chop-fallen. The night grew darker and darker. He had never before felt so lonesome and miser- able. As he passed the fatal tree where Arnold was captured, there started up before him the identical " Head- less Horseman " to whom he had been introduced by the story of Brom Bones. Nay, not entirely headless; for the head which " should have rested upon his shoulders was carried before him on the pommel of the saddle. His terror rose to desperation. He rode for death and life. The strange horseman sped beside him at an equal pace. He fell into a walk. The strange horseman did the same. He endeavored to sing a psalm-tune, but his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. If he could but reach the bridge Ichabod thought he would be safe. Away then he flew in rapid flight. He reached the bridge, he thun- dered over the resounding planks. Then he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups, and in the very act of launching his head at him. It encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash. He was tumbled headlong into the dirt, and the black steed and the spectral rider passed by like a whirlwind. The next day tracks of horses deeply dented in the road were traced to the bridge, beyond which, on the bank of a broad part of the brook, where the water ran deep and black, was found the hat of the unfortunate Ichabod, and close beside it a shattered 66 I beg you will have tbe kindness to let me know when 'Mr. -Irving takes pen in . hand again; for assuredly I shall expect a very great treat which I may chance never to hear of but through your, kindiiess. Walter Scott. pumpkin." All honor to him who fills this working-day Cftf world with humor, romance and beauty! IV\ttIl«Xrttt Lyndehurst, Helen M. Gould's residence. A short dis- »3K0Sun tance north of " Sunnyside " is the home of Helen M. J^jjjfj Gould, whose modest and liberal use of wealth in noble charities has endeared her to every American heart. The place was first known as the Paulding Manor House, where William Paulding, early mayor of New York, and nephew of one of the captors of Andre had his country home. It is a beautiful specimen of old time English architecture, with a suggestion, as some writers have noted, of Newstead Abbey. This part of the Hudson is particularly rich in beautiful residences, rising tier upon tier from the river to the horizon. Albert Bierstadt, the artist, had here a beautiful home, unfortunately burned many years ago. The Old Post Road from New York to Albany is in many particulars the richest and greatest highway of our country. Tappan. — Almost opposite Irvington about two miles southwest of Piermont, is old Tappantown, where Major Andre was executed October 2, 1780. The removal of his body from Tappan to Westminster was by a special British ship, and a singular incident was connected v?ith it. The roots of a cypress tree were found entwined about his skull and a scion from the tree was carried to Eng- land and planted in the garden adjoining Windsor Palace. It is a still more curious fact that the tree beneath which Andre was captured was struck by lightning on the day of Benedict Arnold's death in London. Further reference will be made to Andre in our .description of Tarrytown, and also of Haverstraw, where Arnold and Andre met at the house of Joshua Hett Smith. Tarrytown, 26 miles from New York. It was here on the Old Post Road, now called Broadway, a little north of the village, that Andre was captured and Arnold's treachery exposed. A monument erected on the spot by I want ta visit Washington Irving, I want to see your gj stupendous scenery, 1 want to go to the grave of ^'^'"'■«"'"- Lord Byr..n. mitier the people of Westchester County, October 7, 1853, bears the inscription: ON THIS SPOT, THE 23D DAY OF SEPTEMBBE, 1780, THE SPY, MAJOR JOHN ANDRE, Adjutant-General of the British Army, was captured by John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart. all natives of this county. History has told the rest. The following quaint ballad-verses on the young hero give a realistic touch to one of the most providential occurrences in our history: He with a scouting party Went down to Tarrytown, Where he met a British officer, A man of high renown, Who says unto these gentiemen, " You're of the British cheer, I trust that you can tell me If there's any danger near? " Then up stept this young hero, John Paulding was his name, " Sir, tell us where you're going And also whence you came ? " " I bear the British flag, sir ; I've a pass to go this way, I'm on an expedition. And have no time to stay." Young Paulding, however, thought that he had plenty of time to linger until he examined his boots, wherein he found the papers, and, when offered ten guineas by Andre, if he would allow bim to pursue his journey, replied : " If it were ten thousand guineas you could not stir one step.'' The centennial anniversary of the event was com- memorated in 1880 by placing, through the generosity of John Anderson, on the original obelisk of 1853, a large statue representing John Paulding as a minute man. 68 That overruling Providence which has so often and so remarkably interposed in our favor, never manifested Itself more conspicuously than in the timely discovery of Arnold's treachery. George Washington. Tarrjrtown was the very heart of the debatable ground of the Revolution and many striking incidents mark its early history. In 1777 Vaughan's troops landed here on their way to attack Fort Montgomery, and here a party of Americans, under Major Hunt, surprised a number of British refugees while playing cards at the Van Tassel tavern. The major completely " turned the cards " upon them by rushing in with brandished stick, which he brought down with emphasis upon the table, remarking with genuine American brevity, " Gentlemen, clubs are trumps." Here, too, according to Irving, arose the two great orders of chivalry, the " Cow Boys '' and " Skinners." The former fought, or rather marauded under the Amer- ican, the latter under the British banner; the former were known as " Highlanders," the latter as the " Lower Party." In the zeal of service both were apt to make blunders, and confound the property of friend and foe. " Neither of them, in the heat and hurry of a foray, had time to ascertain the politics of a horse or cow which they were driving off into captivity, nor when they wrung the neck of a rooster did they trouble their heads whether he crowed for Congress or King George." It was also a genial, reposeful country for the faithful historian, Diedrich Knickerbocker; and here he picked up many of those legends which were given by him to the world. One of these was the legend connected with the old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow. "A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say the place was bewitched by a high German doctor during the early days of the settlement; others that an old Indian chief, the wizard of his tribe, held his pow-wows there before Hendrick Hudson's discovery of the river. The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, is the apparition of a figure on horse-back, without a head, said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, and was known Cije Kitiet O waters oJ Pocantico ! Wild rivulet of wood and glen ! May thy glad laughler, sweet and low, Long, long outlive the sighs of men. S. H. Thayer. 69 Cije at all the country firesides as the ' Headless horseman ' of Sleepy Hollow." Sleepy Hollow. — The Old Dutch Church, the oldest on the Hudson, is about one-half mile north from Tarry- town. It was built by " Frederick Filipse and his wife Katrina Van Cortland in 1690." The material is partly of stone and partly of brick brought from Holland. It stands as an appropriate sentinel near the entrance to the burial- yard where Irving sleeps. After entering the gate our SLEEPY HOLLOW CHURCH. way leads past the graves of the Ackers, the Van Tassels, and the Van Warts, with inscriptions and plump Dutch cherubs on every side that often delighted the heart of Diedrich Knickerbocker. How many worshippers since that November day in 1859, have come hither with rev- erent footsteps to read on the plain slab this simple inscription : " Washington Irving, bom April 3, 1783. Died November 28, 1859," and recall Longfellow's beau- tiful lines : 70 If ever I should wish for a retreat whither I might steal from the world and its distractions, and drea:ra quietly away the remnant of a troubled life 1 know of none more promising than this little valley. Washington Irving. " Here lies the gentle humorist, who died SDftC In the bright Indian Summer of his fame. A simple stone, with but a date and name, l^UD0On Marks his secluded resting place beside The river that he loved and glorified. lElltift Here in the Autumn of his days he came, But the dry leaves of lite were all aflame With tints that brightened and were multiplied. How sweet a life was his, how sweet a death ; Living to wing with mirth the weary hours, Or with romantic tales the heart to cheer ; Dying to leave a memory like the breath Of Summers full of sunshine and of showers, A grief and gladness in the atmosphere." Sleepy Hollow Church, like Sunnyside, is hidden away from the steamer tourist by summer foliage. Just before reaching Kingston Point light-house, a view, looking north- east up the little bay to the right, will sometimes give the outline of the building. Beyond this a tall granite shaft, erected by the Delavan family, is generally quite distinctly seen, and this is near the grave of Irving. A light-house, built in 1883, marks the point where the Pocantico or Sleepy Hollow Creek joins the Hudson: Focantico's hushed waters glide Through Sleepy Hollow's haunted ground. And whisper to the listening tide The name carved o'er one lowly mound. To one loving our early history and legends there is no spot more central or delightful than Tarrytown. Irving humorously says that Tarrytown took its name from hus- bands tarrying too late at the village tavern, but its real derivation is Tarwen-Dorp, or Wheat-town. The name of the old Indian village at this point was Alipconck (the place of elms). It has often occurred to the writer that, more than any other river, the Hudson has a dis- tinct personality, and also that the four main divisions of human life are particularly marked in the Adirondacks, the Catskills, the Highlands and Tappan Bay: Whose golden fancy wove a spell As lasting as the scene is fair And made the mountan stream and dell His own dream-life forever share. Henry T. Tuckerman. 71 Cije KiiJet The Adirondacks, childhood's glee ; The Catskills, youth with dreams o'ercast ; The Highlands, manhood bold and free ; The Tappan Zee, age come at last. This was the spot that Irving loved; we linger by his grave at Sleepy Hollow with devotion; we sit upon his porch at Sunnyside with reverence: Thrice blest and happy Tappan Zee, Whose banks along thy glistening tide Have legend, truth, and poetry Sweetly expressed in Sunnyside ! Nyack, on the west side, 27 miles from New York. The village, including Upper Nyack, West Nyack and South Nyack, has many fine suburban homes and lies in a semi- circle of hills which sweep back from Piermont, meeting the river again at the northern end of Tappan Zee. Tappan is derived from an Indian tribe of that name, which, being translated, is said to signify cold water. The bay is ten miles in length, with an average breadth of about two miles and a half. Nyack grows steadily in favor as a place for summer residents. The hotels, boarding-houses and suburban homes would increase the census as given to nearly ten thousand people. The West Shore Railroad is two and a half miles from the Hudson, with station at West Nyack. The Northern Railroad of New Jersey, leased by the New York, Lake Erie and Western (Chambers Street and 23d Street, New York), passes west of the Ber- gen Hills and the Palisades. The Ramapo Mountains, north of Nyack, were formerly known by ancient mariners as the Hook, or Point-no-Point. They come down to the river in little headlands, the points of which disappear as the steamer nears them. (The peak to the south, known as Hook Mountain, is 730 feet high.) Ball Moun- tain above this, and nearer the river, 650 feet. They were sometimes called by Dutch captains Verditege Hook. 72 The sails hung idly all night long, 1 dreamed a dream of you and me; 'Twas sweeter than the sweetest song, — The dream 1 dreamed on Tappan Zee. Wallace Bruce. Perhaps it took so long to pass these illusive headlands,. ^|)0 reaching as they do eight miles along the western bank,, that it naturally seemed a very tedious point to the old JpUD0On skippers. Midway in this Ramapo Range, "set in a roi^pf. dimple of the hills," is— KMVK.*, Rockland Lake, source of the Hackensack River, one hundred and fifty feet above the Hudson. The "slide- way," by which the ice is sent down to the boats to be loaded, can be seen from the steamer, and the blocks in motion, as seen by the traveler, resemble little white pigs, running down an inclined plane. As we look at the great ice-houses to-day, which, like uncouth bams, stand here- and there along the Hudson, it does not seem possible that only a few years ago ice was decidedly unpopular, and wheeled about New York in a hand-cart. Think of one hand-cart supplying New York with ice! It was considered unhealthy, and called forth many learned dis- cussions. Returning to the east bank, we see above Tarrytown many superb residences, notably " Rockwood," the home- of William Rockefeller, of the Standard Oil Company. The estate of General James Watson Webb is also near at. hand. Passing Scarborough Landing, -with the Hook Mountain and Ball Mountains on the left, we see Ossining, formerly known as Sing Sing, on east bank.. The low buildings, near the river bank, are the State's- Prison. They are constructed of marble, but are not considered palatial by the prisoners that occupy the cells. It was quarried near by, and the prisons were built by convicts imported from Auburn in 1826. Saddlery, fur- niture, shoes, etc., are manufactured within its walls. There was an Indian chieftancy here known as the Sint- sinks. In a deed to Philip Phillipse in 1685 a stream is- referred to as " Kitchewan called by the Indians Sink- Sink." The Indian Village was known as Ossining, from "ossin" a stone and "ing" a place, probably so called' from the rocky and stony character of the river banks. How many, at this hour, along thy course, 73^ Slumber to thine eternal murmurings That mingle with the utterance of their dreams. William Callen Bryant. Cfte 'The heights above Tappan Zee at this point are crowned by fine residences, and the village is one of the pleasant- -est on the river. The drives among the hills are delightful and present a wide and charming outlook. Here also are : several flourishing military boarding schools and a sem- inary for girls. The old silver and copper mines once worked here never yielded satisfactory returns for invested- ■capital. Various industries give active life and prosperity to the town. Just above Sing Sing Croton River, known by the Indians as Kitchawonk, -joins the Hudson in a bay crossed by the New York Cen- tral Railroad Croton draw-bridge. East of this point is a water shed having an area of 350 square miles, which ■supplies New York with water. The Croton Reservoir is easily reached by a pleasant carriage drive from Sing Sing, and it is a singular fact that the pitcher and ice- cooler of New York, or in other words, Croton Dam and Rockland Lake, should be almost opposite. About fifty years ago the Croton first made its appearance in New York, brought in by an aqueduct of. solid masonry which follows the course of the Hudson near the Old Post Road, or at an average distance of about a mile from the east bank. Here and there its course can be traced by " white stone ventilating towers " from Sing Sing to High Bridge, which conveys the aqueduct across the Harlem River. Its capacity is 100,000,000 gallons per day, which however began to be inadequate for the city and a new aqueduct was therefore begun in 1884 and completed in 1890, capable of carrying three times that amount, at a cost •of $25,000,000. The water-shed is well supplied with streams and lakes. Lake Mahopac, one of its fountains, IS one of the most beautiful sheets of water near the metropolis, and easily accessible by a pleasant drive from Peekskill, or by the Harlem Railroad from New York. The old Indian name was Ma-cook-pake, signifjring a large inland lake, or perhaps an island near the shore. The same derivation is also seen in Copake Lake, Colum- 74 Round the aqueducts of story As the mists of Lethe throng Croton's waves in alt their glory Troop in melody along. George P. Morris. bia County. On an island of Mahopac the last great ^hp "convention" of the southern tribes of the Hudson was held. The lake is about 800 feet above tide, and l^UDSOIt it is pleasant to know that the bright waters of Mahopac r3fi»»r and the clear streams of Putnam and Westchester are *^*"'^^ conveyed to New York even as the poetic waters of Loch Katrine to the city of Glasgow. The Catskill water supply, the ground of which was broken in 1907, is re- ferred to in our description of Cold Spring and the Catskills. Just above Croton Bay and the New York Central Bail- road draw-bridge will be seen the old Van Cortlandt Manor, where Frederick Phillipse and Katrina Van Cort- landt were married, as seen by the inscription on the old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow. Teller's Point (sometimes known as Croton or Under- bill's Point), separates Tappan Zee from Haverstraw Bay. It was called by the Indians " Senasqua." Tradi- tion says that ancient warriors still haunt the surround- ing glens and woods, and the sachems of Teller's Point are household words in the neighborhood. It is also said that there was once a great Indian battle here, and perhaps the ghosts of the old warriors are attracted by the Underbill grapery and the 10,000 gallons of wine bottled every season. It was here the British warship " The Vulture," came with Andre and put him ashore at the foot of Mount Tor below Haverstraw. The river now opens into a beautiful bay, four miles in width, — a bed large enough to tuck up fifteen River Ehines side by side. This reach sometimes seems in the bright sunlight like a molten bay of silver, and the tourist finds relief in adjusting his smoked glasses to temper the dazzling light. Haverstraw, 37 miles from New York. Haverstraw Bay is sometimes said to be five miles wide. Its widest point, however, from Croton Landing to Haverstraw, is. Beneath these gold and azure skies 75 The river winds through leafy glades, Save where, like battlements, arise The gray and tufted Palisades. Henry T. Tuckerman. Cije according to United States Geological Survey, a little over four miles. The principal industry of Haverstraw is brick-making, and its brick yards reaching north to Grassy Point, are of materal profit, if not picturesque. The place was called Haverstraw by the Dutch, perhaps as a place of rye straw, to distinguish it from Tarrytown, a place of wheat. The Indian name has been lost; but, if its original derivation is uncertain, it at least calls up the rhyme oi old-time river captains, which Captaiii Anderson of the " Mary Powell " told the writer he used to hear frequently when a boy: " West Point and Middletown, Konnosook and Doodletown, Kakiak and Mamapaw, Stony Point and Haverstraw." Quaint as these names now sound, they all are found on old maps of the Hudson. High Tom is the name of the northern point of the Ramapo on the west bank, south of Haverstraw. Ac- cording to the Coast Survey, it is 820 feet above tide- water, and the view from the summit is grand and ex- tensive. The origin of the name is not clear, but it has lately occurred to the writer, from a re-reading of Scott's " Peveril of the Peak," that it might have been named from the Tom, a mountain in Derbyshire, either from its appearance, or by some patriotic settler from the central ■yyater-shed of England. Others say it is the Devonshire word Tor changed to Torn, evidently derived from the same source. West Shore Railroad. — The tourist will see at this point, on the left bank of the river, the tunnel whereby the " West Shore " finds egress from the mountains. The traveler over this railway, on emerging from the quiet valley west of the Palisades, comes upon a sudden vision of beauty unrivaled in any land. The broad river seems like a great inland lake; and the height of the tunnel 76 Emerging from these confused pijes, the river as if rejoicing at its release from its struggle, expanded into a wide bay, which vas ornamented by a few fertile and low points that jutted humbly into its broad basin, James Fenimore Cooper. above the silver bay gives to the panoramic landscape a ffrUg wondrous charm. About a mile from the river, southwest '"'"'' of Grassy Point, on the farther side of the winding Min- I^UDSOtt nissickuongo Creek, which finally after long meandering »ur<^ makes up its mind to glide into Stony Point Bay, will be *tVl"vl seen Treason Hill marked by the Joshua Hett Smith stone house where Arnold and Andre met. The story of this meeting will be referred to at greater length in connec- tion with its most dramatic incident at the old Beverley House in the Highlands. The Hudson here is about two miles in width and narrows rapidly as we pass Grassy Point on the west bank with its meadows and brick yards to Stony Point, where it is scarcely more than half a mile to Verplank's Point on the eastern bank. This was, therefore, an important pass during the Revolution. The crossing near at hand was known as King's Ferry, at and before the days of '76, and was quite an avenue of travel between the Southern, Middle and Eastern States. The fort crowning a commanding headland, was captured by the British, June 1, 1779, but it was surprised and recaptured by Anthony Wayne, July 15 of the same year. A centennial was observed at the place July 15, 1879, when the battle was "refought" and the West Point Cadets showed how they would have done it if they had been on hand a century ago. Thackeray, in his "Vir- ginians," gives perhaps the most graphic account of this midnight battle. The present light-house occupies the site of the old fort, and was built in part of stone taken from its walls. Upon its capture by the British, Wash- ington, whose headquarters were at New Windsor, medi- tated a bold stroke and summoned Anthony Wayne, more generally known as "Mad Anthony," from his reckless daring, to undertake its recapture with a force of one thousand picked men. The lines were formed in two columns about 8 p. m. at " Springsteel's farm." Each soldier and officer put a piece of white paper in his hat 77 The star spangled banner, the dag of the brave, ' ' And the cross of old England in amity wave, But if ever the nations do battle again Ood send us such soldiers as Anthony Wayne. Mi'Rnn Irving. g^Jj0, to distinguish him from the foe. No guns were to be loaded under penalty of death. General Wayne, at the iPUuSOtt head of the column, forded the marsh covered at the time lEltilCt with two feet of water. The other column led by Butler and Murfree crossed an apology for a bridge. During the advance both columns were discovered by the British sentinels and the rocky defense literally blazed with musketry. In stem silence, however, without faltering, the American columns moved forward, entered the abatis, until the advance guard under Anthony Wayne was within the enemy's works. A bullet at this moment struck Wayne in the forehead grazing his skull. Quickly recovering from the shock, he rose to his knees, shouted : " Forward, my brave fellows " ; then turning to two of his followers, he asked them to help him into the fort that he might die, if it were to be so, " in possession of the spot." Both columns were now at hand and inspired by the brave general, came pouring in, crying " The fort's our own." The British troops completely overwhelmed, were fain to surrender and called for mercy. Wayne's characteristic message to Washington antedates modem telegraphic brevity : — '" Stony Point, 2 o'clock a. m. The American flag waves here. — Mad Anthony." There were twenty killed and sixty wounded on each side. Some five hun- dred of the enemy were captured and about sixty escaped. " Money rewards and medals were given to Wayne and the leaders in the assault. The ordinance and stores cap- tured were appraised at over $180,000 and there was universal rejoicing " throughout the land. " Stony Point State Park " was dedicated by appropriate ceremony July 16, 1902. At the close of Governor Odell's address the flag was raised by William Wajme, a lineal descendant of the hero, and the cruiser " Olympia " of Manila fame boomed forth her tribute. Verplank's Point, on the east bank (now full of brick-making establishments) , was the site of Fort Lafayette. It was here that Baron Steu- ben drilled the soldiers of the American army. Back 78 The echoes that so boldly rung When cannon flashed from steep to steep. And freedom's airy challenge flung, In each romantic valley sleep. Henry T. Tnckerman. from Green Cove above Verplanck's Point is " Knicker- bocker Lake." Tompkin's Cove. — North of Stony Point we see great quarries of limestone, the principal industry of the village of Tompkin's Cove. Gravel is also shipped from this place for Central Park roads and driveways in New York City. The tourist, looking north from the forward deck of the steamer, sees no opening in the mountains, and it is amusing to hear the various conjectures of the pas- sengers; as usual, the "unexpected" happens. The steamer turns to the left and sweeps at once into the- grand scenery of the Highlands. The straight forward course, which seems the more natural, would land the- steamer against the Hudson River Railroad, crossing the Peekskill River. It is said that an old skipper, Jans Peek, ran up this stream, years before the railroad was built, and did not know that he had left the Hudson, or rather that the Hudson was "left " until he ran aground" in the shoal water of the bay. The next morning he discovered that it was a goodly land, and the place bears his name unto this day. Peekskill, 40 miles from New York, is a pleasant city on the quiet bay which deeply indents the eastern bank. The property in this vicinity was known as Rycks Patent in 1665. In Revolutionary times Port Independence stood' on the point above, where its ruins are still seen. The- Franciscan Convent Academy of " Our Lady of Angels,"' guards the point below. In 1797 Peekskill was the head- quarters of old Israel Putnam, who rivaled " Mad An- thony " in brevity as well as courage. It will be remem- bered that Palmer was here captured as a spy. A British officer wrote a letter asking his reprieve, to which Put- nam replied, " Nathan Palmer was taken as a spy, tried" as a spy and will be hanged as a spy. P. S.— He is hanged." This was the birthplace of Paulding, one of Andre's captors, and he died here in 1818. He is buried" in the old rural cemetery about two miles and a half The Highlands and the Palisades Mirror theif beauty in ,the tide. The history of whose forest shades A nation reads with conscious pride. Wallace Bruce. BitJet 79" ^h0 from the village, and a monument has been erected to his memory. Near at hand is the " Wayside Inn," where IpUDSOn Andre once "tarried," also the Hillside Cemetery, where lS.ftiet '°'* June 19, 1898, the 123d anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, a monument was unveiled to General Pom- ■eroy by the Society of the Sons of Revolution, New York. The church which Washington attended is in good preser- vation. Near Peekskill is the old Van Cortlandt house, the resi- dence of Washington for a short time during the Revolu- ton. East of the village was the summer home of the great pulpit orator, Henry Ward Beecher. Peekskill was known by the Indians as Sackhoes in the territory of the Kitchawongo, which extended from Croton River to An- thony's Nose. Turning Caldwell's Landing or Jones' Point, formerly known as Kidd's Point, almost at right angles, the steamer ■enters the southern gate of the Highlands. At the water edge will be seen some upright planks or caissons marking the spot where Kidd's ship was supposed to have been scuttled. As his history seems to be intimately associated with the Hudson, we will give it in brief: The Story of Captain Kidd. — " My name was Captain Kidd as I sailed," are famous lines of an old ballad which was once familiar to our grandfathers. The hap- less hero of the same was bom about the middle of the seventeenth century, and it is thought, near Greenock, 'Scotland. He resided at one time in New York, near the comer of William and Cedar Streets, and was there married. In April, 1696, he sailed from England in com- mand of the "Adventure Galley," with full armament and -eighty men. He captured a French ship, and, on arrival at New York, put up articles for volunteers; remained in New York three or four months, increasing his crew to one hundred and fifty-five men, and sailed thence to Madras, thence to Bonavista and St. Jago, Madagascar, then to Calicut, then to Madagascar again, then sailed 80 Beauty and majesty on either hand Have shared thy waters with their commott realm. KnieKerbocker Magazine. and took the " Quedah Merchant." Kidd kept forty shares ^h^ of the spoils, and divided the rest with his crew. He then burned the "Adventure Galley," went on board the I^UDSOtt "Quedah Merchant," and steered for the West Indies. TOfvigt. Here he left the "Merchant," with part of his crew, *'**"'^'- under one Bolton, as commander. Then manned a sloop, and taking part of his spoils, went to Boston via Long Island Sound, and is said to have set goods on shore at different places. In the meantime, in August, 1698, the East Indian Company informed the Lords Justice that Kidd had committed several acts of piracy, par- ticularly in seizing a Moor's ship called the " Quedah Merchant." When Kidd landed at Boston he was there- fore arrested by the Earl of Bellamont, and sent to Eng- land for trial, 1699, where he was found guilty and executed. Now it is supposed that the crew of the " Quedah Merchant," which Kidd left at Hispaniola, sailed for their homes, as the crew was mostly gathered from the Highlands and above. It is said that they passed New York in the night, en route to the manor of Livingston; but encountering a gale in the Highlands, and thinking they were pursued, ran her near the shore, now known as Kidd's Point, and here scuttled her, the crew fleeing to the woods with such treasure as they could carry. Whether this circumstance was true or not, it was at least a current story in the neighborhood, and an enterprising individual, about fifty years ago, caused an old cannon to be " discovered " in the river, and perpe- trated the first "Cardiff Giant Hoax." A New York Stock Company was organized to prosecute the work. It was said that the ship could be seen in clear days, with her masts still standing, many fathoms below the surface. One thing is certain — ^the company did not see it or the treasurer either, in whose hands were deposited about $30,000. On the west shore rise the rock-beaten crags of — The Dunderberg, the dread of the Dutch mariners. Their summits- are the first to meet d^ The morning's golden ray. And last to catch the crimson fires That warm the dying day. Minna Irving. ^Um This hill, according to Irving, was peopled with a multi- ^ tude of imps, too great for man to number, who wore !^UD0On sugar-loaf hats and short doublets, and had a picturesque lU fVioi* ^^-^ °^ " ^^™''l™g head over heels in the rack and mist." iAlUKv They were especially malignant toward all captains who failed to do them reverence, and brought down frightful squalls on such craft as failed to drop the peaks of their mainsails to the goblin who presided over this shadowy republic. It was the dread of the early navigators — in fact, the Olympus of Dutch mythology. Verditege Hook, the Dunderberg, and the Overslaugh, were names of terror to even the bravest skipper. The old burghers of New York never thought of making their week's voyage to Albany without arranging their wills, and it created as much commotion in New Amsterdam as a modern expedition to the north pole. Dunderberg, in most of the Hudson Guides and Maps, is put down as 1,098 feet, but its actual altitude by the latest United States Geolog- ical Survey is 865 feet. The State National Guard Encampment crowns a bluflf, formerly known as Eoa Hook, on the east bank, north of Peekskill Bay, a happy location in the midst of history and beauty. Every regiment in the State rallies here in turn during the summer months for instruction in the military art, living in tents and enjoying life in true army style. Visitors are cordially greeted at proper hours, and the camp is easily reached by ferry from Peekskill. A ferry also runs from Peekskill to Dunderberg, afford- ing a hillside outing and a delightful view. It is expected that a spiral railroad, fourteen miles in length, under- taken by a recently organized corporation, but abandoned for the present, will make the spot a great Hudson River resort. The plan also embraces a palatial hotel on the summit and pleasure grounds upon the point at its base. Passing Manito Mountain on our right the steamer ap- proaches Anthony's Nose, a prominent feature of the Hudson. "-* The waters were hemmed in by abrupt and dark mountains, but the channel was still broad and smooth enough for all the steamboats in the Republic to ride in safety. Harriet Martineau. Strangely enough the altitude of the mountains dt the southern portal of the Highlands has been greatly over- rated. The formerly accepted height of Anthony's Nose has been reduced by the Geological Survey from 1,228 feet to 900. It has, however, an illustrious christening, and according to various historians several godfathers. One says it was named after St. Anthony the Great, the first institutor of monastic life, bom A. D. 251, at Coma, in Heraclea, a town in Upper Egypt. Irving's humorous account is, however, quite as probable that it was derived from the nose of Antony Van Corlear, the illustrious trumpeter of Peter Stuyvesant. " Now thus it happened that bright and early in the morning the good Antony, having washed his burly visage, was lean- ing over the quarter-railing of the galley, contemplating it in the glassy waves below. Just at this moment the illustrious sun, breaking in all his splendor from behind a high bluff of the Highlands, did dart one of his most potent beams full upon the refulgent nose of the sounder of brass, the reflection of which shot straightway down hissing hot into the water, and killed a mighty sturgeon that was sporting beside the vessel. When this aston- ishing miracle was made known to the Governor, and he tasted of the unknown fish, he marveled exceedingly; and, as a monument thereof, he gave the name of Anthony's Nose to a stout promontory in the neighborhood, and it has continued to be called Anthony's Nose ever since." It was called by the Indians " Kittatenny," a Delaware term, signifying " endless hills." The stream flowing into the river south of Anthony's Nose is known ais the Brocken Kill, broken into beautiful cascades from mountain source to mouth. lona Island, formerly a pleasure resort and picnic ground. An old-time joke of the Hudson was frequently perpetrated on strangers while passing the island. Some one would innocently observe, "I own a island on the Hudson." When any one obligingly asked, " Where? " the )^uD0on IRiijer The beautiful and in some places highly singular banks of the Hudson rendered a voyage both amusing and interesting, while the primitive manners of the in- habitants diverted the gay and idle and pleased the thoughtful and speculative. Mrs. Grant of Laggan. 83 reply would be with pointed finger, "Why there." But the United States Government otuns it now against all comers, and its quiet lanes and picnic abandon have been exchanged for busy machine shops and military dis- cipline. It is near the west bank, opposite Anthony's Nose. A short distance from the island, on the main land, was the village or cross-roads of Doodletown. This reach of the river was formerly known as The Horse Race, from the rapid flow of the tide when at its height. The hills on the west bank now recede from the river, forming a picturesque amphitheatre, bounded on the west by Bear Mountain. An old road directly in the rear of lona Island, better known to Anthony Wayne than to the modem tourist, passes through Doodletown, over Dun- derberg, just west of Tompkin's Cove, to Haverstraw. Here amid these pleasant foothills Morse laid the scene of a historical romance, which he however happily aban- doned for a wider invention. The world can get along without the novel, but it would be a trifle slow without the telegraph. On the west bank, directly opposite the railroad tunnel which puts a merry " ring " into the tip of Anthony's Nose, is what is now known as Highland Lake, called by the Indians " Sinnipink," and by the immediate descendants of our Revolutionary fathers " Hes- sian Lake " or " Bloody Pond," from the fact that an American company were mercilessly slaughtered here by the Hessians, and, after the surrender of Fort Mont- gomery, their bodies were thrown into the lake. The capture of Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery was two years before Mad Anthony's successful assault on Stony Point. Early in the history of the Revolution, the British Government thought that it would be possible to cut oflf the eastern from the middle and southern Col- onies by capturing and garrisoning commanding points along the Hudson and Lake Champlain. It was therefore decided in London, in the spring of 1777, to have Sir Henry Clinton approach from the south and Burgoyne 84 Behold again the wildwood shade. The mountain steep, the ohecltered glade, And hoary roclcs and bubbling rills, And pointed waves and distant hills. Robert C. Sands. ■from the north. Reinforcements, however, arrived late from England and it was September before Clinton trans- ported his troops, about 4,000 in number, in warships and flat-boats up the river. Governor George Clinton was in charge of Fort Montgomery, and his brother James of Fort Clinton, while General Putnam, with about 2,000 men, had his headquarters at Peekskill. In addition to these forts, a chain was stretched across the Hudson from Anthony's Nose to a point near the present railroad bridge, to obstruct the British fleet. General Putnam, however, became convinced that Sir Henry Clinton pro- posed to attack Fort Independence. Most of the troops were accordingly withdrawn from Ports Montgomery and Clinton, when Sir Henry Clinton, taking advantage "of a morning fog, crossed with 2,000 men at King's Ferry. Guided by a sympathizer of the British cause, who knew the district, he crossed the Dunderberg Mountain by the road just indicated. One division of 900 moving on Fort Montgomery, and another of 1,100 on Fort Clinton. Governor Clinton in the meantime ordered 400 soldiers to Fort Montgomery, and his reconnoitering party, met by the Hessians, fell back upon the fort, fighting as it retreated. Governor Clinton sent to General Putnam for reinforcements, but it is said that the messenger deserted, so that Putnam literally sat waiting in camp, uncon- scious of the enemy's movements. A simultaneous attack was made at 5 o'clock in the afternoon on both forts. Lossing says : "' The garrisons were composed mostly of untrained militia. They behaved nobly, and kept up the defense vigorously, against a greatly superior force of disciplined and veteran soldiers, until twilight, when they were overpowered, and sought safety in a scattered retreat to the neighboring mountains. Many escaped, but a con- siderable number were slain or made prisoners. The Governor fled across the river in a boat, and at midnight was with General Putnam at Continental Village, con- certing measures for stopping the invasion. James, fore- I love thy tempests when the broad-winged blast Rouses thy billows with his battle call. When gathering clouds, in phalanx black and vast Like armed shadows gird thy rocky wall. Knickeriocker Magazine. 85 ^1^0 ing his way to the rear, across the highway bridge, vy. ^ received a bayonet wound in the thigh, but safely reached ested in examining some defenses, and sent Alexander Hamilton forward to the Beverley Souse, saying that he would come later, requesting the family to proceed with their breakfast and not to await his arrival. Alexander Hamilton and General Lafayette sat gayly chatting with Mrs. Arnold and her husband when the letter from Jami- son was received. Arnold glanced at the contents, rose and excused himself from the table, beckoning to his wife to follow him, bade her good-bye, told her he was a ruined man and a traitor, kissed his little boy in the cradle, rode to Beverley Dock, and ordered his men to pull off and go down the river. The "Vulture," an Eng- lish man-of-war, was near Teller's Point, and received a traitor, whose miserable treachery branded him with eternal infamy on both continents. It is said that he lived long enough to be hissed in the House of Commons, as he once took his seat in the gallery, and he died friend- less and despised. It is also said, when Talleyrand arrived in Havre on foot from Paris, in the darkest hour of the French Revolution, pursued by the bloodhounds of the reign of terror, and was about to secure a passage to the United States, he asked the landlord of the hotel whether any Americans were staying at his house, as he was going across the water, and would like a letter to a person of influence in the New World. " There is a gentleman up-stairs from Britain or America," was the response. He pointed the way, and Talleyrand ascended the stairs.. In a dimly lighted room sat a man of whom the great minister of France was to ask a favor. He advanced, and poured forth in elegant French and broken English, " I am a wanderer, and an exile. I am forced to fly to the New World without a friend or home. You are an American. Give me, then, I beseech you, a letter of yours, so that I may be able to earn my bread." The 88 Wayne, Putnam, Knox and Heath are there, Steuben, proud Prussia's honored son ; Brave Lafayette from France the fair, And chief of all our Washington. Wallace Bruce. w to O z >■ z o X strange gentleman rose. With a look that Talleyrand never forgot, he retreated toward the door of the next chamber. He spoke as he retreated, and his voice was full of suffering: "I am the only man of the New World who can raise his hand to God and say, ' I have not a friend, not one, in America! ' " " Who are you? " he cried —"your name?" "My name is Benedict Arnold!" Andre's fate on the other hand was widely lamented. He was universally beloved by his comrades and possessed a rich fund of humor which often bubbled over in verse. It is a strange coincidence that his best poetic attempt on one of Anthony Wayne's exploits near Fort Lee, entitled " The Cow Chase," closed with a graphically pro- phetic verse: " And now I've closed my epic strain, I tremble as I show it. Lest this same Warrior-Drover Wayne Should ever catch the poet." By a singular coincidence he did: General Wajaie was in command of the Tarrytovrai and Tappan country where Andre was captured and executed. It is also said that these lines were published by one of the Tory papers in New York the very day of Andre's capture. One of the old-time characters on the Hudson, known as Uncle Rich- ard, has recently thrown new light on the capture of Andre by claiming, with a touch of genuine humor, that it was entirely due to the " effects " of cider which had been freely " dispensed " that day by a certain Mr. Hor- ton, a farmer in the neighborhood. It is impossible even in these later years, not to speak of twenty-five or fifty years ago, to travel along the shores of Haverstraw Bay or among the passes of the Highlands, without hearing some old-time stories about Arnold and Andre, and it would be strange indeed if a little romance had not here and there become blended with the real facts. Uncle Richard's account is undoubt- Clie )0uD0on In view of all he lost, — his youth, his love. And possibilities that wait the brave, Inward and outward bound dim visions move Like passing sails upon the Hudson's wave. Charlotte Fiske Bates. 89 CtJe Kitier edly the best since the days of Knickerbocker. " Benedict Arnold, you know, had command of West Point, and he knew that the place was essential to the success of the Continental cause. He plotted, as everybody knows, to turn it over to the enemy, and in the correspondence which he carried on with General Clinton, young Andre, Clinton's aid, did all the writing. Things were coming to a focus, when a meeting took place between Arnold and Clinton's representative, Andre, at the house of Joshua Hett Smith, near Haverstraw. Andre came on the British ship "Vulture," which he left at Croton Point, in Haverstraw Bay. Well," so runs Uncle Richard's story, "it took a long time to get matters settled; they ' confabbed ' till after daybreak. Then Arnold started back to the post which he had plotted to surrender. But daylight was no time for Andre to return to the " Vul- ture," so he hung round waiting for night. " During that day, some men who were working for James Horton, a farmer on the ridge overlooking the river, who gave his men good rations of cider, drank a little too much of the hard stuff. They felt good, and thought it would be a fine joke to load and fire off an old disabled cannon which lay a mile or so away on the bank. They hauled it to the point now called Cockroft Point, propped it up, and then the spirit of fun — and hard cider — ^prompted them to train the old piece on the British ship " Vulture," lying at anchor in the Bay. The " Vulture's " people must have overestimated the source of the fire, for the ship dropped down the river, and Andre had to abandon the idea of returning by that means. He crossed the river at King's Ferry, and while on his way overland was captured at Tarrytown. " Of course, the three brave men who refused to be bribed deserve all the glory they ever had; if it were not for them, who knows but the revolutionary war would have had a different ending. But they never would have had a chance to capture Andre if it had not been for 90 A slanting ray lingered on tlie woody crests of the precipices tliat overhung the river, giving greater depth to the darlc-gray and purple of the rocky sides. Washington Irving, James Horton's men warming up on hard cidei-. Hard ^|^0 cider broke the plans of Arnold, it hung Andre, and it »i*„»,rt-.n saved West Point." A boy misguided Grouchy en route »PWOSPn to Waterloo. On what small hinges turn the destinies J^fiJgt of nations! All the way from Anthony's Nose to Beverley Dock, where we have been lingering over the story of Andre, we have been literally turning a kaleidoscope of blended history and beauty, with scarcely time to note the delight- ful homes on the west bank, just above Fort Montgomery. Among them J. Pierpont Morgan's and the Pells', John Bigelow's and " Benny Havens'," or on the east bank of Hamilton Fish, just above Beverley Dock, Samuel Sloan and the late William H. Osborn, just north of Sugar Loaf Mountain; the mountain being so named as it resembles, to one coming up the river, the old-fashioned conical- shaped sugar-loaf, which was formerly suspended by a string over the centre of the hospitable Dutch tables, and swung around to be occasionally nibbled at, which in good old . Knickerbocker days, was thought to be the best and only orthodox way of sweetening tea. Buttermilk Falls, so christened by Washington Irving, is a pretty little cascade on the west bank. Like sparkling wit, it is often dry, and the tourist is exceptionally for- tunate who sees it in full-dress costume after a heavy shower, when it rushes over the rocks in floods of snow- white foam. Highland Falls is the name of a small village a short distance west of the river, on the bluff, but not seen from the deck of the steamer. The large building above the rocky channel is Lady Cliff, the Academy of Our Lady of Angels, under the Franciscan Sisters at Peekskill, opened September, 1900. It was originally built for a hotel, and widely known as Cranston's Hotel and Landing. As the steamer is now approaching the west bank we see above us the Cullum Memorial Hall, completed in 1899, a bequest of the late George W. Cullum of the class of 1833. The still Then, as you nearer draw, each wooded height gj Puts oil the azure hues by distance given I And slowly breaks upon the enamored sight. Ravine, crag, field and wood in colors true and bright. Theodore S. Fay. Cfte ^uD0on KfUet newer structure to the south is the officers' messroom, crowning the crest above the landing. West Point, taken all in all, is the most beautiful tourist spot on the Hudson. Excursionists by the Day Boats from New York, returning by afternoon steamer, have three hours to visit the various places of history and beauty. To make an easy mathematical formula or picturesque " rule of three " statement, what Quebec is to the St. Lawrence, West Point is to the Hudson. If the citadel of Quebec is more imposing, the view of the Hudson at this place is grander than that of the St. Lawrence, and the ruins of Fort Putnam are almost as venerable as the Heights of Abraham. The sensation of the visitor is, moreover, somewhat the same in both places as to the environment of law and authority. To get the daily char- acter and quality of West Point one should spend at least twenty-four hours within its borders, and a good hotel, the only one on the Government grounds, will be found central and convenient to everything of interest. The parade and drills at sunset hour can best be seen in this way. The United States Military Academy. — Soon after the close of the War of the Revolution, Washington suggested West Point as the site of a military academy, and, in 1793, in his annual message, recommended it to Congress, which in 1794 organized a corps of artillerists to be here stationed with thirty-two cadets, enlarging the number in 1798 to fifty-six. In 1808 it was increased to one hundred and fifty-six, and in 1812 to two hundred and sixty. Up to 1812 only 71 cadets had been graduated. The roll of graduates now numbers about 5,000. Each Congressman has the appointment of one cadet, supplemented by ten appointed by the President of the United States. These cadets are members of the regular army, subject to its regulations for eight years, viz: dur- ing four years of study and four years after graduating. The candidates are examined in June, each year, and 9% Enchanted place, hemmed in by mountain walls, By bristling guns and Hudson's restful shore. Kenneth Bruca. must be physically sound as well as mentally qualified. dl0 The course is very thorough, especially in higher mathe- »w,,j,«,„„ matics. The cadets go into camp in July and August, »PU05un and this is the pleasantest time to visit the point. IRftJCt The plans furnished by the architects of the new build- ing will entirely change the appearance of the river front. The proposed massive structure crowning the cliff will " out-castle " the most massive fortifications of the walled cities of Europe. $7,500,000 has been appropriated to the work by Congress and the next generation will behold a new West Point. In the rebuilding of the Post the Cadet Chapel, the Riding Hall, the Administration Building and some of the OiRcers' Quarters will be removed. Most of the old important buildings, however, will not be disturbed, and the Chapel will be placed as it were " intact " on another site. The plan leaves untouched the Cadet Barracks, the Cadet Mess, the Memorial Hall, the Library and the Officers' Mess. The tower of the new Post Headquarters will rise high and massive several stories above the other structures and present in enduring symbol the republic standing four square and firm throughout the ages. In the " West Point Souvenir," prepared by W. H. Tripp, which every visitor will prize, are many suggestions and descriptions of value. From many visits and many sources we condense the following brevities: The Cadet Barracks was built in 1845-51 of native granite. In 1882 the western wing was extended adding two divisions. The Academy Building is immediately opposite the Headquarters, of Massachusetts granite, erected in 1891-95, and cost about $500,000. It contains recitation and lecture rooms of all departments of instruction. The Ordnance Museum contains an interesting and ex- tensive exhibit of ancient and modem firearms, also many valuable trophies from the Revolutionary, Mexican, Civil and Spanish wars. Among the fair and lovely Highlands of the Hudson, gs shut in by deep green heights and ruined forts, hemmed in all round with memories of VC^ashington, there could be no more appropriate ground for the military school of America. Charles Dickens. grt^p. The Cadet Chapel, immediately north of the Administra- ** tion Building, was erected in 1834. The chapel contains ^UD0On many valuable trophies of the Revolutionary and Mex- «jr^ ican wars, including three Hessian and two British flags lAlU^r ^jjg^^ were once the property of Washington. The walls have many memorial tablets and a famous " blank " of Arnold. Here also are several cannon surrendered at Saratoga, October 17, 1777. The Administration Building was completed in 1871. The Library adjoins the Cadet Chapel on the east, built of native granite in 1841, costing about $15,000. In 1900 the building was entirely reconstructed of fire-proof ma- terial by appropriation of $80,000. The exterior walls of the original building entered into the remodeled struc- ture. The Library founded in 1812, has about 50,000 volumes. The Gymnasium adjoins the Barracks on the west, erected of native granite, costing $90,000. Memorial Hall, plainly seen from the Hudson, completed in 1899, is of Ionic architecture. The building cost $268,000, a legacy bequeathed by Gen. George W. Cullum, built of Milford granite for army trophies of busts, paint- ings and memorials. The bronze statute of Gen. John Sedgwick in the northwest angle of the plain was dedi- cated in 1868. The fine cenotaph of Italian marble was erected in 1885. It stands immediately in front of Memorial Hall. Kosciusko's Monument was erected in 1828. It stands in the northeast angle of Fort Clinton. The Chain-Battery walk runs from Kosciusko's Garden northward to Light House Point, near which was the battery that defended the chain across the river in the Revolution. The scene is of great beauty and has been known for many years by the name of " Flirtation Walk.'' The Battle Monument, on Trophy Point, is the most beautiful on the reservation — a column of victory in memory of 2,230 officers and soldiers of the regular army 94 Where Kosciusko dreamed and proud scenes bring To mind the stormy days when Liberty Was cradled at West Point— the Highlands' Icey. Kenneth Bruce- of the United States who were killed or died of wounds received in the war of the Rebellion. It is a monolith of polished granite surmounted by a figure of Fame. The shaft is 46 feet in length, 5 feet in diameter, and said to be the largest piece of polished stone in the world. The cost of the work was $66,000. The site was dedi- cated June IB, 1864. The monument was dedicated in 1897. The address was by Justice Brewer. Trophy Point, on the north side of the plain, overlooking the river and commanding a majestic view of the Hudson and the city of Newburgh, has been likened by European travelers to a view on Lake Geneva. Here are the " swivel clevies " and 16 links of the old chain that was stretched across the river at this point. The whole chain, 1,700 feet long, weighing 186 tons, was forged at the Sterling Iron Works, transported to New Windsor and there attached to log booms and floated down the river to this point. Old Fort Putnam was erected in 1778 by the 5th Massa- chusetts Regiment under the direction of Col. Rufus Putnam. It was originally constructed of logs and trees with stone walls on two sides to defend Fort Clinton on the plain below. It was garrisoned by 450 men, and had 14 guns mounted. In 1787 it was dismantled, and the guns sold as old iron. Its brick arch casements over- .grown with moss, vines, and shrubbery are crumbling away, but are well worth a visit. It is 495 feet above the Hudson. A winding picturesque carriage road leads up from the plain, and the pedestrian can reach the summit in 20 minutes. On clear days the Catskill Moun- tains are visible. Fort Clinton, in the northeast angle of the plain, was built in 1778 under the direction of the Polish soldier, Kosciusko. Sea Coast Battery is located on the north waterfront, Seige Battery on the slope of the hill below the Battle Monument. Targets for the guns on both batteries are on the hillside about a mile distant. Battery C|)e Bright are the moments link'd with thee. Boast of a glory- hallowed landl Hope of the valiant and the free. Home of our youthful soldier band ! Anonymous. 95 Eitier Knox, which overlooks the river, was rebuilt in 1874 on the site of an old revolutionary redoubt. While Fort Putnam was being built Washington was advised that Dubois's regiment was unfit to be ordered on duty, there being "not one blanket in the regiment. Very few have either a shoe or a shirt, and most of them have neither stockings, breeches, or overalls. Several com- panies of inlisted artificers are in the same situation, and unable to work in the field." What privations were here endured to establish our priceless liberty! It makes better Americans of us all to turn and re-turn the pages of the real Hudson, the most pictureque volume of the world's history. West Point during the Revolution was the Gibraltar of the Hudson and her forts were regarded almost im- pregnable. Fort Putnam will be rebuilt as an enduring monument to the bravery of American soldiers. The best way to study West Point, however, is not in voluminous histories or in the condensed pages of a guide book, but to visit it and see its real life, to wander amid its old associations, and ask, when necessary, intelligent questions, which are everywhere courteously answered. The view north seen in a summer evening, is one long to be remembered. In such an hour the writer's idea of the Hudson as an open book with granite pages and crystal book-mark is most completely realized as indi- cated in the Highland section of his poem, " The Hudson " : On either side these mountain glens Lie open like a massive book. Whose words were graved with Iron pens, And lead into the eternal rock : Which evermore shall here retain The annals time cannot erase, And while these granite leaves remain This crystal riljbon marks the place. 96 Under Spring's delicate marshalling every hill of the Highlands took its own place, and the soft swells of ground stood back the one from the other in more and more tender coloring. Susan Warner. I < m H z o a. i' o, P* I H g Z a z N! O O J West Point to Newburgh. ^^^ The steamer passes too near the west bank to give a __, view of the magnificent plateau with parade ground and IlituCt Government buildings, but on rounding the point a picture of marvelous beauty breaks at once upon the vision. On the left the massive indented ridge of Old Cro' Nest and Storm King, and on the right Mount Taurus, or Bull Hill, and Break Neck, while still further beyond toward the east sweeps the Fishkill range, sentineled by South Beacon, 1,625 feet in height, from whose summit midnight gleams aroused the countryside for leagues and scores of miles during those seven long years when men toiled and prayed for freedom. Close at hand on the right will be seen Constitution Island, formerly the home of Miss Susan Warner, who died in 1885, author of " Queechy " and the "Wide, Wide World." Here the ruins of the old fort are seen. The place was once called Martalaer's Rock Island. A chain was stretched across the river at this point to intercept the passage of boats up the Hudson, but proved ineffectual, like the one at Anthony's Nose, as the impetus of the boats snapped them both like cords. Some years ago, when the first delegation of Apache Indians was brought to Washington to sign a treaty of peace, the Indians were taken for an "outing" up the Hudson, by General O. O. Howard and Dr. Herman Bendell, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Arizona. It is said that they noted with cold indifference the palaces along the river front: "the artistic terraces, the well-kept, sloping lawns, the clipped hedges and the ivy- grown walls made no impression on them, but when the magnificent picture of the Hudson above West Point revealed itself, painted by the rays of the sinking sun, these wild men stood erect, raised their hands high above their heads and uttered a monosyllabic expression Of 97 The queenly Hudson circling at tliy feet Lingers to sing a song of joy and love, Pouring her heart in rippling wavelets sweet. Which sun-kissed glance up to thy throne above. Kenneth Brace. l^uD0on delight, which was more expressive than volumes of words." Sir Robert Temple also rises into rapture over the northern gate of the Highlands. "One of the fairest spectacles to be seen on the earth's surface; not on any other river or strait — ^not on Ganges or Indus, on the Dardanelles or the Bosphorus, on the Danube or the Rhine, on the Neva or the Nile — ^have I ever observed so fairy-like a scene as this on the Hudson. The only water-view to rival it is that of the Sea of Marmora, opposite Constantinople.'' Most people who visit our river, naturally desire a brilliant sunlit day for their journey, and with reason, but there are effects, in fog and rain and driving mist, only surpassed amid the Kyles of Bute, in Scotland. The traveler is fortunate, who sees the Hudson in many phases, and under various atmospheric conditions. A midnight view is peculiarly impressive when the mountain spirits of Rodman Drake answer to the call of his " Culprit Fay." " 'Tis the middle watch of a, summer night, The earth is darlc but the heavens are bright, The moon looks down on Old Cro' Nest — She mellows the shade on his shaggy breast, And seems his huge gray form to throw In a silver cone on the wave below." It is said that the " Culprit Fay " was written by Drake in three days, and grew out of a discussion which took place during a stroll through this part of the Highlands between Irving, Halleck, Cooper and himself, as to the filling of a new country with old-time legends. Drake died in 1820. Halleck's lines to his memory are among the sweetest in our language. It is said that Halleck, on hearing Drake read his poem, " The American Flag," sprang to his feet, and in a semi-poetic transport, con- cluded the lines with burning words, which Drake after- wards appended: 98 It floweth deep and strong and wide This river of romance Along whose banks on moonlight nights The Highland fairies dance. E. A. Lente. " Forever float that standard sheet, Where breathes the foe but falls before us, With Freedom's soil beneath our feet. And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us." Just opposite Old Cro' Nest is the village of Cold Spring, on the east bank, which receives its name naturally from a cold spring in the vicinity; and it is interesting to remember that the famous Parrott guns were made at this place, and many implements of warfare during our civil strife. The foundry was started by Gouverneur Kemble in 1828, and brought into wide renown by the inventive genius of Major Parrott. Cold Spring has a further distinction in having the first ground broken, about three miles from the river, for the greatest engineer- ing enterprise of the age — " The Water Supply of the Catskills," when Mayor McClellan, in June, 1907, began the work with his silver shovel. A short distance north of the village is Undercliff (built by John C. Hamilton, son of Alex- ander Hamilton, but more particularly associated with the memory of the poet, Col. George P. Morris), lies, in fact, under the cliff and shadow of Mount Taurus, and has a fine outlook upon the river and surrounding moun- tains. Standing on the piazza, we see directly in front of us Old Cro' Nest, and it was here that the poet wrote : " Where Hudson's wave o'er silvery sands Winds through the bills afar. Old Cro' Nest like a monarch stands Crowned with a single star." Few writers were better known in their own day than the poet of Undercliflf, who wrote "My Mother's Bible," and "Woodman, Spare that Tree." On one occasion, when Mr. Russell was singing it at Boulogne, an old gentleman in the audience, moved by the simple and touching beauty of the lines, " Forgive the foolish tear. But let the old oak stand." Cf)e Eitiet When freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her standard to the air. She tore the azure robe of night And set the stars of glory there. Joseph Rodman Drake. 99 ^ht ^'^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ • " ^ ^^S your pardon, but was the tree really spared? " " It was," answered Mr. Russell, and ipUu0Olt the old gentleman resumed his seat, amid the plaudits HftlCl! °^ *^® whole assembly. Truly " Its glory and renown Are spread o'er land and sea." The first European name given to Storm King was Klinkersberg (so called by Hendrick Hudson, from its glistening and broken rock). It was styled by the Dutch " Butter Hill," from its shape, and, with Sugar Loaf on the eastern side below the point, helped to set out the tea-table for the Dunderberg goblins. It was christened by Willis, " Storm King," and may well be regarded the El Capitan of the Highlands. Breakneck is opposite, on the east side, where St. Anthony's Face was blasted away. In this mountain solitude there was a shade of reason in giving that solemn countenance of stone the name of St. Anthony, as a good representative of monastic life;_ and, by a quiet sarcasm, the full-length nose below was probably suggested. The mountain opposite Cro' Nest is " Bull Hill," or more classically, " Mt. Taurus." It is said that there was formerly a wild bull in these mountains, which had failed to win the respect and confidence of the inhabitants, so the mountaineers organized a hunt and drove him over the hill, whose name stands a monument to his exit. The point at the foot of " Mount Taurus " is known as "Little Stony Point." The Highlands now trend off to the northeast, and we see North Beacon, or Grand Sachem Mountain, and Old Beacon about half a mile to the north. The mountains were relit with beacon-fires in 1883, in honor of the cen- tennials of Fishkill and Newburgh, and were plainly seen sixty miles distant. This section was known by the Indians as "Weque- hache," or, " the Hill Country," and the entire range was The Highlands are here moulded in all manner of 100 heights and hollows; sometimes reaching up abruptly to twelve or fifteen hundred feet, and again stretching away in long gorges and gentle declivities. Sttsan Warner. called by the Indians "the endless hills," a name not grUg inappropriate to this mountain bulwark reaching from -' New England to the Carolinas. As pictured in our ^UD^Ott " Long Drama," given at the Newburgh centennial of «n i\tfit> the disbanding of the American Army, IftJUtl That ridge along our eastern coast. From Carolina to the Sound, Opposed its front to Britain's host. And heroes at each pass were founo: A vast primeval palisade, With bastions bold and wooded crest, A bulwark strong by nature made To guard the valley of the west. Along its heights the beacons gleamed. It formed the nation's battle-line. Firm as the rocks and cliffs where dreamed The soldier-seers of Palestine. It was also believed by the Indians that, in ancient days, "before the Hudson poured its waters from the lakes, the Highlands formed one vast prison, within whose rocky bosom the omnipotent Manitou confined the re- bellious spirits who repined at his control. Here, bound in adamantine chains, or jammed in rifted pines, or crushed by ponderous rocks, they groaned for many an age. At length the conquering Hudson, in its career toward the ocean, burst open their prison-house, rolling its tide triumphantly through the stupendous ruins." PoUopel's Island, east of the steamer's route, was once regarded as a haunted spot, but its only witches are said to be snakes too lively to be enchanted. In old times, the " new hands " on the sloops were unceremoniously dipped at this place, so as to be proof-christened against the goblins of the Highlands. Here also another useless "impediment" was put across the Hudson in 1779, a chevaux-de-frise with iron-pointed spikes thirty feet long, hidden under water, strongly secured by cribs of stone. This, however, was not broken and would probably have done effective work if some traitor to the cause had not What sights and sounds at which the world has won- dered Within these wild ravines have had their birth! Young Freedom's cannon from these glens have thun- dered And sent their startling echoes o'er the earth. Charles Fenno Hoffman. 101 Cf)e guided the British captains through an unprotected pas- sage. The State at one time contemplated the purchase of this island on which to erect a statue to Hendrick Hudson. For some reason Governor Flower vetoed the bill. It is now owned by Mr. Francis Bannerman, an energetic business man, who perhaps some day may see his way to promote a monument to Hudson on the splendid pedestal which nature has already completed. Cornwall-on-the-Hudson. — This locality Ni P. Willis selected as the most picturesque point on the Hudson. The village lies in a lovely valley, which Mr. Beach has styled in his able description, as " an offshoot of the Ramapo, up which the storm-winds of the ocean drive, laden with the purest and freshest air." Idlewild. — Where Willis spent the last years of his life is a charming spot and rich with poetic memories. E. P. Roe also chose Cornwall for his home. Lovers of the Hudson are indebted to Edward Bok for his realistic sketch of an afternoon visit. The "Idlewild" of to-day is still green to the memory of the poet. Since Willis' death the place has passed in turn into various hands, until now it belongs to a wealthy New York lawyer, who has spent thousands of dollars on the house and grounds. The old house still stands, and here and there in the grounds remains a suggestion of the time of Willis. The famous pine-drive leading to the mansion, along which th6 greatest literary lights of the Knickerbocker period passed during its palmy days, still remains intact, the deijse growth of the trees only making the road the more picturesque. The brook, at which Willis often sat, still runs on through the grounds as of yore. In the house, everything is remodeled and remodernized. The room from whose windows Willis was wont to look over the Hudson, and where he did most of his charming writing, is now a bedchamber, modem in its every appoint- ment, and suggesting its age only by the high ceiling and curious mantel. Only a few city blocks from " Idlewild " 102 The river narrows at their proud behest And creeps more darkly as it deeper flows, And fitful winds swirl through the long deflle Where the great Highlands keep their stern repose. E. A. Lente. is the house where lived E. P. Roe, the author of so many popular novels, as numerous, almost, in number as the several hundreds of thousands of circulation which they secured. There are twenty-three acres to it in all, and, save what was occupied by the house, every inch of ground was utilized by the novelist in his hobby for fine fruits and rare flowers. Now nothing remains of the beauty once so characteristic of the place. For four years the grounds have missed the care of their creator. Where once were the novelist's celebrated strawberry beds, are now only grass and weeds. Everything is grown over, only a few trees remaining as evidence that the grounds were ever known for their cultivated products. A large board sign announces the fact that the entire place is for sale. Cornwall has been for many years a favorite resort of the Hudson Valley and her roofs shelter in the summer season many thousand people. The road completed in 1876, from Cornwall to West Point, gives one a pleasant acquaintance with the wooded Highlands. It passes over the plateau of Cro' Nest and winds down the Cornwall slope of Storm King. The tourist who sees Cro' Nest and Storm King only from the river, has but little idea of their extent. Cro' Nest plateau is about one thousand feet above the parade ground of West Point, and over- looks it as a rocky balcony. These mountains, with their wonderful lake system, are, in fact, the " Central Park " of the Hudson. Within a radius of ten miles are clustered over forty lakes, and we very much doubt if one person in a thousand ever heard of them. A convenient map giving the physical geography of this section would be of great service to the mountain visitor. The Cornwall pier, built by the New York, Ontario and Western Rail- road in 1892 for coal and freight purposes, will be seen on our left near the Cornwall dock. This railroad leaves the West Shore at this point and forms a pleasant tourist route to the beautiful inland villages and resorts of the State. A solitary gleam struck on the base of the Highland peak, and moved gracefully up Its side, until reaching the summit, it stood for a minute forming a crown of glory to the sombre pile. James Fenimore Cooper. 103 Cfie Cije Newburgh to Poughkeepsie. Newburgh, 60 miles from New York. Approaching the city of Newburgh, we see a building of rough stone, one story high, with steep roof — known as Washington's Headquarters. For several years prior to, and during the Revolution, this was the home of Jonathan Hasbrouck, known far and wide for business integrity and loyalty to liberty. This house was built by him, apparently, in decades; the oldest part, the northeast corner, in 1750; the southeast corner, in 1760, and the remaining half in 1770. It fronted west on the king's highway, now known as Liberty Street, with a garden and family burial plot to the east, lying between the house and the river. It was restored as nearly as possible to its original char- acter on its purchase by the State in 1849, and it is now the treasure-house of many memories, and of valuable historic relics. A descriptive catalogue, prepared for the trustees, under act of May 11, 1874, by a patient and careful historian. Dr. E. M. Ruttenber, will be of service to the visitor and can be obtained on the grounds. The following facts, condensed from his admirable historical sketch, are of practical interest: "Washington's Headquarters, or the Hasbrouck house, is situated in the southeast part of the city, constructed of rough stone, one story high, fifty-six feet front by forty-six feet in depth, and located on what was originally Lot No. 2, of the German ^Patent, with title vested in Heman Schoneman, a native of the Palatinate of Ger- many, who sold, in 1721, to James Alexander, who subse- quently sold to Alexander Golden and Burger Meynders, by whom it was conveyed to Jonathan Hasbrouck, the grandson of Abraham Hasbrouck, one of the Huguenot founders of New Paltz. He was a man of marked char- acter; of fine physique, being six feet and four inches in height; was colonel of the militia of the district, and 104 Sacred in this mansion hoary, 'Neath its roof-tree long ago Dwelt the father of our glory. He whose name appalled the foe. Kary E. Slonell. BATTLE MONUMENT, WEST POINT in frequent service in guarding the passes of the High- ^fag lands. His occupation was that of a farmer, a miller, and a merchant. He died in 1780. The first town meet- ^UtJ0Otl ing for the Precinct of Newburgh was held here on the IQlVj^r first Tuesday in April, 1763, when its owner was elected supervisor. Public meetings continued to be held here for several years. During the early part of the Revolu- tion, the committee of safety, of the precinct, assembled here; here military companies were organized, and here the regiment which Colonel Hasbrouck commanded assem- bled, to move hence to the defence of the Highland forts." From this brief outline, it will be seen that the build- ing is singularly associated with the history of the Old as well as of the New World: with the former through the original grantee of the land, recalling the wars which devastated the Palatinate and sent its inhabitants, fugi- tive and penniless, to other parts of Europe and to America; through his successor with the Huguenots of France, and, through the public meetings which assembled here, and especially through its occupation by Washing- ton, with the struggle for American independence. In the spring of 1782 Washington made this building his headquarters, and remained here until August 18, 1783, on the morning of which day he took his departure from Newburgh. At this place he passed through the most trying period of the Revolution: the year of in- activity on the part of Congress, of distress throughout the country, and of complaint and discontent in the army, the latter at one time bordering on revolt among the officers and soldiers. It was at this place, on the 22d day of May, 1782, that Colonel Nicola, on behalf of himself and others, pro- posed that Washington should become king, for the " national advantage," a proposal that was received by Washington with " surprise and astonishment," " viewed with abhorrence," and " reprehended with severity." The temptation which was thus repelled by Washington, had With silVered locks and eyes grown dim, 105 As victory's sun proclaimed the morn. He pushed aside the diadem With stern rebuke and patriot scorn. Wallace Bruce. l^uD0on its origin with that portion of the officers of the army, who, while giving their aid heartily to secure an inde- pendent government, nevertheless believed that that gov- l^it)0t emment should be a monarchy. The rejection of the proposition by Washington was not the only significant result. The rank and file of the army rose up against it, and around their camp-fires chanted their purpose in Billings' song, " No King but God ! " From that hour a republic became the only possible form of government for the enfranchised Colonies. The inattention of Congress to the payment of the army, during the succeeding winter, gave rise to an equally important episode in the history of the war. On the 10th of March, 1783, the first of the famous "New- burgh Letters " was issued, in which, by implication at least, the army was advised to revolt. The letter was followed by an anonymous manuscript notice for a public meeting of officers on the succeeding Tuesday. Washing- ton was equal to the emergency. He expressed his dis- approbation of the whole proceeding, and with great wisdom, requested the field oflScers, with one commissioned officer from each company, to meet on the Saturday pre- ceding the time appointed by the anonymous notice. He attended this meeting and delivered before it one of the most touching and effective addresses on record. When he closed his remarks, the officers unanimously resolved " to reject with disdain " the infamous proposition con- tained in the anonymous address. The meeting of officers referred to was held at the New Building or " Temple " as it was called, in New Windsor, but Washington's address was written at his headquarters. The " Newburgh Letters," to which it was a reply, were written by Major John Armstrong, aid-de-camp to General Gates. The anonymously called meeting was not held. The motives of its projectors we will not discuss; but its probable effect, had it been successful, must be con- sidered in connection with Washington's encomium of the 106 Freemen pause! this ground is holy. Noble spirits suiTered here, Tardy Justice, marching slowly. Tried their faith from year to year. Mary E. ISonell, result of the meeting which he had addressed : " Had this day been wanting, the world had never known the height to which human greatness is capable of attaining." Notice of the cessation of hostilities was proclaimed to the army April 19, 1783. It was received with great rejoicings by the troops at Newburgh, and under Wash- ington's order, was the occasion of an appropriate celebra- tion. In the evening, signal beacon lights proclaimed the joyous news to the surrounding country. Thirteen cannon came pealing up from Fort Putnam, which were followed by a feu-de-joie rolling along the lines. The mountain sides resounded and echoed like tremendous peals of thunder, and the flashing from thousands of fire-arms, in the darkness of the evening, was like unto vivid flashes of lightning from the clouds. From this time furloughs were freely granted to soldiers who wished to return to their homes, and when the army was flnally disbanded those absent were discharged from service without being required to return. That portion of the army, which remained at Newburgh on guard duty, after the removal of the main body to West Point in June, were participants here in the closing scenes of the disbandment, when, on the morning of November 3, 1783, the proclamation of Congress and the farewell orders of Washington were read, and the last word of command given." From Mon- ell's " Handbook of Washington's Headquarters " we also quote a general description of the house and its appear- ance when occupied by the commander-in-chief. " Wash- ington's family consisted of himself, his wife, and his aid-de-camp. Major Tench Tighlman. The large room, which is entered from the piazza on the east, known as ' the room with seven doors and one window,' was used as the dining and sitting-room. The northeast room was Washington's bedroom and the one adjoining it on the left was occupied by him as a private office. The family room was that in the southeast; the kitchen was the southwest room; the parlor the northwest room. Between C6e ^uti0on Serene and calm in peril's hour. An honest man without pretence, He stands supreme to teach the power And brilliancy of common-sense. Wallace Bruce. 107 Cfte )^uD0on Kitier the latter and the former was the hall and staircase and the storeroom, so called for having been used by Colonel Hasbrouck and subsequently by his widow as a store. The parlor was mainly reserved for Mrs. Washington and her guests. A Mrs. Hamilton, whose name frequently appears in Washington's account book, was his housekeeper, and in the early part of the war made a reputation for her zeal in his service, which Thacher makes note of and Washington acknowledges in his reference to an exchange of salt. There was little room for the accommodation of guests, but it is presumed that the chambers were reserved for that purpose. Washington's guests, however, were mainly connected with the army and had quarters else- where. Even Lafayette had rooms at DeGrove's Hotel when a visitor at headquarters. " The building is now substantially in the condition it was during Washington's occupation of it. The same massive timbers span the ceiling; the old fire-place with its wide-open chimney is ready for the huge back-logs of yore; the seven doors are in their places; the rays of the morning sun still stream through the one window; no alteration in form has been made in the old piazza — the adornments on the walls, if such the ancient hostess had, have alone been changed for souvenirs of the heroes of the nation's independence. In presence of these sur- roundings, it requires but little effort of the imagination to restore the departed guests. Forgetting not that this was Washington's private residence, rather than a place for the transaction of public business, we may, in the old sitting-room respread the long oaken table, listen to the blessing invoked on the morning meal, hear the crack- ing of joints, and the mingled hum of conversation. The meal dispensed, Mrs. Washington retires to appear at her flower beds or in her parlor to receive her morning calls. Colfax, the captain of the life-guard, enters to receive the orders of the day — perhaps a horse and guard for Washi»gton to visit New Windsor, or a barge for Fish- 108 One window looking toward the east; Seven doors wide-open every side; Tliat room revered proclams at least An invitation free and wide. Wallace Bruce. kill or West Point, is required; or it may be Washington remains at home and at his writing desk conducts his correspondence, or dictates orders for army movements. The old arm-chair, sitting in the corner yonder, is still ready for its former occupant. " The dinner hour of five o'clock approaches ; the guests of the day have already arrived. Steuben, the iron drill- master and German soldier of fortune, converses with Mrs. Washington. He had reduced the simple marksmen of Bunker Hill to the discipline of the armies of Europe and tested their efficiency in the din of battle. He has leisure now, and scarcely knows how to find employment for his active mind. He is telling his hostess, in broken German-English, of the whale (it proved to be an eel) he had caught in the river. Hear his hostess laugh! And that is the voice of Lafayette, relating perhaps his adventures in escaping from France, or his mishap in attempting to attend Mrs. Knox's last party. Wayne, of Stony Point; Gates, of Saratoga; Clinton, the Irish- blooded Governor of New York, and their compatriots — ^we may place them all at times beside our Pater Patriae in this old room, and hear amid the mingled hum his voice declare : ' Happy, thrice happy, shall they be pro- nounced hereafter, who have contributed anything, who have performed the meanest office in erecting this stu- pendous fabric of Freedom and Empire on the broad basis of independency; who have assisted in protecting the rights of human nature, and in establishing an asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions.' " In France, some fifty years after the Revolution, Marbois reproduced, as an entertainment for Lafayette, then an old man, this old sitting-room and its table scene. From his elegant saloon he conducted his guests, among whom were several Americans, to the room which he had prepared. There was a large open fire-place, and plain oaken floors; the ceiling was supported with large beams and whitewashed; there were the seven small-sized doors WMtt The goodness which characterizes VCashington is felt by all around him, but the confidence he inspires is never familiar; it springs from a profound esteem for his virtues and a great opinion of his talents. Marquis de Chasielleaux. 109 BiDet and one window with heavy sash and small panes of glass. The furniture was plain and unlike any then in use. Down the centre of the room was an oaken table covered with dishes of meat and vegetables, decanters and bottles of wine, and silver mugs and small wine glasses. The whole had something the appearance of a Dutch kitchen. While the guests were looking around in surprise at this strange procedure, the host, addressing himself to them said, ' Do you know where we now are? ' Lafayette looked around, and, as if awakening from a dream, he ex- claimed, ' Ah ! the seven doors and one window, and the silver camp goblets such as the Marshals of Prance used in my youth. We are at Washington's Headquarters on the Hudson fifty years ago.' " The Hasbrouck family returned to their old home, made historic for all time, after the disbandment of the armj and remained until it became the property of the State. On July 4, 1850, the place was formally dedicated by Major-General Winfield Scott, dedicatory address delivered by John J. Monell, an ode by Mary E. Monell, and an oration by Hon. John W. Edmunds. The centennial of the disbanding of the army was observed here October 18, 1883. After the noonday procession of 10,000 men in line, three miles in length, with governors and repre- sentative people from almost every State, 150,000 people, " ten acres " square, gathered in the historic grounds. Senator Bayard, of Delaware, was chairman of the day. Hon. William M. Evarts was the orator, and modestly speaking in the third person, Wallace Bruce, author of this handbook, was the poet. No one there gathered can ever forget that afternoon of glorious sunlight or the noble pageant. The great mountains, which had so fre- quently been the bulwark of liberty and a place of refuge for our fathers, were all aglow with beauty, as if, like Horeb's bush, they too would open their lips in praise and thanksgiving. One of the closing sentences of Sen- ator Evarts' address is unsurpassed in modem or ancient 110 From these headquarters VC^asbington promulgated his memorable order for the cessation of hostilities and recalled the fact that its date, April 18th, was the an- niversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord. Thomas F. Bayard. eloquence: "These rolling years have shown growth, for- ^^^ ever growth, and strength, increasing strength, and wealth ^if^ and numbers ever expanding, while intelligence, freedom, |^U)J0Otl art, culture and religion have pervaded and ennobled all __,^^ this material greatness. Wide, however, as is our land KIWt and vast our population to-day, these are not the limits to the name, the fame, the power of the life and char- acter of Washington. If it could be imagined that this nation, rent by disastrous feuds, broken in its unity, should ever present the miserable spectacle of the un- defiled garments of his fame parted among his country- men, while for the seamless vesture of his virtue they cast lots — if this unutterable shame, if this immeasurable crime, should overtake this land and this people, be sure that no spot in the wide world is inhospitable to his glory, and no people in it but rejoices in the influence of his power and his virtue." In his lofty sentences the old heroes seemed to pass again in review before us, and the daily life of that heroic band, when Congress sat inactive and careless of its needs until the camp rose in mutiny, happily checked, however, by the great commander in a single sentence. It will be remembered that Washington began to read his manuscript without glasses, but was compelled to stop, and, as he adjusted them to his eyes, he said, " You see, gentlemen, that I have not only grown gray, but blind, in your service." It is needless to say that the " anonymously called " meeting was not held. He quelled the halt-paid mutineers, And bound them closer to the cause ; His presence turned their wrath to tears. Their muttered threats to loud applause. The great Republic had its birth That hour beneath the army's wing, Whose leader taught by native worth The man is grander than the king. Near at hand, and also plainly seen from the river, is the new Tower of Victory, fifty-three feet high, costing We hear the anthem once again, — "No king but God!" — to guide our way, Like that of old— "Good-will to men" — Unto the shrine where freedom lay. Wallace Bruce. grijg $67,000. It contains a life-size statue of Washington, in the act of sheathing his sword, with bronze figures 1^UD0On representing the rifle, the artillery, the line oflBcer and lUtVlor dragoon service of our country, with a bronze tablet on the east wall bearing the inscription : " This monument was erected under the authority of the Congress of the United States, and of the State of New York, in com- memoration of the disbandment, under proclamation of the Continental Congress, of October 18, 1783, of the armies, by whose patriotic and military virtue, our national independence and sovereignty were established." The Belvidere, reached by a spiral staircase, is capable of holding one hundred persons, and the view therefrom takes in a wide extent of panoramic beauty. Newburgh has not only reason to be proud of her historical land- marks and her beautiful situation, but also of her com- mercial prosperity. In olden times, it was a great centre for all the western and southwestern district, farmers and lumbermen' coming from long distances in the in- terior. Soon after the Revolution she was made a village, when there were only two others in the State. Before the days of the Erie canal, this was the shortest route to Lake Erie, and was made by stage via Ithaca. With increasing facilities of railway communication, she has also easily held her own against all commercial rivals. The West Shore Railroad, the Erie Railway, the New York Central and the New York and New England across the river, and several Hudson river steamers, make her peculiarly central. The city is favored with beautiful driveways, amid charming country seats. The New Paltz road passes the site where General Wayne had his head- quarters, also, the " Balm of Gilead tree," which gave the name of Balmville to the suburban locality. Another road affords a glimpse of the " Vale of Avoca," named after the well-knovim glen in Ireland, of which Tom Moore so sweetly sung. Here, some say, a treacherous attempt was made on the life of Washington, but it is not gen- '^'■■^ Washington! Brave without temerity; laborious with- out ambition; generous without prodigality; noble with- out pride; virtuous without severity. Marquis de Chastelleax. c n t D Q 2 « < D a a < X en § Z erally credited by critical historians. As the steamer leaves the dock, and we look back upon the factories and commercial houses along the water front, crowned by noble streets of residence, with adjoining plateau, sweeping back in a vast semi-circle as a beautiful framework to the wide bay, we do not wonder that Hendrick Hudson established a prophetic record by writing " a very pleasant place to build a town." Fishkill-on-the- Hudson. — Directly opposite Newburgh, one mile north of Denning's Point (formerly the eastern dock of the Newburgh ferry), rises on a pleasant slope, the newer Fishkill of this region. A little more than a mile from the landing, is the manufacturing village of Matteawan, connected by an electric railroad. Old Fish- kill, or Fishkill Village, is about four miles inland, charm- ingly located, under the slope of the Fishkill range. This was once the largest village in Dutchess county, and was chosen for its secure position above the Highlands, as the place to which " should be removed the treasury and archives of the State, also, as the spot for holding the subsequent sessions of the Provincial Conventions," after they were driven from New York. A historical sketch of the town, by T. Van Wyck Brinkerhoff, presents many things of interest. " Its history, anterior to 1682, belongs to the red men of the valley, and, more than any other spot, this was the home of their priests. Here they per- formed their incantations and administered at their altars." According to Broadhead, " It would seem that the neighboring Indians esteemed the peltries from Fish- kill as charmed by the incantations of the aboriginal enchanters who lived along its banks, and the beautiful scenery in which those ancient priests of the Highlands dwelt, is thus invested with new poetic associations." Dunlap speaks of them as "occupying the Highlands, called by them Kittatenny Mountains. Their principal settle- ment, designated Wiccapee, was situated in the vicinity of Anthony's Nose. Here too, lived the Wappingers, a Cbe ^TiD0on Eitier For here ramid these hills he^onee kept court — He who his country's eagle taught to soar... And fired those stars which shine o'er every shore. Charles Fenito Hoffman. US. CLOv war-like and brave tribe, extending themselves along the II)UDS01t Matteawan, along the Wappingers Kill and tributaries, ^ along the Hudson, and to the northward, across the river iRltlCt into Ulster County. These and other tribes to the south, west and north, were parts of and tributaries to the great Iroquois confederation — the marvel for all time to come of a system of government so wise and politic, and for men so eloquent and daring. The Wappingers took part in the Dutch and Indian wars of 1643 and 1663, led on by- their war chiefs, Wapperonk and Aepjen. A few Indian names are still remaining, and a few traces of their history still left standing. The name Matteawan is Indian, signifying ' Good Beaver Grounds,' and the name Wappinger still speaks of those who once owned the soil along the Hudson. Their name for the stream was Mawanassigh, or Mawenawasigh. Wiccapee and Shenon- doah are also Indian names of places in Fishkill Hook, and East Fishkill, and Apoquague, still surviving as the name of a country postoflfice, was the Indian style of what is now called Silver Lake, signifying ' round pond.' In Fishkill Hook until quite recently, there were traces of their burial grounds, and many apple and pear trees are still left standing, set there by the hands of the red man before the country had been occupied by Europeans." To return to Brinkerhoff, " The first purchase of land in the county of Dutchess, was made in the town of Fishkill. On the 8th day of February, 1682, a license was given by Thomas Dongan, Commander-in-chief of the Province of New York, to Francis Rombout and Gulian Ver Planck, to purchase a tract of land from the Indians. Under this license, they bought, on the 8th day of August, 1683, of the Wappinger Indians, all their right, title and interest to a certain large tract of land, afterward known as the Rombout precinct. Gulian Ver Planck died before the English patent was issued by Governor Dongan; Stephanus Van Cortland was then joined in it with Rombout, and Jacobus Kipp substituted as the repre- It was a dainty day, and it grew more dainty towards 114 its close as tlie lights and shadows stretched athwart our Highland landscape. Susan Warner, sentative of the children of Gulian Ver Planck. On the 17th day of October, 1685, letters patent, under the broad seal of the Province of New York, were granted by King James the Second, and the parties to whom these letters patent were granted, became from that time the undis- puted proprietors of the soil. There were 76,000 acres of these lands lying in Fishkill, and other towns taken from the patent, and 9,000 acres lying in the limits of the town of Poughkeepsie. Besides paying the natives, as a further consideration for the privilege of their license, they were to pay the commander-in-chief, Thomas Dongan, six bushels of good and merchantable winter wheat every year." In the Book of Patents, at Albany, vol. 5, page 72, will be found the deed, of special interest to the historian and antiquarian. "After the evacuation of New York, in the fall of 1776, and the immediate loss of the seaboard, with Long Island and part of New Jersey, Fishkill was at once crowded with refugees, as they were then called, who sought, by banishing themselves from their homes on Long Island and New York, to escape imprisonment and find safety here. The interior army route to Boston passed through this place. Army stores, workshops, ammunition, etc., were established and deposited here." The Marquis De Chas- tellux, in his travels in North America, says : " This town, in which there are not more than fifty houses in the space of two miles, has been long the principal depot of the American army. It is there they have placed their magazines, their hospitals, their workshops, etc., but all of these form a town in themselves, composed of handsome large barracks, built in the woods at the foot of the moun- tains: for the American army, like the Romans in many respects, have hardly any other winter quarters than wooden towns, or barricaded camps, which may be com- pared to the ' hiemalia ' of the Romans." These barracks were situated on the level plateau between the residence of Mr. Cotheal and the mountains. Portions of these Unto him and them all owing Peace ae stable as our hills, Plenty like yon river flowing To the sea from thousand rills. Mary E. JHone/1. Cfie Eftier 115 ^i)0 grounds were no doubt then covered with timber. Guard- JV\ ^»e' ™^ ^^^ approach from the south, stockades and fortifica- t|JU09un tions were erected on commanding positions, and regularly IRlllCt manned by detachments from the camp. " Upon one of these hills, rising out of this mountain pass-way, very distinct lines of earthworks are yet ap- parent. Near the residence of Mr. Sidney E. Van Wyck, by the large black-walnut trees, and east of the road near the base of the mountain, was the soldiers' burial ground. Many a poor patriot soldier's bones lie moulder- ing there; and if we did but know how many, we would be startled at the number, for this almost unknown and unnoticed burial ground holds not a few, but hundreds of those who gave their lives for the cause of American independence. Some fifteen years ago, an old lady who had lived near the village until after she had grown to womanhood, told the writer that after the battle of White Plains she went with her father through the streets of Fishkill, and in places between the Dutch and Episcopal churches, the dead were piled up like cord-wood. Those who died from wounds in battle or from sickness in hos- pital were buried there. Many of these were State militiamen, and it seems no more than just that the State should make an appropriation to erect a suitable monu- ment over this spot. Rather than thus remain for another century, if a rough granite boulder were rolled down from the mountain side and inscribed : ' To the unknown and unnumbered dead of the American Revolution,' that rough unhewn stone would tell to the stranger and the passer- by, more to the praise and fame of our native town than any of us shall be able to add to it by works of our own ; for it is doubtful whether any spot in the State has as many of the buried dead of the Revolution as this quiet burial yard in our old town!" Here also on June 2, 1883, was observed "The Fishkill Centennial," and few of our centennials have been celebrated amid objects of greater revolutionary interest. Near at hand, to quote 116 No prouder sentinel of glory than the old Beacon Mountain whose watch-fire guar4^,d the valiey ana spoke its rallying message to the Catskills and Berkshires and the very foothills or the Green Mountains. Wallace Brace. from the official report of the proceedings, is " Denning's Point where Washington frequently, while wfiiting, tied his horses under those magnificent ' Washington oaks,' as he passed backward and forward from New Windsor and Newburgh to Fishkill. Near by is the Verplanck House, Baron Steuben's old headquarters. On Spy Hill and Con- tinental Hill troops were quartered. At Matteawan Sackett lived, and there is the Teller House built by Madame Brett, where officers frequently resorted, and there Yates dwelt when he presided over the legislative body while it held its sessions in Fishkill, that had much to do with forming our first State Constitution. Baron Steuben was for a while in the old Scofield House at Glenham. In Fishkill are those renowned old churches where legislative sittings were held, which were also used as hospitals for the sick, and one of which is otherwise known as being the place where Enoch Crosby, the spy, was imprisoned, and from which he escaped. Near at hand the Wharton House (Van Wyck House), forever associated with him, and made famous by Cooper's ' Spy.' In the Brinckerhoflf House above, Lafayette was danger- ously ill with a fever, and there, at Swartwoutville, Wash- ington was often a visitor. Whenever Washington was at Fishkill he made Colonel Brinckerhoff's his head- quarters. He occupied the bedroom back -of the parlor, which remains the same ' excepting a door that opens into the hall, which has been cut through.' It is an old- fashioned house built of stone, with the date 1738 on one of its gables." With the story of Fishkill we close the largest page relating to our revolutionary heroes, and leave behind us the Old Beacon Mountains which forever sentinel and proclaim their glory. Low Point, or Carthage, is a small village on the east bank, about four miles north of Fishkill. It was called by the early inhabitants Low Point, as New Hamburgh, two miles north, was called High Point. Opposite Carthage is Roseton, once known as Middlehope, and above this we Clje Kitiet The sun-touched mountains in some places were of s bright orange, and the- shadows between them deep neutral tint or blue. And the river apparently had stopped running to reflect. Susan Warner. 117 Cfje !^uD0on Eitier see the residence of Bancroft Davis and the Armstrong Mansion. , We now behold on the west bank a large flat rocK, covered with cedars, recently marked by a light- house, the — • Duyvel's Dans Kammer. — Here Hendrick Hudson, in his voyage up the river, witnessed an Indian pow-wow — the first recorded fireworks in a country which has since delighted in rockets and pyrotechnic displays. Here, too, in later years, tradition relates the sad fate of a wedding party. It seems that a Mr. Hans Hansen and a Miss Kathrina Van Voorman, with a few friends, were return- ing from Albany, and disregarding the old Indian prophecy, were all slain: — " For none that visit the Indian's den Ketum again to the haunts of men. The Unite is their doom ! O sad is their lot ! Beware, beware of the blood-stained spot ! " Some years ago this spot was also searched for the buried treasures of Captain Kidd, and we know of one river pilot who still dreams semi-yearly of there finding countless chests of gold. Two miles above, on the east side, we pass New Ham- burgh, at the mouth of Wappingers Creek. The name Wappinger had its origin from Wabun, east, and Acki, land. This tribe, a sub-tribe of the Mahicans, held the east bank of the river, from Manhattan to Roeliflfe Jan- sen's Creek, which empties into the Hudson near Living- ston, a few miles south of Catskill Station on the Hvdson River Railroad. Passing Hampton Point we see Marl- borough, the head-centre of a large fruit industry, delightfully located in the sheltered pass of the Maune- kill. On the east bank will be noticed several fine resi- dences: "Uplands," "High Cliflf," "Cedars," and " Netherwood." Milton is now at hand on the west bank, with its cosy landing and West Shore Railroad station. This pleasant village was one of the loved spots of J. G. 118 The tulip tree majestic stirs Far down the water's marge beside, And now awake the nearer firs, And toss their ample branches wide. Henry T. Tuckerman. Holland, and the home of Mary Hallock Foote, until a modern " Hiawatha " took our Hudson " Minnehaha " to far away western mountains. Springbrook, opposite Milton, a place of historic in- terest, near the river bank, was bought by Theophilus Anthony before the Revolution. Some of the links of the famous chain in the Highlands were forged here in 1777. When the British ships ascended the river the family fled to the woods, all but an old colored servant woman who wisely furnished the soldiers a good dinner and got thereby their good will to save the house. The old Flour Mill, however, was burned which stood on the same site as the present Springbrook Mill. Theo- philus Anthony's only daughter married Thomas Gill after the Revolution, and from that time the property has been in the Gill family. Few places in the Hudson Valley have such ancient and continuous family history. Locust Grove, with square central tower and open out- look, residence of the late Prof. S. F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph, is seen on the west bank; also the " Look- out," once known as Mine Hill, now a part of Pough- keepsie cemetery, with charming driveway to the wooded point where the visitor can see from his carriage one of the finest views of the Hudson. The completion of this drive is largely due to the enterprise of the late Mr. George Corlies, who did much to make Poughkeepsie beautiful. The view from this " Lookout " takes in the river for ten miles to the south, and reaches on the north to the Catskills. In a ramble with Mr. Corlies over Look- out Point, he told the writer that it was originally the purpose of Matthew Vassar to erect a monument on PoUopel's Island to Hendrick Hudson. Mr. Corlies sug- gested this point as the most commanding site. Mr. Vassar visited it, and concluded to place the monument here. He published an article in the Poughkeepsie papers to this eifect, and, meeting Mr. Corlies one week after- wards, said, " Not one person in the city of Poughkeepsie And from their leaguering legions thicic and vast The galling hail-shot in ii«rce volley falls. While quick, from cloud to cloud, darts o'er the levin The flash that flres the batteries of heaven I Knickerbocker Magazine. 119 ^ffZ has referred to my monument. I have decided to build IKtthtf * college for women, where they can learn what is useful, t^UUSUn practical and sensible." It is interesting to note the TO jvjgj; fountain-idea of the first woman's college in the world, as it took form and shape in the mind of its founder. We now see Blue Point, on the west bank; and, in every direction, enjoy the finest views. The scenery seems to stand-in character, between the sublimity of the High- lands and the tranquil, dreamy repose of the Tappan Zee. It is said that under the shadow of these hills was the favorite anchorage of — MORNING VIEW AT BLUE POINT. The Storm Ship, one of our oldest and most reliable legends. The story runs somewhat as follows: Years ago, when New York was a village — a mere cluster of houses on the point now known as the Battery — when the Bowery was the farm of Peter Stuyvesant, and the Old Dutch Church on Nassau Street (which also long since disappeared), was considered the country — ^when communication with the old world was semi-yearly instead of semi-weekly or daily — say two hundred years ago — the whole town one evening was put into great commo- tion by the fact that a ship was coming up the bay. 1 an See you beneath yon sl;y so dark Fast gliding along a gloomy barfc: — By skeletofi shapes her sails are furled, Ahd theliand that steers is not cf this world. Legend of Iht Storm Ship. M^^t^mmmm |A|iM '^Wii^-J/J m^k^MMM^ "Ull (IB" CTBBPbfwfflewMWK)"*! sometWIIg'WIW'glMBs Before the stiff Kreeze, and gracefully- rides On the inflowing tide majestic iiiid free A huge and mysterious birtf oJ the' seS. Irving Brace. '"TTT- Ten years later, the State convention also met here for ratification of the Federal Constitution. The town has Hudson * beautiful location, and is justly regarded the finest TiJtVior '^sidenee city on the river. It is not only midway between lAlUCt New York and Albany, but also midway between the Highlands and the Catskills, commanding a view of the mountain portals on the south and the mountain over- look on the north — ^the Gibraltar of revolutionary fame and' the dreamland of Rip Van Winkle. The well known poet and litterateur, Joel Benton, who divides his residence between New York and Pough- keepsie, in a recent article, " The Midway City of the Hudson," written for the Poughkeepsie Sunday Courier, says: "Poughkeepsie as a township was incorporated in 1788. The village bearing the name was formed in 1799 (incor- porated as a city in 1854), and soon became the center of a large trade running in long lines east and west from the river. Dutchess County had at this time but a sparse population. There was a post-road from New York to Albany; but the building of the Dutchess Turnpike from Poughkeepsie to Sharon, Conn., connecting with one from that place to Litchfield, which took place in 1808, was a capital event in its history. This made a considerable strip of western Connecticut tributary to Poughkeepsie's trade. " Over the turnpike went four-horse Concord stages, with berailed top and slanting boot in the rear for- trunks and other baggage. Each one had the tin horn of the driver; and it was difficult to tell upon which the driver most prided himself — ^the power to fill that thrilling instru- ment, or his deft handling of the ponderous whip and |||i!ijtiplied reins. Travelers to Hartford and Boston went ' 'met this route ; and an east and west through and way mail was a part of the burden. A sort of overland ej^ress and freight line, styled the Market Wagon, ran in and -out of the town from several directions. One 122 The azure heaven is filled with smiles, The water lisping at my feet From weary thought my heart beguiles. Henry Abbey, or more of these conveyances started from as far east gr^i^^ as the Housatonic River, and they frequently crowded ^9^ passengers in amongst their motley wares. i^UDSOft " Speaking of the stage-driver's horn recalls the fact that when the steamboat arrived — which was so solitary jRlUCt an institution that for some time it was distinctly called ' The Steamboat ' — the tin horn did duty also for it. When it was seen in the distance, either Albanyward or in the New York direction, a boy went through the village blowing a horn to arouse those who wished to embark on it. It is said the expectant passengers had ample time, after the horn was sounded, to make their toilets, run down to the river (or walk down) and take passage on it. "In colonial days few were the people here; but they were a bright and stirring handful. It seems as if every man counted as ten. The De's and the Vans, the Living- stons, the Schuylers, the Montgomerys and ever so many more of the Hudson River Valley settlers are still making their impress upon the country. I suppose it need not now be counted strange that the strong mixture of Dutch and English settlers, with a few Huguenots, which finally made Dutchess county, were not a little divided between Tory and Whig inclinations. Around Poughkeepsie, and in its allied towns stretching between the Hudson River and the Connecticut line, there was much strife. Gov. George Clinton in his day ruled in the midst of much tumult and turbulence; but he held the reins with vigor, in spite of kidnappers or critics. When the British burned Kingston he prorogued the legislature to Poughkeepsie, which still served as a ' safe harbor.' As the resolution progressed the Tory faction was weakened, either by sup- pression or surrender. " It was in the Poughkeepsie Court House that, by one vote, after a Homeric battle, the colony of New York consented to become a part of the American republic, which consent was practically necessary to its existence. 123 And lo! the Catskills print the distant sky. And o'er their airy tops the faint clouds driven. So softly blending, that the cheated eye Forgets or which is earth or which is heaven. Theodore S. Fay. \Llft How large a part two small incidents played here towards ittttfierin ^^^ I'esult of nationality. That single vote was one, and ^/UUSvU the news by express from Richmond, announcing Vir- KitJBt ginia's previous ratification — and added stimulus to the vote — ^was the other. Poughkeepsie honored in May, 1824, the arrival of Lafayette, and dined him, besides exchang- ing s|)eeches with him, both at the Porbus House, on Market Street, very nearly where the Nelson House now stands, and at the Poughkeepsie Hotel. It was one of Poughkeepsie's great days when he came. Daniel Webster has spoken in her court house; and Henry Clay, in 1844, when a presidential candidate, stopped for a reception. And it is said that, by a mere accident, she just missed contributing a name to the list of presidents of the United States. The omitted candidate was Nathaniel P. Tal- madge. He could have had the vice-presidential candi- dacy, the story goes, in 1840, but would not take it. If he had accepted it, he would have gone into history not merely as United States senator from New York and afterwards Governor of Wisconsin territory, but as presi- dent in John Tyler's place. " In 1844, the New York State Fair was held here some- where east of what is now Hooker Avenue. It was an occasion thought important enough then to be pictured and reported in the London Illustrated News. Two years after the telegraph wires were put up in this city, before they had yet reached the city of New York. Considering the fact that Prof. S. F. B. Morse, the telegraph inventor, had his residence here, this incident was not wholly inappropriate. " The advent in 1849 of the Hudson River Railroad, which was an enterprise in its day of startling courage and magnitude, constituted a special epoch in the history of Poughkeepsie and the Hudson River towns. Men of middle age here well remember the hostility and ridicule the project occasioned when it was first broached. Some said no railroad ever could be built on the river's edge; 124 Mountains on mountains in the distance rise, Like clouds along the far horizon's verge; Their misty summits mingling with the skies. Till earth and heaven seem blended into one. Bayard Taylor. and, if you should build one, the enormous expense in- curred would make it forever unprofitable. It seemed then the height of Quixotism to lay an expensive track where the river offered a free way to all. Property hold- ers, whose property was to be greatly benefited, fought the railroad company with unusual spirit and persistence. But the railroad came, nevertheless, and needs no advo- cate or apologist to-day. There is no one now living here who would ask its removal, any more than he would ask the removal of the Hudson River itself." Poughkeepsie has been known for more than half a century as the City of Schools. The Parthenon-like struc- ture which crowns College Hill was prophetic of a still grander and more widely known institution, the first in the world devoted to higher culture for women, — Vassar College. — This institution, founded by Matthew Vassar, and situated two miles east of the city, maintains its prestige not only as the first woman's college in point of time, but also first in excellence and influence. The grounds are beautiful and graced by noble buildings which have been erected year by year to meet the continued demands of its patrons. The college is not seen from the river but is of easy access by trolley from the steam- boat landing. Eastman College is also one of the fixed and solid institutions of Poughkeepsie, located in the very heart of the city. It has accomplished good work in preparing young men for business, and has made Poughkeepsie a familiar word in every household throughout the land. It was fortunate for the city that the energetic founder of this college selected the central point of the Hudson as the place of all others most suited for his enterprise, and equally fortunate for the thousand of young men who yearly graduate from this institution, as the city is charmingly located and set like a picture amid pic- turesque scenery. Among many successful public institutions of Pough- ^uD0on Kitiet I went three times up the Hudson; and if I lived in New York should be tempted to ascend it three times i week during the summer. Harriet Martineau. 125 Kiticr keepsie are the Vassar Hospital, the Vassar Old Men's Home, the Old Ladies' Home, the State Hospital and the Vassar Institute of Arts and Sciences. The opera house is one of the pleasantest in the country and received a high comment, still remembered, from Joseph Jefferson, for its perfect acoustic quality. The armory, the Adriance Memorial Library to the memory of Mr. and Mrs. John P. Adriance, and the historic Clin- ton House on Main Street purchased in 1898 by the Daughters of the Revolution, also claim the attention of the visitor. Several factories are here located, the best known being that of Adriance, Piatt & Co., whose Buckeye mowers and reapers have been awarded the highest honors in Germany, Holland, France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, and the United States, and are sold in every part of the civilized globe. The Phoenix Horseshoe Co., the Knitting-Goods Establishment, and various slioe, shirt and silk thread factories contribute to the material prosperity of the town. The drives about Poughkeepsie are delightful. Perhaps the best known in the United States is the Hyde Park road, six miles in extent, with many palatial homes and charming pictures of park and river scenery. This is a part of the Old Post Road and reminds one by its perfect finish of the roadways of England. Returning one can take a road to the left leading by and up to College Hill, 365 feet in height, commanding a wide and extensive prospect. The city lies below us, fully emboweijed as in a wooded park. To the east the vision extends to the mountain boundaries of Dutchess County, and to the north we have a view of the Catskills mar- shalled as we have seen them a thousand times in sunset beauty along the horizon. This property, once owned by Senator Morgan and his heirs, was happily purchased by William Smith of Poughkeepsie, and given to the city as a public park. There is great opportunity here to make this a thing of beauty and a joy forever, for there 126 My hurt is on the hills. The shades Of night are on my brow; Ye pleasant haunts and quiet glades, My soul is with you now I Robert C. Sands. are few views on the Hudson, and none from any hill of its height, that surpass it in extent and variety. The city reservoir lies to the north, about one hundred feet down the slope of College Hill. The South Drive, a part of the Old Post Road, passes the gateway of the beautiful rural cemetery. Locust Grove and many delightful homes. Another interesting drive from Poughkeepsie is to Lake Mohonk and Minnewaska, well-known resorts across tne Hudson, in the heart of the Shawangunk (pronounced Shongum) Mountains, also reached by railway or stages via New Paltz. There are also many extended drives to the interior of the county recommended to the traveler who makes Poughkeepsie for a time his central point; chief among these. Chestnut Ridge, formerly the home of the historian Benson J. Lossing, lying amid the hill country of eastern Dutchess. Its mean altitude is about 1,100 feet above tide water, a fragment of the Blue Ridge branch of the Appalachian chain of mountains, cleft by the Hudson at West Point, stretching away to the Berkshire Hills. It is also easy of access by the Harlem Railroad from New York to Dover Plains with three miles of carriage drive from that point. The outlook from the ridge is magnificent; a sweep of eighty miles from the Highlands to the Helderbergs, with the entire range of the Shawangunk and the Catskills. Mr. Lossing once said that his family of nine persons had required during sixteen years' residence on Chestnut Ridge, only ten dollars' worth of medical attendance. Previous to 1868 he had resided in Poughkeepsie, and throughout his life his form was a familiar one in her streets. The Dover Stone Church, just west of Dover Plains Village, is also well worth a visit. Here a small stream has worn out a remarkable cavern in the rocks forming a gothic arch for entrance. It lies in a wooded gorge within easy walk from the village. Many years ago the writer of this handbook paid it an afternoon visit, and Clje Thy waves are old companions, I shall see A well-remembered form in each old tree And hear a voice loag-loved in thy wild minstrelsy. Joseph Rodman Drake. lar ^h0 "the picture has remained impressed with wonderful vivid- ness. The archway opens into a solid rock, and a stream IptlUSOn of water issues from the threshold. On entering the mfhPr visitor is confronted by a great boulder, resembling an •old-fashioned New England pulpit, reaching half way to the ceiling. The walls are almost perfectly arched, and garnished here and there with green moss and white lichen. A rift in the rocks extends the whole length of "the chapel, over which trees hang their green foliage, which, ever rustling and trembling, form a trellis-work with the blue sky, while the spray rising from behind the rock-worn altar seems like the sprinkling of holy incense. After all these years I still hear the voice of those dash- ing waters and dream again, as I did that day, of the brook of Cherith where ravens fed the prophet of old. It is said by Lossing, in his booklet on the Dover Stone ■Church, that Sacassas, the mighty sachem of the Pequoids and emperor over many tribes between the Thames and -the Hudson River, was compelled after a disastrous battle which annihilated his warriors, to fly for safety, and, driven from point to. point, he at last found refuge in "this cave, where undiscovered he. subsisted for a few days on berries, until at last he made his way through the i;erritory of his enemies, the Mahicans, to the land of Hie Mohawks. 128 Tell me, where*ep. thy silver bark be steering, .Bright Dian floating bjr fair Persian lands. Tell if thou, visited, thou heavenly rover, A lovelier stream than this the wide world over. Charles Fenno Hoffman. Poughkeepsie to Kingston. Leaving the Poughkeepsie dock the steamer approaches the Poughkeepsie Bridge which, from Blue Point and miles below, has seemed to the traveler like a delicate bit of lace-worK athwart the landscape, or like an old- fashioned " valance " which used to hang from Dutch bedsteads in the Hudson River farm houses. This great cantilever structure was begun in 1873, but abandoned for several years. The work was resumed in 1886 just in time to save the charter, and was finished by the Union Bridge Company in less than three years. The bridge is 12,608 feet in length (or about two miles and a half), the track being 212 feet above the water with 165 feet clear above the tide in the centre span. The breadth of the river at this point is 3,094 feet. The bridge originally cost over three million dollars and much more has been annually spent in necessary improvements. It not only affords a delightful passenger route between Philadelphia and Boston, but also brings the coal centres of Pennsyl- vania to the very threshold of New England. Two railroads from the east centre here, and what was once considered an idle dream, although bringing personal loss to many stockholders, has been of material advantage to the city. As the steamer passes under the bridge the traveler will see on the left Highland station {West Shore Bail- road) and above this the old landing of New Paltz. A weir traveled road winds from the ferry and the station, up a narrow defile by- the side of a dashing stream, broken here and there in waterfalls, to Highland Village, New Paltz and Lake Mohonk. The Bridge' and Trolley Line from Poughkeepsie make a most delightful excursion to New Paltz, on the Wallkill, seat of one of the State normal colleges. Prominent among many pleasant residences above Poughkeepsie are: Mrs. F. J. Allen's of New York, Mrs. Hftiet My thouglits go back to ihee, oh lovely lake. Lake of the S^ Topi as thy beauties break Upon tie trayeller of 'thy ' mountain roid. While sunset gilds theee, vision never fairer glowed! Alfred B. StreeU 129 C^^0 John F. Winslow's, Mrs. Thomas Newbold's, J. Roose- 1t^ttl1(tnt1 ^^^*'^ ^""^ Archie Rogers'. The large red buildings above l^UV9 ^jjg Poughkeepsie water works are the Hudson River i^it)0t State Hospital. Passing Crum Elbow Point on the left and the Sisters of the White Cross Orphan Asylum, we see Hyde Park, 80 miles from New York, on the east bank, named some say, in honor of Lady Ann Hyde; according to others, after Sir Edward Hyde, one of the early British Governors of the colony. The first prominent place above Hyde Park, is Frederick W. Vanderbilt's, with Corinthian columns ; and above this " Placentia," once the home of James K. Paulding. Immediately opposite " Placentia," at West Park on the west bank, is the home of John Burroughs, our sweetest essayist, the nineteenth century's " White of Selborne." Judge Barnard of Poughkeepsie, once said to the author of this handbook, " The best writer America has pro- duced after Hawthorne is John Burroughs; I wish I could see him." It so happened that there had been an important " bank " suit a day or two previous in Pough- keepsie which was tried before the judge in which Mr. Burroughs had appeared as an important witness. The judge was reminded of this fact when he remarked with a few emphatic words, the absence of which seems to materially weaken the sentence: "Was that Burroughs? Well, well, I wish I had known it." Mount Hymettus, overlooking West Park, so named by " the author and naturalist," has indeed been to him a successful hunting-ground for bees and wild honey, and will be long remembered for sweeter stores of honey encombed and presented in enduring type. Washington Irving says of the early poets of Britain that " a spray could not tremble in the breeze, or a leaf rustle to the ground, that was not seen by these delicate observers and wrought up into some beautiful morality." So -John Burroughs has studie'd the Hudson in all its moods, Imow- , „,. How soothing is this eolltade ^'^U VCith nature in her wildest mood, Vfhere Hudson deep, majestic, wide, Pours to the sea his monarch tide. William Wilson. ing well that it is not to be wooed and won in a single day. How clear this is seen in his articles on " Our River " : " Rivers are as various in their forms as forest trees. The Mississippi is like an oak with enormous branches. What a branch is the Red River, the Arkansas, the Ohio, the Missouri! The Hudson is like the pine or poplar— mainly trunk. Prom New York to Albany there is only an inconsiderable limb or two, and but few gnarls and excrescences. Cut off the Rondout, the Esopus, the Cats- kill and two or. three similar tributaries on. the east side, and only some twigs remain. There are some crooked places, it is true, but, on the whole, the Hudson presents a fine, symmetrical shaft that would be hard to match in any river in the world. Among our own water-courses it stands preeminent. The Columbia — called by Major Winthrop the Achilles of rivers — is a more haughty and impetuous stream; the Mississippi is, of course, vastly larger and longer; the St. Lawrence would carry the Hudson as a trophy in his belt and hardly know the difference; yet our river is doubtless the most beautiful of them all. It pleases like a moun- tain lake. It has all the sweetness and placidity that go with such bodies of water, on the one hand, and all their bold and rugged scenery on the other. In summer, a passage up or down its course in one of the day steam- ers is as near an idyl of travel as can be had, perhaps, anywhere in the world. Then its permanent and uniform volume, its fullness and equipoise at all seasons, and its gently-flowing currents give it further the character of a lake, or of the sea itself. Of the Hudson it may be said that it is a very large river for its size, — ^that is for the quantity of water it discharges into the sea. Its water- shed is comparatively small — less, I think, than that of the Connecticut. It is a huge trough with a very slight incline, through which the current moves very slowly, and which would fill from the sea were its supplies from the l^uDdon Kitiet still on the Half-Moon glid^S'i'befbre her rise swarms of quick water (owl, and from her prow the sturgeon leaps, and falls with echoing splash. Alfred B. Street. 131 mountains cut uflf. Its fall from Albany to the bay is only about five feet. Any object upon it, drifting with the current, progresses southward no more than eight miles in twenty-four hours. The ebb-tide will carry it about twelve miles and the flood set it back from seven to nine. A drop of water at Albany, therefore, will be nearly three weeks in reaching New York, though it will get pretty well pickled some days earlier. Some rivers by their volume and impetuosity penetrate the sea, but here the sea is the aggressor, and sometimes meets the mountain water nearly half way. This fact was illustrated a couple of years ago, when the basin of the Hudson was visited by one of the most severe droughts ever known in this part of the State. In the early winter after the river was frozen over above Poughkeepsie, it was discovered that immense numbers of fish were retreat- ing up stream before the slow encroachment of salt water. There was a general exodus of the finny tribes from the whole lower part of the river; it was like the spring and fall migration of the birds, or the fleeing of the population of a district before some approaching danger: vast swarms of cat-fish, white and yellow perch and striped bass were en route for the fresh water farther north. When the people along shore made the discovery, they turned out as they do in the rural districts when the pigeons appear, and, with small gill-nets let down through holes in the ice, captured them in fabulous numbers. On the heels of the retreating perch and cat- fish came the denizens of the salt water, and codfish were taken ninety miles above New York. When the February thaw came and brought up the volume of fresh water again, the sea brine was beaten back, and the fish, what were left of them, resumed their old feeding-grounds. It is this character of the Hudson, this encroachment of the sea upon it, on account of the subsidence of the Atlantic coast, that led Professor Newberry to speak of it as a drowned river. We have heard of drowned ^ands. IJ beneath — the river with its tranquil flood, Around — the breezes of the morning, scented With odors from the wood. WUliam Allen Butter. but here is a river overflowed and submerged in the same ^{)0 manner. It is quite certain, however, that this has not M»„»|