The Hudson Part 11

Whose golden fancy wove a spell As lasting as the scene is fair And made the mountain stream and dell His own dream-life forever share.

_Henry T. Tuckerman._

=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 Sh.o.r.e Railroad_ is two and a half miles from the Hudson, with (a) 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), pa.s.ses west of the Bergen 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 Mountain above this, and nearer the river, 650 feet. They were sometimes called by Dutch captains Verditege Hook.

The sails hung idly all night long, I dreamed a dream of you and me; 'Twas sweeter than the sweetest song,-- The dream I dreamed on Tappan Zee.

_Wallace Bruce._

[Ill.u.s.tration: STONY POINT]

Perhaps it took so long to pa.s.s these illusive headlands, reaching as they do eight miles along the western bank, that it naturally seemed a _very tedious_ point to the old skippers. Midway in this Ramapo Range, "set in a dimple of the hills," is--

=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 barns, 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 discussions.

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. Pa.s.sing 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, furniture, shoes, etc., are manufactured within its walls. There was an Indian chieftancy here known as the Sintsinks. 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, Slumber to thine eternal murmurings That mingle with the utterance of their dreams.

_William Cullen Bryant._

The heights above Tappan Zee at this point are crowned by fine residences, and the village is one of the pleasantest 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 seminary 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 Central 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, signifying a large inland lake, or perhaps an island near the sh.o.r.e. The same derivation is also seen in Copake Lake, Columbia County. On an island of Mahopac the last great "convention" of the southern tribes of the Hudson was held. The lake is about 800 feet above tide, and it is pleasant to know that the bright waters of Mahopac 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 referred to in our description of Cold Spring and the Catskills.

Round the aqueducts of story As the mists of Lethe throng Croton's waves in all their glory Troop in melody along.

_George P. Morris._

Just above Croton Bay and the _New York Central Railroad_ draw-bridge will be seen the old Van Cortlandt Manor, where Frederick Phillipse and Katrina Van Cortlandt were married, as seen by the inscription on the old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow.

=Teller's Point= (sometimes known as Croton or Underhill's Point), separates Tappan Zee from Haverstraw Bay. It was called by the Indians "Senasqua." Tradition says that ancient warriors still haunt the surrounding 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 Underhill 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 ash.o.r.e 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 Rhines 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 gla.s.ses to temper the dazzling light.

Beneath these gold and azure skies The river winds through leafy glades, Save where, like battlements, arise The gray and tufted Palisades.

_Henry T. Tuckerman._

=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, according to United States Geological Survey, a little over four miles. The princ.i.p.al industry of Haverstraw is brick-making, and its brick yards reaching north to Gra.s.sy 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 of old-time river captains, which Captain 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 Torn= is the name of the northern point of the Ramapo on the west bank, south of Haverstraw. According to the Coast Survey, it is 820 feet above tide-water, and the view from the summit is grand and extensive. 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 Torn, a mountain in Derbyshire, either from its appearance, or by some patriotic settler from the central water-shed of England. Others say it is the Devonshire word Tor changed to Torn, evidently derived from the same source.

Emerging from these confused piles, the river as if rejoicing at its release from its struggle, expanded into a wide bay, which was ornamented by a few fertile and low points that jutted humbly into its broad basin.

_James Fenimore Cooper._

=West Sh.o.r.e Railroad.=--The tourist will see at this point, on the left bank of the river, the tunnel whereby the "West Sh.o.r.e" 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 above the silver bay gives to the panoramic landscape a wondrous charm. About a mile from the river, southwest of Gra.s.sy Point, on the farther side of the winding Minnissickuongo Creek, which finally after long meandering makes up its mind to glide into Stony Point Bay, will be 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 connection 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 pa.s.s Gra.s.sy 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 pa.s.s 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 "Virginians," 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, Washington, whose headquarters were at New Windsor, meditated 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 to distinguish him from the foe. No guns were to be loaded under penalty of death. General Wayne, at the head of the column, forded the marsh covered at the time 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 stern 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 modern 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 hundred of the enemy were captured and about sixty escaped. "Money rewards and medals were given to Wayne and the leaders in the a.s.sault. The ordinance and stores captured 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 Wayne, 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 Steuben drilled the soldiers of the American army. Back from Green Cove above Verplanck's Point is "Knickerbocker Lake."

The star spangled banner, the flag of the brave, And the cross of old England in amity wave, But if ever the nations do battle again G.o.d send us such soldiers as Anthony Wayne.

_Minna Irving._

The echoes that so boldly rung When cannon flashed from steep to steep, And freedom's airy challenge flung, In each romantic valley sleep.