USA > New York > Westchester County > Rye > Chronicle of a border town : history of Rye, Westchester county, New York, 1660-1870, including Harrison and the White Plains till 1788 > Part 5
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Mr. Budd built his mill on the west side of Blind Brook Creek, at a point where it would be convenient for the inhabitants of Pen- ingo Neck, whilst yet it stood on his own tract of land, known as Apawamis, or Budd's Neck. The spot is still pointed out. It is on the south side of the bridge over which the cross-road from Milton to the post-road passes. Part of the dam, indeed, still remains, and forms the road-bed ; and within the recollection of persons now living, traces of the mill itself were to be seen.1 This was probably the first building erected on the mainland. Hither the ' men of Hastings' came from their island village, while all around was still a wilderness. And hither their descendants for several generations continued to resort.
Thus by the year 1665 there had sprung up two infant settle-
1 Mr. James Purdy, an old inhabitant of Milton, informs me that a veritable mill- stone of this ancient mill was taken many years ago by Philemon Halsted, and placed as a door-step at an entrance of his new house then building. It is still to be seen there.
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BUILDING THE VILLAGE.
'ments within 'the bounds of Hastings :' the one on the island, the other on the shore of Peningo Neck, stretching across to Blind Brook. The latter, we find, had begun to be known by the name of RYE. It is supposed that this name was given in honor of two prominent members of the colony, - Thomas and Hachaliah Browne. They were the sons of Mr. Thomas Browne, a gentle- man of good family, from Rye in Sussex County, England, who removed to this country in 1632, and settled at Cambridge, Massa- · chusetts. It is curious that the names of two neighboring seaports on the English coast, Rye and Hastings, should have been thus bestowed on this place. But the more famous of the two desig- nations was to give way to the humbler. On the 11th of May, 1665, the General Court of Connecticut passed an act, merging these settlements under the name which the town has borne ever since. The act is as follows : -
' It is ordered that the Villages of Hastings and Rye shall be for the future conioyned and make one Plantation ; and that it shall be called by the appellation of Rye.'1
At the following session of the General Conrt, inquiry was made about the state and prospects of the new town. Perhaps the magistrates had their doubts as to the expedieney of admitting a settlement so remote and so little known.
' Mr. Lawes and Lt. Richard Olmsted are desired and appointed to view the lands apperteineing to Hastings and Rye, to see what there is that may be sutable for a plantation and to make returne to the Court the next session.'
No report of this committee appears on record. But it was prob- ably favorable, since Rye was now enrolled on the list of persons and estates as a town paying its proportion of the public charge.
Within the next five or six years, the village on Manussing Island ceased to be. Most of the planters who had remained there till now, came over and united with their new associates in building upon the present site of the village. They appear to have acted harmoniously in this, with but a single exception : Philip Galpin, one of the early settlers of Hastings, did not choose to remove from the island ; and preferring to remain, he felt sorely aggrieved that his neighbors should leave him behind. So he petitioned the General Court at Hartford, that they might be restrained from
1 Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1665-1678. Edited by J. Hammond Trumbull : p. 15.
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REMOVING TO THE MAIN.
taking this step. The magistrates took action upon the case on the 11th of May, 1671 : -
' This Court haneing heard and considered the petition of Philip Gal- ping, as allso what return Lnt. Richard Olmstead and Mr. Holly haue made to the Court concerning the affayres of Rye, they cannot see that the sayd Galping is oppressed by their remoue as is alledged ; but doc aduise the sayd Galping to comply wth his neighboures and remone with them. Yet if he remaynes his dwelling where he is, he is aduised to take care of damnifying his neighboures.' 1
A few planters, it appears, remained, notwithstanding the gen- eral migration. In 1668, John Coe sold to Stephen Sherwood his ' house and housing and home-lot, upon the north end of Manus- ing Island.' 2 The Coes, Sherwoods, and Vowles were the princi- pal owners in 1707, when Jonathan Vowles conveyed his share of lands in that locality to his son-in-law, Roger Park. As late as the year 1720, the island had a population sufficiently large to claim the right to erect a pound. For at the Court of Sessions in Westchester, that year, it was 'ordered, that ye freeholders and in- habitants of Manussen Island within ye township of Rye may erect a Pound upon said Island, and receive such dues and Perquisites as are due to other pounds in ye County, and yt Joseph Sherwood be pounder for this year, and to choose another yearly by ye free- holders of ye said Island as they shall see best.' 3 About the mid- dle of the last century, the families of Fowler, Carpenter, Dusen- berry, and Haviland appear as the owners.
The village of Rye was now rising upon its present site amid the forest on Peningo Neck ; and here we may describe it as it appeared a little less than two hundred years ago. The new town plot lay at the upper end of the Neck, along the eastern bank of Blind Brook. Our Milton Road -once perhaps an Indian path lead- ing down from the old Westchester Path to the lower part of the Neek - was the village street, on either side of which the home- lots of the settlers were laid out. The Field Fence was the north- ern boundary of the village. This enclosure began where Grace Church now begins, and stretched across the Neck from Blind Brook to the mill-pond, near the present residence of James H. Titus, Esq. Somewhere, probably, in the neighborhood of the old
1 Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, p. 149. It is not stated where they removed from ; but there can be no doubt that the reference is to the removal from Manussing Island. Galpin afterwards lived in Rye ' near the Field Gate.' In 1682 he bought from John Budd a tract of land on ' the neck called Opquamis.'
2 Rye Records.
3 Records of Courts of Sessions, etc., in Liber B., Records Westchester County.
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BUILDING THE VILLAGE.
district school-house, north of the Episcopal Church, was the Field Gate, of which we find frequent mention.
The home-lots, which commenced here, were generally of two or three acres each. Some are represented as to size and position by the grounds of Messrs. Bell, Ennis, Budd, and others, near the Episcopal Church. They extended down the street as far as the road leading to the Beach. The lots on the west side ran across to Blind Brook; those on the east side reached back to the ' town field.'
The Town Field was the tract of land in the rear of the home- lots on the east side of the Milton Road. It comprised the whole space between Grace Church Street on the north and Milton 1 on the south. This area is now covered by the lands of Messrs. Greacen, Anderson, Downing, and others. Here was the com- mon pasture ground of the early inhabitants, where the cattle, bearing their owners' respective marks, were permitted to run at large during part of the year. Some of the settlers, however, had their meadow lots within this tract ; and in after years the whole of the Town Field was by degrees apportioned among the pro- prietors, till nothing remained of the ' commons.'
A part of the town plot was known in early times as 'The Plains.' This name belonged to the level grounds bordering on Blind Brook, at the upper end of the village, and extending from the present stone bridge to the neighborhood of the railway sta- tion. It is not unlikely that this tract may have been originally cleared and improved by the Indians, thus offering a favorable spot for the site of the new plantation. Such clearings, we know, were considered by the settlers of other towns as very desirable for the purpose ; and they were wont to designate them by the same appellation.2 The home-lots on the Plains appear to have been held as the choicest part of the village grounds. They fronted on the street, or Milton Road, and ran back to the brook ; the post-road, which now passes through the village, not having been opened as yet.
1 In 1714 ' there were brought before the Court' of Sessions at Westchester, certain 'articles of agreement eoneluded by the Proprietors of the Neek of land in the town- ship of Rye, which is separated from the town field by the fenee that reacheth fror' Kniffin's Cove to the Mill Creek.' - ( County Records, White Plains, vol. D., p. 40.) Kniffin's Cove is the ancient name of an inlet on the eastern side of the Neck, in the rear of Rev. W. H. Bidwell's residence.
2 This was the ease at Norwich and Guilford, and elsewhere. ' What is now calld the Great plain, ' writes the old historian of Guilford already quoted, ' this with Some of the Points of Land adjoyning the Sea were all Cleard by the Native Indians, were Rich & fertile, and by the Skill and Industry of the Inhabitants afforded Quickly a Comfortable Sustinance for themselves and families.' ( Hist. Magazine, v. 231.)
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HOME-LOTS.
Along this street, which was nothing more than a pathway, barely practicable for the ox-team, the only vehicle in use, a dwelling might be seen, in the year 1670, rising here and there among the trees that yet remained of the primeval forest. It stood with gable end close upon the road, and huge chimney pro- jecting at the rear, - a long, narrow building, entered from the side. These houses, however, were not mere temporary struc- tures, as those on Manussing Island had doubtless been, but solid buildings of wood or stone, some of which have lasted till our day. The timber used was hewn by dint of hard labor from the neighboring forest ; the boards and shingles brought from the older settlements, as there was yet no saw-mill here. For the houses built of stone, abundant material was at hand in the coarse granite of the region, and in the great heaps of oyster and clam shells which the Indians had left in many places, and which the early settlers found very convenient for making lime.1 Each dwelling generally contained two rooms on the ground floor, a kitchen and a ' best roon,' with sleeping apartments in the loft.
By the help of the town records, and a few remaining vestiges of olden time, we may form some idea of the village as it was consti- tuted nearly two centuries ago. A little way back from the lower end of the street, at the head of the creek, stood the mill, of which we have already spoken. Mr. John Budd was now dead, but his son-in-law, Lieutenant Joseph Horton, was the proprietor, and a very important person he was. His house stood near by, and in the same vieinity were the houses of George Lane, Jacob Pearce, Robert Bloomer, and others. Higher up the street, on the left hand, along the bank of the brook or creek, lived William Odell, John Ogden, Jonathan Vowles, John Budd, junior, and George Kniffin. Traces of some of these houses have been seen by per- sons still living. On the corner of the road leading to the Beach was the house of Timothy Knap. Beyond, on a knoll directly south of the old Clark mansion, stood the homestead of the Purdy family. The late residence of Hachalialı Brown is believed to occupy the spot where his ancestor of the same name settled when he removed from the 'old town.' Opposite the Episcopal
1 ' All the early accounts,' says the editor of Novum Belgium, ' speak of the immense accumulation of oyster and clam shells, and their use for lime.' (Page 46.) Mr. John F. Watson, the author of Historic Tales of Olden Time (New York, 1832), mentions the fact, upon the testimony of an old resident of the city then living, that ' they used to burn lime from oyster shells in the Park commons.' (Page 99.)
3
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BUILDING THE VILLAGE.
Church, on the site of the old house now owned by Mr. Daniel Budd, was the dwelling of John Boyd. The church itself stands on the southeast corner of ' Mr. Collier's lot.'
The old stone tavern, lately removed, known as Van Sick- lin's, was undoubtedly built at a very early day. There is reason to believe that it was for a time the homestead of Peter Disbrow. Mr. Isaac Denham, son of the first minister of Rye, lived here afterwards. The piece of ground upon which this house stood is perhaps the only one of the original 'town-lots,' the size and shape of which can be distinctly traced. It measured two acres and a half when bought in 1868 by the Methodist Episcopal congregation.
The ' Rectory grounds ' adjoining, cover the space occupied by two of the home-lots. Several of them were included in what has been known as the Kingsland Place, now owned principally by Jasper ,E. Corning, Esq., and the Presbyterian Church.
During the first few years, our settlers continued to cluster in this tolerably compact village, and their improvements were limited to the territory thus defined. Outside the Field Fence, all was yet a wilderness of woods and swamps, secured indeed by pur- chase from the savage, but waiting to be appropriated and cleared. It was not long, however, before some houses were built a little way beyond this boundary, - outside of the Field Gate. Where the Penfield House, as it was formerly called, -owned lately by Mr. D. H. Mead, - stands now, Peter Brown, a son of the first Hachaliah Brown, lived. On the opposite corner, the property of the late William Smith, was 'George Lane's old house-lot.' Above this, in the block bounded by the post-road and the Pur- chase Road, were the home-lots of John Banks, John Brondige, Joseph Purdy, and others. And nearly opposite the Park Insti- tute, stood the homestead of Thomas Merritt, senior, mentioned as early as 1688.
There was one house that deserves special mention, and the locality of which is well ascertained. This was the Parsonage, or minister's house. It occupied the southeast corner of the par- sonage lot, a piece of land comprising between three and four acres, on Blind Brook, south of the house owned by the late David H. Mead. Here Mr. Thomas Denham was living at the time of which we speak. There was no church as yet. The little con- gregation met in private dwellings, notably in that of Timothy Knap, to whom the town awarded forty shillings, in 1682, 'for the
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ABSORPTION OF HOME-LOTS.
liberty of his house to meet in, and for beating of the drum, for the time past.' 1 1193945
Much of the land within the village limits was of course vacant as yet. Only a small portion had been divided among the settlers, while the rest remained unimproved and awaited a future par- tition. Some of the ' home-lots' had been assigned to persons who left the settlement at an early day. These were bought up by others ; and thus began the process of absorption which in time brought these lands on Peningo Neck into the possession of a com- paratively small number of persons. The process indeed was a very rapid one. It had been taking place in the other towns of Connecticut, to the great displeasure of the magistrates, who passed a law, in 1650, to arrest the ' great abuse ' then creeping in, ' of buying and purchasing Home Lotts and laying them together, by means whereof,' they said, ' great depopulations are likely to follow.' Every person owning such a plot, not yet built upon, was ordered, within twelve months, to 'erect a howse there, fitt for an inhabitant to dwell in.' 2 This measure had probably little effect. In Rye, at least, as the country became open for settle- ment, and the population spread out into the wilderness, the minute subdivisions of the lands first occupied disappeared. A few farms comprised what had been a mosaic of petty allotments, the earlier ownership of which was almost forgotten. Thus the titles to most of the property in this region go back to the Browns, the Halsteds, the Parks, and others, who are commonly supposed to have purchased their lands directly from the Indians. The curious system of proprietorship, about which we shall speak soon, has passed completely out of mind.
Hastings and Rye, whose names were successively bestowed upon this place, are two neighboring towns on the southeast coast of England, both of great antiq- nity, and both numbered among the Cinque Ports, or five privileged seaport towns on that coast.
HASTINGS lies in a valley which forms a beautiful amphitheatre, sheltered on every side except the south, by lofty hills. Southward, this valley gradually expands to the sea. The town consists chiefly of two parallel streets running nearly north and south, and separated by a small stream called the Bourne, which empties into the sea. Hast- ings formerly had the advantage of a good harbor, formed by a wooden pier project- ing in a southeasterly direction from the shore. About the year 1558, this pier was destroyed by a violent storm, and the town, which before had a considerable trade, lost its commercial importance. It now depends chiefly on its fisheries ; on boat-build- ing, for which the people of Hastings are noted ; and on its advantages as a resort for sea-bathing, and a favorable abode for invalids. The sheltered position of the
1 Town Records, vol. A. (now lost) p. 53. Quoted by Mr. Bolton, History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the County of Westchester, p. 134, note.
2 Public Records of Connecticut, vol. i. p. 562.
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BUILDING THE VILLAGE.
town, and the many pleasant walks and rides in its vicinity, render it very attractive to visitors. In 1861, Hastings had twenty-three thousand inhabitants.
On a high rocky cliff west of the town, there are extensive remains of a very an- cient castle. Here probably stood a Roman fortress, before the days of the Danish pirates, who used to land at this place for plunder. As early as the reign of King Athelstan, A. D. 925 to 940, Hastings was a town of sufficient importance to have a mint, and was considered the chief of the Cinque Ports. These towns enjoyed peculiar privileges, on condition of providing during war a certain number of ships at their own expense. Hastings, with Rye, was required to furnish twenty-one ships, each manned by twenty-one able seamen.
The famous battle of Hastings, fought October 14, 1066, took place about seven miles northwest from this town, on the site of the present town of Battle. Here William the Conqueror, in fulfilment, it is said, of a vow made on the night previous to that conflict, built an abbey. This building, at the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century, was sold to Sir Anthony Browne, the ancestor of the Montagu family, whose descendants resided here till the beginning of the eighteenth century.
RYE is situated ten miles east from Hastings, on a rocky eminence near the mouth of the river Rother. Anciently, this hill must have been surrounded by the sea. In the course of centuries the waters receded from its base, leaving extensive flats or marshes, first on the north or land side of the town, and ultimately on all sides. This process was aided by artificial means, embankments being made from time to time for the purpose of excluding the waters, until now Rye stands at a distance of a mile and a half from the shore. At the foot of this cliff, on the sands which the receding waters had already left bare, a cluster of fishermen's huts had found room, in the time of Edward the Confessor. That king, about the middle of the eleventh century, gave Winchelsea and Rye to the abbot and monks of Feeamp, a small sea- port on the opposite coast of Normandy in France. Henry III. resumed the posses- sion of these towns in 1246. Some time before this date, Rye had been admitted to the same privileges as the Cinque Ports, besides which it was especially distinguished by the title of ' the ancient town of Rye.'
Rye was strongly fortified during the reign of Edward III., and part of the walls still remain. Of three gates by which the town was entered, but one is left. This is the north or land gate, consisting of a Gothic arch, guarded on each side by a round tower.
This town has been the scene of numerous incursions and assaults by foreign foes, as well as of some singular visitations of Providence. In 893, the Danes, with a feet of two hundred and fifty sail, landed near Rye, in one of their descents npon the coast. In 1377, it was taken by the French, who landed from five vessels, and after plundering the place, set it on fire. It was again burned by the French in the reign of Henry VI., when all the ancient records and charters of the town are said to have perished. In 1287, a tempest which overwhelmed the neighboring town of Old Winchelsea, produced a considerable change in the situation of Rye. The river Rother bad hitherto emptied into the sea at Romney, east of this point. But now, being choked up there, it opened for itself a new channel, close to the town of Rye. In the sixteenth century, its harbor, which had been gradually filling up, was restored by the violence of an extraordinary tempest, and still further improved by another. The commercial prosperity of Rye, however, has long since departed. A canal, ent through the sands for a distance of a mile and a half, permits vessels of small tonnage to come up to the quay ; but the trade of Rye is now inconsiderable. Its principal objects of interest are, St. Mary's Church, built before the year 1509, and said to be one of the largest parish churches in the kingdom ; and Ypres Castle, a strong square pile, with a round tower at each corner, built for the defence of the town, but now used as a prison. There are many old houses, some of which, built of wood, are believed to be nearly four hundred years old. A hundred years ago, it is said, no dwelling-house in Rye was of brick or stone. As late as the close of the sixteenth century, the whole country
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HASTINGS AND RYE, ENGLAND.
around for miles was a forest ; the exportation of timber was the principal business of the place ; so that in 1591 ' a man was ordered to depart the town of Rye for exeent- ing the profession of a husbandman, that place not being fit for such an artifieer.'
Like other old English towns, Rye has preserved in memory, if not in use, many an- eient usages which, to an American especially, appear very eurions. Its ' Customal' or code of usages, is long and specific. One of these, relating to the admission of persons to rights of franchise, somewhat resembles the early practice of our own town. ' When any man, a stranger, came into the port of Rye, and dwelt there for a year and a day (being of good character, and desiring the franchise), he might go to the playne common court, praying for the same, when it was awarded what he was to pay ; which being paid, he took the freeman's oath, and was duly enrolled.'
The ' train band of Rye,' was the company of militia belonging to the town. Both the name and the institution were maintained by our carly settlers.
' Rye Ferry' was aneiently the means of communication between the town and a locality known as Cadborough Cliff. We shall see that our settlers had their Rye Ferry at an early day.
The salt marshes abounding along these shores might well remind those of our early settlers who came from that locality, of their 'ancient town.' The Romney Marsh, which lies east of Rye, comprises forty-four thousand aeres. This traet is now secured against the sea by an immense embankment, and constitutes a rich sheep pasture.
Rye in 1851 had eight thousand five hundred inhabitants. With Winchelsea, it sends one member to the Ilonse of Commons. 1
Rye probably takes its name from the Latin word 'ripa'- the bank of a stream, through the French 'rye ' - the sea-shore.
A small hamlet by this name existed on the coast of Normandy, near Bayeux, in the time of William the Conqueror, who on one occasion, in his youth, sought refuge there from his insurgent barons.2
1 History and Antiquities of the Ancient Town and Port of Rye, in the County of Sussex. By William Holloway, London : 1847. One vol. Svo : pp. 616.
2 Sir Francis Palgrave, History of Normandy and England.
Land Gate, Rye, England.
CHAPTER V.
MR. JOHN BUDD'S IMPROVEMENTS.
YTHE earliest notices of Rye that have come down to us, con- tain allusions to some serions difficulty among the people.
The very act by which the town was constituted, May 11, 1665, refers to this subject. 'Mr. Gold, Mr. Lawes, and John Banks, or any two of them, are desired and appointed to take paines to goe down to settle and issue such differences as may be disturbeing to ye inhabitants of those Villages of Hastings and Rye.' 1
There is a hint, soon after, that these troubles may have arisen out of some controversy about lands. October 12, 1665, ' Mr. Lawes and Lt. Richard Olmsted are desired and appointed to view the lands apperteineing to Hastings and Rye, to see what there is that may be sutable for a plantation and to make returne to the Court the next session.' 2
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