USA > New York > Dutchess County > Dutchess county > Part 15
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At 7.5 m. junction with State 55 (R). Route continues straight ahead. SOUTH DOVER, 7.8 m. (390 alt., 35 pop.), was once noted for the quarry of the South Dover Marble Co.
At 9.1 m. (R) across an old bridge is the abandoned quarry. The large pit, the remains of three brick and cement buildings, and the piles of huge marble blocks suggest the scale on which the quarry was operated. The half dozen village buildings along the highway face the stream. The stone is chiefly dolomite, a composition of the carbonates of lime and magnesia in varying proportions. The Dover formation is coarse grained. Erosion has so softened some of the stone that it crumbles as readily as lump sugar.
At 10.8 m. is the OLD DROVERS INN (L). The site was part of a large area owned by Ebenezer Preston, who settled here in 1727. It was he who named the Preston Mountains to the NE. The building was erected about 1750. John Preston, an heir, opened the inn about 1810. It soon be- came a favorite with the drovers.
John Preston was an eccentric landlord and a spinner of yarns. An anec- dote relates his alleged method of fattening cattle: "My plan," he said, "is to plow a furrow or two around the grove of trees and plant gourd seeds ; the
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vines run up among the branches and the cows climb the trees and fatten on the gourds."
The low-ceilinged, rambling structure is still open to guests. The Georgian paneling of the interior and the shell cupboard are perfectly preserved, as is much of the old handmade glass, the hardware, and the hand-hewn beams. At the end of the center passage are three broad planks forming a partition rising from cellar to upper floor. The old tinder box in which flint and steel were kept dry, and the pig-scalding boiler may still be seen. The present floor in the former kitchen covers a cooling well, with shelves for food.
Across the road (R) is the former coach house; on its gable end is a fresco (restored) of drovers and their cattle, inscribed, "Free Conscience ; Void of Offence 1840." The sign salved the scruples of a landlord whose clientele compelled him to sell liquor against his principles.
Cross creek and at 12.6 m. (L) is the junction with a dirt road.
Left on dirt road is DOVER FURNACE, across a pasture at 2.1 m.
Beyond grass-covered heaps of slag, is the abandoned iron furnace.
Behind the furnace a winding stream has cut a ravine through the hill; an old dam forms picturesque falls. The iron mines lie farther back in the hills.
At 2.7 m. is the entrance (R) to SHARPAROON POND, a large sum- mer camp operated by the New York Mission Society as a memorial to Russell Sage.
The village of DOVER FURNACE is at 3.2 m.
DOVER PLAINS, 14.3 m. (400 alt., 800 pop.).
Railroad Stations: N. Y. Central R. R. (Harlem Valley Division) .
Busses: Two bus lines.
Accommodations: Herbert's Hotel and Harlem Valley Inn. Motion Picture House: One.
The highway crosses the western end of the village, passing for about 4 blocks under arching trees. The business section huddles about the railroad station.
The names of Benson, Dutcher, and Van Dusen appear among the first settlers of Dover Plains. They came as early as 1750. Until 1807 the village was known as Pawlingtown. The name Dover Plains was given by Jackson Wing. The town is bounded on the west by hills extending southward to the Fishkill Mountains. These hills contain iron ore and marble, which were the basis of important quarrying and mining industries 30 years ago. Deep pits and abandoned iron furnaces remain. Since then the principal occupa- tion of the community has been dairy farming. The Harlem Valley State Hospital has revived economic life.
A former Dover citizen, Theodore R. Timby (b. 1822), was the originator of what is known as the "Revolving Turret System of Offensive and De- fensive Warfare to be used on Land and Water." Ericsson is popularly known as the originator of the plans, but when he, with John Flack Winslow, filed a caveat, he found that Timby had an earlier patent. Timby was paid $5,000 for a release of patent rights ; and Winslow, J. A. Griswold, Ericsson, and Bushnell received for their plans $275,000 which they divided evenly.
Left from the center of Dover Plains on road marked "The Stone
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Doorway of the Oblong Meeting House at Quaker Hill
RESIDENCE OF JOHN KANE ON THIS SITE WAS HEADQUARTERS OF WASHINGTON FROM SEPTEMBER TWELFTHi ) NOVEMBER TWENTY SEVENTLi 1778 WHILE THE SECOND LINE OF THE CONTINENTAL ARNY WAS ENCAMPED ON QUAKER HILL AND IN THE VALLEY NEAR
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Sycamore Tree. with embedded plaque, used as a whipping post during the Revo- lution, John Kane House, Pawling
Oblong Meeting House, Quaker® Hill
Church," is a deep ravine 1.5 m., in which the process of erosion has carved a chamber with a Gothic type door locally known as The Stone Church. It may be reached by a lane and footpath, but a wire fence must be climbed and the stream crossed on stepping stones. Formerly the mountain brook plunged over the top of a 75-ft. precipice in a water- fall. Eventually the stream worked through a fault in the rock, and now flows into the upper end of the chamber and out the open door an arch 70 ft. high and 14 ft. wide. Pine trees grow in the soil lodged in the ledge that forms the roof of the chamber.
According to local legend, Sacassas, sachem of the Pequot Indians, was once compelled to come here for safety after a disastrous battle. He took refuge in the cave, where he subsisted on berries for some days, and finally made his way through the territory of his enemies, the Mohicans, to the land of the Mohawks.
At 14.9 is junction with dirt road (L).
Left on this road is CHESTNUT RIDGE, 3 m., formerly the home of Benson J. Lossing (d. 1891), historian and newspaperman.
His best known works are Field Book of the Revolution, and Our Country. His former residence stands at an elevation of 1,100 ft., and commands a view 60 miles wide, between the Shawangunk and Catskill Mts.
At 16.2 m. is junction with State 343. Route turns R. on State 22.
At 18.3 m. is the entrance (R) to the WASSAIC STATE SCHOOL, administered by the Department of Mental Hygiene. Those admitted must be capable of some degree of training. The school attempts social readjust- ment. There are facilities for housing and training 3,400 patients.
WASSAIC 20 m. (458 alt., 260 pop.), is a small village of frame cot- tages. Most of the residents were formerly employes of the Borden Co. The mountains overshadow the village, which lies in the narrow valley cut by Wassaic Creek.
The BORDEN MILK CO. PLANT, across tracks from railroad, was the first in the United States to produce condensed milk. Later it was developed as a pasteurizing and bottling plant, the milk being distributed by the Borden Co. in the metropolitan area. In 1935 pasteurizing and bottling were discontinued, but the plant continued as a milk station. A part of the plant is now utilized by the Wassaic Fire Co. to house their apparatus.
The first of the Borden milk companies was formed in 1857 by Gail Borden (b. Norwich, N. Y., 1801), who developed the vacuum process for condensing fluid milk. His experiments with milk condensation began about 1851. Mr. Borden's first application for a patent, made in 1853, was re- jected. At that time he had established a factory at Wassaic. It is said he peddled the limited output of his first factory from a basket. Patent No. 15,553 for "producing concentrated sweet milk by evaporating in vacuo, substantially set forth,-the same having no sugar or other foreign matter mixed with it," was granted on Aug. 19, 1856.
Just N. of the village the road reaches the northern end of the Harlem valley. On the valley floor are scattered morainic hills.
AMENIA, 23.1 m. is the junction with US 44. (See Tour No. 1.)
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TOUR 2 A
Junction State 55 and 22-Quaker Hill. Quaker Hill Road. 5.4 m.
Opposite junction State 55 and State 22, in Pawling, is macadam road leading E. and uphill. The route follows this road.
QUAKER HILL, 4.2 m., is part of the vast acreage known since Colonial times as the Oblong Patent, one of the most historical regions in Dutchess County. It is really a plateau 800 to 1,000 ft. high with hills rising as high as 1,600 ft. It is ideally suited to dairy farming, but is taken up for the most part by large estates, the country homes of wealthy New Yorkers.
The territory was early settled by Quakers from New England and Long Island, who purchased it from Wappinger Indians. First to come was Nathan Birdsall, in 1728, and after him the Quaker preacher, Benjamin Ferris. In 1732 the century-old dispute over the boundary line between Connecticut and New York was settled (see p. 9), and the disputed ter- ritory of the Oblong was thrown open to colonizers. Fifty years later, by the time of the Revolution, Quaker Hill was fully as settled as it is today. Many of the estates were in the hands of the same families until 1930, when the ingress of New Yorkers began.
" The important role the Quakers played in the early history of the United States is richly illustrated in this region. In Colonial times, 100 years before the emancipation of the negroes, the Quakers declared their opposition to slavery, and it was the Oblong Meeting which first prepared a "Querie" to this effect in 1767. By 1775 slave holding was completely eradicated among Quakers.
As pacifists, the Quakers were in a difficult position throughout the Revo- lution, and the question of their allegiance was the cause of much deliberation among them. As a result of efforts to remain uninvolved, they were accused more than once of espionage by the opposing sides, while on the other hand both Whigs and Tories struggled to obtain their active cooperation. The records of Quaker Hill contain many confessions of "error" and penance by Quakers who were forced to some kind of compromise between their religion and 'their necessities, such as the purchase of their release from military serv- ice. It is probable that the majority of Quakers were Loyalists because of their belief in non-resistance, a belief which undoubtedly cost them much moral and physical hardship, especially during the period of Washington's encampment here in 1778.
CLOVER BROOK FARM, 2 m. (R), home of Lowell Thomas, author, traveler, and radio commentator, lies at the foot of a steep ascent and in- cludes nearly all of the long ridge known as Purgatory Hill, as well as a part of Quaker Hill and the valley between the two. The house is early American Colonial, built by the Quakers more than a century ago. Nearby are gardens and a swimming pool. The farm has been occupied for approxi- mately 215 years.
The New York-Connecticut line once ran through it, and near the house stands a MONUMENT erected by the New York State Historical Asso-
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ciation, giving the date when the two states settled their dispute and shifted the line several miles farther east.
A half-mile from the main house are the home of the superintendent and the fur ranch, with pens for some 500 silver fox, mink, and fitch, which are raised both for their pelts and for breeding purposes. One building, erected as a combination theatre and gymnasium, contains a radio studio fully equipped with special lines to New York, so that the owner may deliver his nightly broadcast here at will.
At 3.2 m. is MIZZENTOP MOUNTAIN (1,000 alt.), from the sum- mit of which a magnificent view includes the Harlem Valley and surround- ing mountains.
The elaborate grounds and buildings of the AKIN HALL ASSOCIA- TION (R), founded by Albert J. Akin on Aug. 10, 1882, with the object of promoting benevolence and mutual improvement in religion and knowl- edge, and providing and maintaining a place of education, moral training, and worship.
The society was later re-incorporated to consist of a membership of 16 or more and a board of 5 trustees. An endowment of $100,000 was left by Mr. Akin when he died in January, 1903, for the upkeep of the Association, and $50,000 for completing and furnishing the library.
At 4.1 m. is junction with dirt road.
Right, on the road at .4 m. is the AKIN FREE LIBRARY (L), erected in 1898. The library consists of approximately 4,000 volumes selected by a committee. The historical room contains complete collection of local antique household articles, old deeds, letters, Indian reiics, and Quaker wearing apparel. The most noted item in the collection is the key to George Washington's bed from the Reed Ferris house, where he stayed about one week .
Just ahead at .5 m. is a splendid view (R) of the valley. The white frame CHURCH nearby, stipulated as non-denominational in the Akin will, maintains a summer pastorate. The inn and cottages are also maintained by the Association.
At 5.3 m. is junction (R) with macadam road. The route bears R. on this road.
The old OBLONG MEETING HOUSE, 5.4 m., erected in 1764, is the most interesting landmark on Quaker hill. The exterior is unpainted shingle, with 24-light windows, for the most part still glazed with the wavy glass of long ago. On the south side facing the road are two batten doors close together, one on the men's side of the church, the other on the women's. The interior is divided by a partition separating the sexes by means of ver- tically sliding panels. The door on the east side has eight panels and is sur- mounted by a simple pediment. These three doors still have their original iron drop handles. The balcony is supported by turned columns. The entire inner arrangement is very similar to that of the better-preserved Nine Partners' Meeting House near Millbrook. Across the road is a CEMETERY containing the graves of soldiers of the Revolutionary Army.
For 150 years this little building was the center of community activity.
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Here the famous anti-slavery "Querie" was adopted by the Oblong Meeting. During the Revolution the building was used as a hospital by both patriots and loyalists.
After the Quaker schism in 1828 (see pp. 148-149), the Hicksites took over the Oblong Meeting House. For the next 75 years Orthodox and Hick- site went each his own way, but the disunion ultimately led to the dis- appearance of both sects from Quaker Hill.
TOUR 3
Poughkeepsie-Wappingers Falls-Beacon - Fishkill - Brinckerhoff - Hopewell Junction-Billings-Poughkeepsie to US 9. State 9D, 52, 82, 55. Poughkeepsie-Poughkeepsie 40.4 m. Roads concrete with short stretches of macadam; US 9 is three lane. Between Poughkeepsie and Beacon US 9 and State 9D are paralleled by the main line of the New York Cen- tral. In other sections the roads parallel freight lines of the New York, New Haven & Hartford. Pizzuto Bus Lines, Poughkeepsie to Beacon. Beacon City Bus Line, Beacon to Fishkill.
This route provides a circular tour of the southwestern corner of Dutchess, predominantly a rolling dairy country. The first section, following the Hud- son south, offers sweeping vistas of the Highlands; the second section traverses historic ground associated with the military and political events of the Revo- lution in New York State; the third section passes through a typical Dutchess countryside.
Section a. Poughkeepsie-Beacon. US 9 State 9D. 14.9 m. South from Court House on Market St. (US 9.)
At 1.7 m. about 100 ft. up a slight hill is a spring (L), called by the Indians UPPUQUI-IPIS-ING, "reed-covered lodge by the little water place." This is claimed by reliable authorities to have been the origin of the name Poughkeepsie. (See p. 30.)
At 2.2 m. is the entrance (R) to LOCUST GROVE (inspection by ap- pointment), a 100-acre estate which was the home of Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1872) during the last 25 years of his life. Numerous locust trees, ferns, and wild flowers provide the grounds with a setting of natural beauty. The broad view surveys the Fishkill Mountains rising in the south and the Catskills across the Hudson to the west. The famed "Long Reach" of Henry Hudson's first mate, Robert Juet, who kept the chronicle of the voyage of the Half-Moon, extends straight and true to the northward, and is the setting of many a varied scene in the saga of sail and stream. Of the estate as a whole, Mr. Morse, in a letter to his brother, dated July 30, 1847, wrote: "I am almost afraid to tell you of its beauties."
The estate was first called "Locust Grove" by Henry Livingston, Jr., whose father, Dutchess County clerk (1737-1789) and representative in the Provincial Assembly (1759-1768), gave him the property on the occa- sion of his marriage. Mr. Morse bought the place in 1847 from John B. Montgomery, who had purchased it from the Livingston heirs. Mr. Mont- gomery removed the old house and built a new residence, which is the nucleus of the present building-a two-story, rambling frame building
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painted a pale green. A wide veranda extends along the south side; and a porte cochére extends over the entrance driveway. Doorways in the old section are finished with carved-leaf decorations, a novelty in this section in 1830. Mr. Morse added the porte cochére and the cupola, a reproduction of one in Italy which he admired.
Mr. Morse was a man of unusually versatile ability. He studied art abroad, became a painter, organized the association which became the present Na- tional Academy of Design, and taught painting and sculpture in the Uni- versity of the City of New York (now New York University). With scien- tific and financial aid from others, he invented the telegraph, and in 1842 laid the first submarine telegraph line. In 1836 he ran for mayor. His interest in photography led him into an association with John W. Draper, with whom he set up the first daguerreotype apparatus in America. He took part in the founding of Vassar College in 1861.
The JOHN FREAR HOUSE, 2.3 m. (L), at the entrance to the Poughkeepsie Nursery, was built of stone about 1755. A section of the orig- inal structure was torn down and rebuilt with part wood construction as it appears today. John Frear was colonel of the Poughkeepsie regiment of militia in the Revolutionary War.
At 2.4 m. is the entrance (L) to the DUTCHESS GOLF AND COUN- TRY CLUB, an 18-hole private course.
The SILVER SWAN INN, 3.1 m. (R), an old residence now con- verted into an inn, was built in 1751 in Dutch Colonial style. The house has been enlarged to meet the needs of its successive occupants, but the pleasing lines and proportions of the original structure have been preserved. The old brick fireplace, opposite the inn lounge, was uncovered in 1930 after having been hidden by plaster and wall paper for perhaps a century. In the dining room are the remains of a great Dutch oven, with the hooks that supported the crane.
In the late 17th century, an Indian popularly known as "Speck" had his lodge near the site of this house. Speck and two other Indians put their marks on a deed conveying land hereabout as a free-will offering to their Dutch benefactors. This was the Arnant Comelise Viele deed, the earliest recorded in this section. The transfer included the present site of the Silver Swan Inn. Thus the early associations of the inn can be definitely traced as far back as 1680.
Two springs, near the summit of the hill across the Albany Post Road from the inn, supply the water which flows unfailingly, winter and summer, through the channel of the Spackenkill. In the old deeds this water source is called by the Dutch word fonteyn. The water from these springs has long been famous, and people drive from miles around to fill bottles and jugs from the tap by the roadside a few rods to the south. The Indian, the Dutch colonist, the English settler, and the modern motor tourist have, each in his turn, been refreshed by this pure spring water. It is likely that these springs helped to determine the course of the highway.
The brook or kill that runs by the Silver Swan was dammed to form a
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pond that supplied water for the Indians, and it came to be known as "Speck's Brook," or, in Dutch, Speck Zyn Kil. In the course of two cen- turies the name has been corrupted to Spackenkill. This brook lends its name . to the road that forms a junction with US 9 opposite the inn.
OAKWOOD SCHOOL, 3.2 m. (L), is a co-educational, college prepara- tory boarding school conducted by the New York Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers). First established in 1796 at Mechanic, in the northern outskirts of Millbrook, it was subsequently moved to Union Springs and incorporated, in 1860, under the name of Friends' Academy. In 1876 it be- came Oakwood Seminary. In 1920 it was moved to the present location, and the name was changed to Oakwood School.
The campus of 30 acres, with the main entrance on the Spackenkill Road, is situated on a hill overlooking the Hudson River valley. The plant in- cludes dormitories, dining hall, gymnasium, library, and administration building, as well as barns and other farm structures.
The TREASURE CHEST TAVERN, 3.6 m. (R), built about 1741 by Kasparus Westervelt, is one of many buildings in the county expressive of Dutch influence. The original exterior walls have been clapboarded and part of the cellar has been converted into a spacious dining room. The north wall of the adjoining basement room is 6 or 7 ft. thick and includes the original huge fireplace and Dutch oven. A few years ago an iron chimney head-piece of Flemish origin, dated 1620, was unearthed several feet from the house. This has been affixed to the north outer wall. The present owner possesses the original land grant from King George II for this site.
The ABRAHAM FORT HOMESTEAD, 4.4 m. (L), an attractive Colonial residence 11/2 stories high, was built by Johannes A. Fort about 1759. It is of stone, though the front wall and the gable ends above the lower story have been faced with brick and stone painted white. The house has lost its original lines by the addition of dormers, a porch, and a south wing. Portions of the original woodwork and hardware have been preserved.
One of the panes in a window on the western side of the house has been the subject of considerable interest to local historians. The pane is marked "Jane Fort 1778-Henry Dawkin-Engraver." Maj. Abraham Fort, a member of the Poughkeepsie militia, resided here in that year, and Jane Fort was his wife. She is buried across the road in a private cemetery.
At 4.8 m. (R), at the base of a steep incline, is junction with macadam road. (See Tour No. 3A.)
At 6.1 m. (traffic light) is junction with concrete road, State 9D. The route turns R. on State 9D.
WAPPINGERS FALLS, 6.8 m. (115 alt., 3,235 pop.). In the center of the village the highway crosses a concrete bridge over Wappinger Creek. Just below is the FALLS, which give the village its name. The water here drops a sheer 75 ft., the highest falls in the county.
The word Wappinger comes from the Indian name Wapani, an Algon- quin (Lenni-Lenape) tribe which roamed the eastern shore of the Hudson River until the middle of the 18th century.
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The creek waters have long been the chief stimulus to the growth of the village. Prior to the Revolution numerous grist mills lined the bank of the creek. At the foot of Mckinley St. is a SHIPYARD SITE where Matthew Mesier built several sloops to carry wheat to the New York market. In 1829 James Ingham, an Englishman, established here the first cotton print works in America. Its site is now occupied by the large plant of the DUTCHESS BLEACHERY, which normally employs two-thirds of the working inhabitants of the village.
The SWEET-ORR COMPANY, Mill St., founded by James Orr in California in 1849, has been known as the "pioneer overall business of America." In 1871 it was moved to Wappingers Falls and conducted by James Orr's nephews, Clayton E. and Clinton W. Sweet. The establish- ment grew and by 1876 had a force of 250 employees producing 1,000 pairs of overalls weekly. In 1880 the plant was enlarged, and factories were opened in Newburgh and in other cities, and the manufacture of coats, trousers, and shirts added.
Across East Main St. is the MESIER HOMESTEAD (L), now the property of the village. Nicholas Brewer, one of the first settlers, built the original house, now the rear wing, in 1741; the addition was put up in 1750. The building is a white frame structure with green roof and trim, little altered since its erection. Matthew Mesier, tea merchant and ship builder, acquired the property in 1777, and his heirs retained it until 1890, when the house and land became village property. Here in 1777 occurred the "Wappingers Tea Party," a rebellion of the housewives against Mesier's exorbitant charges for tea : they rose in revolt and compelled Matthew Mesier to reduce his price.
At 7.6 m. the route turns R.
HUGHSONVILLE, 8.2 m. (180 alt., 690 pop.), was settled as early as 1800. Small white houses line both sides of the main street. An old two- story frame building (L) with long porches across the front, was once an inn.
At 9 m. is junction with a two-strip concrete road.
Right on this road is the entrance to the W. W. REESE HOUSE, .2 m., one of the four original Houghson houses. The building has been considerably altered; and, although a portion of it may have been built before 1800, the front door and leaded light, a parlor mantel, and the interior door frames are all of the style of the 1830's.
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