USA > New York > Dutchess County > Dutchess county > Part 9
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After the war, in a new era of iron and steel, industry took another spurt. Railroad development helped, first the New York Central, and in 1868 the beginning of lines eastward from Fishkill Landing into New England. Thus Fishkill Landing became a railroad terminal point. The New Haven built docks and yards and operated a ferry freight transfer to the Erie across the river. In 1860 Jackson started his carriage works; his wagons became known afar. At Matteawan in 1864 the manufacture of wool hats began. The knife and cutlery industry also started there, but moved to Walden, where it was developed. The wealthy Winthrop Sargent brought from England for use on his country estate the first lawn mower on American soil. Coldwell saw it, and worked at Matteawan on the first American machines. A. T. Stewart started his carpet mills at Groveville in 1873.
Fishkill Landing was incorporated as a village in 1864. Matteawan was considerably larger than the Landing, but was not officially incorporated as a village until 1886. In the nineties the twin villages ranked next to Dan- bury, Conn., in the manufacture of hats. In that decade the British patent
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holders established their American plant at Matteawan for the manufacture of fuel economizers and ventilating systems. The Corrington plant turned out air brakes. Benjamin Hammond came from Mount Kisco with his pat- ented formulas for insecticides, fungicides, and the like. Potter invented and manufactured wagon brakes. The Van Houten brothers invented brakers' ma- chinery and set up a factory. The silk industry thrived. The two villages ex- panded and finally grew together, uniting in 1913 to form the city of Beacon.
The present century brought a slowing up and a decline. The railroad terminal and transfer were removed; the hat industry shrunk; silk mills closed. But the diversity of industries held the community together and the storms were ridden out. And in the midst of all the industrial ups and downs the old Schenck gristmill, begun in 1800, continued grinding grist almost until the day it burned in 1915. The growth of the city has con- tinued steadily. Between 1900 and 1930 the population showed an increase of 25.8 per cent.
MOTOR TOUR (7.4 m.)
The tour begins at Bank Square.
W. on Main St.
1. Site of UPPER LANDING, foot of Main St., which for many years was Fishkill Landing's front door. Peter Bogardus built the dock and store- house, and in 1765 opened a ferry which ran from here to Newburgh across the Hudson. At the opening of the Revolution it was known as Bogardus Dock, and during the war the storehouse contained military supplies. The ferry was an important link in a military artery, the "middle road," which crossed the river at this point.
In 1853 a foundry was built here for the manufacture of stationary and marine engines, the famous Fishkill Corliss steam engines. During the Civil War the foundry was converted into an Army ordnance shop; and the land- ing became a troop center. The Hudson River Railroad had a station stop here after its completion in 1849-50; and the Connecticut and Dutchess Railroad made the landing its western terminus in 1868. Extensive docks and yards were built at a point south of the present ferry; and a freight car ferry made connections with the Erie Railroad at Newburgh.
L. from Main St. on River St .; R. on Beekman St.
2. The BEACON-NEWBURGH FERRY (L), foot of Beekman St., was established at the LOWER LANDING in 1743. The original charter, which forms the basis of the charter under which the ferry now operates, was granted by King George II on the petition of Alexander Colden of Fishkill Landing to the Hon. George Clarke, then Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of New York. The first ferry consisted of sail and row boats.
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Today there are four modern boats, sturdily constructed for ice-breaking and especially equipped for passenger and motor car transportation. Since 1881 ferry service has been continuously maintained throughout the year.
The river between Beacon and Newburgh is about 1 mile wide. This expanse, once known as Fishkill Bay, is now called Newburgh Bay. The ferry boat offers an excellent vantage point from which to view the much- praised scene at the north portal of the Hudson Highlands. When he was Governor of the State, Franklin Delano Roosevelt often travelled on this ferry, describing it as "one of the most historically colorful ferries in America."
Directly below, and adjoining the ferry slip, is the historic LONG WHARF, built between 1812 and 1816. A promoter put a small fortune into this dock. The older portion of a yellow wooden building standing at the tip of the wharf was at one time an inn. Erected about 1830, it was an important hostelry in the heyday of river traffic.
Backtrack on Beekman St .; Sharp R. on 2nd opening of Ferry St., western entrance to Bank Square.
3. The REFORMED CHURCH (R), Ferry and Academy Sts., is the city's oldest standing church. A massive edifice of somewhat peculiar, modi- fied Gothic architecture, it is built of red brick with locally quarried stone capping the buttresses. In 1859 it replaced the original one built in 1813. In 1820, a negress, Margaret, was baptized and received into the church; and seats were thereafter provided for her race. Liberated slaves in 1857 es- tablished a school nearby in the Academy Street neighborhood and later built their own church.
John Peter DeWindt, wealthy trader and slave owner, was one of the founders of the Reformed Church. Millard Fillmore, as ex-president, at- tended services here. Henry Ward Beecher preached here in the years before the Civil War, when he was being subjected to violent attacks for his strong anti-slavery stand.
At the rear of the church an old graveyard extends down the slope to the old plank road. In this somewhat neglected burial ground, dating back to the 18th century, families are interred in rows, not in plots. Unusual also in this region are vaults built into the steep bank. On the headstones are the names of Tellers, Wiltses, and Boyces, and others who figured prominently in the early history of the section. The oldest inscriptions are those on the markers of Henry Schenck (1743-1799), William Sebring (d. 1814), and Dr. William Forman (d. 1816).
L. from Ferry St. on Park Ave.
4. SPY HILL (L and R), Park Ave. between Ferry St. and Wolcott Ave., gets its name from the eminent service it performed as a lookout point during the Revolution. Commanding an unbroken scene up and down the Hudson for many miles, it offers a view of the Highlands in the south with Storm King and Sleeping Indian Mountains looming against the horizon. Westward on the river terrace is the city of Newburgh, with the
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HIIM
Along Wappinger Creek
Shawangunk Mountains in the distant background. In the northwest the Catskills tower 4,000 feet above the Hudson. The artist-historian, Lossing, speaks of the "broad and beautiful bay," its surface broken by a solitary rock island, Polopel. He sketched and published views made from this point. One of them includes lower Newburgh, the mouth of Quassaic Creek, and the villages of New Windsor and Cornwall. Private residences now crown the hill where blue-coated patriot soldiers once camped.
L. from Park Ave. on Wolcott Ave.
5. WHITE HOUSE SANITARIUM (R), Wolcott and South Aves., a large house with white pillared porches, was once the home of Prof. Charles Davies (1798-1876), mathematician, author, and instructor at West Point and later at Columbia University. Charles Dickens was among the distinguished guests entertained here. Between the Davies occupancy and the advent of the sanitarium, the house was used as a school conducted by Benjamin Lee Wilson, educator, English scholar, and cousin of President Woodrow Wilson.
6. The LOUIS A. GILLET HOUSE (R), 263 Wolcott Ave., was built in 1836 and is famous for its door, removed from the DePeyster House. (See Point of Interest No. 11.) This second-oldest doorway in the county shows the Georgian influence in the grooved and reeded pilasters and raised bevelled panels. The bulls-eyes at the top of the door are typical of the style; and the small panes of colored translucent glass in the side lights are unusual. The inside of the door has horizontal boards and long, iron strap hinges.
R. from Wolcott Ave. on Sargent Ave.
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7. The LARCH TREES (R), along Sargent Ave., which are inter- spersed with hemlocks, are notable for their unusual height. Larch is the one conifer that sheds its needles in the winter-the one evergreen that is not an evergreen.
8. The MARIANIST PREPARATORY (L), opposite the larch trees, conducted by Brothers of the Order of the Society of Mary, trains young men for the priesthood and as religious educators. The main building was once the residence of William Kent, son of the Chancellor and Justice of the Supreme Court of New York State. The recently altered house is covered with cream, beige, and brown siding, suggesting stone.
9. WODENETHE (R), opposite and a little farther on (public may drive through the grounds), was formerly the home of Winthrop Sargent, an early 20th century philanthropist. It is now one of the properties of the Craig House Sanitarium. (See Point of Interest No. 14.) The house is a large two-story structure painted yellow with white trim. A three-story sec- tion is topped by a 4-hipped, curved pyramidal roof. The grounds were em- bellished by the elder Sargent; and although he was an amateur, he may be called the originator of landscape gardening in the United States. Sargent was a friend of Downing, the famous horticulturist and architect. The gardens, and especially the Roman Garden, are renowned.
L. from Sargent Ave. on South Ave.
10. The BYRNESVILLE CEMETERY (L), corner of Sargent and South Aves., above the road cut, contains the unkept graves of early settlers : Roger Brett, Myer Thomas Pierce, and others. The earliest date on any of the dozen remaining stones is 1797.
R. under railroad tracks.
11. The DE PEYSTER-NEWLIN-BYRNES HOUSE (R), close to the railroad, was erected about 1743 and was occupied for a time by Abraham de Peyster, nephew of Madam Brett. It later passed through the hands of Newlin and Byrnes, and is now occupied by several families.
It is a fine example of gambrel-roofed, Colonial brick house. The base- ment story is of Hudson River blue stone, and runs back into the hillside. The story and one-half above the basement are red brick laid in Flemish bond, pierced by three windows in the gable ends. The high stoop fronting the main entrance is not the original; the first Dutch door was moved to the Gillet House. (See Point of Interest No. 6.)
After the burning of Kingston, the British fleet dropped down the Hud- son and anchored in Newburgh Bay. Lieut. Philip Hamilton, so the tale runs, came ashore with other officers of his ship and wandered into the forest alone. When he returned to the river, the boat that brought him ashore had gone; and the ships were under sail. He ran down the river bank in a vain endeavor to signal them. Dusk was setting. Seeking shelter, he knocked at the door of Abraham de Peyster. Frankly confessing his identity, Ham- ilton was admitted and invited to join the family at the evening meal. Katrina, the daughter, presided; and the young officer fell in love with her
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at once. With characteristic Dutch caution, Abraham de Peyster conducted Hamilton to a room on the top floor, turned the key, and the following morning escorted him to Fishkill to face a military tribunal, which paroled him in de Peyster's custody for the period of the war. The romance and courtship thus begun ended in his marriage with Katrina in the fall of 1783, after the surrender of Cornwallis.
12. The site of MADAM BRETT'S MILL (R), occupied by the Tioronda Hat Works, is beside the Fishkill at the foot of a falls which furnished the necessary water power. The gristmill was built in 1708 by Roger and Catharyna Brett, who also built a dwelling nearby and set aside 300 acres to go with the two buildings. No trace of the house re- mains, as it was probably abandoned within a year, when they moved to a new house. (See Point of Interest No. 23.) The mill stood at the head of navigation on the Fishkill. Here an eyebolt, still visible, was set in a large stone by which to tie up ships.
ROGER BRETT, a native of Somersetshire, England, was one of a coterie of young Englishmen who came to America at the time Queen Anne sent her young cousin, Lord Cornbury, to be governor of the province. He lived in New York in 1703, and after his marriage to Catharyna Rom- bout in that year, was listed as "a Master of Family in the City of New York." In 1703-06, his name appears as a vestryman of Trinity Church. He was on intimate terms with Lord Cornbury and entertained him at his home. Brett had married well, for his wife had fallen heir to the great Rombout Patent (See History) up the Hudson. Less fortunate was his death. In 1716, coming from New York in his own sloop, he was drowned when the boom of his ship swept him overboard not far from the Brett mill.
13. The FISHKILL (since kil is Dutch for creek, Fishkill Creek is a tautology) (R and L) bounds down the side of the Hudson Valley and enters the tidewater Hudson at this point. The prosaic sucker, which is here in large numbers, has lent its name to the cascade immediately upstream. Between Sucker Falls and the road is the small FAIRY ISLAND. The Indians believed a manitou dwelt here, and they otten came to admire and worship. Painters of the Hudson River School and other later artists have pictured this scene of foaming water and mossy, tree-shaded banks.
L. from South Ave. on Grandview Ave., L. on Howland Ave.
14. CRAIG HOUSE SANITARIUM (General Howland House) (L), first beyond intersection, was the home of Gen. Joseph Howland from 1834 to 1886. Howland was a Civil War officer and a philanthropist. Eliza Woolsey Howland, his wife, and Georgeanna Woolsey Bacon, his sister-in- law and author of Handbook of Nursing, were both nurses in Civil War hospitals. The property and house, known as Tioronda, have been purchased by the sanitarium corporation, which has taken over many another South Beacon estate for the treatment of mental patients. A private institution, it caters to those who can afford to pay for the elegance and care the various units offer.
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15. The UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT (New York City) SUM- MER CAMP (CAMP STOVER) (R), just beyond the sanitarium, is a well equipped vacation resort for 700 boys and girls and some adults from New York's lower East Side. Facilities include a swimming pool and various buildings for camp use. Mountain Rest, the main building, is the remodeled former HOME OF REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER. The original house, which forms the nucleus of the present structure, was the 18th century ANNAN HOUSE, one of the first dwellings in this region. Annan, later a lieutenant in the Revolution, purchased a tract of land from the Brett Estate between 1757 and 1761. The present building, with its white clapboard siding, green trim, and red roof, gives little if any clue to the appearance of the original.
R. from Howland Ave. on dirt road.
16. The MOUNT BEACON INCLINE RAILWAY (L), end of road, (30ยข round trip), climbs the west spur of Mount Beacon, giving access to the mountain top resort of the Mount Beacon-on-Hudson Association. This cable railway, powered by electricity, is reputed to be the steepest of its kind in the world; it is 2,200 ft. long, with a vertical rise of 1,200 ft. The two observation cars are built on a tilt to correspond with the slope of the hill. A single cable, attached to each end of a car, passes over a rotating drum in the power house at the summit. While one car rises, the other descends; and they pass on a midway switch. The road was opened on Memorial Day in 1902, carrying more than 60,000 people the first season. (For Casino see Point of Interest No. 32.)
Backtrack to Wolcott Ave.
17. ST. LUKE'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH (R), Wolcott Ave. be- tween South Liberty and Rector Sts., is a plain English Gothic structure of stone, erected in 1868. The building with its high gables, buttresses, and arched doors and windows, is a copy of an English church visited and admired by General Howland, one of the chief subscribers to the St. Luke's building fund. The Rectory and Parish House are set apart from the church, separated from it by a broad park which is studded with magnificent beech trees, imported from England. A chestnut-oak, the only oak in the line along Wolcott Ave., was propagated from one of the "Washington Oaks" which stood on Dennings Point in Revolutionary days, and under which Washington rested after ferrying from New Windsor.
On both sides of the rocky knoll north of the church is a cemetery which contains the graves of many famous persons. Here are buried James Kent, Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Chancellor of the State of New York, and author of Kent's Commentaries; Smith T. Van Buren, son of the president ; Dr. Frank M. Tiernan, Civil War drummer boy; and many others whose names hark back to early settlement: Van Vliet, Tillot, DuBois, Van Kleeck, Schenck, Wolcott, Sargent, and Knevels. The northeastern part of the cemetery is the Presbyterian section, older than the Episcopal section, and contains a marker dated 1812.
R. From Wolcott Ave. on Spring Valley St.
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18. MARY ANN'S BRIDGE (L), spanning the Fishkill, is named for a woman who kept a tavern at this crossing before the Civil War. The new concrete arch bridge replaces spans dating back a hundred years and offers a fine view of the lower valley of the Fishkill, a sight often described, photographed, and painted. The creek cuts between the high banks, tumbling over several falls before it reaches the Hudson.
Spring Valley St. becomes Mill St. Straight ahead on East Main St. to Howland Ave. Main tour turns L. on Howland Ave.
A side-tour continues on East Main St., locally known as "Mountain Lane."
Right on Annan St. is the diminutive MOUNTAIN CHAPEL (R), a gray painted frame building which looks like a one-room country school- house. For many years it has served the mountainside people as an un- denominational church. The "mountaineers," as they are called, are a peculiar folk group which has resided at the foot of the mountains for many generations, adhering to primitive traditions and customs. Although a large number of them work in Beacon as factory hands or odd-job men, they spend a great deal of their time in the hills, know every foot of the rough ground, and are natural woodsmen. Some of the older ones pride themselves on their wood-chopping ability. These people appear to have descended from some of the finer early families. A tradition among them avers that a British soldier was a progenitor of a representative family. Scotch settlers also came into the mountain fastnesses nearly a hundred years ago, a hardy people, who believed that elves, fairies, and gonomes inhabited the hills.
At the end of East Main St., a bridge crosses Dry Brook.
The HIKER'S TRAIL ascends an ancient road beyond the bridge. Early maps indicate that this was an important highway of the early 19th century, and one of the pioneer roads of southern Dutchess a century earlier. It is understood that this is the old Danbury Road that left the Hudson at Willet Landing and crossed the mountains here to the Clove, thence continuing into New England. This route to the east was the most direct from the West Point vicinity and was used for military purposes during the Revolution when troops and supplies were trans- ported back and forth across the Hudson between Fishkill Landing and the west shore.
As it rises above the city, the trail leads up a deep ravine north of Mount Beacon and skirts the slope of Bald Hill (L).
The character of the vegetation changes rather abruptly as the higher elevations are reached. At 700 to 1,000 ft. are thickets of laurel, azalea, and scrub-oak. Trailing arbutus, once plentiful, has become scarce. The rattlesnake and the copperhead are rarely met.
At 1.25 m. (R) is a side trail to Beacon reservoir and Mount Beacon.
Straight ahead the main trail leads to the head of the ravine and the abandoned Greer farm.
A rough trail (L) leads along the ridges of Bald Hill and beyond, fol- lowing the general trend of one of several roads constructed nearly a century ago for exploiting iron ore deposits. Near Bald Hill was located the 19th century property of the Manhattan Iron Works.
Bald Hill (over 1,200 ft.) is named for its barren and rocky slopes which have only a thin covering of stunted trees. It is sometimes called Burnt Mountain, for it has repeatedly been swept by forest fires.
At 1.5 m. is HELL HOLLOW (Boulder Glen), a 1,000-ft .- deep gulch in the eastern mountainside. Its bottom is choked with huge boulders, which,
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combined with the precipitous sides, make the cleft practically inaccessible. A foot trail descends to the Albany Post Road (US 9), in the valley to the southeast.
L. on Howland Ave.
19. HIDDENBROOKE (R), Howland Ave. opposite green barn, is occupied by the Ursuline Novitiate. It lies in a little valley at the base of the mountains, and is surrounded by lawns and gardens. The institution is devoted to the training of novices for lives of religious work. The Novitiate chapel, erected in 1925, is of Gothic architecture. The exterior brick is laid in an irregular manner, and the roof is of heavy slate. A some- what Spanish touch is evident in the stuccoed outer wall of the vestry. The nave, roof arches, hewn beams, oak paneling, and cloister are Gothic in design.
R. from Howland Ave., on Washington Ave.
20. GROVEVILLE PARK (L), Washington Ave. and Park St., once an amusement resort, is now the assembly grounds and cottage colony of the Nazarene Camp Meeting Association. The park is owned and operated by the Nazarene Society of the Nazarene Church. The members, recruited from a wide area, gather here in large numbers during the summer months to receive religious education and attend daily services. About 50 one- room cottages are scattered about under the trees for the use of visitors who have no camping equipment.
L. from Washington Ave. on Park St., keep R .; L. on Liberty St.
21. The GROVEVILLE FLATS (R), across the creek, are a nar- row flood plain of the Fishkill. The mill and tenant houses were erected in 1873-75 by A. T. Stewart, merchant prince of Manhattan. The mills were a carpet factory; but now they are occupied by several small manu- facturing concerns.
R. from Liberty St. on East Main St.
22. The EAST MAIN ST. BRIDGE (Fountain Square Bridge) of- fers a view of the Mill Rapids (R) at the center of the old mill district of Matteawan. Factory walls rise abruptly from the Fishkill. The extensive yellow brick buildings (R), formerly the plant of the Matteawan Manu- facturing Co., makers of wool hats, are now occupied by the Braendly Dye Works.
L. from East Main St., on Main St., L. on Tioronda Ave., R. on Van Nydeck St.
23. The BRETT-TELLER HOUSE (L), corner Van Nydeck St. and Teller Ave., is the oldest standing building and one of the first to be built (1709) in Dutchess County.
This home of romantic and historic memories is a noteworthy landmark of the Hudson valley and a splendid example of the simple, solid Dutch architecture of its period. It is a story-and-a-half high; three long, graceful dormers on each side of the house, project from the gently sloping peaked roof. The house has thick stone foundations; and the frame of massive timbers is held together by wooden pins. The main body of the house is sided with
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scalloped cedar shakes 4 feet long, varying from 5 to 9 inches in width and fastened with handwrought nails. The east wing has wide clapboards.
The interior, staircase, and woodwork details are representative of the better homes of the Colonial period. A mantel in the dining room is very plain, with a fluted pattern beneath the shelf; another, which was put in prior to 1800, replacing one faced with old Dutch tile, is of elaborate design with marble facing. The dining room has two alcoves with graceful arched and fluted columns. A large fireplace in the old beamed kitchen still has the crane and large iron pot. The cellar door is hung on wooden hinges and is fastened by a wooden latch which is lifted from the outer side by a string.
The 4 acres of land on which the homestead stands was part of the large tract of 85,000 acres acquired by Francis Rombout and Gulian Verplanck. Verplanck died before the patent was issued. (See History.) Title to these 4 acres has never been transferred and still rests on the original patent. When Francis Rombout died in 1691, his share of 28,000 acres "in the Wappings" passed to his daughter, Catharyna, who married Roger Brett. (See Point of Interest No. 12.) The Homestead is still owned and occupied by their descendants.
After Roger Brett's early death, Madam Brett possessed and managed her vast heritage. She presented a commanding figure as she rode on horseback over her land, administering its affairs and promoting its development until well advanced in years. On church and gala days she rode in her coach-and- four, with three Negroes in attendance. She was a friend of the Indians, and was active in community affairs, holding a partnership in the Frankfort Store- house, the region's first freighting establishment, at the Lower Landing. She died in 1764 and was buried in the cemetery of the Dutch Church at Fishkill, which she helped found. (See p. 82.) She left two sons, Francis and Robert.
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