USA > New York > Bronx County > History of Bronx borough, city of New York : compiled for the North side news > Part 11
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On another occasion, as we are told, an old farmer was one evening driving down the winding Pelham Road, with a load of produce for the New York market. As he drew near the "Skinners' Oak," the same strange man was seen approaching, clad in the same antique military cape. Believing himself about to be attacked, the old farmer clutched his whip more firmly, but as the figure approached closer he became paralyzed with fear. The strange apparition reached out, touched the wagon and putting his hand on it, walked quietly alongside until the "Spy Tree" was reached, when he, as before, vanished into air.
One more thrilling tale comes to us of this haunted oak, happening on one Thanksgiving Eve in "ye olden tyme." Three men, mounted on horses of blooded Westchester stock, were riding madly along on the way to their homes in City Island. Suddenly, while approaching the old tree, their horses with one accord came to a dead stop. Voice, whip, spur proved of no avail. The poor animals were literally trembling in every limb, as if spying something frightful in the darkness beyond which their riders could not see. After many fruitless efforts to make their steeds pass the spot, the despairing horsemen removed sonie stones in the wall, and leading their horses through, made a long detour around the place where the tree was, reaching the road again some distance beyond. Then, mounting once more, they galloped onward toward their homes.
The natural question is: What made the horses behave so? A well versed authority states that it could not have been be- cause the men had stopped at some road house. "For the horses and not the nien saw the ghosts. And it is far easier to believe in spirits of any kind than to believe the horses were inebriated. There is no record of any kind to prove that nien of those days were generous enough to treat their horses as well as this supposition would imply."
North of the "Spy Tree" is an ancient abode, standing well back from the road, and known as the "Old Paul House." Whatever history is connected with the quaint white structure I have been unable to obtain. To the south of the "Spy Tree" stood an early homestead, said to have been built in 1735. A well sweep of antique appearance, just across the road, has given rise
to the belief that the inspiring poem, "The Old Oaken Bucket" was composed here, and a long newspaper item is to this effect. probably written by some misinformed correspondent.
History tells of a spy, captured during the Revolution i: Westchester County and brought before General Putnam. Gov- ernor Tryon, the British commander, wrote to Putnam, threaten- ing dire vengeance should the spy be executed. As a reply, Put- namı wrote the following :
"Sir: Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in your King's service was taken in my camp as a spy; he was tried as a spy; he was condemned as a spy, and you may rest assured, sir, that he shall be hanged as a spy.
"I have the honor to be. &c., ISRAEL PUTNAM. - "P. S .- Afternoon. He is hanged.".
Two old houses on the Boston Road may well claim our at- tention. One was "Thwaite's Old Homestead," just south of Pei- ham Parkway and near Bear Swamp Road, in Bronxdale. To glance at this old house was to appreciate its antiquity. Accord- ing to Mr. Thwaite, it was built in 1799, and the relentless ad- vance of the widened White Plains Road has wiped it out of existence, as it ha sdone with others of Bronxdale's relics. The second is a "Drovers' Inn," described as commanding an extensive view of the Sound. There is a strange old house at the tip-top of the hill, about a mile this side of Eastchester, that would seem to answer this description. It does not look exactly like a dwelling, and is perhaps the identical "Drovers' Inn" mentioned in the old records.
To reach this old hostelry by following Boston road, one has to pass within sight-if one has sharp eyes- of the old Underhill Burying Ground, just beyond Spencer's Corners. In addition to the sepulchral looking vault, there are many head- stones here, some of them in an exceedingly neglected condition I have been told that it is on the Adee property and that i, e Underhills purchased it from the Indians.
Following are some of the inscriptions :
Clarina. Who departed this life Febry 18, 1795. Aged 15 months.
Nathaniel Underhill. June 27, 1775.
Annie, Wife of John Underhill, 16 August, 1786
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CHAPTER XXIII
FORT SCHUYLER AND SCREVEN'S POINT
Fort Schuyler-Hart's Island-Zerega's Point-Screven's Point-Castle Hill Mansion-The Wilkins House
Protecting the access by water to New York City by means of the Sound, are two lines of defences, Willett's Point on the Long Island shore and Fort Schuyler on our side. The fort is at the extreme end of Throgg's Neck, where stands a warning lighthouse, and is reached by one of the most beautiful drives in this part of the country -- a broad roadway lined on either side with the most magnificent trees, and serving to reach many most elegant mansions in the neighborhood. Located about four miles southeast of the Westchester Railroad Station, it is now the most remotely situated military post in the Borough of the Bronx, and until 1895, when a regular post office was estab- lished at Westchester and a free delivery service put into opera- tion, all mail matter for the fort had to be sent by carriage front Old Westchester Village, night and morning.
Until the recent erection of a telephone and telegraph line connecting all the government posts in the vicinity, there was no direct means of communication with the outside world, except by toiling to Westchester, or waiting for the official steamer, the "General Meigs," which made daily trips around the city.
The reservation proper includes about ninety acres. Near the beginning of this reservation is a narrow causeway, where at high tide the waters of the Sound used to flow over the roadway very freely, so low was its level.
Three large disappearing guns have been erected on the reservation, affording quite a contrast to the almost obsolete outfit of the rest of the fort. When I visited the place severai years ago, in company with an old Civil War veteran, he pointed out to me the "Columbiads" and "Re-inforced" cannon that were apparently its only means of defence. Years before I had looked with awe into the mouths of the mortars, almost expecting them to go off. at any minute. The subterranean "bomb-proof" cham- bers always had a fascination for me, as did the old draw bridge that could be drawn up at a minute's notice, after the manner of a medieval castle. Should an enemy succeed in passing this drawbridge, he would have to pass through a grim tunnel, on each side of which were narrow slits for the gunners to aim their ritles, and direct plenty of cold lead towards the invading foe.
So much for the approach by land. While the water at the causeway is shallowness itself, there is very deep water off the fort dock, to reach which one has to turn to the right after passing beneath the tunnel, and go through another archway, close to a barred window, evidently the "guard room" of the place. If any hostile ships approached in years past, the guns would have probably made short work of them. Were they to come to-day, the disappearing guns would no doubt get in their deadly work.
From the extreme end of the point, the Sound makes a sharp, almost right-angled turn, and the view from here is simply
superb: On a clear day, Long Island, Pelham Bay and the dis- tant shores of Hart's Island come into marked prominence.
"This fort, built more than sixty years ago, is a fine speci- men of the military architecture of that period. In shape it resembles a blunt wedge, having seven sides about 300 feet in length at the west end, and the other six forming the two tapering sides to the wedge, the point of which is at the end of Throgg's Neck. At each angle there is a projection which might be compared to a bay window, in which provision is made for mounting cannon, and in each of the two forward sections of the side walls there are about eighty, in two tiers, also pro- visions for mounting guns on top.
"Once a week the old cannon are cleaned out and oiled, and the carriages shifted and oiled to prevent rust. This moving of the guns takes up much of the time of the little garrison, which consists of two batteries of the Fifth Artillery, comprising about 150 men."
After crossing the causeway, one comes upon the ruins of the old hospital, a relic of the Civil War, when this was quite an important place for military convalescents. It had been long disused and was finally destroyed by fire. A friend once told me that during the Civil War he happened to walk by the sentries and find himself inside the fortifications of Fort Schuyler. Escape by land he could not, so he tried by water. It so hap- pened that a government boat was receiving soldiers, and in the confusion he managed to get on board, thus making a sudden and unexpected retreat from the fort.
Throgg's Neck, as the crow flies, is just thirteen miles from the New York City Hall. Three miles above, and a short dis- tance beyond the northern end of City Island, is situated Hart's Island, an important military post. The United States fag can always be seen flying from the small collection of buildings that are grouped together on this island. In connection with Thrugg's Neck we must not omit to mention the elegant Havemeyer and Huntington mansions that are such ornaments to this region. The former is said to be one of the oldest houses in the vicinity. having been built by Abijah Hammond about the year 1800. Close to the lane dividing these two estates may be seen on the Havemeyer land a quaint oid house, once owned by the Rev. Mr. Roberts, of Roberts' College, Constantinople, while opposite, near the residence of Mrs. Huntington, rises a beautiful cedar of Lebanon, said to be the finest in North America.
The next point below is Zerega's, or Old Ferry Point. a corruption from Ferris Point. On the rural and narrow lane leading to Zerega's Point, just beyond the handsome brick Catho. lie Deaf and Dumb Asylum, stands perhaps the oldest house in the whole Borough of the Bronx, the ancient Ferris M ..... .. Erected in 1687. its antique appearance betokens its great age. Fronting the south, it has been added to, so that the more moders
Old Mott Haven Canal, looking South from 144th Street
Old Mott Haven Canal, Icoking North frem 138th Street
69
HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
part appears the oldest. Its early name was "Grove Siah's," from its Colonial owner, Josiah Hunt, whose father, Thomas Hunt, received it in patent from Governor Nicoll. In this way the old grange and surrounding lands passed into the possession of Mr. Ferris, and we may add that a more truly beautiful section rarely exists in our extensive borough. An old map shows the Lorillard Mansion on the extreme end, while the Zerega Mansion is a little further back. Both of these seemed protected by a sign : "No Trespassing!" One of these, probably the Lorillard Man- sion, was said to have been of Revolutionary origin, and met its doom by the flames a few years ago. It is now replaced by a very handsome structure.
Adrian Block, on his voyage of exploration of the East River and Long Island Sound, was undoubtedly the first white man to see the wigwams of the Scwanoes in plain view of the summit of Castle Hill, about where the Sereven place now stands. Even after the departure of the red men, and until this very day, the spot bears the same historic name, Castle Hill. During the years of the Revolution, and on the maps for many years after- wards, the place was the property of Gouverneur Morris Wil- kins, and I have learned that it had, a short time ago, passed into the possession of the Portchester Railroad. Almost hidden by the surrounding trees stands the old mansion, "Castle Hill," for many years the abode of the Rev. Isaac Wilkins, rector of St. Peter's Church, Westchester, a respected member of the Colonial Assembly, and, it must be added, a most sincere and outspoken Tory. His residence became the refuge of three other Loyalist clergymen, who found their own parishes too patriotic for then.
One of these was the Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury, also for a time rector of St. Peter's Church, the first bishop of the Pro- voyage over to England in order to be ordained. During the Revolution, Dr. Seabury wrote a most remarkable series of pamphlets, each one fairly ablaze with Loyalist doctrines, which so aroused the ire of the Americans, that the worthy bishop was captured while in New Haven and publicly paraded through the streets. On finding the proof of his authorship insufficient, they allowed him to return to Westchester and the enraged populace contented themselves with burning all of his documents that they
could lay hands on, after decorating them well with tar and feathers. The Rev. Mr. Wilkins came very near being seized as the writer of these papers, but succeeded in proving an alibi. As a climax, some one else stepped in and laid claim to the author- ship, to whom the British government granted a handsome pen- . sion, while Dr. Seabury, the real originator, never received so much as a farthing. and came near losing his life at that.
Dr. Seabury and his friends were compelled to keep in the closest hiding while at Castle Hill. For a long time none of them dared stir from the dark recesses of an old chimney-corner where food was lowered to them through an improvised trap door. So ingeniously constructed was their refuge in the old- fashioned chimney that they managed to escape detection in spite of the thorough and persevering searches that were constantly made for them throughout the old mansion.
The names of the other clergymen were Drs. Cooper and Chandler. From a letter written by Dr. Seabury we learn that the charge brought against them was "that they have. in con- nection with the society and the British Ministry, laid a plan for enslaving America."
The secret chamber in which the three men hid was one that the builders had left unfinished by the side of the chimney. The room-if room it may be called-is extremely deep and narrow, extending to the bottom of the chimney in the cellar, with an entrance through a trap door in the floor of the room overhead. As we have said, although the house was repeatedly searched and surrounded for some time, this secret room re- mained undiscovered. After a week the prisoners escaped through a subterrancan passage, connecting the cellar with the creek about a hundred feet away. Not very long ago some workmen. in digging. came upon an underground passage, which according clergymen made good their escape.
"It is hard to realize now," says some one. "when the country is being rapidly changed by the erection of blocks of brick houses and other buildings, that Westchester was ever sufficiently wild to have been the scene of such acts of savagery as are recorded in history, and it would be well to mark the spots of most inter- est before the encroaching city obliterates all the traccs which now remain."
testant Episcopal Church in America, who had made the long - to all signs, must have been the very one through which the three
CALIFORNIAN SEA-LIONS.
CLINTON AVENUE AND 170th STREET, SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO
CHAPTER XXIV
PORT MORRIS AND "THE HUSSAR "
Riker's Island-Two Brother Islands-Various Accounts of the Lost "Hussar"
Passing by for the moment, Hunt's Point with all its interest- ing historical associations and memories, we come to Port Morris, it present mostly occupied by gas-tanks and manufacturing in- Justries.
Off in the Sound lies Riker's Island, a dreary looking waste n the water, increased in size, I understand, by the fillings from the Street Cleaning Department. To the south lie the "Two Brothers," two islands, on the more northerly of which are situ- ited the City Hospitals, while the southern island has lately been used as an athletic field, being reached by steamer from Port Morris.
"There are about half a dozen treasure-ships off our shores," says a New York diver, in relating his experiences. "The best wown hereabouts is the British frigate 'Hussar,' which struck . in the vicinity of North Brother Island and Port Morris) in :780. She went down with 107 inen on board and, it is said, : great amount of gold coin intended for the British forces. This vessel has been worked for treasure since 1818. Parties jave operated with a diving bell, have grappled with ice-tongs. ind in fact have endeavored in ways as numerous as they were "iculous, to raise the treasure. But I never heard of anything E value being obtained since 1819, when her guns and upper henthing were brought up-except the anchor, and I raised that few years ago. There lies the 'Hussar' just where she sank. nly she has worked herself a nest thirty feet below the bed of Se Sound, and if there was any treasure aboard her, it is there ' !! 1. If there is any truth in the story that comes down from ;80 the waters are eddying over a treasure of two hundred ousand pounds."
Almost exactly on the spot where search was made. a while to, for the bodies of the victims of the. "General Slocum," is this long hunt taken place. It has involved the outlay of 'er a quarter of a million dollars, involving the shattering oi my a reputation. Not until ten years ago has the State irpartment ended the quest by "exploding the myth."
Reaching New York from England on September 13. 1780, wir this famous "llussar" with a cargo of a large sum of money copper, silver and gold coin. The English forces in the Jonies had not been paid for a long time, and this money was still their complaints. Another British vessel, the "Mercury," I also left England with three hundred and eighty thousand tids, and the conclusion was that this had been transferred to . "Hussar." About this period there were rumors extant that : York City was about to fall into the hands of the Americans. therefore the "Hussar" received orders to sail up the Sound Newport. It never, however, got beyond North Brother ind, where it sank on the 23d of November, 1780, conveying
the impression that the treasure had gone to the bottom with the ill-fated ship.
Then followed the numerous attempts to secure the supposed prize. "The only treasure connected with the sinking of the 'Hussar,'" says some one, "is the money that has been expended in trying to recover it." The methods employed were certainly as original and novel as they were unsuccessful. One man re- covered from the wreck fifteen guineas, and a number of relics. including some beer mugs, inscribed "George III, Rex," and a cannon now in the museum at Worcester, Mass. I have in my collection a mass of rust, brought from the same place, fully three inches in diameter, in the middle of which is a bullet about an inch through the centre.
Finally Secretary Gresham investigated the matter, and a re- port in the Admiralty's Office was searched. The logs of the "Mercury" and the "Hussar" were closely examined, neither of these containing the least mention of any treasure. In the book's of the Exchequer it was found that the largest sum of money sent to this country at any one time during the Revolution was fifty thousand pounds, and that was sent to Charleston.
In the Admiralty Office proper was discovered a report. written by Fletcher Betts, an officer of the "Hussar," giving a complete description of the disaster and adding that there was twenty thousand pounds in gold aboard the "Hussar," but two days before it sunk the money was delivered to the Commissary General at New York, and that Betts himself assisted in trans- fering the gold.
This was the end of the long tradition of sunken treasure. which has cost nearly a quarter of a million of dollars and much bitter disappointment.
As one of the divers was exploring the bottom of the Sound in his search for the hapless victims of the "General Slocum," he was amazed at coming across the remains of an old anchor and some water-worn fragments of its "chair." "On her way up the Sound, she struck on Pot Rock," we are told, "and her captain made for North Brother Island, just as the commander of the 'Slocum' did, but the vessel foundered before he could get it on the shelving edge of the island."
Another authority states that lately a gang of Italians at work on the New York Central Railroad's new Power House at 145th Street and the Sound, dug up a strange looking little barrel, and when they found it was empty, they hurled it to where a policeman happened to be standing. Picking it up. he rubbed the dirt off, and discovered it to be a spruce wood can- teen, with the date "1778,' and in another place was the fix- tre "2." The supposition is that some shipwrecked soldier from the ill-fated "Hussar," once the owner of this canteen, might have sought refuge in the fort that was formerly situated on the site of the new power plant of the New York Central Railroad.
CHAPTER XXV
LEGGETT'S LANE AND WESTCHESTER TURNPIKE
Leggett's Lane-The Dater Mansion-The Dennison-White Mansion-The Revolutionary Cave-Oak Point- The Whitlock-Casanova Mansion-Westchester Turnpike-Janes & Kirtland Iron Foundry- Si. Ann's Church-The Pocahontas Branch Railroad -- The "Great Eastern "- Bensonia Cemetery-The Benson Mansion
Directly above North Brother Island is Leggett's Point, and near here was the terminus of that delightfully picturesque country lane, variously styled "Leggctt's Lane," "Dennison's Lane," and "White's Lane." It started at the old Westchester Turnpike, a few feet north of Prospect Avenue, winding its way almost due south to the handsome residences on the shores of the Sound. In former years it was a perfect bower of interwinding tree branches. Now, when a few days ago, I sought to find this spot, it was so lost by the many buildings that have grown up around as if by magic, that only a few trees and scattered frag- ments of a once beautiful "nigger-head" stone wall, remained to mark its course.
One old house is left, the Dennison-White residence, the
Leggett's Lane
Dater Mansion having recently been destroyed. This latter was a grand old stone structure facing the water, betokening in its stately appearance all its former grandeur, but now used as the home of a market gardener!
The Dennison-White house was situated in "Longwood Park," its entrance being about opposite the site of Philip Dater's. The old mansion itself, whose sides were so conspicu- mely blocked out in checker-board squares, is still preserved as the handsome "Longwood Club House," and Longwood Avenue. Inear by, is named from the same source.
Imagine a beautiful, woodland estate, with acres of grassy wn. varied here and there by miniature forests and giens. " ulan a stone's throw ran the densely shaded lane, along which have been told the British forces marched, in days of yore.
When I last visited this site, so familiar to mc in times past, great trees were fast being felled and blocks of houses had sprung up, so that it would require the practiced skill of a truly old inhabitant to tell where the original lane wound through its terraced banks.
A few years ago, instead of the red-coated soldiers, a daily army of excursionists tramped along this leafy lane on hot summer days on their way to reach a water resort. Then it was that the ceaseless throng became an eyesore to the residents of the old mansion, and, claiming that the lane was a private and not a public way, they sought to bar popular progress by erecting gates across the roadway. "But no," said those wise in the law. "For twenty years this has been an open road, and you cannot close it now." Thus did the Oak Point excursionists win the day.
Close to the winding lane, under a grove of immense forest trees, was situated some years ago a little cave almost hidden by the green turf. In its dark recesses once lay a pile of human bones, ghastly, gruesome and white. During the Revolution there was a sharp skirmish hereabouts between the Americans and the British, with the unfortunate result that the former were only "almost successful." In their hasty flight they carried their dead with them, until the little cave was reached, when they halted just long enough to hide the bodies in its black interior. An old resident recently told me that many years ago she had often visited the place and seen the white bones, which a phiy- sician who had examined them, declared were genuine human bones.
There was once an opening in the "Haw-Haw" fence. that led to the old lane, but such streams of people used to come to see the strange curiosities that the owner of the place did away with the entrance, and filled up the cave for self protection, leav- ing but a mound to mark the spot.
Now the query is: Will the laborers find the bones when they dig up the ground where the cave was, as they seem sure soon to do? Were the bones taken away when the cave was filled in, or are they there still? What will the contractor say if his men come upon a pile of human relies? In a very short time this question will be answered, and we shall see whether the workmen will bring to light the remains of some of our Revo- lutionary ancestor -!
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