USA > New York > New York City > Old New York : a journal relating to the history and antiquities of New York City, Vol. I > Part 29
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and for many years afterwards, a beautiful promenade laid out in ample squares of green turf with convenient interstices of broad gravel walks and thickly studded with large trees of ehn and maple. Here of a Summer's afternoon might be seen nurses with their infant charges disporting in the shade upon the soft green carpet and inhaling the health inspiring breeze as it came fresh and pure through the Narrows from the ocean. Here, too, came children of a larger growth, some to spend a leisure hour in the enjoyment of the beautiful scenery spread out before them and others for the mere relaxation from labor. The spacious bay be- fore them would be alive with sails of all descriptions, from the little fairylike pleasure boat up to the huge East Indiaman, with all the sails spread to the wind, going out or returning with valu- able cargoes. Just in front were the islands, Ellis's and Gibbet, and in the distance Staten Island, before which was a small fleet of foreign shipping riding out at Quarantine. A little to the left was Governor's Island with its fort and the three story battery of Castle Williams, while around the point of the island the Narrows were visible for quite a distance towards the ocean. On the left also was Long Island, with the city of Brooklyn and the East River. Within the range of vision on the right was New Jersey with its Snake Hill looming up far above the surrounding country. Near the west end of the Battery there was built during the war of 1812 a large circular fort, which is now known as Castle Garden. After the war closed it became a pleasure garden, much frequented by the young during the Summer months. It was here that Lafayette landed when he visited this country ; likewise Gen. Jackson when he made his Northern tour. and Black Hawk with his son Tommy Hawk. Black Hawk upon witnessing a balloon ascension dryly remarked that the white man might as well continue his journey up and pay a visit to the Great Spirit.
Greenwich was then the lowest street towards the river. but now Washington and West streets are below it. On the corner facing the Battery -tood an unpretending two story house in which Robert Fulton. the successful inventor of the steamboat, lived and died. Going north. at the Albany Basin, between Ree- tor and Thames streets, the Albany boats discharged their cargoes of lumber and produce and received their return freight of for
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eign and domestie goods. On the right or upper side of the street was the graveyard of Trinity Church, and on the left the Basin. The river at that time came so near Greenwich street that at ebb tide the bottom at the doek was bare for quite a dis- tanee.
Our family resided in Liberty street near the doek when I was twelve years old. One day I ventured too near the end of the pier and slipped in feet foremost. When I came to the surface I found myself fifteen or twenty feet from the dock, with the tide rapidly running out. I struck out vigorously for land, which I was successful in reaching, when I was helped up by a stone- cutter who was attraeted by the screams of my sister.
On the southwest corner of Cortlandt street was the first mu- seum in the city. It was owned by a Mr. Savage. In that mu- seum for the first time I saw the great white polar bear, or rather his skin stuffed ; there was also on exhibition a Suwarrow boot of colossal size. The Suwarrow boot afterwards became very fash- ionable in the city. Mr. Savage kept an electric battery for the benefit of his visitors, whom he delighted in shocking. The mu- sein was sold, whereupon it was considerably enlarged and became known as Scudder's. It was finally sold to the great Barmim. So the little insignificant museum of Savage was the nucleus of the most varied and extensive collection of curiosities in the country.
At the foot of this street was the only ferry to New Jersey. The conveyance was in boats with two sails and without decks called periaugers, which were used when there was wind, and long, nar- row rowbouts in calm weather. No carriages were taken across then, and horses seldom. as they must be forced or rather tumbled into the perianger when necessary to be taken.
My brother Calvin was of light complexion, his face, however. deeply pitted by smallpox. He had unconsciously acquired the Irish brogue from working among Irish workmen. As a natural result he was often mistaken for a native of " the isle that Nature formed so fair." One day a cartman accosted him in this wise : " My friend. I have a favor to ask. but believe me, I mean no disrespect to you or your nation. I have often heard it asserted that no venomous animal can live when in the hand of an Irish-
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man, and I wish you to hold this toad in your hand that the truth of the assertion may be known." It required the repeated dec- laration of my brother that he was born in the State just across the river to convince the man that he was an American.
In Partition street. now Fulton street, was located the Bear Market, which extended along the block to Vesey street and down Vesey to the river. Its front was the meat market and the end toward the river vegetables and fish. The structure was a mere shed open at both sides and ends, its roof supported by wooden posts placed along the sides at proper intervals. How unlike the large and beautiful Washington Market, which occu- pies the ground between the river and where the old market was !
There was one curiosity which I have nowhere else seen. On a neat little sign was painted " Jew's Meat." This stall the Jews patronized. being assured that the animals were slaughtered in accordance with their law or tradition which declares that all animals which they eat must lose their lives by decapitation, and if possible at one stroke of the axe, whether it be beef, calf, sheep or goat.
On the dock at the end of the market were seen, in the season for them, small stacks of cabbages. the perquisites or overwork of the negro slaves from Hoboken, Paulus Hook and Communipaw. They were brought over in canoes, a sight which would now be a great curiosity. After selling their stock they would enjoy the jollification of a dance upon the market floor to the whistle of some favored one. They were very improvident, freely spend- ing the proceeds of their hard labor, devoid of any care or solici- tude, anxiety or forethought for the future, but perfectly con- tented and happy.
Between Robinson street, now Park place, and the next one. Murray, was this sign: " Francis Adonis, from Paris, Hair Dresser." As there was something peenliar in the life of this man I must relate it. His customers were mostly his own coun- trymen, French refugees, and they preferred having their tonsor- ial operation, performed at their homes. Hence he was often seen upon the street, always bareheaded, carrying his hat doubled together, out of which protruded his combs, brushes, shears and strop. Upon the death of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. to
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whom Francis was hairdresser, he had left Paris for New York with the declaration that he never again would wear a hat until a Bourbon ascended the throne of France. Whether he donned it upon the banishment of Napoleon to St. Helena I do not know, as at that time I was not a resident of the city.
At the pier at the foot of Murray street, in the Summer of 1807, the first successful experiment of propelling vessels by steam was made by Robert Fulton. The "Clermont" was of ordinary build so far as the hull was concerned, but the upper works which formed her promenade deck, and which enclosed the machinery, were a rough framework covered with unplaned boards and having square holes cut out for windows. It looked more like a modern flat-roofed cow shed than like the cabin of a boat. When the morning that she was advertised to leave the dock arrived, the piers above and below were crowded with spectators who had come to witness the sequel to " Fulton's folly." as the large majority of people sneeringly termed it. I was then an appren- tice to a bookbinder, from whom I obtained permission to go with the crowd and see the show.
Many were certain of the failure of the experiment and when. after leaving the dock, and well into the river with her course laid toward Albany. her wheels suddenly stopped revolving and the ebbing tide bade fair to carry her out on an Atlantic voyage. the croakers were jubilant.
"Just as I always said." "Well, I am sorry for Fulton's friends; what little he loses serves him right." " Experience is a dear school. but foo/ can learn in no other." Such remarks might be heard on the right and left. The stoppage was said to be caused by some trifling deficiency in the machinery which had not been noticed until it was put in motion. After about twenty or thirty minutes she proceeded again with increased celerity. pas-ing her dock amid the hearty applause of the hundred- of citizens who had crowded the shore to witness the curiosity. The " Clermont " triumphantly accomplished her voyage to Albany without accident or further detention.
Early one Sunday morning. in February. 1816. I observed a great many people passing in great haste toward the dock at Warren street. Thinking that something extraordinary was to
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be seen I soon joined the throng, and on reaching the dock observed a long narrow field of ice near the middle of the river. Its length was so great that the ends were invisible. Nearly opposite to us was a boat attached to the ice on its further edge. Upon the ice were two men who appeared to be fighting. One would knock over the other while seated upon the ice ; then draw him about. now by the hands, now by the heels: then he would roll him over ; then endeavor to make him stand up, that he might throw him down again. So they continued, while a boat was speedily procured at the dock and four men, with some long boards, put off to the rescue. Arriving at the ice and finding it sufficiently strong, they secured their boat and crossed over to the combatants, whom they found to be the carrier of the United States mail and his assistant, a negro. They had left Jersey City the previous evening, and coming to the ice had rowed up and down. but were unable to find a passage. They moored their boat and took to the ice for exercise, as the night was intensely cold. The negro soon became chilled through and consequently sleepy, and he begged that he might be permitted to take just a short nap. His companion, knowing the fatal result which would ensue, refused to grant his petition, and as a preventive kept him moving, but he had all he could do to keep him alive until relief came. This, of course, accounted for their strange appearance when first seen from the shore. The rescuing party drew the boat across the ice and then all came safely to the dock. The poor negro, with nose, ears and fingers frozen, and whiter than ever before. had to be lifted from the boat to the dock. but his companion in peril. a short heavy man, was unin- jured. At that time. 1s16, the Southern mail consisted of two ordinary mail bags brought over in a small rowboat.
The terminus of the city a> it was in 1803 was at Beach street. There was no longer a street. but this was Greenwich Road. two miles from the Battery. Here on the right was a large salt marsh extending north to Spring street and cast to Broadway and the Colleet. The outlet to the river was a small creek nearly on a line with the present Canal street. The marsh, or Lispenard's meadow, as it was then called. was bounded on the north and northeast by high sandy hills, conical in form, which have long
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since been leveled and their contents deposited in the marsh. St. John's Episcopal Church, the foundation of which I saw laid, on Varick street, is situated on what was then the southern edge of this marsh. St. John's Park, between Hudson and Varick, con- taining three or four acres, I saw filled in, fenced and planted with young elm and maple trees. It became a beautiful prome- nade, but was afterwards purchased by Vanderbilt, and is now the site of the great depot of the Hudson River Railroad. Many a Winter day, when a boy, I skated over this meadow covered with ice, and in Summer with thread and pin hook I fished for minnows in the creek.
Above the docks, the shore was thickly strewn with pine logs of all lengths from ten to thirty feet. These logs, which had been brought down the river in rafts, were to be used in the con- struction of the city docks, and were drawn endwise up the bank, the longer ones extending into the water. This made an excel- lent place for bathing, and here many of my companions as well as myself learned the art of swimming.
Spring Street was then but a road leading to Broadway. About midway between the latter street and Greenwich Road was the Manhattan Spring, from which water was conveyed in logs to the reservoir in Chambers street, directly in the rear of the City Hall, where it was forced up into a large tank at the top of the building by means of a steam engine -- the first one I ever saw -- and thence distributed over a part of the city.#
Above Spring street at short distance> apart were the country resi- dences of merchants and wealthy citizens. One of the most ele- gant and imposing structures was the home of the once famous but afterwards infamous Aaron Burr. His duel with Hamilton was at Weehawken on the Hudson, on the morning of July 11, 1804. Upon the first fire Hamilton fell mortally wounded. He was taken to his home in the city, where he died the following day. A white marble monument was erected on the spot where he fell. but it has since been removed. In the Summer of 1816.
* Mr. Morhouse was in error here. The water for the Manhattan reservoir came from its neighborhood, and did not come from the source in Spring street, which was a fine, large spring, as might be inferred from the fact that the street was named after it.
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in company with my brother Calvin, I went over to Weehawken in a small boat and landed at the dueling ground where many a man has endeavored to heal his wounded honor with the blood of his fellow man. The place and surroundings look as if Nature had almost intended it for the duelist. It is a smooth level plat, about one hundred feet long and seventy or eighty feet wide, en- closed on three sides by high precipitous rocks, and its front washed by the waves of the river. I think there was no entrance to the place except by water. The monument was still standing at the time of our visit, but was shockingly mutilated. Nearly every projecting corner of the stones had been broken off and carried away by curiosity hunters, who seemed to consider the monument common property. Acting in accordance with this sentiment, I selected a stone with but one small corner missing. and coneluding that for the sake of uniformity it should lose more I accordingly appropriated a large fragment, which I brought away with me, and after smoothing and polishing I inscribed in my best style of lettering :
Broken Aug. 3rd, 1816, from the monument, on the shore of the Hudson, erected on the spot where Gen. Hamilton fell in a duel with Col. Burr, July 11, 1:04.
This memento I carefully preserved among my choicest relics for many years, but it was long since lost or mislaid.
In 1817 I saw Burr in New York. He was then an old man, about medium height, very thin and straight, dressed in black, and his hair was so profusely powdered that a superfluous portion adhered to his coat collar. His hair hung far down his back in the inevitable quene, which in accordance with the fashion of the time was tied with a wide black ribbon in a double bow knot.
While Burr was in France his house on Richmond Hill was untenanted and closed. but a tool house on the place was found to be open by us rambling boys, and there at one end we found still remaining the target upon which he doubtless practiced with his pistol before the duel. Hle could make the distance about thirty feet, and for that distance the practice was excellent.
Above this was the State prison. The guard of the prison was under command of Capt. Baldwin, who in his youthful days had been rather wild and reckless. When he enlisted in the army
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of the Revolution he had declared that he would return wearing a gold chain or a wooden leg. He made his promise good, but it was with the wooden leg and not with the gold chain. He was a good tactician, and although a severe disciplinarian he was usually well liked by his forty men, among whom he would stump around with all the dignity of a major-general. There was a sewer about two feet in diameter, of heavy oak plank, extending from the large vault in the prison to the river. At flood tide the water would reach the floor of the vault, and then receding leave it thoroughly cleansed. At ebb tide the end of the sewer at the dock was just above the surface of the water.
A prisoner named Burns thought here was a chance for escape. Unobserved he descended to the floor of the vault and entered the sewer head first. When he had accomplished about half the distance to the river he found further progress effectually prevented by large iron bars which were bolted securely to the planks, leaving space not large enough even to admit his head. Greatly disappointed at his failure, he was obliged to retreat feet foremost to the vault, from which he found himself unable to emerge withont assistance. He accordingly called loudly for help, and upon being lifted out was punished severely for attempting to escape. His next plan was to fire the prison, which he succeeded in doing unobserved by any of the guards. The alarm was given at 11 p. M., and by daylight the workshops and manufactories were in ruins. The engines from the city arrived too late, for the outer wall had first to be broken down to make it possible for them to enter. The prisoners were all handeuffed with their hands behind them and then marched, surrounded by gnards, outside the walls. A long chain was then passed between the arms of each man and carefully seeured at each end : they looked like a long line of soldiers in uniform but without arms. For the erime Burns was sentenced to solitary confinement in a dungeon for life, condemned never again to be- hold the light of the sun.
At the Potter's Field, now Washington Square, not only strangers were buried. but all whose friends were unable to pur- chase graves in the churchyards of the city. which even at that time were very expensive : then a city ordinance prohibited the burial of any person dying of yellow fever in the city cemeteries,
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and they, too, were interred in the Potter's Field. Therefore the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the native and foreigner, found a resting place here. Although including about ten aeres, the space was entirely occupied by the time the cemeteries off the island were established. There were many beautiful and costly monuments, together with those of humble worth, but all have been removed, the graves leveled. and the whole converted into a beautiful park and military parade ground."
I will now return to the south end of the city. On my first visit, and for several years afterward, the little park, known as the Bowling Green, was enclosed with a connnon pale fence witli- out gates and consequently never open to the public as a prome- .nade. It was oval in form, and contained about two acres. Near the centre stood a pedestal of mason work about four feet high, partly in ruins, on which had reposed in former times the eques- trian statue of King George the Third, but when tyranny of the mother country had been such as to exceed the utmost bounds of endurance on the part of the colonists, when they were no longer treated or considered as subjects, but rather as slaves. when they were denied their rights under the Constitution, the great Magna Charta of their liberty. they declared themselves free and inde- pendent, and when they raised the standard of rebellion they at the same time razed to the ground the symbol of subjection and royalty, both horse and rider. Tradition assures us that as the statue was composed of lead the patriots, melting it, converted it into bullets with which they expelled the mercenaries of the King from our shores.
Garden street was the first one going north. In this little street was located, I think. the first post office of the city, in a very or- dinary two story building, which possibly was visited by Dr. Franklin during his three weeks' tour of all the post offices in the country. in his " one hoss shay," while he was Postmaster General over all His Majesty's colonies in America.
Directly at the head of Wall. on Broadway, stands Trinity Church. During the Revolution the structure was destroyed by
* The old Potter's Field was leveled and Washington Square laid out upon its site in 1823. In the same year a law was passed forbidding interment south of Canal street.
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fire. as the inscription on the front wall informs us, but was after- wards rebuilt and enlarged. It is a large building of gray stone. Its interior is spacious and finished in the most beautiful and costly style. When I was there last, and I presume it is the same now, services were held each day in the week. This they can well afford, for theirs is the most wealthy ecclesiastical body in the country.
The spire of Trinity Church was the highest in the city, and the belfry. even at that early time, was furnished with a full chime of bells which on our National holidays rang outright mer- rily with " Hail Columbia" and " Yankee Doodle," while on Sun- days the good old tunes of Windham, Lenox and Old Hundred could be heard quite over the city as it was then. The yard in- elndes a full block, and interments were continued until most of the ground had been more than once excavated. In the southeast corner is a beautiful white marble monument erected to the mem- ory of Alexander Hamilton by the " Cincinnati Society," of which he was an honored member.
Maiden lane extends from Broadway to East River. Directly opposite is Cortlandt street, extending to the Hudson. where we find the ferry to New Jersey, while at the foot of Maiden lane we find the ferry to Brooklyn. In that early time these two ferries were the only ones by which to leave the city. Conveyance on the East River was exclusively in large rowboats, and the fre- queney of the trips depended largely on the number of passen- gers to and fro and the condition of the river. The milk used in the city was brought from Long Island by the milkmen in their own boats and then carried about the streets in two cans suspended from a yoke, such as sugar makers use, npon their shoulders. The fare on the Hudson at that time, and long afterwards. was nine cents and on the East River six cents.
At the head of Maiden lane was a small market in the centre of the street, known as the Oswego Market, which was long since removed. At the foot of the street was the old Fly Market, which was very similar to the Bear Market.
The first Indian I ever saw was sitting in a stall in the Oswego Market, clad in his buckskin leggings, his moccasins and the in- dispensible blanket. Whole families sometimes came to the
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city from Albany and points farther north. We boys were often amused to watch the precision and dexterity with which even the smaller Indian boys handled their national weapon. We would place a penny on the top of a stick six inches in height at one side of the street, and an Indian boy from the opposite side would seldom fail to shoot it off with his arrow. Their only garment consisted of the inevitable blanket, secured at the neck with a brooch, and wearing about the loins a sash of some bright red or yellow.
It was quite customary then for shopmen to designate upon their signs what part of the world they came from, thinking by this means to induce more customers to call. Thus you would see :
STEPHEN DANDO, from London, Hutter.
DONALD MCINTYRE, from Edinborough, Dyer.
LAW AND BUTTE, from Glasgow, Boot Makers.
ANTOINE ARNEUX, A In Paris. Marchand Tailleur.
STINA PERUVIN, from Vienna, Perfumery.
In Jolm street, between Nassau and William streets, is the oldest Methodist church in the city. On a beautiful white marble tablet inserted in the front wall is an inscription to the memory of the Rev. John Summerfield. He was young, eloquent and beloved by all. At the ends of Fulton street are located the two principal markets of the city -- Fulton on the east and Washington on the west. On the corner of Fulton and William stood the old Dutch Reformed Church where, and in a building since erected upon its site. for years has been held the daily noon prayer meeting. The church. being situated on the corner of two principal streets, the services were often disturbed by the noise of passing vehicles. To obviate this difficulty the church ob- tained permission from the City Council to close the streets during the hour of service by extending a chain across cach street a short distance above and below the church, but this was done only during the Summer of 1815.
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