🏘️ Croton Local History
Blog posts, articles, and community histories by local historians
1,661Passages
207Source Documents
Sources
Passages
crotonhistory.org
with a dry yawn right at the base of the Point, she seemed as a shape seen in the clouds, as a fading mirage—a mysterious unreality and faintness encompassing her as the atmosphere of some phantom craft.” Clarence Gordon (1835-1920), the pseudonymous
42 words
crotonhistory.org
author of this piece, was born in New York City, on April 28, 1835. He graduated from the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard in 1855. He lived in Savannah, Georgia until 1860, in or near Boston from 1862-1868, and then in Newburgh, New York. He
45 words
crotonhistory.org
was special agent of the United States census bureau in 1879-1883, in charge of the investigation of meat-production in the grazing states. He contributed to many journals and magazines, and wrote novels for boys, under the pen name of “Vieux
40 words
crotonhistory.org
Moustache.” These include Christmas at Under-Tor (1864); Our Fresh and Salt Tutors (1866); Two Lives in One (1870); and Boarding-School Days (1873). The newspaper version was taken from the May, 1873 issue of The Galaxy, a Magazine of Entertaining
39 words
crotonhistory.org
Reading . ↩ Still standing today, but threatened with destruction. ↩ In 1873 the railroad bridge over the mouth of the Croton River was a drawbridge to allow ships to pass. ↩ A punt is a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in
46 words
crotonhistory.org
small rivers or other shallow water. ↩ When the railroad was built across the mouth of the river and the “neck” of Croton Point, four hundred thousand cubic yards of sand and gravel had to be removed. The remaining banks on each side of the tracks
46 words
crotonhistory.org
were removed over the years and there is no trace of them today. ↩ Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X
49 words
crotonhistory.org
Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like Loading... Related Tagged Brandreth Pill Factory Hudson River Railroad Sing-Sing Published July 27,
38 words
crotonhistory.org
2013 July 27, 2013
4 words
crotonhistory.org
Photo by Leslie V. Case. Used by permission of the Tarrytown Historical Society. Photo by Leslie V. Case. Used by permission of the Tarrytown Historical Society. The notation in Case’s photo album correctly notes the place and subject, but
39 words
crotonhistory.org
incorrectly attributes the wine cellars to the Teller family. These undated photographs—probably taken in the 1920s or 1930s—show portions of what was then the ruins of the Underhill wine cellars on Croton Point. They were made by Leslie V. Case, who
41 words
crotonhistory.org
was superintendent of the Tarrytown Schools for more than 30 years. The photographs are glued to the pages of one of Case’s scrapbooks, now in the collection of the Tarrytown Historical Society , which has graciously given us permission to share
41 words
crotonhistory.org
them. Portrait photograph of Leslie V. Case from a newspaper clipping in the files of the Tarrytown Historical Society. Used by permission. Mr. Case was not your average school superintendent. Among other things he was an amateur archeologist and
39 words
crotonhistory.org
geologist, who collected ancient Egyptian artifacts, gemstones, and Native American artifacts—some of which he dug up himself in his capacity as the chairman of the Westchester Historical Society’s Committee on Indian Remains. His historic 1848 house
36 words
crotonhistory.org
on Grove Street, in Tarrytown, eventually became the home of the Tarrytown Historical Society. 1 For more information on the Underhill vineyards, see these previous posts: The Grape King of Croton Point , features two color prints of the grapes that
41 words
crotonhistory.org
made Richard T. Underhill famous. You Need Not go to the Rhine to See Vineyards , is an 1859 account of a trip to Croton Point, which gives us tantalizing details about the scope of Underhill’s business. The Underhill Vineyards, 1867 has details from
44 words
crotonhistory.org
a full-page wood engraving of the Underhill vineyards, published in Harper’s Weekly in October 1867. R. T. Underhill—Doctor, Winemaker, and Investor in the First New York City Elevated Railway , which uncovered Richard T. Underhill’s involvement in
37 words
crotonhistory.org
the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway Company, the company that began the New York City transportation system. Underhill Vineyard Trade Cards , issued after R. T. Underhill’s death in 1871, to market the inventory which had remained in the vaults
41 words
crotonhistory.org
“owing to the extreme temperance views entertained by some of the heirs.” 2 The house was built by Jacob Odell in 1848 as a wedding gift for his bride. Case purchased the house in 1918 and lived there until his death in 1937. His wife became the
47 words
crotonhistory.org
curator of the Tarrytown Historical Society and allowed portions of the house to be used by the society. In 1952 the historical society acquired the property through the generosity of John D. Rockefeller II. ↩ From an ad in the American Church
42 words
crotonhistory.org
Almanac and Year Book , 1878, placed by the company which was selling the wine. “For the purpose of closing the accounts of the Executors, the entire stock of wine left by Dr. Underhill, . . . which has now become very old and mellow, has been placed
48 words
crotonhistory.org
for sale in the hands of Messrs. H. K. and F. B. Thurber & Co , New York, who in turn are appointing druggists as agents to supply the retail demand.” ↩ Share this: Print (Opens in new window) Print Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
50 words
crotonhistory.org
Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like Loading...
43 words
crotonhistory.org
Related Tagged Leslie V. Case Tarrytown Historical Society Underhill Vineyard Published July 29, 2013 July 29, 2013
17 words
crotonhistory.org
Sing-Sing Camp Meeting, 1838. Painted by Joseph B. Smith, Litho by Endicott. Published circa 1839-1840. From the Prints and Photographs Department of the Library of Congress. On August 24, 1874, the New-York Daily Tribune published an article looking
38 words
crotonhistory.org
back on the history of the Sing Sing Camp Meeting, which had been founded more than 40 years earlier to provide “a short season of out-door worship during the sultriest portion of the year.” Here are excerpts of that article, illustrated with
42 words
crotonhistory.org
sections of an exquisitely detailed lithograph, based on an 1838 painting by Joseph B. Smith. “It was more than half a century ago the little company of men and women, ardent disciples of John Wesley, conceived the idea of a short season of out-door
44 words
crotonhistory.org
worship during the sultriest portion of the year. They lived near the banks of the Hudson River, and soon after the first mention of such a project were engaging in prospecting for desirable place for such a gathering in their immediate vicinity. A
43 words
crotonhistory.org
quiet grove near Croton was at length discovered simple to the demands of the little company of worshipers. They held a series of out-door meetings, meager in numbers but powerful in the influence, and this circumstance added to the charm of camp
42 words
crotonhistory.org
life and at once made the meetings a permanent institution. The little company met again the next year and was this time joined by number of friends and neighbors. So the meetings went on from year to year in the numbers being roof reinforced by
45 words