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🏘️ Croton Local History
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is today) had a fence around it since at least 1831. In the Codicil to the Will of Philip Van Cortlandt wherein he bequeathed, “all that piece or parcel of Land . . . whereas the Methodist Meeting House now stands . . . to be used for a burying place
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for the Inhabitants of the Neighborhood, and the Meeting House for a Place of Public Worship under the direction of the Methodist Congregation . . .” he did so with the stipulation that the “Meeting House and the Fences are kept in good Order and
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Repair.” (emphasis added). 1 If you’d like to see the interior of the historic chapel 2 you can attend Sunday service tomorrow, August 31, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. For a fascinating look at the gravestones see The Graven Images of Bethel Cemetery by
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Carl Oechsner and Howie Meyers at the Croton Friends of History website . Coming next: A photograph of the tiny strip of land which once connected Croton Point to the mainland—long before landfill and the county dump altered the landscape forever.
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See the Codicil dated January 18, 1831 to the Will of Philip Van Cortlandt in Correspondence of the Van Cortlandt Family , volume III, pages 213-214. ↩ Both Bethel Chapel and Cemetery and the nearby Asbury United Methodist Church are on the National
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Register of Historic Places. ↩ Detail adjusted to bring out the lettering on the wooden arch. Unretouched image of the entrance gate to Bethel Cemetery. Although we have not seen the original photograph at the Ossining Historical Society, the image
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provided by Ken Sargeant appears to be a tintype, which enjoyed their widest use during the 1860s and 1870s. 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)
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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... Related Tagged Bethel Cemetery Methodism Old
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Albany Post Road Published August 30, 2014 August 30, 2014
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Harmon Shops looking southeast, 1914. Here are some photos of the “Harmon Shops” in 1907, when they were brand new, and in 1914, when they became the terminus of the innovative “electric system” from New York City—one of the main selling points for
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Clifford Harmon’s real estate development. Harmon Shops looking south, 1907. The photos come from articles in two industry publications—the Street Railway Journal and the Electric Railway Journal —which describe the facility in great detail and
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include maps, schematic drawings, and additional photos. Click the links below to read them. You can also click the photos to enlarge them. Interior view of the machine shop, 1914. “The Electrical Maintenance Plants of the New York Central & Hudson
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River Railroad Company,” Street Railway Journal , vol. XXIX, June 8, 1907. “Harmon Shops of the New York Central Railroad,” Electric Railway Journal , vol. XLIII, June 6, 1914. Harmon Shops looking north, with the inspection shed in the foreground,
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1907. Harmon car shop, 1907. 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 Share on Pinterest (Opens in new
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window) Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like Loading... Related Tagged Clifford Harmon Published September 26, 2014 September 27, 2014
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Surveyors working along the tracks at the Harmon Shops, circa 1906. Courtesy of Carl Oechsner. Click the image to enlarge it. Sometimes what’s most interesting about an old photograph is a tiny detail, not necessarily the main image itself. This
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photo is a perfect example. In the foreground we see two surveyors, working along the tracks at the Harmon Shops, circa 1906. Behind them—hard to make out because of the damage to the print—are some workmen leaning nonchalantly on a wooden railing.
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But in the background, on the hill, if you look closely you can see what master salesman Clifford B. Harmon wanted everyone riding the Hudson River line to see—his sign for “Harmon, the New City” which he modestly called “the most important and
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extensive suburban development in the history of New York.” Below are links to some previous posts about Harmon’s innovative marketing campaign, but before we get to that there’s another significant detail in the photo. Sand dune at the Harmon Shops
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construction site, circa 1906. Behind the bridge on the left you can clearly see an exposed sand dune in the area where the upper parking lot is today. Although it looks like an isolated feature it’s not. The flat land for the entire Harmon Shops
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facility was created over a period of almost a century by removing a massive amount of sand and gravel which once formed the “neck” of Croton Point. For another view of what was still left of the “neck” take a look at the first photo in this post .
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See the sand dune behind the Harmon Shops? Most of that land is gone today. Here are the links to previous posts about marketing Harmon. Many thanks to Carl Oechsner for sharing this rare photograph. Selling Harmon Cannon Ball Time to Harmon Newly
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Married Folks Buy . . . at Harmon What Does Everyone Want? Land 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
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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 Clifford Harmon Harmon-on-Hudson Hudson River Railroad Published September
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John Quincy Adams On October 11, 1842 former President John Quincy Adams realized he had neglected to respond— several times —to an invitation to be an honored guest at the Croton Water Celebration. In his diary he wrote, “. . . on turning over my
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letters recently received, to endorse and file them, I found one which I had totally forgotten, from . . . New York . . . inviting me to a festival to be held on the 14th of this month, in celebration of the introduction of the Croton water into the
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city. There was on the note a twice-repeated request for an answer, which I had overlooked till now. I answered the letter, declining the invitation, and sent [my reply] . . . so that it may reach New York on Thursday, the day before the feast.” 1
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Many important dignitaries were invited to the great Croton Water Celebration, but contrary to some books and a number of online sources (including—perhaps not surprisingly—Wikipedia 2 ), former Presidents John Quincy Adams and Martin van Buren,
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then-President John Tyler, and Governor of New York William H. Seward did not attend. [UPDATE: We have corrected the error on Wikipedia. Depending on whether our changes are accepted the error may or may not still be present.] It’s difficult to