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🏘️ Croton Local History
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forces. The Vietnam War required more than 40 ships. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1953 needed storage space for large volumes of government-owned wheat, it turned to the Hudson River Reserve fleet. During the following ten years more
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than 53,563,948 bushels of wheat were loaded into 231 ships. Approximately 255,000 bushels of wheat were stored in each ship with the number of ships carrying wheat at any given time ranging from 70 to 90. The last ship was unloaded in 1963. Ships
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that had stored wheat rose about twelve feet higher above the water surface and exposed a bright orange band of rust. A ventilation system had been installed in the ships, making it possible to maintain the quality of the wheat for long periods of
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storage. This saved the U.S. government some five million dollars on commercial storage estimates. None of the grain, sold to foreign countries in the 1960s, was found to be spoiled when unloaded. . . . The ships were kept in condition . . . by a
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crew of 86 men under the supervision of Charles R. Gindroz of Pearl River, fleet superintendent and one-time chief engineer on the George Washington, the ship which years before had carried President Woodrow Wilson to France and in 1950 burned at
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Baltimore. The reserve fleet ships, valued at over $255 million, had their machinery turned over periodically and their internal surfaces sprayed with a coat of preservative oil on a regular basis. Electrical equipment, such as generators and motor
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wiring, were cleaned and coated with a fungus-retarding varnish. All loose scale and rust were water-blasted off decks, hulls and superstructures. Then the entire outside of the ships was sprayed with a gray-tinted preservative oil. This was done at
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least once a year on each ship. The underwater portion of the hull was protected by means of an electric current, a method known as cathodic protection . . . preventing corrosion from taking place.” The images shown here come from a large collection
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of aerial photos at the New York State Archives, which has been scanned and made available online . These specific photos must be missing identifying information other than dates because they all have vague descriptions like “Multiple boats in the
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water in an unknown location, possibly in the Hudson River.” This archival mystery about the fabled Ghost Fleet is fitting because Dunderberg Mountain and Caldwell’s Landing have long been associated with ghosts, goblins and Captain Kidd’s treasure.
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We will have much more to say about those legends in a future post. . . . Quote from the online adaptation of the article by article by Scott Webber from South of the Mountains , the journal of the Rockland County Historical Society, Vol. 16, No. 2,
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April-June 1972. ↩︎ The Hudson River National Defense Fleet, June 10, 1946. Courtesy of the New York State Archives. 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
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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... Related Tagged Caldwell’s Landing
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Captain Kidd Dunderberg Mountain Ghost Fleet Jones Point Published May 21, 2016
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Blacksmiths at the New Croton Dam, September, 1895. Courtesy of the Ossining Historical Society. Among the many treasures of the Ossining Historical Society Museum is a substantial collection of photographs and other material about the Old Croton
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Aqueduct. During a visit last week, curator Norm MacDonald showed us some recently donated material that included two rare photographs of blacksmiths at the New Croton Dam taken in September, 1895. Although there are probably thousands of photographs
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of the dam under construction, there’s a real dearth of images of the workers, their living quarters, and day-to-day life. Many thanks to Norm and OHSM for letting us share these striking images. To learn more about the Ossining Historical Society
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Museum visit their website and watch this video of Norm discussing the collection (and why Ossining was featured on the television show Mad Men). Blacksmiths at the New Croton Dam, September, 1895. Courtesy of the Ossining Historical Society. Share
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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 window) Pinterest Share on Tumblr (Opens
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in new window) Tumblr Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Like Loading... Related Tagged Ossining Historical Society Museum Published May 22, 2016 May 22, 2016
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Detail from a promotional postcard for Harmon captioned “View of Benedict Boulevard, where it crosses Broadway.” Circa 1907. One hundred and nine years ago this month lots in Harmon were “selling . . . like hot cakes,” according to an article in the
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May 24, 1907 issue of the Katonah Times . 1 “One mile north of Ossining on the Hudson River there has sprung up a new town. Its name is Harmon. It was laid out a short time ago into village lots and they are selling to day like hot cakes. Although
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the first public announcement of the new property at Harmon was made only two weeks [ago], large crowds have been visiting the property every day. A special excursion train, leaving the Grand Central Station . . . on Sunday, May 5, carried over five
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hundred people, of whom almost one fourth purchased property. The total sales for that day were 140 lots. If you desire to get any of this property you should visit it some week day and avoid the rush from New York. On Sunday, May 12, many more came
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up and lots were sold like hot cakes. Clifford B. Harmon, of Wood, Harmon & Co., who is planning this new city, did not expect to put it on the market until June 1st as the extensive improvements are only under way. But the public seems determined
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not to wait for improvements or a formal opening of the property. Since its opening sales have been made to people from New Jersey, Brooklyn and all the river towns as far north as Albany. A noteworthy feature of the advance sale of lots at Harmon
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is the popularity of the section reserved for bungalows. This is located around a small lake on the property, which is fed by springs . . . This idea is a decided novelty in suburban development and it is proving very popular. A large number if these
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sites have already been sold, which indicates that there will be a large and substantial bungalow colony at Harmon this summer. So much interest has been taken in this new Hudson River property, which is the first to be put on the market at moderate
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prices and the easy payment plan, that Wood, Harmon &. Company expect to have it entirely disposed of within a very short space of time.” We suspect everything in this article was fed to a credulous reporter by the master salesman himself, but that
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only adds to its charm. As we’ve recounted in previous posts Clifford Harmon was a master of real estate marketing, who ran newspaper ads telling everyone that “All New York is Amazed!” at the “Quickest and Most Successful Real Estate Development in