" The colored glass portrayal of the " Half - Moon " on the entrance to the Pierre Van Cortlandt Ele- Encyclopedia Brittanica , Vol . 23 , 1945 : p . 90B . ** Alvin McCaslin Higgins , The Story of Croton , Quarterly Bulletin , Westches- ter County Historical Society , Vol . 16 , No. 3 , July 1940 , pp . 55-57 . mentary School commemorates this event . The point of land which we call Croton Point was known to the In- dians as Senasqua . After the Dutch came it was called Teller's Point for over a hundred years . The Van Cortlandts In the year 1681 , Stephanus Van Cortlandt built the Van Cortlandt Manor House on the Albany Post Road at the Croton River . It was originally built as a fort for protec- tion against the Indians . Here he lived with his wife and eleven chil- dren ; here he died in 1700 at the age of 57 . In 1697 , 88 years after the little " Half - Moon , " had sailed Stephanus Van Cortlandt acquired practically all of the land of Northern West- chester , between Connecticut and the Hudson River , and as far north as Putnam County . For some years he , along with other Dutch settlers , had resided in this area . Upon the death of Stephanus , his eldest surviving son , Philip , became the head of the Manor House . Philip had four sons , Stephen , Abram , John , and Pierre . He died in 1747 PIERRE VAN CORTLANDT having devised the Manor House to his son Pierre . Pierre , the grandson of Stephanus , the most outstanding of all the Van Cortlandts , was born January 10 , 1721.