This property formerly belonged to the Nelson family ; Polycarpus Nelson having purchased it of Henry Penoyer, in 1725.

Polycarpus died in 1738, leaving three sons, Polycarpus, Edward and Maharshnlabar. The name of the latter is supposed to have been derived from his maternal ancestor Akabashka, one of the Indian witnesses to the sale of John Harrison in 1695.

The two younger brothers devised their rights to Polycarpus. The property has since passed through the Horton, Ryer, Bailey, and Stanley families, to the present proprietor, Benjamin M. Brown, Esq.

The house occupies a beautiful situation on the slope of the

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306 HISTORY OF THE

hill overlooking the sound and Mamaroneck bay. This place is remnrkable for a very distinct echo, the true object of which appears to be the opposite residence on Heathcote hill. In the still dewy evenings of summer, when the air is very elastic, and a dead stillness prevails, every word spoken in the neighboring house is plainly re-echoed from the northern bank. " Echo (says "White) has always been so amusing to the imagination that the poets have personified her; and, in their hands she has been the occasion of many a beautiful fiction. Nor need the gravest man be ashamed to appear taken with such a phenomenon, since it may become the subject of philosophical or mathematical inquiries.''^

Several members of the Nelson family are interred north of Mr. Brown^s residence. Upon the only tombstone remaining, are chiselled two open hands pointing to a heart, with the following inscription.