The house, now known as the Wayside Cottage, is one of the oldest in the town, dating from a period jirior to the Revolution, and, although considerable additions have of late years been made to it, the old part has changed in no essential particular. It stands in the shade of several handsome trees, close to the road, at the very southeast corner of the property, and was built and owned by a farmer, Haddon by name, from whom it passed into the hands of the Varians. During the Revolution it was occupied by James and Michael

Varian, who, with their brothers, Richard and Isaac, were actively engaged on the patriot side. When the British army moved towards White Plains, in October, 1776, from their landing near New Rochelle, the Varians, hoping to secure some of their possessions from plunder, removed a favorite cow from her stable -- on a level with the road and under the main roof -- to the cellar for safe-keeping. When the British came up, those in search of plunder effected an entrance into the house by hacking at the door with their sabres and afterward in the same way got into the cow-stable, only to find the cow gone. Tradition has it that at this moment the unfortunate cow "lowed," thus disclosing her hiding-place, but in point of fact, the cow, and the family Bible, which was likewise hid in the cellar, escaped observation and were preserved for their owners. It is an interesting fact that the sabre-marks of the British are still to be seen in the woodwork of both the front-door of the house and the door to the stable -- vivid reminders of the depredations practiced in the Neutral Ground. After the war the house and estate passed into the hands of Colonel Jonathan Varian, who also brought credit upon the family by his services in the War of 1812, and for many years he kept there an inn.