For example, Bedford, lying in the northern central part of the county, remote from New York City, peopled exclusively by farmers, and from its natural conditions incapable of any development other than agricultural, had nearly as many inhabitants as Westchester and Yonkers combined, although the united area of Westchester and Yonkers was some 1,500 acres greater than that of Bedford. Poundridge, smaller than Yonkers, had never theless almost as many inhabitants. Lewisboro was more populous than Greenburgh, though not very much exceeding it in size. Yorktown had only a hundred fewer inhabitants than Eastchester. White Plains, Scarsdale, and Pelham together. Still another fact stands out prominently: the localities which were least exposed to the ravages of the contending forces during the Revolution were those showing the most satisfactory conditions of population.

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

The purely agricultural character of Westchester County at the end of the eighteenth century is perfectly demonstrated by these In truth, there was at that time no single village census returns. displaying circumstances of local activity from which the prospect The existence of any substantial ultimate growth might be deduced. of the foundations of such thriving communities as Yonkers, Dobbs Ferry, Tarrytown, Sing Sing, and Peekskill on the Hudson, New Rochelle, Mamaroneck, and Rye on the Sound, and White Plains and various other villages in the central sections of the county, isinrecogeach nizable, with more or less distinctness, at this period; but case these foundations were strictly elementary, represented by such instruments of advancing civilization as churches, mills for the grinding of grain, small general stores, and inns for the accommodation The only commerse. of ^travelers, with here and there a schoolhouwas that of transmitting cial industry that had been inaugurated market produce to New York, in which a few sloops were engaged, But most of the farmers preboth on the Hudson and the Sound. ferred to cart their own wares to the city. kk What a sight must have presented itself," says a writer in Scharfs History, describing a somewhat later period, " as over our three great thoroughfares not only the farmers of the county, but often, as when the river and Sound were icebound, those of the regions beyond, passed into the city with their heavy loads of produce.