Here the statesman and soldier passed the last years of his busy and brilliant career, surrounded by his friends, but not entirely free from the animosities of political life -- enmities that finall}^ culminated in the fatal encounter between himself and Aaron Burr. The thirteen elm trees planted Ijy Hamilton near his house, to celebrate the thirteen original states of the union, were saved from destruction some years ago by Orlando Potter, who paid $140,000 for the ground upon which thc}^ stood. Dr. Samuel Brad hurst built a house north of the Grange, not far from the site of the noted Watkins house on St. Xichokis Avenue. These old homes were celebrated for the fine and courtly hospitality which mingled freedom with conventionality and reconciled convival manners with the strict social requirements of the ancicn regime. The three or four dwellings last noticed lay along the line of the Bloomingdale road and covered ground

Riverside to Inwood 155

made memorable as the scene of Revolutionary conflict. The valley in which Manhattan ville lies extends from the Hudson to the East River, and was once known as the Harlem Cove and still earlier as the Hollow Way. Fortifications were erected upon its sides in 181 2. Just above the steamboat landing at 15 2d Street is Trinity Cemetery, traversed by the Boulevard Lafayette. North of this is the cluster of residences that occupies Audubon Park, where the famous naturalist once had his home. A little above is the building of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, between the Kingsbridge road and the Hudson and nine miles from the City Hall. Now we approach the section known as Washington Heights, a region of park-like aspect, traversed by delightful avenues, shaded by fine trees, and dotted with residences, with here and there some institution of a public character.