When New York Threw a Party for Croton Water
October 14 marks 184 years since the 1842 Croton Water Celebration. Watch our new Croton Ode lyric film and explore the poem, the aqueduct and the historical score behind the anniversary.
History articles
Croton and Westchester history, with references to the source records.
History features
When every Croton yard kept chickens
From manor rents paid in hens to a Revolutionary spy selling eggs, Croton's historical record is full of poultry — and the village's relationship with backyard livestock is older than the nation.
Articles by subject
Filters search this reading list. For names and phrases inside the records, use archive search.
Revolution & memory
Two fights at Teller’s Point—and the story between them
Letters, military records and veterans’ later testimony separate the Vulture cannonade from the disputed story of Peterson and Sherwood.
Land & belonging
A killing, a reprisal, a colonial war
How Dutch accounts connected a 1626 killing with the violence of Kieft’s War, and what those accounts leave us to question.
Land & belonging
Daniel Nimham’s fight for land
The Wappinger leader’s struggle for his people’s land, his appeal in London, and his service during the Revolution.
Village & culture
The vineyards of Croton Point
Richard T. Underhill’s experiments in grape growing and the Senasqua name that survives in Croton’s landscape.
River & water
The workers who built the dam
Behind the New Croton Dam: immigrant labor, the padrone system, and the settlement known as Little Italy.
Revolution & memory
The Westchester Tea Party: an earlier telling
An earlier account of the tea raid, read alongside the later examination of the McDonald interviews.
Land & belonging
Slavery at the Patriots’ Manor
Wills, deeds and later recollections reveal the people held in bondage by prominent Hudson Valley families.
Village & culture
The other Harmon
William Harmon’s path from real estate to support for African American artists, alongside his brother Clifford’s suburban ambitions.
Land & belonging
Croton Point, layer by layer
Indigenous occupation, vineyards, brickmaking and a landfill have each left a mark on today’s county park.
Village & culture
Croton during Prohibition
A crashed plane, roadhouses and enforcement raids reveal a village caught up in the illicit liquor trade.
River & water
The poets of Croton water
Read the verse inspired by the aqueduct, from the 1842 celebration ode to Lydia Maria Child’s poem.
Village & culture
Brinton Brook and the art of explaining data
The engineer behind two books on statistical graphics, and the sanctuary that carries his name.
River & water
Below the New Croton Dam
The construction, labor history and public landscape behind a familiar Westchester view.
Village & culture
Teatown: a name and a landscape
Conflicting memories of a tea raid meet the later history of the lake, estates and nature preserve.
Land & belonging
Askawanes and the name Oscawana
A name in a colonial deed, a later estate, and the landscape that became a county park.
Village & culture
Blue Mountain, before the trail map
The estate, county acquisition and Civilian Conservation Corps work behind the reservation.
River & water
How Croton Landing met the river
The working waterfront and the changes that made today’s riverfront park.
Land & belonging
George’s Island, from brick to park
The riverfront industries and public acquisition behind a familiar Hudson River destination.
River & water
Twenty-six miles of water and walking
Follow the Westchester route of the Old Croton Aqueduct, from a working water system to a state historic park.
Research notebook
Research notebook: reading the record again
An annotated collection of source comparisons. Each finding should be read with its evidence and qualifications.
Revolution & memory
Who led the Teatown tea raid?
The McDonald interviews complicate a familiar story: the leader’s name, the target, and whether witnesses recalled the same incident.
Revolution & memory
Pines Bridge, in the witnesses’ memories
Later interviews describe the May 1781 attack on Christopher Greene’s command and the people caught in its path.
Revolution & memory
Remembering Mosier’s Fight
Veterans and neighbors recalled a small militia company’s encounter with Loyalist cavalry in December 1781.
Revolution & memory
The burning of Crompond
Tracing raids, routes and conflicting recollections of wartime destruction in northern Westchester.
Revolution & memory
Mansfield Bearmore, remembered by his neighbors
The McDonald interviews offer conflicting portraits of a Loyalist cavalry officer, his raids and his death.
Revolution & memory
The disputed fate of Tim Knapp
Later witnesses agreed that Knapp was executed. Their accounts differed over the horse theft used to justify it.
River & water
A death during the Croton Dam strike
Contemporary newspaper reports trace the killing of Sergeant Robert Douglass and the suppression of the April 1900 strike.
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