WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY

The early days of Westchester County, NY, and its various towns and townships are recalled through a mixture of colorful tales and factual data in this NEW 58 Page Booklet, reprinted primarily from two hard-to-find books: the 1841 edition of Historical Collections of the State of New York by John Warner Barber and Henry Howe, and New York, a Guide to the Empire State, a WPA project.
The spiral-bound booklet, sold exclusively on eBay, is one-sided on 60# paper, with the print enlarged for easier reading. A clear vinyl sheet has been added to protect the front cover.
The communities mentioned (alphabetized by first letter only) include: Bedford, Blue Mountain Reservation, Bronx, Cortland, Croton-on-Hudson, Harmon, Hastings-on-Hudson, Cross River, Dobbs Ferry, East Chester, Greensburgh, Hastings, Harrison, Irvington, Larchmont, Lewisboro, Mamaroneck, Mt. Pleasant, Mt. Vernon, Newcastle, New Rochelle, Northcastle, North Salem, North Tarrytown, Ossining, Owensville, Peeksville, Pelham, Pelham Manor, Pleasantville, Port Chester, Poundridge, Rye, Scarborough, Scarsdale, Somers, Sing Sing, Sparta, Tarrytown, Tuckahoe, Unionville, Westchester, West Farms, White Plains, Whitlockville, Yonkers and Yorktown.
Among the many and diverse topics in the booklet are: the life of John Jay; detailed account of the capture of the spy Andre, and honors awarded his captors; Revolutionary War actions in White Plains and in Peeksville; a visit with Sarah Bishop, a hermitess; letter deploring cruelty of the British Army; Distruction of Mamaroneck area; Sing Sing Prison; the Church in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow; Life of Gouveneur Morris; the Boston Post Road; Somers, "birthplace of the American circus"; the ill-fated steamship race between the Henry Clay and the Armenia. There are separate sections on New Rochelle and Yonkers, and numerous bits of history and trivia about the Westchester area.
The booklet has no index, but some of the names/sir names mentioned are: Gen. McDougal, Lt. Col. Willet, John Paulding, Isaac Van Wart, David Williams, Isaac H. Tiffany, James Delancy, Capt. E. Lynds, Frederick Philips, the Van Cortlandt family, Cornelia Beekman, Throckmorton, Abraham Bush, Gen. Israel Putnam, Samuel Brown, Dame Tamar Haviland, James Fenimore Cooper, the De Lancey family, Col. Caleb Heathcote, D. W. Griffith, pioneer film director, Ethel Barrymore, Robert Ripley, James Montgomery Flagg, Rev. Robert Bolton, Thomas Pell, Jan Peek, Chauncey Depew, Daniel Strange, Edward Palmer (a Tory spy), Hachaliah Bailey, "Uncle Nate" Howes, the Varian family, Anne Hutchinson, Horace Greeley, John Peter senger, Billy Crawford, John Stevens, Staats Morris Dyckman, John Peach Cruger, Max Eastman, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Dudley Field Malone, Doris Stevens, Mabel Dodge, Mauice Stern, Floyd Dell, John Reed, Boardman Robinson, Stuart Chase, Harry Kelly, Elizabeth Moos, Margaret Hatfield, Rev. George Whitefield, Aaron Ward, Robert Havell, the Rockefeller family, Edwin Bartlett, John Charles Fremont, Frederick Philipse, John Paulding, David Williams, Isaac Van Wart, Jay Gould, Philip R. Paulding, Cyrus W. Field, Anna E. Poth, Mrs. C. J. Walker (pioneer black businesswoman), James Alexander Hamilton, Jeremiah Dobbs, Philip Livingston, Dr. John W. Draper, William Saunders, Johannus Stalton, Carl Brandt (portrait painter), Anthony Corlaer, Andrew Jackson Downing, and many others.
ILLUSTRATIONS depict the Residence of Chief Justice Jay in Bedford; the village of Peekskill; the Van Tassel House -- residence of Washington Irving; the Place Andre was Captured; Sing Sing Prison; an Ancient Dutch Church; and White Plains Village.
The Howe/Barber history covers the development of this area until about 1841, while excerpts from the WPA book, give a nostalgic glimpse from a 1940 vantage point, including interesting historical notes, especially as they relate to sightseeing possibilities. There's also a small map of the area from a 1948 booklet printed by the New York Telephone Company.