Part 11 (1/2)

Whose golden fancy wove a spell As lasting as the scene is fair And made the mountain stream and dell His own dream-life forever share.

_Henry T. Tuckerman._

=Nyack=, on the west side, 27 miles from New York. The village, including Upper Nyack, West Nyack and South Nyack, has many fine suburban homes and lies in a semi-circle of hills which sweep back from Piermont, meeting the river again at the northern end of Tappan Zee. Tappan is derived from an Indian tribe of that name, which, being translated, is said to signify cold water. The bay is ten miles in length, with an average breadth of about two miles and a half.

Nyack grows steadily in favor as a place for summer residents. The hotels, boarding-houses and suburban homes would increase the census as given to nearly ten thousand people. The _West Sh.o.r.e Railroad_ is two and a half miles from the Hudson, with (a) station at West Nyack. The _Northern Railroad of New Jersey_, leased by the _New York, Lake Erie and Western_ (Chambers Street and 23d Street, New York), pa.s.ses west of the Bergen Hills and the Palisades. The Ramapo Mountains, north of Nyack, were formerly known by ancient mariners as the Hook, or Point-no-Point. They come down to the river in little headlands, the points of which disappear as the steamer nears them. (The peak to the south, known as Hook Mountain, is 730 feet high.) Ball Mountain above this, and nearer the river, 650 feet. They were sometimes called by Dutch captains Verditege Hook.

The sails hung idly all night long, I dreamed a dream of you and me; 'Twas sweeter than the sweetest song,-- The dream I dreamed on Tappan Zee.

_Wallace Bruce._

[Ill.u.s.tration: STONY POINT]

Perhaps it took so long to pa.s.s these illusive headlands, reaching as they do eight miles along the western bank, that it naturally seemed a _very tedious_ point to the old skippers. Midway in this Ramapo Range, ”set in a dimple of the hills,” is--

=Rockland Lake=, source of the Hackensack River, one hundred and fifty feet above the Hudson. The ”slide way,” by which the ice is sent down to the boats to be loaded, can be seen from the steamer, and the blocks in motion, as seen by the traveler, resemble little white pigs running down an inclined plane. As we look at the great ice-houses to-day, which, like uncouth barns, stand here and there along the Hudson, it does not seem possible that only a few years ago ice was decidedly unpopular, and wheeled about New York in a hand-cart. Think of one hand-cart supplying New York with ice! It was considered unhealthy, and called forth many learned discussions.

Returning to the east bank, we see above Tarrytown many superb residences, notably ”Rockwood,” the home of William Rockefeller, of the Standard Oil Company. The estate of General James Watson Webb is also near at hand. Pa.s.sing Scarborough Landing, with the Hook Mountain and Ball Mountains on the left, we see

=Ossining=, formerly known as Sing Sing, on east bank. The low buildings, near the river bank, are the State's Prison. They are constructed of marble, but are not considered palatial by the prisoners that occupy the cells. It was quarried near by, and the prisons were built by convicts imported from Auburn in 1826. Saddlery, furniture, shoes, etc., are manufactured within its walls. There was an Indian chieftancy here known as the Sintsinks. In a deed to Philip Phillipse in 1685 a stream is referred to as ”Kitchewan called by the Indians Sink-Sink.” The Indian Village was known as Ossining, from ”ossin” a stone and ”ing” a place, probably so called from the rocky and stony character of the river banks.

How many, at this hour, along thy course, Slumber to thine eternal murmurings That mingle with the utterance of their dreams.

_William Cullen Bryant._

The heights above Tappan Zee at this point are crowned by fine residences, and the village is one of the pleasantest on the river.

The drives among the hills are delightful and present a wide and charming outlook. Here also are several flouris.h.i.+ng military boarding schools and a seminary for girls. The old silver and copper mines once worked here never yielded satisfactory returns for invested capital.

Various industries give active life and prosperity to the town. Just above Sing Sing

=Croton River=, known by the Indians as Kitchawonk, joins the Hudson in a bay crossed by the _New York Central Railroad_ Croton draw-bridge. East of this point is a water shed having an area of 350 square miles, which supplies New York with water. The Croton Reservoir is easily reached by a pleasant carriage drive from Sing Sing, and it is a singular fact that the pitcher and ice-cooler of New York, or in other words, Croton Dam and Rockland Lake, should be almost opposite.

About fifty years ago the Croton first made its appearance in New York, brought in by an aqueduct of solid masonry which follows the course of the Hudson near the Old Post Road, or at an average distance of about a mile from the east bank. Here and there its course can be traced by ”white stone ventilating towers” from Sing Sing to High Bridge, which conveys the aqueduct across the Harlem River. Its capacity is 100,000,000 gallons per day, which however began to be inadequate for the city and a new aqueduct was therefore begun in 1884 and completed in 1890, capable of carrying three times that amount, at a cost of $25,000,000. The water-shed is well supplied with streams and lakes. Lake Mahopac, one of its fountains, is one of the most beautiful sheets of water near the metropolis, and easily accessible by a pleasant drive from Peekskill, or by the _Harlem Railroad_ from New York. The old Indian name was Ma-cook-pake, signifying a large inland lake, or perhaps an island near the sh.o.r.e. The same derivation is also seen in Copake Lake, Columbia County. On an island of Mahopac the last great ”convention” of the southern tribes of the Hudson was held. The lake is about 800 feet above tide, and it is pleasant to know that the bright waters of Mahopac and the clear streams of Putnam and Westchester are conveyed to New York even as the poetic waters of Loch Katrine to the city of Glasgow. The Catskill water supply, the ground of which was broken in 1907, is referred to in our description of Cold Spring and the Catskills.

Round the aqueducts of story As the mists of Lethe throng Croton's waves in all their glory Troop in melody along.

_George P. Morris._

Just above Croton Bay and the _New York Central Railroad_ draw-bridge will be seen the old Van Cortlandt Manor, where Frederick Phillipse and Katrina Van Cortlandt were married, as seen by the inscription on the old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow.