Patriot's Park
Encyclopedia
Patriot's Park, originally Brookside Park, is located on U.S. Route 9 along the boundary between Tarrytown
and Sleepy Hollow
, New York, United States. It is a four-acre (1.6-ha) parcel with a walkway and several monuments. In 1982 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places
.
During the Revolutionary War
Major John André
of the British Army was captured, disguised in civilian clothing, at the site by three Patriot
militiamen. They found papers on him that implicated him in espionage with Benedict Arnold
, a high-ranking officer of the Continental Army
. After a military trial André was executed; Arnold defected
to the British and lived his remaining years after the war in England.
A memorial was erected on the site in 1853, on land donated by some members of the local African American
community. It was one of the earliest monuments to honor any event of the Revolutionary War. Later it was expanded and incorporated into Brookside Park, a late 19th-century Beaux-Arts residential development by the firm of Carrère and Hastings
. Later it became the campus of two different girls' boarding schools, one of which was attended by Lauren Bacall
. It became a park and took its current name in the middle of the 20th century, and all buildings but the gatehouse
were demolished.
, also listed on the National Register. Behind them runs the Old Croton Aqueduct, a National Historic Landmark
. The commercial areas of downtown Sleepy Hollow are two blocks to the north along North Broadway.
Topographically the park consists of two slight rises, more pronounced toward the west, reflecting the land's general descent toward the nearby Hudson River
. They are divided by the narrow channel followed by Andre Brook, which also forms the boundary between the two villages, Tarrytown to the south and Sleepy Hollow to the north. The land is mostly open, with tall mature trees providing shade opportunities, more in the north of the park than the south.
The park's organizing feature is an oval walkway with entrances at the north, east and west, and short paths to a basketball court at the south and North Broadway to the southeast. The main entrance is at the west. It is flanked by two gateposts of rusticated
granite blocks. Stone walls in random ashlar
with granite copings
begin at the posts and follow the sidewalks to create terraces
, broken by granite steps to the walkway, on either side of the entrance. They end in granite consoles.
In the north terraces is a stone gatehouse
, one bay
on each side with walls laid in a random ashlar
pattern and topped by a cornice
line. Atop is a hipped roof
shingled in asphalt, with exposed rafter
ends. Its entrance is on the west facade
; the only window is on the north.
South of the west entrance is the Captors' Monument, enclosed by a square iron fence. It consists of two pedestal
s topped by a bronze statue of John Paulding
, one of the local men who apprehended André. The older lower pedestal is a square block of white Sing Sing
marble
with a recessed panel on the west side. Inside the panel is a bronze commemorative plaque
with a bas-relief depicting André's capture. It supports the upper pedestal, a narrowing concrete block, and the statue of Paulding atop that. South of the Captors' Monument is a more modern statue of Christopher Columbus
.
Opposite the entrance curving stone steps, along with a sloped walkway from the south, lead down from battered stone piers at either end of a retaining wall
to a basin where Andre Brook flows out from a culvert
that has carried it under North Broadway and the schools to the east. It emerges from an arch with alternating scaled voussoir
s and a scaled keystone
in the monochrome ashlar retaining wall on the west side of the walkway. Above it is a balcony supported by two consoles.
The brook flows over a dam and west down a concrete-lined channel, paralleled by a stone path on the south bank. Midway along it is a small stone foot bridge, with battered stone piers and an arch, with the same voussoirs as the retaining wall arch but a shouldered keystone. From there it flows over another waterfall and under the drive bridge, similar to the foot bridge but heavier, then into another culvert under North Washington Avenue.
There are two playgrounds within the park. A smaller, older one is in the northwest corner, and a newer and larger one in the southwest, near the library. Decorative lamps line the drive, and benches are located around the park.
, the settlements that would later become the Tarrytowns were in the middle of Neutral Ground
, the 30-mile–wide (48 km) no man's land between British forces occupying New York City (at the time, what is today Lower Manhattan
) and the Continental Army
north of the Croton River
. Gangs of armed bandits roamed the lightly populated area, raiding farms in a search for livestock and other goods they could sell to the warring armies. Those with Loyalist
sympathies were called Cow-boys; their counterparts who sold to the Patriots
were known as Skinners.
On the morning of September 24 that year, three young men—John Paulding
, Isaac Van Wart
and David Williams
—set themselves up along the road through Tarrytown, approximately 200 yards (182.9 m) east of where the Captors' Monument is now. They were part of a group of eight Skinners, hoping to ambush a party of Cow-boys. A rider approached them, and they raised their guns to stop him. It was Major John André
of the British Army, returning from a clandestine visit to West Point
, where he had been negotiating the terms of a surrender with General Benedict Arnold
of the Continental Army.
Paulding, who had recently escaped from British custody, wore a Hessian coat he had taken in the process, which led André to assume, in the ensuing conversation, that the three were Cow-boys who could thus aid him in continuing on to New York. When informed of his mistake, he produced a pass signed by Arnold. The three searched him and found papers in his boots, not only his correspondence with Arnold but diagrams of the defenses at West Point. Paulding, the only literate member of the trio, read them and realized quickly that André was a spy. Williams asked André what money he could pay them, but Paulding quickly ended any talk of a payoff, swearing that not even 10,000 guineas
would be enough.
After André was turned over to the Continental command at North Castle
, he was taken across the Hudson to Tappan
where he was held prisoner. After being convicted of espionage at a military trial in the the DeWint House
(today a National Historic Landmark
), he was hanged by order of George Washington
, who had attended the trial. Had André successfully conveyed the information Arnold had given him to New York, the British could have managed to secure the Hudson and cut New England
off from the other rebellious colonies, resolving the stalemate of the time in their favor and drastically changing the outcome of the war.
Arnold, tipped off about André's arrest by a member of his staff unaware of his commander's involvement, was able to escape to the British with his family. After holding some commands in the British Army, he emigrated to England at war's end, where he was buried two decades later. Paulding, Van Wart and Williams were recognized and compensated for their roles in the capture. The Continental Congress
awarded them lifetime pensions and the Fidelity Medallion
, generally considered the first U.S. military decoration; the state gave them farms confiscated from Loyalists. Two decades later, three counties in the new state of Ohio were named after them. Later the elementary school near the memorial would take Paulding's name as well.
couple, William and Mary Taylor, donated the property they owned at the intersection of the brook and the highway. The cornerstone
was laid on Independence Day
, July 4, 1853. Among those at the ceremony were Alexander Hamilton
's son James
, and Horatio Seymour
and Henry J. Raymond, governor and lieutenant governor of New York, respectively. The lower pedestal was raised shortly thereafter, of marble quarried in nearby Sing Sing, today Ossining
. It was topped with an obelisk
.
On the centennial of the capture in 1880, the monument was expanded and rededicated. A crowd of 70,000 attended the ceremony, presided over by Samuel J. Tilden
(one of his last public appearances) and Chauncey Depew
. The obelisk was replaced with the current concrete block and topped with a statue of Paulding by William R. O'Donovan
, donated by a Tarrytown resident.
At that time there were three houses across North Broadway, dating to at least 1865. They were demolished to clear the way for an 1892 plan to incorporate the monument into Brookside Park, a new residential development. Carrère and Hastings
designed eight wood and stone Beaux-Arts cottages and a stone gatehouse, meant to blend in with the site, and laid out the park's extant landscaping, its symmetry and grandiose treatment of the basin characteristic of their chosen style. By the end of the year all were completed, at a cost of $10,000 ($ in modern dollars) apiece. Developer Eugene Jones intended to lease the units individually rather than sell them.
In 1896 he sold them to Amos Clark, who continued to lease out the cottages until renting the property to the recently established Knox School for Girls in 1911. It named the buildings, which housed its 42 students, after roses. By the end of the decade Knox had outgrown Brookside, and moved to a new campus in Cooperstown
. Another girls' school, Highland Manor, moved in in 1920.
Among the students to attend Highland Manor was Lauren Bacall
, later a successful actress. In 1942, as its predecessor had, the school moved to a larger campus elsewhere. Two local women bought the park, had all but one of the neglected cottages demolished, and then donated the property to the two villages. At that time it was renamed to Patriot's Park.
ended, three local garden clubs formed a committee to guide the restoration of the park. Following a plan by a still-unidentified architect, the foundations
of the demolished houses were filled in and planted in 1949. Over the next six years further improvements were made. New paved paths were created, dead trees replaced with younger dogwood
s and the brook channel lined with concrete. All the masonry was reset and repointed.
The remaining house from Brookside Park was used as a gymnasium and storage area until it was demolished around 1970. The gatehouse is the only building left from that development. As of 1982 the villages of Tarrytown and North Tarrytown (as Sleepy Hollow was known until changing its name in the early 1990s) both allocated a thousand dollars a year to the park's maintenance.
Tarrytown, New York
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
and Sleepy Hollow
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line.Originally...
, New York, United States. It is a four-acre (1.6-ha) parcel with a walkway and several monuments. In 1982 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
During the Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
Major John André
John André
John André was a British army officer hanged as a spy during the American War of Independence. This was due to an incident in which he attempted to assist Benedict Arnold's attempted surrender of the fort at West Point, New York to the British.-Early life:André was born on May 2, 1750 in London to...
of the British Army was captured, disguised in civilian clothing, at the site by three Patriot
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
militiamen. They found papers on him that implicated him in espionage with Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold V was a general during the American Revolutionary War. He began the war in the Continental Army but later defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted to surrender it to the British forces...
, a high-ranking officer of the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
. After a military trial André was executed; Arnold defected
Defection
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state or political entity in exchange for allegiance to another. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause or doctrine to whom or to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty.This term is also applied,...
to the British and lived his remaining years after the war in England.
A memorial was erected on the site in 1853, on land donated by some members of the local African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
community. It was one of the earliest monuments to honor any event of the Revolutionary War. Later it was expanded and incorporated into Brookside Park, a late 19th-century Beaux-Arts residential development by the firm of Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings , located in New York City, was one of the outstanding Beaux-Arts architecture firms in the United States. The partnership operated from 1885 until 1911, when Carrère was killed in an automobile accident...
. Later it became the campus of two different girls' boarding schools, one of which was attended by Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
. It became a park and took its current name in the middle of the 20th century, and all buildings but the gatehouse
Gatehouse
A gatehouse, in architectural terminology, is a building enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, fort, town or similar buildings of importance.-History:...
were demolished.
Grounds
The park is a four-acre (1.6 ha) parcel located between North Broadway (Route 9) on its east, North Washington Street to the west and College Avenue on the north. The southwest corner has some houses continuing down to Wildey Street; Tarrytown's public library is to the southeast. Across North Washington are more houses, which continue to the College intersection at the northwest. Church of the Immaculate Conception is across from the park at College and North Broadway. To the east is the large open lawn of John Paulding School, the public elementary school of the Union Free School District of the Tarrytowns, which has its headquarters north of the school in the former Edward Harden MansionEdward Harden Mansion
The Edward Harden Mansion, also known as Broad Oaks, is a historic home located on North Broadway in Sleepy Hollow, New York, United States, on the boundary between it and neighboring Tarrytown...
, also listed on the National Register. Behind them runs the Old Croton Aqueduct, a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
. The commercial areas of downtown Sleepy Hollow are two blocks to the north along North Broadway.
Topographically the park consists of two slight rises, more pronounced toward the west, reflecting the land's general descent toward the nearby Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. They are divided by the narrow channel followed by Andre Brook, which also forms the boundary between the two villages, Tarrytown to the south and Sleepy Hollow to the north. The land is mostly open, with tall mature trees providing shade opportunities, more in the north of the park than the south.
The park's organizing feature is an oval walkway with entrances at the north, east and west, and short paths to a basketball court at the south and North Broadway to the southeast. The main entrance is at the west. It is flanked by two gateposts of rusticated
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
granite blocks. Stone walls in random ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
with granite copings
Coping (architecture)
Coping , consists of the capping or covering of a wall.A splayed or wedge coping slopes in a single direction; a saddle coping slopes to either side of a central high point....
begin at the posts and follow the sidewalks to create terraces
Terrace (building)
A terrace is an outdoor, occupiable extension of a building above ground level. Although its physical characteristics may vary to a great degree, a terrace will generally be larger than a balcony and will have an "open-top" facing the sky...
, broken by granite steps to the walkway, on either side of the entrance. They end in granite consoles.
In the north terraces is a stone gatehouse
Gatehouse
A gatehouse, in architectural terminology, is a building enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, fort, town or similar buildings of importance.-History:...
, one bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
on each side with walls laid in a random ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
pattern and topped by a cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
line. Atop is a hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
shingled in asphalt, with exposed rafter
Rafter
A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members , that extend from the ridge or hip to the downslope perimeter or eave, designed to support the roof deck and its associated loads.-Design:...
ends. Its entrance is on the west facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
; the only window is on the north.
South of the west entrance is the Captors' Monument, enclosed by a square iron fence. It consists of two pedestal
Pedestal
Pedestal is a term generally applied to the support of a statue or a vase....
s topped by a bronze statue of John Paulding
John Paulding
John Paulding was a militiaman from the state of New York during the American Revolution. In 1780, he participated in the capture of Major John André.-Revolutionary History:...
, one of the local men who apprehended André. The older lower pedestal is a square block of white Sing Sing
Sing Sing
Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services in the town of Ossining, New York...
marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
with a recessed panel on the west side. Inside the panel is a bronze commemorative plaque
Commemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...
with a bas-relief depicting André's capture. It supports the upper pedestal, a narrowing concrete block, and the statue of Paulding atop that. South of the Captors' Monument is a more modern statue of Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
.
Opposite the entrance curving stone steps, along with a sloped walkway from the south, lead down from battered stone piers at either end of a retaining wall
Retaining wall
Retaining walls are built in order to hold back earth which would otherwise move downwards. Their purpose is to stabilize slopes and provide useful areas at different elevations, e.g...
to a basin where Andre Brook flows out from a culvert
Culvert
A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...
that has carried it under North Broadway and the schools to the east. It emerges from an arch with alternating scaled voussoir
Voussoir
A voussoir is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, used in building an arch or vault.Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The keystone is the center stone or masonry unit at the apex of an arch. A...
s and a scaled keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
in the monochrome ashlar retaining wall on the west side of the walkway. Above it is a balcony supported by two consoles.
The brook flows over a dam and west down a concrete-lined channel, paralleled by a stone path on the south bank. Midway along it is a small stone foot bridge, with battered stone piers and an arch, with the same voussoirs as the retaining wall arch but a shouldered keystone. From there it flows over another waterfall and under the drive bridge, similar to the foot bridge but heavier, then into another culvert under North Washington Avenue.
There are two playgrounds within the park. A smaller, older one is in the northwest corner, and a newer and larger one in the southwest, near the library. Decorative lamps line the drive, and benches are located around the park.
History
The park derives its primary importance from the capture of Major André during the war. The monument was erected in the mid-19th century. After being developed for residential use in the late 19th century, it became home to two girls's schools and finally, today's park, undergoing several renovations in the process.1780: Capture of Major André
In 1780, five years from the start of the Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, the settlements that would later become the Tarrytowns were in the middle of Neutral Ground
Neutral ground
Neutral Ground may refer to:* A No Man's Land* The 30-mile-wide stretch of land between the British troops occupying New York City during the American Revolution and American-held territory in northern Westchester County, New York;...
, the 30-mile–wide (48 km) no man's land between British forces occupying New York City (at the time, what is today Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
) and the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
north of the Croton River
Croton River
The Croton River is a river in southern New York that begins where the East and West Branches of the Croton River meet a little way downstream from the Croton Falls Reservoir...
. Gangs of armed bandits roamed the lightly populated area, raiding farms in a search for livestock and other goods they could sell to the warring armies. Those with Loyalist
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. At the time they were often called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men. They were opposed by the Patriots, those who supported the revolution...
sympathies were called Cow-boys; their counterparts who sold to the Patriots
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
were known as Skinners.
On the morning of September 24 that year, three young men—John Paulding
John Paulding
John Paulding was a militiaman from the state of New York during the American Revolution. In 1780, he participated in the capture of Major John André.-Revolutionary History:...
, Isaac Van Wart
Isaac Van Wart
Isaac Van Wart was a militiaman from the state of New York during the American Revolution. In 1780, he participated in the capture of Major John André.- Personal history :...
and David Williams
David Williams (soldier)
David Williams was a militiaman from the state of New York during the American Revolution. In 1780, he participated in the capture of Major John André.Williams should not be confused with, and is not related to, David Williams of Massachusetts, a participant in the Boston Tea...
—set themselves up along the road through Tarrytown, approximately 200 yards (182.9 m) east of where the Captors' Monument is now. They were part of a group of eight Skinners, hoping to ambush a party of Cow-boys. A rider approached them, and they raised their guns to stop him. It was Major John André
John André
John André was a British army officer hanged as a spy during the American War of Independence. This was due to an incident in which he attempted to assist Benedict Arnold's attempted surrender of the fort at West Point, New York to the British.-Early life:André was born on May 2, 1750 in London to...
of the British Army, returning from a clandestine visit to West Point
West Point, New York
West Point is a federal military reservation established by President of the United States Thomas Jefferson in 1802. It is a census-designated place located in Town of Highlands in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 7,138 at the 2000 census...
, where he had been negotiating the terms of a surrender with General Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold V was a general during the American Revolutionary War. He began the war in the Continental Army but later defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted to surrender it to the British forces...
of the Continental Army.
Paulding, who had recently escaped from British custody, wore a Hessian coat he had taken in the process, which led André to assume, in the ensuing conversation, that the three were Cow-boys who could thus aid him in continuing on to New York. When informed of his mistake, he produced a pass signed by Arnold. The three searched him and found papers in his boots, not only his correspondence with Arnold but diagrams of the defenses at West Point. Paulding, the only literate member of the trio, read them and realized quickly that André was a spy. Williams asked André what money he could pay them, but Paulding quickly ended any talk of a payoff, swearing that not even 10,000 guineas
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
would be enough.
After André was turned over to the Continental command at North Castle
North Castle, New York
North Castle is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 11,841 at the 2010 census. It has no villages.-Geography:...
, he was taken across the Hudson to Tappan
Tappan, New York
Tappan is a hamlet in the Town of Orangetown, Rockland County, New York, United States located north of Old Tappan, New Jersey; east of Nauraushaun and Pearl River; south of Blauvelt and west of Palisades and Sparkill...
where he was held prisoner. After being convicted of espionage at a military trial in the the DeWint House
DeWint House
The DeWint House, or De Wint House, at Tappan, New York is one of the oldest surviving structures in Rockland County, New York and is an outstanding example of Hudson Valley Colonial Dutch architecture. It was built using indigenous sandstone in 1700 by Daniel DeClark, a Hollander, who emigrated to...
(today a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
), he was hanged by order of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, who had attended the trial. Had André successfully conveyed the information Arnold had given him to New York, the British could have managed to secure the Hudson and cut New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
off from the other rebellious colonies, resolving the stalemate of the time in their favor and drastically changing the outcome of the war.
Arnold, tipped off about André's arrest by a member of his staff unaware of his commander's involvement, was able to escape to the British with his family. After holding some commands in the British Army, he emigrated to England at war's end, where he was buried two decades later. Paulding, Van Wart and Williams were recognized and compensated for their roles in the capture. The Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
awarded them lifetime pensions and the Fidelity Medallion
Fidelity Medallion
The Fidelity Medallion is the oldest decoration of the United States military and was created by act of the Continental Congress in 1780. Also known as the "André Capture Medal", the Fidelity Medallion was awarded to those soldiers who participated in the capture of Major John André, of the...
, generally considered the first U.S. military decoration; the state gave them farms confiscated from Loyalists. Two decades later, three counties in the new state of Ohio were named after them. Later the elementary school near the memorial would take Paulding's name as well.
1853–1942: Homes and schools
All three were dead by 1818. A movement began to build a monument at the capture site. It never gained enough support, but never completely disappeared either. In 1852 the Monument Association to the Captors of Major André was formally established at last, and it was able to bring those plans to fruition. A local freed African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
couple, William and Mary Taylor, donated the property they owned at the intersection of the brook and the highway. The cornerstone
Cornerstone
The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or...
was laid on Independence Day
Independence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
, July 4, 1853. Among those at the ceremony were Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
's son James
James A. Hamilton
James A. Hamilton was an American politician.-Life:He was a school teacher. He was a member of the New York State Senate from the 22nd District from 1915 to 1916. He was NYC Commissioner of Correction from 1918 to 1922. He was Secretary of State of New York from 1923 to 1924, elected in 1922 but...
, and Horatio Seymour
Horatio Seymour
Horatio Seymour was an American politician. He was the 18th Governor of New York from 1853 to 1854 and from 1863 to 1864. He was the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States in the presidential election of 1868, but lost the election to Republican and former Union General of...
and Henry J. Raymond, governor and lieutenant governor of New York, respectively. The lower pedestal was raised shortly thereafter, of marble quarried in nearby Sing Sing, today Ossining
Ossining (village), New York
Ossining is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 25,060 at the 2010 census. As a village, it is located in the Town of Ossining.-Geography:Ossining borders the eastern shores of the widest part of the Hudson River....
. It was topped with an obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
.
On the centennial of the capture in 1880, the monument was expanded and rededicated. A crowd of 70,000 attended the ceremony, presided over by Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel Jones Tilden was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, one of the most controversial American elections of the 19th century. He was the 25th Governor of New York...
(one of his last public appearances) and Chauncey Depew
Chauncey Depew
Chauncey Mitchell Depew was an attorney for Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroad interests, president of the New York Central Railroad System, and a United States Senator from New York from 1899 to 1911.- Biography:...
. The obelisk was replaced with the current concrete block and topped with a statue of Paulding by William R. O'Donovan
William Rudolf O'Donovan
William Rudolf O'Donovan was a self-taught American sculptor, born in Preston County, Virginia. After the Civil War, in which he served in the Confederate army, he opened a studio in New York City and became a well-known sculptor, especially of memorial pieces...
, donated by a Tarrytown resident.
At that time there were three houses across North Broadway, dating to at least 1865. They were demolished to clear the way for an 1892 plan to incorporate the monument into Brookside Park, a new residential development. Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings , located in New York City, was one of the outstanding Beaux-Arts architecture firms in the United States. The partnership operated from 1885 until 1911, when Carrère was killed in an automobile accident...
designed eight wood and stone Beaux-Arts cottages and a stone gatehouse, meant to blend in with the site, and laid out the park's extant landscaping, its symmetry and grandiose treatment of the basin characteristic of their chosen style. By the end of the year all were completed, at a cost of $10,000 ($ in modern dollars) apiece. Developer Eugene Jones intended to lease the units individually rather than sell them.
In 1896 he sold them to Amos Clark, who continued to lease out the cottages until renting the property to the recently established Knox School for Girls in 1911. It named the buildings, which housed its 42 students, after roses. By the end of the decade Knox had outgrown Brookside, and moved to a new campus in Cooperstown
Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a village in Otsego County, New York, USA. It is located in the Town of Otsego. The population was estimated to be 1,852 at the 2010 census.The Village of Cooperstown is the county seat of Otsego County, New York...
. Another girls' school, Highland Manor, moved in in 1920.
Among the students to attend Highland Manor was Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
, later a successful actress. In 1942, as its predecessor had, the school moved to a larger campus elsewhere. Two local women bought the park, had all but one of the neglected cottages demolished, and then donated the property to the two villages. At that time it was renamed to Patriot's Park.
1943–present: Park
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
ended, three local garden clubs formed a committee to guide the restoration of the park. Following a plan by a still-unidentified architect, the foundations
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
of the demolished houses were filled in and planted in 1949. Over the next six years further improvements were made. New paved paths were created, dead trees replaced with younger dogwood
Dogwood
The genus Cornus is a group of about 30-60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods. Most dogwoods are deciduous trees or shrubs, but a few species are nearly herbaceous perennial subshrubs, and a few of the woody species are evergreen...
s and the brook channel lined with concrete. All the masonry was reset and repointed.
The remaining house from Brookside Park was used as a gymnasium and storage area until it was demolished around 1970. The gatehouse is the only building left from that development. As of 1982 the villages of Tarrytown and North Tarrytown (as Sleepy Hollow was known until changing its name in the early 1990s) both allocated a thousand dollars a year to the park's maintenance.