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THE
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.306
REFERENCE
History and Legend of
Howard Avenue and the
Serpentine Road, Grymes
Hill, Staten Island
Gathered by Charles Gilbert Hine
From Real Estate Records and
Long Memories
" One generation passeth away, and another gen-
eration cometh : but the earth abideth forever."
Mine's Annual, 1914
Printed
' v
. -. : - / .
A *.
\
".": : '. .
Hine Brothers Printery
*
.
.
'II
*
Prologue:.:
^^ * *,
.
"." .' "' *
"Men toil," he said, "from morn* till iriight
With bleeding hands and blinded sight
For gold, more gold! They have be-
trayed
The tru^l that in their souls was laid;
V) Their fairy birthright they have sold
f s For little disks of mortal gold ;
(N And now they cannot even see
1 The gold upon the greenwood tree,
^ The wealth of colored lights that pass
J7 In soft gradations through the grass,
Q The riches of the love untold
^That wakes the day from grey to gold;
And howsoe'er the moonlight weaves
Magic webs among the leaves."
Alfred Noyes.
THE NEW YORK F,
r ,
rw DORP
STAPLETON AS IT APPEAKS TO THE BENIGHTED
TRAVELER ON GRYMES MILL.
"THE HARBOR-LANTHORNS, EACH A SPARK,
A PIN-PRICK IN THE SOLID DARK."
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
In that which is to follow I speak not as
one having authority, but rather as a scribe
who records the learning of others.
Chiefly I am indebted to Mr. Edward C.
Delavan, whose knowledge of land transfers
on the island is exceptionally extensive and
accurate, and who has been my guide to
much that has proved of interest. To Mr.
William T. Davis and his "Old Names and
Places." To Messrs. Alfred De Groot, Dan-
iel Wandel, Sheriff Denyse, E. D. Clark,
who lived on Howard avenue from 1843 to
1857; J- M. Bettbn, born in the Hunt
house; Ralph M. Munroe, a frequent vis-
itor at the Vanderbilt and Ward homes,
and James Vreeland; to Mrs. James Mor-
gan Davis, and Miss Violet Ward, who
readily recalls that which came to her from
her father, Gen. William G. Ward; Mr. and
Mrs. Joseph D. Lawrence, Miss Elizabeth
Elliott, daughter of Dr. S. M. Elliott, Miss
Mary S. Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. J. A.
Morton, and to others in varying degrees
whose memories have been my stepping-
stones.
his
C. G. ? HINE.
mark
ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT IS SAID TO HAVE PRONOUNCED THE VIEW
FROM GRYMES HILL ONE OF THE GRANDEST AND MOST IMPOSING IN THE
WORLD. BELOW LIES STAPLETON AS WE SEE IT ON A WINTER NIGHT, WHILE
BEYOND THE NARROWS BROOKLYN'S MILKY WAY SHINES STRONG AND
CLEAR. FROM ONE POINT JUST SOUTH OF EDDY STREET FIGHT LIGHT-
HOUSES AND TWO LIGHT-SHIPS CAN BE SEEN ON A CLEAR NIGHT.
SERPENTINE ROAD
The general history and story of
the locality, including the several
names that have been applied to
Grymes Hill in the past and their
origin. How the Serpentine Road
and Howard Avenue came to be
opened and when; also other
matters of a similar nature.
IKE Marc Antony's friend, the
charms of Grymes Hill are of in-
finite variety. It holds something
for every human temperament,
some new phase for every hour of
the day and in every change of the
The morning mist and the lazily
drifting smoke from a throng of breakfast
fires in the valley ; the afternoon sun which
picks out many a brilliant point along the far
shore of the Narrows; the summer-night
lights of the village beneath us ; the glittering
necklace of the Shore road beyond, and the
more distant lights on Coney Island, with the
warning flashes from eight lighthouses and
two lightships the winter moon on freshly
fallen snow turning night into a dream of
beautiful mystery as the eye wanders off
over the lowlands into the unseeable.
These are but chapter headings for the
multitudinous riches spread for all.
A traveler whose homeward flight ends on
Grymes Hill once picked up a magazine and
therein saw depicted our familiar view illus-
trating an article by Uorki, and under it
weather.
1
Gorki on
the View
HOWARD AVENUE C&
Signal
Hill
Castleton
Heights
Capo di
Monte
Snake Hill
Brimstone
Hill
Clove Hill
the title, "The most beautiful view in the
world." A good deal, it seems to me, for a
foreigner to admit, even under such extenu-
ating circumstances.
The early history of Grymes Hill was lost
before any recording angel looked into the
matter, but, as the Indians touched not the
high places except as hunting grounds, and
the Dutch who followed were alike low-
minded, it does not seem probable that this
region made much history before 1830.
Those first to settle on the island pre-
ferred the low country and the water side.
Messrs. Bankers and Sluyter reported in
1676 *hat "The eastern part (of Staten Is-
land) is high and steep, and has few inhab-
itants," and so at least the Grymes Hill re-
gion continued for one hundred and fifty
years.
The earliest name for the ridge, so far as
known, was "Signal Hill." According to
William T. Davis the British had a signal
station here, and the name followed as a
matter of course. Deeds of 1836 and there-
about show that the hill was known as
"Castleton Heights." Madame Grymes
called her place "Capo di Monte," and for a
time this name was applied to the entire
ridge, to be succeeded later by the present
appellation. Mr. Daniel Wandel tells me
that in his youth the part of the hill which
looks down on "Rocky Hollow," and which
was all "briars and rabbits" was known as
"Snake Hill," while the southeastern end
which dominates the "Richmond road" was
known as "Brimstone Hill." "You could
smell the brimstone can smell it now."
Old deeds give this name, according to
William T. Davis. The southern slope has
also been known as "Clove Hill," while
SERPENTINE ROAD
the northern slope was at one time called
"Brown's Hill" for the reason that E. G.
Brown helped to erect the Lederle house
on Louis street, and lived therein for some
time. This region was also known as
"Pole Hill," Mr. Taxter tells me, and he
presumes it was because travelers over its
slippery, soapstoned sides used alpenstocks
or poles in their efforts to scale these
craggy heights.
The known history of interest begins with
the advent of Major George Howard in 1830,
and of Oroondates Mauran in 1831.
At first Grymes Hill was part of the Don-
gan possessions, which appear to have ex-
tended as far to the eastward in these parts
as the Norwood patent, which lay along
the eastern foot of the hill. It so remained
until some time before 1755, when a portion
of its eastern slope was added to the farm
of Cornelius Corson, which occupied the
water front where now lies Stapleton. The
deed covering this transfer was not re-
corded and its exact date is not known.
When Cornelius 2d dwelt with his fathers,
1789, his three sons, Daniel, Cornelius and
Richard, came into possession, each re-
ceiving a strip which ran from the water to
the hilltop.
The account of Howard avenue and the
Serpentine road which is to follow covers
such items of history and legend concerning
Grymes Hill as have come from the real
estate records and by word of mouth, the
printed histories containing almost nothing
on the subject. The word "legend" is used
advisedly, as much of the material is from
the lips of those with long memories one of
which at least goes back to his childhood
's 1 1 ill
Pole Hill
Early
Owners
HOWARD AVENUE C&
Turnpike
1816
Oroondotes
Mauran
Howard
Purchases
Howard
Avenue
school days in Rocky Hollow 1836. It is
not always possible to make statements so
received dovetail with that nicety which is
commendable in a history, and consequently
we call this the "history and legend of," etc.
Barring the Turnpike, 1816, with which
we have nothing in common at the present
time, the first roads on the hill would appear
to have been Eddy street, H award avenue
and Prospect (now Lewis, misspelled
Louis,) street.
When Oroondates Mauran purchased in
1831 the property which now lies between
Eddy street and the Kendall place, Howard
avenue and the Turnpike, it was stipulated
in the deed that land should be set off on
the north and east sides of the property for
roads, and thus Eddy street and that part of
Howard avenue came into being. The elbow
in Eddy street occurs at a point where the
Corson and Vreeland farms met and may
be due to this fact and some fence or other
field bound on one or both of the farms.
Between the years 1830 and 1833 Major
George Howard purchased forty-two acres,
which included all land between Eddy and
Louis streets, a strip along the north side
of the latter and the present Hillard, Brui-
nier, Martin and Stirn properties, and he is
probably responsible for Louis, which he
named Prospect street, and the northern
portion of Howard avenue. That portion of
the property which is represented by the
Cisco place he retained for a home, the re-
mainder he cut up into fifty-foot lots which
were sold at auction on August i, 1836.
SERPENTINE ROAD
Announcement of the auction sale
of the Howard property on Aug-
ust 1 , 1836. With names of orig-
inal purchasers.
Jame Bleecker, Auctioneer.
By James Bleecker and Sons.
Sales Room 13 Broad St. Furness Building.
Monday. Aug. 1. (1836)
12 o'clock at their Sales Room, 13 Broad St.
Staten Island. A number of building sites, situated on
the romantic heights of Staten Island, adjoining
Howard Place, three-quarters of a mile from the
steamboat landings at New Brighton, Tompklnsville
and Bay House.
The view from these grounds is unrivaled in this or any
other country; the lots are of large dimension*
bounded on the one side upon an avenue, and the
Richmond turnpike on the other.
The title has been strictly investigated and is undispu-
table.
Maps will be ready and furnished in a few days.
Terms, 10 per cent on the day of sale, 40 per cent on
the delivery of the deeds, and if desired, the balance
can remain on bond and mortgage. (From the New
York Commercial Advertiser of July 30, 1836.)
The sale was held probably on the date advertised
as all deeds are dated on the twentieth of that month. All
the lots were sold except those on the northern side of
Prospect street.
Following is a list of the lots sold with names of
purchasers and such items of Interest as the records
yield.
Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, 9, 10 and 11, Thomas Lang worth,
of the city of New York, Gentleman. Consideration,
$2,660.
Nos. 5 and 6, Stephen H. Herrick of the city of New
York, Merchant. Consideration, $800.
Nos. 7 and 8. 41 and 42, Joshua Moses of the city of
New York, Merchant. Consideration $1,620.
Nos. 12 and 13. 31 and 36. Benjamin Pike, of the
city of New York, Optician. Consideration, $2,045.
Serpentine
Road
HOWARD AVENUE C&
Nos. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19, Benjamin Wood of the
town of Castleton, county of Richmond, Gentleman. Con-
sideration, $3,520.
No. 20. Wesley Cole, of the town of Castleton, etc.
Consideration, $400.
Nos. 21. 23. 25. 27 and 29, Thomas Hazard, of the
town of Castleton, etc., Gentleman. Consideration, $1.000.
Nos. 22, 24, 26 and 28, William Rockwell, of the town
of Castleton etc., Physician. Consideration, $2,040.
No. 30, Caleb T. Ward, of the town of Castleton, etc.,
Gentleman. Consideration, $420.
Nos. 32, 33 and 34, John Y. Cebra, of the city of
New York, Merchant. Consideration. $1,420.
No. 35, George Ackerly. of the city of New York,
Gentleman. Consideration, $430.
Nos. 37, 38. 39 and 40. Wyllis Blackstone, of the
city of New York. Consideration, $1,520.
Nos. 43 and 44, Samuel R. Smith, of the town of
Castleton, etc. Consideration, $910.
Thus we see that Major Howard sold 44 lots for
$18,785, and had remaining 15 lots in addition to his home
plot, which he later sold for $22,000. For all this land,
42 acres, he paid $8,892.50, Showing a profit of $31,-
893.60, less expenses of plotting and sale.
Major Howard came in 1830. The deed to
Madame Grymes's property, 1836, begins
"all that certain tract, etc., lying on the
west side of Howard avenue," etc. Thus
Howard avenue was then an established
fact.
The Serpentine road was a later develop-
ment. Madame Grymes had her private en-
trance from the Richmond road; this was
also the case with the Nesmith and Cunard
properties, while Captain Vanderbilt had an
entrance on the Clove road.
The fact that it is a "road,"' and not an
"avenue," is the best of evidence that the
Serpentine grew as required, and was not
laid out deliberately by any real estate
boomer. Between the years 1836 and 1865
the Nesmith family purchased a large tract
through which the Serpentine road now
runs fronting on the Richmond road,
the Clove road and the Turnpike. These
purchases were made from twenty-four sepa-
rate property-owners, and necessitated the
recording of about fifty deeds. In not one
of these instruments is the Serpentine road
SERPENTINE ROAD
7
mentioned as a boundary line or in any way ;
hence it would seem improbable that the
road was a recognized highway during this
period. The map of 1845 shows no such
road. In the agreement of 1867, concern-
ing Hillside avenue, noted elsewhere, the
Serpentine road is mentioned by name.
As Miss Violet Ward recalls it, the
southern end of our beautiful roadway be-
gan in a Nesmith cow trail from the grazing
grounds along the Clove road to the stables
on the top of the hill, which stood opposite
the present El Paradiso. This was so nar-
row that a carriage attempting it would be
scratched by the briars on either hand.
When General William G. Ward purchased
!865 he found that he had no access to
any highway, and so he adopted the
Nesmith cowpath by setting his fence back.
At first Cunard at one end and Jacob Van-
derbilt at the other fenced him off, as nei-
ther was willing to contribute land for a pub-
lic road, preferring that the village should be
compelled to do the work. This trouble was
finally straightened out, however, and grad-
ually the road grew as necessity required,
allowing the lay of the land to govern its
course until it came to what we now know
as the Drucklieb place, when it passed down
the hillside west of Mr. Drucklieb's dwelling
and, Mr. Drucklieb tells me, came out on the
Richmond road at or near Broad street.
Miss Ward makes this statement, know-
ing that the Serpentine road is laid out on a
map published in 1850, but she is quite sure
that the mapmaker simply accepted the
Nesmith cowpath, which was in those days
so rough that no vehicle ever attempted it a
second time if, by any chance, it could go
the long way round. However, Mr. Munroe
8
Where
Howard Av.
and Serpen-
tine Road
Meet
Hillside
Avenue
Harvard
HOWARD AVENUE C&
writes "I dislike to take exception to the
statements of my friend, Miss Ward, re-
garding the Serpentine road, but my family
left the Emerson Hill place about 1862 or
1863 and I feel quite certain that between
1857 and 1 86 1 we drove over that road
many times to show visitors the wonderful
view."
Howard avenue ran into the Serpentine
road at that obtuse angle in the Kendall
stone wall which conceals the future, no
matter which way one travels. Before the
Serpentine became established as a public
way, however, that part which ran through
the Grymes (present Drucklieb) property
was closed and the Serpentine road and
Howard avenue became one.
By an agreement made in 1867 between
John P. Nesmith, George Browne, Edward
Cunard and Eugene Dutilh, owners of the
surrounding property, the private carriage
road established some time previous to 1843,
and known as Nesmith street, was closed
and Hillside avenue, which included a small
part of the older road, was opened for the
mutual accommodation of the adjoining
land-owners.
It is proposed to begin our story at the
northern end of Howard avenue and worry
south over that and the Serpentine road, giv-
ing the history as we go geographically,
rather than chronologically.
As first laid out, Howard avenue -was
merely a private lane, gates being placed at
Louis and Eddy streets, which were closed
at night and opened in the morning. Why
any one should desire to call a country road
an "avenue" is one of those mysteries that
only an alderman or a real estate promoter
SERPENTINE ROAD
can solve. Therefore, do not build up in
your imagination a Howard avenue lined
with palatial mansions set shoulder to
shoulder, or gorgeous shops, but rather a
winding country road bordered by the homes
of those who would dwell apart from the
hurry and noise of the city. And join with
me in the hope that there is some particu-
larly warm spot tucked away in the here-
after for the author of such a desecration as
"Avenue" in such a region as this.
From Daniel Wandel comes the following
story of what may have been the first steam
railway on Staten Island. I have been un-
able to verify this from any other source, but
Mr. Wandel's memory appears to be clear in
regard to even minute details, and he has
told me the same story on two occasions
without material variations.
About 1842 or 1843 some resident of
Grymes Hill conceived the idea of putting
a cog road up its slope. The track was laid
from Beach street, which was open at that
time, about where it runs into St. Paul's
avenue ; this track ran "slantindicularly" up
the hillside, crossing the present Stirn and
Davis properties and coming out on How-
ard avenue at or near Eddy street; thence
following the line of the present highway
to the southern end of the hill. The rails
consisted of flat strips of iron with cogs
riveted thereon for the steep part of the
climb, and were laid on four-foot cord wood
sticks. The engine and rails were made in
the blacksmith shop of Peter S. Wandel,
which then stood near the shore just south
of the old Nautilus Hall, Tompkinsville.
The engine was small and crude and, ac-
cording to Mr. Wandel, passengers strad-
dled it. The chief use for which the road
A Legend
10
HOWARD AVENUE C&
Prospect
Hill
was intended was to carry those dwelling at
the southern end of the hill to a point from
which they could easily walk to the ferry.
It was, however, but a nine days' won-
der, for while the engine climbed the slope
well enough, the brakes were inadequate for
the descent, and it returned to the lower re-
gions with a suddenness that discommoded
its promoters to the point of standing them
on their heads, and was promptly consigned
to that bourne from which no engine re-
turns the scrap heap.
There is at least one irreconcilable among
Mr. Wandel's statements which refuses to
adjust itself. He thinks that the railroad
was originated and built by a son of Gen-
eral Ward, and that its southern end stopped
at the Ward front door. General Ward did
not purchase his property until 1865, and
the General was only about ten years old
when this is said to have happened. How-
ever, Mr. Wandel is sure he was a small
boy at the time, and that he remembers, as
such, exploring the track as a healthy boy
naturally would.
Gordon Winslow did not purchase until
1846, Jacob H. Vanderbilt in 1847, Sir Ed-
ward Cunard in 1850. The map of 1845,
given elsewhere, shows no road beyond the
Nesmith place. Hence it would seem that
the settlement was too sparse in 1842 to
warrant such a venture.
When the Stapleton flats were filled in
with excavated material from Prospect Hill
(east of the German Club Rooms) a tram
road is said to have been laid by the con-
tractors, it is of course possible that this is
what Mr. Wandel had in mind. Miss Ward
tells me that after her father built 1865
he and others, believing they had discovered
SERPENTINE ROAD
valuable minerals at this end of the hill, put
through a small track to the Richmond road
at or near Broad street, but this was merely
to carry ore to the lower level and, so far
as is known, no engine was included in the
outfit. As the mining did not pay, the
track was used but a short time, and those
who fathered the scheme were so pestered
by facetious references to their fairy gold
that they refrained from conversing on the
subject, and it was soon forgotten.
In the open field and woods across the
road from and opposite El Paradiso the
fortune-hunters sunk a number of small
shafts in their search for minerals. At the
edge of the road and just within the prop-
erty now fenced off for the water tower a
considerable pit was digged, but all were
filled in later as they became more or less
successful traps for the unwary.
Grymes Hill is known to geologists as
an elevated dome of serpentine. The ser-
pentine or soapstone area extends from
New Brighton to Richmond, and includes
the hill country of the island. In places
where glacial erosion was limited the rock
is weathered into a soft, yellowish, fractured '
condition to which the name "soapstone"
is applied, but where the weathered stone ;
was eroded the rock is hard and dense in
texture and dark green in color.
The following notes on the hill country
of Staten Island are furnished by William
T. Davis and, while covering more territory
than is included in this book, are given in
order to preserve the information:
"On the old map of Staten Island, made
in the year 1793, probably by Bernard
Sprong and Richard Conner, who received
13,8,0 for their labors, 'A Ridge of Moun-
11
Alining on
Grymes Hill
Geology of
Grymes Hill
Hill Country
of State 1 1
Island
12
HOWARD AVENUE <,
Archean
Serpentine
tains' is shown. It extends from what is
now called St. George to Fresh Kill Creek,
that is, to a little beyond the village of Rich-
mond, a distance in all of nearly seven
miles.
"To the early settlers this ridge of moun-
tains was full of mystery. It was heavily
wooded and there was a labyrinth of lesser
hills and valleys covering part of the area,
where it was easy to lose one's way. We
now know that these lesser hills are part
of the terminal moraine of the great
glacier. The main backbone of the ridge,
however, is Archean Serpentine, one of the
oldest formations of the earth, and into this
soft rock the early settlers dug holes in
their search for precious metals that were
supposed to be present in considerable
abundance. In the patent to John Palmer
in 1687, which covered the land along the
ridge of mountains and much more, we
read that he was to have all the ' . . .
marshes, woods, underwoods, trees, timber,
quarries, rivers, brooks, ponds, lakes,
streams, creeks, harbors, beaches, ffishing,
hawking and ffowling, mines, minerals
(silver and gold mines only excepted),
mills, mill dams,' etc. This land was later
conveyed by Palmer and his wife to
Thomas Dongan.
"A critical examination of the range of
hills will show that its eastern declivity is
generally much more precipitous than the
western slope, and in this feature resembles
the Orange Mountains, the Kittatinny
Mountains and other parallel ridges to the
westward of Staten Island. Fort Hill, near
St. George; Mount Tompkins or Pavilion
Hill; Ward's Hill; Signal Hill; Capo di
Monte or Grymes Hill; Brimstone Hill;
GRYMES HILL IN 1845.
SERPENTINE ROAD 13
Todt Hill; Iron Hill or the Yserberg;
Ocean Hill or Ocean Terrace; Richmond
or Latourette's Hill; and Ketchum's or
Cemetery Hill are names for some of the
individual prominences of the 'Range of
Mountains' of the old-time map of 1793."
GRYMES HILL IN 1845.
From a "Map of New Brighton. Tompkinsvllle,
Stapleton and Clifton. Surveyed and Drawn by C. H.
Blood, 1845".
The original is the property of William T. Davis and
Is the only one In existence so far as he knows.
This is a literal copy even to the extent of following
misspelled names.
Dotted lines on the original map indicate that the
road from the Nesmith houses to Howard avenue was a
private way, as was the road through the lower Grymes
property to the Richmond road.
Duncan avenue looks as though it was originally a
Mauran stable entrance.
Note thrt:
Louis street was a mere connecting link.
Anthon is Anthem.
Mauran is Maran.
Grymes is Grimes.
Silver Lake was Fresh Pond. (On a map of 1850 it ii
' Fresh Pond or Silver Lake.")
The north and south line that divides the Mauran
property if carried north to the Turnpike would be con-
tinued by the boulder line mentioned elsewhere as a
division line of the Vreeland farm.
The English name of the .T P. Nesmith place, "In-
wood", is as a one word translation of the Indian name,
"Monocnong," adopted by Mr. Mauran.
The Serpentine road was not in existence except that
portion which shows as a private drive from the Nesmith
houses to Howard avenue.
SERPENTINE ROAD
15
PROLOGUE
By
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.
"One Sunday I went with him a few miles
into the country. It was a soft, bright day ;
the fields and hills lay turned to the sky,
as if every leaf and blade of grass were
nerves bared to the touch of the sun. I
almost felt the ground warm under my feet.
The meadows waved and glittered, the
lights and shadows were exquisite, and
the distant hills seemed only to remove the
horizon farther away. As we strolled along,
picking wild-flowers, for it was in summer,
I was thinking what a fine day it was for
a trip to Spain, when Titbottom suddenly
exclaimed :
" 'Thank God ! I own this landscape !'
"'You,' returned I.
" 'Certainly,' returned he.
'Why,' I answered, 'I thought this was
part of Bourne's property?'
"Titbottom smiled.
' 'Does Bourne own the sun and sky? Does
Bourne own that sailing shadow yonder?
Does Bourne own the golden luster of the
grain, or the motion of the wood, or those
ghosts of hills that glide pallid along the
horizon? Bourne owns the dirt and fences;
I own the beauty that makes the land-
scape.' '
From "Prue and I."
16
HOWARD AVENUE
Lewis
Street
Prospect
Street
Fingerboard for off-islanders who
would know Grymes Hill
Ferry from Battery to St. George.
Silver Lake trolley to Louis street,
tandem, one foot before the other,
to Howard Avenue.
HOWARD AVENUE THE SERPEN-
TINE ROAD.
T
HIS way of ours reminds me of a
corkscrew Louis street the handle,
Howard avenue the shank and the
devious meanderings of the Serpen-
tine road the business end of the
instrument. We shall investigate
each in its turn.
Louis street should be Lewis street, so it
is said. But there is a small-sized mystery
that I have been unable to fathom as to
what Lewis it was intended to honor. As
late as 1874 the street was known as Pros-
pect (see Beers's atlas of that date), a deed
of 1882 spells the name "Louis" while
several deeds of 1874, a deed of 1876 and one
of 1886 refer to it as "Lewis"; the present
telephone directory also carries the latter
spelling.
Miss Lederle tells me that it was so enti-
tled because a Dr. Lewis lived in the house
now known as the Lederle homestead about
the time her father purchased in 1878. But
no doctor of the name is on record as having
owned the property, none of the local his-
tories note such a name and I do not find
any one else who knew of such a doctor.
Mr. J. D. Lawrence has been told that the
THE SUGAR LOAF OR DRUID'S ROCK, SOUTHWEST CORNER OF LEWIS
STREET AND HOWARD AVENUE. THIS ROCK IS SAID TO HAVE FORMERLY
BEEN A GATHERING PLACE FOR THE INDIANS, WHO WERE IN THE HABIT
OF CAMPING HERE WHEN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
SERPENTINE ROAD
street was named for Father Lewis, a well
known priest and a very popular man; no
one else has been found who can verify this,
but several of the old-timers think it quite
possible.
Our all-wise city fathers probably jumped
at the conclusion that the street was named
for Louis De Jonge, or possibly some equally
astute sign painter may have been allowed
to exercise his own good judgment in the
matter of spelling street signs.
Louis street, formerly Prospect street,
and Howard avenue, may have been laid
out by Major George Howard in 1836 to
open property which he introduced to
the public. A map of 1845 indicates that
only that part from the Turnpike to How-
ard avenue was then in use. Louis street
commences on the right with Sugar Loaf
field and on the left with the Dejonge
paper factory.
In 1852-3 Julius De Jonge "merchant of
the city of New York" purchased the fifteen
lots along the north side of Prospect street
numbered from 45 to 59, Howard map.
The property was then transferred to Louis
De Jonge who erected a small factory at the
Turnpike corner which has since grown to
the present proportions.
Beyond the paper factory and on the left
as we go stands the De Jonge homestead,
erected when the business was much more
modest than at present. This was pur-
chased in 1872 by Dr. John E. Lauer, a
chemist. In 1886 it was the property of
Constance Mullmann though I do not seem
to have discovered just when the transfer
was made. The lady is commonly referred
to as the "countess"; she was an educated
woman said to have come from abroad. Lo-
17
Julius
De Jonge
De Jonge
Homestead
Dr. John
E. Lauer
Constance
Mnllmaiin
18
/. F.
Fredericks
T. W. Stake
E. G. Brown
Dr. Kenneth
Reid
Clara
J. Lederle
Brown's
Hill
HOWARD AVENUE C&
cal stories agree that she, being a devout
Catholic, gave this place and in fact all she
had to the church expecting that a convent
would be erected here of which she would
be the mother superior, but finding that for
some reason, possibly because she was a
married woman, she was not eligible, she
objected so strenuously to the situation that
in order to quiet her a portion of the prop-
erty was returned and she left the neighbor-
hood.
The next house, still on the left is that of
J. F. Fredericks erected in 1886 on a portion
of the Lederle property, Mr. Fredericks
having married a daughter of the house of
Lederle.
Next east stands the Lederle homestead,
now occupied by T. William Stake. The
place was purchased in 1878 by Joseph
Lederle and has remained in the family ever
since.
In 1870 Louis De Jonge sold the eastern
end of his property, some 309 feet along
Prospect street, to E. G. Brown and Dr.
Kenneth Reid, consideration $6,000. In 1876
these sold to Elizabeth S. Beemer for $20,-
ooo and in 1877 she to Eliza Livingston and
the following year she to Clara J. Lederle.
Edward Graham Brown is recalled by
some of the older neighbors as poor, but
proud, a lawyer by profession and a gentle-
man by practice. He evidently made an
impression on the locality as this part of the
hill was known for a time as "Brown's
Hill", but more than this I have been unable
to discover. Probably he lived in one side
of the house and Dr. Reid in the other, as
Miss Lederle tells me that when her father
purchased it was a double dwelling.
None appear to remember Dr. Reid, while
SERPENTINE ROAD
the brief ownership of Mrs. Beemer and
Mrs. Livingston possibly signify that they
did not occupy the premises.
Beyond Howard avenue, and on the right
as we travel, are two houses, the exact date
of which is uncertain, the Bruinier and the
Hillard homes. (In mentioning places, the
first name in each instance will be that of
the present owner.)
The Harry Roberts Hillard house, whose
commanding position includes so much of
the view that a stranger might easily be-
come lost therein, crowns the highest part
of the ridge here. From an abstract of title
we learn that this is part of a large tract
of land which in 1718 was owned by Ellis
Duxbury and which by will he devised to
the rector of St. Andrew's Church, it being
thereafter known as the "Glebe," in fact one
of the Glebe boundary lines cuts al-
most precisely through the centre of the
Hillard house. In 1814 the Legislature au-
thorized the church to sell the tract, where-
upon Daniel D. Tompkins added the greater
part thereof to his earthly possessions.
From Tompkins it passed to Caleb T.
Ward and thence, about 1833, to Major
George Howard, who in 1836 plotted this
and the surrounding territory in fifty foot
lots, and invited the public to buy. This
section extended east from Howard avenue
three hundred and sixty-eight feet; begin-
ning at the avenue, four lots were sold to
Willis Blackstone (present Bruinier), the
next two lots to Joshua Moses, and the re-
maining frontage of sixty-eight feet to
Samuel R. Smith (present Hillard). These
were probably speculative purchases as
none of the purchasers built. Between the
years 1846 and 1851 Charles Keutgen ac-
19
Harry R.
Hillard
House
Glebe Bound-
ary Line
W illis Black-
stone Joshua
Moses
Sam' I R.
Smith
Chas. Kcut-
f/cn
20
HOWARD AVENUE
'l R.
Smith
quired all of this property, and it is probable
that he built both houses as maps of 1845
and 1850 which are believed correct do not
show any houses here. Mrs. Emma
Schering, daughter of Charles Keutgen, was
born in the Hillard house and is certain
that her father erected both it and the
Bruinier home.
The later transfers of the Hillard place
are as follows :
In 1870-2 Keutgen to Anton M. Mosle.
1887 Mosle to James C. McAndrew.
1894 McAndrew to William Rockstroh.
1900 Rockstroh to Harry R. Hillard.
The Samuel R. Smith, who purchased
these lots from Howard in 1836, was the well-
known physician, after whom the Smith
Infirmary is named. Although he died in
1851, stories illustrating his goodness and
large heartedness are still current. I have
an incident from Mr. De Groot which does
not appear in any of the histories:
"One very dark night, the doctor was
driving along a lonely road when a man
sprang for the horse's head and demanded
his money with the usual formula. The
doctor recognized the voice as that of the
wayward son of a good family, and ad-
dressed him by name promising that if he
would turn over a new leaf and keep it
turned he, the doctor, would never say any-
thing about the matter."
Miss Benham relates a story which she,
when a young girl, heard from the doctor's
own lips : "One night on a lonely road, the
doctor was held up by a highwayman, who
was so savage that the traveler feared for
his life, but he expostulated with the man,
told him who he was, stating that he had
no doubt attended some member of the
SERPENTINE ROAD
ruffian's own family in the past, whereupon
the fellow walked off without offering fur-
ther violence." The doctor was noted for
his philanthropy and attentions to the sick
poor, for which he seldom received remu-
neration.
The doctor had ideas of his own con-
cerning the care of his horses, which of
necessity were driven very hard at times.
His method of feeding was to dump a bag
of oats in the manger and allow the horse
to eat as much and as often as he wished,
and no matter how hot the animal might be
he was permitted to drink his fill under
any and all circumstances. Daniel Wandel,
who tells me this, says that the doctor
never foundered a horse. Trips were long
and the going sometimes very heavy; it
was the doctor's habit to stop along the
way at times and hire a horse, leaving his
own tired animal to recuperate.
The house was at one time occupied by a
well known champion of the manly art,
"Billy" Clarke, a boxer of note. Mr. Law-
rence when a young man frequented the
place in company with Dr. S. R. Elliott,
who, he states, was the only man who
could stand up in front of the professional.
The Ansco G. Bruinier home stands at
the corner of Louis street and Howard
avenue. As told in the note on the Hillard
property George Howard sold this corner
in 1836 to Willis Blackstone, and he in
1851 to Charles Keutgen. In 1862 the house
was leased to John S. Tuttle and John
W. Stout, Jr. When Keutgen sold and to
whom, is not clear, but probably to Bishop
John Freeman Young. The next owner
was Frederick B. Wendt, who in August,
1903, sold to Olga Josephine Jones, pre-
21
Hilly Clarke
Dr. S. R.
Elliott
Ansco G.
tiruinicr
Hi shop - f "lin
/'. Young
F. B.
Wendt
22
HOWARD AVENUE C& i
Willis
Blackstone
John F.
young
sumably because the lady held a mortgage;
she in April, 1904, to The Sisters of the
Congregation of Notre Dame, St. Joseph's
Seminary. In February, 1907, The Sisters,
etc. sold to Ansco G. Bruinier.
The New York directories from 1836 on
show a Willis Blackstone, builder, who at
no time resided outside of the city, he may
have used this as a summer home, or may
have purchased the property as a specula-
tion.
John Freeman Young was at one time
assistant minister at Trinity Church, New
York, he was later appointed Bishop of
Florida, July 25, 1867, and spent his winters
in that state and his summers on Grymes
Hill; his style of living gives the impres-
sion that he was not wholly dependent on
the income from the bishopric over which
he presided.
Frederick B. Wendt enlarged the house
and added the upper story.
HOWARD AVENUE.
It is doubtful whether one could find
within one hundred miles of Manhattan
another so beautiful, rural roadway as
this. In itself, exclusive of the view, it is
a remarkable combination of those fea-
tures that are commonly called "pictur-
esque." Most of the houses have been here
long enough to fit themselves into the land-
scape and the whole way has acquired that
indefinable something which comes with the
long association of man and nature where
both work in harmony. The gray stone
walls which give a suggestion of the ex-
clusive, by no means deprive the passer-by
of the beauties within, yet lend the same
enchantment that is found in a bend in the
SERPENTINE ROAD
23
road, mystery. We are all of us endowed
with more or less curiosity and anything
that piques that curiosity adds materially
to the pleasure of the moment, whether
it is a stone wall bordering beautiful grounds
or a veil covering a beautiful face.
Our way lies chiefly along the eastern
side of the Hill, just below its brow, and
consequently it is only now and then that
we of the roadside catch a glimpse of the
blue hills of New Jersey, our land of the
setting sun. At its very beginning Howard
avenue gives somewhat of this, but it is
only those who dwell on the summit of the
ridge that have the full sweep of the west-
ern horizon. This, however, is of small
moment, comparatively. There are many
spots from which blue hills and fair, sunlit
skies may be seen, but only one that looks
down on so much of human interest and
natural beauty as does this highway whose
praises we are to sing.
As we leave Louis street we have on the
right (west) the Sugar Loaf field, so-called
from the large glacial boulder which raises
its head high above the surrounding field
flowers. This has been in the Irving family
for many years, they purchasing from John
A. Cisco. Mr. Cisco found it a bit of the
Quarantine woods, but desiring a pasture
for his cattle cut off the trees that the grass
might grow. Mr. W. T. Davis recalls that
the finding of this boulder in the woods was
one of the things for small boys to do when
he was in that class.
Daniel Wandel states that he can remem-
ber as a boy, 1836, seeing Indians camped
about this rock. These were no doubt
Indians from New Jersey who, once in so
often, came to the island for basket wood.
Sugar
Loaf Ruck
John A.
( isco
24
HOWARD AVENUE
Basket
Wood
.1 !i n \Iartin
place
7);-. .V. .W.
Elliott
Henry
Sedlcy
In the last Indian deed of the island, 1670,
Bayle's history states that: "They re-
served two sorts of wood, however, and
within the memory of the people now living,
small parties of Indians at long intervals
have visited the island, and exercised their
reserved right of cutting such wood as they
required for the purpose of making baskets."
Basket wood was either ash or elder. The
log was laid on the ground at the feet of a
squaw, in whose hands was placed a club,
the buck sitting on a near-by stump smok-
ing the pipe of peace the while he bossed the
job; it was the squaw's part to pound the
log from end to end and on all sides. (These
were the good old days when women had
an abundance of "rights".)
At the proper time the buck would cease
from the difficult art of directing, and with
a sharp knife cut through the year's growth
which the pounding had loosened, when the
thin layer of wood was easily peeled off.
This could be repeated until the log was
reduced to a small pole. The thin sheets
thus made were split to a required width
and woven into baskets, which the women
were freely allowed to sell.
John Martin place. The original house
here, which has been added to several times,
was erected by Dr. S. M. Elliott as a spec-
ulation. He secured a bargain lot of flag-
stones in New York and standing these on
edge bolted them to the timbers thus illus-
trating in an odd way that he was not as
other men. His daughter believes that the
first tenant was Henry Sedley.
This property consists of lots 32, 33 and
34, Howard map; at the auction sale in
August, 1836, these were purchased by John
Y. Cebra. He paid $1,420, and after holding
THE GROUP OP HOUSES ON THE NORTHERN END OF HOWARD AVENUE
AND ON LEWIS STREET AS SEEN FROM THE DAVIS PLACE. FROM LEFT TO
RIGHT THOSE SHOWING AGAINST THE SKY LINE ARE THE HOMES OF C.
ALLAN BLYTHE, LOUIS A. STIRN. JOHN MARTIN. AXSCO G. BRUINIER AND
HARRY R. HILLARD. PICTURE TAKEN IN FEBRUARY, 1914.
SERPENTINE ROAD
for sixteen years sold in September, 1852, to
Dr. Elliott for $2,000, the price paid being an
indication that no building had been erected.
In January, 1870, the Doctor sold to Anne
Norton, wife of Henry Sedley, for $8,000,
and on March n, 1912, Barbara, daughter
of Henry Sedley, sold to Prestonia Mann
Martin.
The common impression is that Mrs. Sin-
clair owned this property and that Henry
Sedley resided with her but the real estate
records do not bear this out. The lady held
a mortgage on the property and may have
advanced money for its purchase but title
was taken in the name of Mr. Sedley.
Mrs. Sinclair was the former wife of Ed-
win Forrest. She sued for divorce in 1851
and won her case through a "stupendous
blunder" of the lawyer representing the de-
fendant. The case was so celebrated that it
has been published among "Extraordinary
Cases".
Mrs. Sinclair was an actress of note and
I am told was also literary. She was gen-
erally known as good to the poor, kind and
hospitable. Miss Thompson tells me that
during the draft riots of civil war time Mrs.
Sinclair harbored in the kitchen of this
house numbers of negroes, thus saving
them from attack. As she was not known
as an abolitionist the mob made no effort
to search the house and she was able to
offer the protection in comparative safety
to herself.
Efforts to secure facts concerning Henry
Sedley have met with little success. Such
of his family as I have been able to com-
municate with practically refuse to be
interviewed and about all that can be said
is that he was a newspaper man of some
25
Mrs. Sinclair
Negros
Sheltered
From Mob
Henry
Sedley
26
Charles
Dickens
Gorki
HOWARD AVENUE
Ernest F.
Slocum
Dr. S. M.
Elliott
note and an expert at the game of chess.
I am told that he was born a Smith, Jones,
Brown or Robinson, but having aspirations
for a handle less plebeian fixed on Sedley as
altogether lovely.
It is claimed that Charles Dickens was a
guest here at one time and the room he is
said to have occupied is still pointed out.
One of the notables entertained at this
house in recent times was Gorki, who
came to this country in 1906 to aid
the revolutionary movement in Russia.
His mission was a failure so far as collecting
money was concerned and he spent a large
part of his time writing for the good of the
cause and as his literary efforts commanded
high prices he secured considerable money
all of which, except enough for his bare
living expenses was given to the revolution-
ists.
He was a guest of the Martins for five
weeks, but never went about the roads much
as he feared the spies which he claimed
the Russian Government had constantly
watching him. No one was seen in the
locality who could be identified as a spy,
but it was believed such were about as
there was evidence at other points that he
was being watched.
Gorki spoke no English and communi-
cated through his wife who spoke French
fluently. She was of the nobility of Russia,
but had joined the Revolutionary party and
was an exile.
The property of Ernest F. Slocum,
"Tower House," on the west, consist* of
lots 10 and n and fractions of 9 and 12,
Howard map. Dr. S. M. Elliott erected the
building as a dwelling, this being his only
home on the hill ; he sold to John J. Cisco in
SERPENTINE ROAD
August, 1873; the Cisco estate to Marie,
wife of Ludwig Raecke, she to A. D. Irving
in May, 1886, and he to Mr. Slocum in Feb-
ruary, 1906.
It is the "Tower House" because Doctor
Elliott used the tower as an observatory,
it being capped with a dome from which
a telescope sent inquiring glances heaven-
ward, for it appears that the doctor was
something of an astronomer.
Some time later the building was used as
a boys' school. In the early seventies a
mixture compounded of equal parts of
small boy and firecracker set the tower on
fire one glorious Fourth of July, and its
present style of roof is thus accounted for.
We will introduce Doctor Samuel Mc-
Kenzie Elliott as he introduced himself to
Staten Island.
About 1835-6 Dr. Elliott visited the island
for the first time and in order to do so en-
gaged the services of a Battery boatman
who charged one dollar to row the five miles
which separates Manhattan from Staten
Island.
The beauties of the island completely cap-
tivated the Scotchman who had a strong
leaning toward the beautiful in nature and
he immediately purchased property at what
is now Bard avenue and Richmond Terrace
and erected several houses, being later
attracted to the Grymes Hill neighborhood.
It was the Doctor's artistic sense which
led him to make his home on Staten Island
rather than on Manhattan Island. He was
fond of predicting that here would be the
city rather than the older site and called it
"Bay City", but so far Manhattan appears
to have kept in the lead.
While his love of the beautiful so far ob-
27
Tower
House
Dr. S. M.
Elliott
Bay City
28
[HOWARD AVENUE <,
The first
Oculist
scured the practical side that he sometimes
overlooked such trifles as stairs in his build-
ings and omitted curtains for the windows
it led him to select charming sites for
homes. The "Tower House", which an-
swered well enough for his family, was his
first building on the hill. It was so small that
when he removed therefrom and tried to
rent he found it necessary to make a num-
ber of. additions, but he had notions of
his own as a general thing and if they did
not fit in with the popular taste he never
allowed such a small detail to worry him.
The doctor married a "blue-eyed Irish
girl", Letitia Irvine, his immigration to this
country from his native Scotland being
partly due, it is said, to the fact that she had
preceded him here. He came in 1833 when
twenty-two years of age and in 1835 settled
in New York as an oculist.
He was a pioneer in his line and like many
another pioneer was not understood and
suffered from much abuse at the hands of
the medical profession. He was accused of
being a quack and other unpleasant things
and of using unknown drugs. But his frank-
ness in throwing his office open for inspec-
tion, his wonderful personal magnetism and
enthusiasm combined with remarkable skill
and scientific attainments, finally compelled
recognition.
He was the first medical practitioner in
this country to make a specialty of the treat-
ment of the eyes, but he never neglected to
build up and strengthen the body as an aid,
and many stories are told of the tricks he
played on patients to this end. In Boston
he pretended to have discovered great vir-
tue in the waters of a well near a blacksmith
shop on the far side of the Charles river, and
SERPENTINE ROAD
29
which could only be reached by a footbridge.
As the water must be drunk immediately on
being drawn the patient must walk for it
and thus the end was gained. Mrs. George
William Curtis has heard Dr. S. R. Elliott
say that when his father operated on the eye
of a patient the latter lay on the floor and
the doctor held his head between his, the
doctor's, knees during the operation.
Among his patients were John Jacob
Astor, Commodore Vanderbilt, Peter Cooper,
Prescott, the historian, Longfellow, Gott-
schalk, Horace Greeley, James Russell
Lowell, and many other notables. His
family tell an incident concerning the first
named. Astor, being much concerned over
his physical condition, agreed to pay the
doctor $50 per day to keep him alive, but
was so stingy that he would not follow
directions. At one time the doctor ordered
that he be kept thoroughly warm and for
this purpose insisted on a wood fire which
was built in his presence. He left shortly
after but having forgotten his gloves came
back to find Astor extinguishing the blaze.
When the civil war came he, with the as-
sistance of his three sons, Samuel R., Alvin
Vaughn and William St. George and with
his daughter, Elizabeth, acting as "enrolling
officer" raised at his own expense some
$30,000 the "Seventy-ninth Highlanders"
made up principally of "red-headed Macs
with a bad temper" as his advertisement
for men put it. "With the father as Colonel
and his three sons in the ranks the Seventy-
ninth Highlanders marched out of New York
to the skirl of the pipes, barelegged and in
tartan."
While both he and his sons were in the
war from beginning to end none of them_
Seventy-
ninth
Highlanders
30
HOWARD AVENUE C&
Dr. S. R.
Elliott
were in the habit of talking of their ad-
ventures and not a great deal has been pre-
served concerning their experiences.
The New York Tribune of May 7, 1875,
speaks of him as "emphatically one of the
men who impart the element of the pic-
turesque to common affairs. A person of
very strong, original, eccentric character. A
man of positive genius in his profession."
Dr. Elliott was buried in the Silver Mount
Cemetery.
The New York Sun of December i, 1909,
contained a two column article on the edi-
torial page by E. D. Doster entitled "A Man
of Many Talents. The Life and Friendships
of the Late Dr. S. R. Elliott." (Eldest son of
Dr. S. M. Elliott.)
The doctor's virtues and accomplishments
were so many that space permits hardly
more than the mere cataloguing of them.
We learn that even as a young boy his tal-
ents attracted attention from the distin-
guished men who were in the habit of vis-
iting his father.
Gottschalk, the composer, noticed the
dreamy melodies he composed and predicted
for him a wonderful future as a musician and
even gave him lessons.
His quaint verses attracted Longfellow
who offered to bring him up in his own fam-
ily and train him for a literary career.
At the University of Heidelberg his fame
as a broadswordsman was such that nearly
fifty years later a young German "schlager,"
then champion, called on him to salute a leg-
endary hero, the greatest "English" schla-
ger the University had ever known.
In the Latin Quarter in Paris he studied
music and medicine simultaneously; here
there came to him high honors for his work
SERPENTINE ROAD
31
in the hospitals and for his achievements at
the conservatory of music.
The fame of his musical gifts reached the
ears of the Empress Eugenie, before whom
he improvised, winning the applause of the
imperial court.
When Garibaldi was wresting a united
Italy from the Austrian, Dr. Elliott donned
the red shirt of the Garibaldians and
marched with a troop of Lombardy soldiery.
The British and American colonies of
celebrities in literature, music and art in
Rome and Florence were captivated by his
address, his physical graces and his wonder-
ful versatility, and flung their portals wide
open to him. In Florence he frequented Mrs.
Browning's evenings at the Casa Guidi.
He entered the Seventy-ninth Highlanders
as a private, but soon became First Lieuten-
ant, then Captain of Company K of this
regiment. Secretary of War, Simon Cam-
eron, an intimate friend of his father,
offered him an important commission which
he declined.
During '62 he served as assistant surgeon
in the Sixty-third New York, the "Irish
Brigade."
In '63 was surgeon in the Second Battal-
ion, Hawkins Zouaves, and in the same year
was Major in the Blair Rifles, Consolidated.
In '64 surgeon in the Fifth Heavy Artillery
which post he held until he was mustered
out at the close of the war.
He took honorable part in thirty engage-
ments from Bull Run to Appomattox.
In '63 while home on a furlough he married
Miss Amy Dinsmore, a cousin and a fellow
pupil of Patti. His wife and his sister, Miss
Elizabeth Elliott, returned with him to
Washington and to Harpers Ferry where he
32
HOWARD AVENUE
had charge of field hospitals. At the battle
of Bull Run he carried from the field, at con-
siderable personal risk, the body of his reg-
imental commander, Colonel Cameron, son
of the secretary of war.
He was seriously wounded in the head at
the battle of Antietam when jumping his
horse over a fence in a charge on the enemy.
Under a heavy fire he swam his horse
across the Shenandoah river, towing after
him, with the aid of a swimming orderly, a
raft loaded with wounded men.
After the war he began the practice of
medicine with his father.
He and his chum, who was later Justice
Barrett, composed several sermons which
were preached by a leading divine as his
own and which became famous for their
literary qualities and profound theological
erudition.
During this period his friends were such
men as Artemus Ward, Fitz James O'Brien,
Henry Clapp, Edmund Clarence Stedman,
"Private" Miles O'Reilly, George Arnold,
General Devereau, Bob Wheat, Col. Thomas,
Albert Pike, Professor Youmans, Walt
Whitman, Charles A. Dana, William Henry
Hurlbert, Andrew C. Wheeler, Parke God-
win, W. J. Stillman, George Fawcett Rowe,
Bret Harte, Elihu Vedder, Charles Coleman,
Hamilton Wilde, Edwin Booth, William
Stuart, Madame Modjeska, Sara Jewett,
Clara Louise Kellogg, and many others as
well as the older generation who knew his
father. His office in the University build-
ing was the rallying place of the wits and
thinkers of the city.
In spite of the fact that he stood at the
head of his profession and was kept exces-
sively busy with his work, he yet found time
SERPENTINE ROAD
33
to meet with his friends and to develop his
literary and musical talents.
It is told that on the eve of her first ap-
pearance in America, Madame Modjeska
was brought to Dr. Elliott one morning. Her
manager was in despair for she had lost her
voice. She remained under the doctor's
care during the day and was able to appear
in the evening in perfect condition.
Dr. Elliott valued his physical strength
and prowess above any of his other gifts. In-
dian clubs which he used habitually until a
few years before his death were almost too
heavy for the ordinary man to lift ; he could
crack a coin with his fingers or bend a poker
with his biceps. On one occasion he carried
five men up a long and steep flight of stairs.
Billy Clarke, a fistic champion of the 'yo's,
was the companion of his boxing bouts.
His memory was as phenomenal as his
physical strength, once he read a poem tint
appealed to him he never forgot it ; thus with
music ; when he heard an opera he would
return home and repeat it in its entirety.
Charles A. Dana once tested his memory for
quotations but could not trip him.
He wrote prose for the Atlantic Monthly
and Harper's Weekly and poems for the
Churchman and the Congregationalist.
Such is an extremely brief summary of
an unusual career.
The wayfarer now begins to catch his
first real intimation of the scenic wonders
that are to come. From this point on the man
on foot begins to share with the house-
holder the pictures that no mere words can
trace, some bounded only by the heavens,
some framed by swaying branches, for it
is indeed a sultry summer day when no
breeze stirs here.
34
HOWARD AVENUE C&
Louis A.
Stirn
C. Allan
Blythe
Convent
Property
It is, perhaps, a trifle difficult to say which
outlook exceeds all others. Happily, each
householder believes in his own, this no
doubt because each lives with his partic-
ular view and only sees that of his neigh-
bors incidentally. It holds for him the
same intimate quality as do his family re-
lationships. He sees it morning, noon and
night, in storm and under sunswept skies,
the twinkling night-lights form for him geo-
metric designs or curves of beauty that can
be had from no other angle.
The next house on the left is the concrete
home of Louis A. Stirn built in 1908, and just
beyond that the home of C. Allan Blythe,
Jr., also of recent construction.
This hill slope is extremely irregular and,
consequently, the houses are not necessar-
ily set with the road, but rather accommo-
date themselves to the lay of the land, a
series of ravines and shoulders. These two
houses, situated within three hundred feet
of each other, are possibly the best on the
hill to use as illustrations of the marvelous
variety of a scene which, in reality the same,
is yet so individual to each. This is unques-
tionably due to the fact that no two fore-
grounds are similar and to the difference in
the angle at which each house is set. Of
these the one stands out on a slight jut of
land and gazes off over the roofs below as
from the edge of a declivity, while the eye
of his neighbor follows down a grassy ra-
vine, guarded by tall forest trees, to the dis-
tant vessels, or with a slight turn of the
head he finds a portion of his picture framed
by the branches of his woodland retainers.
On the right lies the Convent property.
This land was purchased at the Howard
sale, 1836, by Benjamin Wood who in July,
SERPENTINE ROAD
1842, sold to John Anthon, and he in 1854 to
Albert Brisbane, he in 1857 to Ezekiel J.
Donnell, who lost the place through fore-
closure proceedings and the sheriff sold it
at auction in May, 1868, to Alexander Mait-
land for $105. January, 1869, Maitland sold
to Alexander D. Shaw for $17,000. This reads
as though Maitland's fairy god-mother had
him in charge at the time, but the gentle-
man probably purchased a large sized mort-
gage with the property. In 1871 Shaw sold
to John A. Cisco for $32,500, and he in Feb-
ruary, 1885, to Ellen E. Du Pont Irving,
wife of A. D. Irving for $20,000. The last
transfer was to The Sisters, etc., who now
conduct here a school and convent known
as the "Congregation de Notre Dame."
It is believed that the house was erected
by Albert Brisbane 1854-1857. Mr. Wil-
liam B. Duncan has told me that such was
the fact and that Brisbane was interested in
the socialistic teachings of Charles Fourier,
who founded the communistic system known
as Fourierism. According to his plan so-
ciety was to be organized in associations
united by the principle of attraction and ar-
ranged in groups according to occupations
or capacities. All members of a group were
to live in a common dwelling and each was
guaranteed the means of self-support and
opportunities for a harmonious develop-
ment of all his faculties and tastes. The
plan was brought to America about 1840.
Mr. Brisbane started such a colony here,
but like other schemes to make life pleasant
for the lazy man at the expense of the
worker it did not last. As Mr. Brisbane
only owned the property for three years it
is not clear how he could have done so much
in such a short space of time, unless he con-
35
E.J. Don nell
Alex. D.
Shau'
A. D. It-ring
Albert
Brisbane
36
HOWARD AVENUE
Cisco
Property
Major
George
Hoivard
John
An than
lirnesl
Cazet
George Laiv
John J . Cisco
Oth, /'. Heyn
tinued to occupy the place after selling it.
More than one hundred years ago the
northern part of the Cisco property was in-
cluded in the church Glebe. Daniel D.
Tompkins purchased about 1814, but when
his troubles became acute it was sold under
foreclosure proceedings and was conveyed
to Caleb T. Ward. A suit in chancery was
brought by the Tompkins heirs to set aside
the deed to Ward, but was discontinued
long years after. The transfers of the prop-
erty are as follows :
October 21, 1830, Caleb T. Ward sold to
Major George Howard, consideration $850,
being at the rate of $100 per acre.
December 3, 1838, George Howard sold to
John Anthon, consideration $22,000. This
included the dwelling erected by Howard,
but as that is spoken of as a small frame
building, the transaction would appear to
have been a profitable one for him.
June 15, 1855, John Anthon sold to Ernest
Cazet, consideration, $27,500.
^ October 25, 1860, Ernest Cazet sold to
George Law, consideration, $40,000. In
view of the fact that Cazet erected the house
now standing and the stone wall which in
part still surrounds the place, the price re-
ceived must have represented a considerable
loss.
^ June 4, 1869, George Law sold to John J.
Cisco, consideration, $75,000. Law erected
the brick stable at a cost of $20,000, and put
in an expensive system of sewers and drains,
two ponds and other improvements. He
claimed to have expended for and on the
place $100,000.
The northern third of this property has
recently been built upon by Otto P. Heyn,
the house having been turned over by the
HOWARD AVENUE NORTH FROM THE CISCO GATE. ON THE RIGHT THE
HOME OP C. ALLAN BLYTHE. IN THE DISTANCE THE "TOWER HOUSE,"
KRECTED BY DR. S. M. ELLIOTT, NO\V OWNED AND OCCUPIED BY ERNEST
F. SLOCUM.
SERPENTINE ROAD
contractor in July, 1913. This residence,
being situated on the ridge, looks both to
the west and east, furnishing its occupants
with the glory of the setting sun on the one
hand, while on the other it gazes on the orb
of day as that light-giver shakes the morn-
ing mists from its face and looks over into
the Narrows to discover what plunder Quar-
antine has gathered during the hours of
darkness.
Major George Howard was born in East
Windsor, Connecticut, January 23, 1787. He
entered the United States Army from his
natiye state and was honorably discharged
June 15, 1815. For eleven years he was
boarding officer of the port of New York,
and, in 1830 was appointed keeper of public
stores at Staten Island.
He married Sarah Trumbull, presumably
of Connecticut, as her ancestors certainly
were, owned a pew in the Dutch Reformed
church at Tompkinsville and two lots in the
cemetery belonging to that church. This
cemetery was sold of exchanged and the
bodies removed to the Silver Mount Cem-
etery where they are to be found in the
"Church Lot" though there appears to be
no record that the Major is buried here. He
died July 13, 1851 and was buried from the
residence of his son-in-law, Dr. James Har-
court, Factory Village, Staten Island.
As Mr. Hiram Smith, who has been kind
enough to dig out the above Howard facts
for me, has included the Major's children, it
will do no harm to preserve the information
here. "Possible children, Jedia born March
ii, 1811. Mary Anne born November 5,
1814. Sarah Harper born May 30, 1819.
Daniel R. Hitchcock married, April 22, 1833,
Mary Anne Howard. She died September 2,
37
Major
George
Howard
38
Cast let OH
Heights
Lover's
Lane
HOWARD AVENUE C&
11
1875. When he married, second, December
27, 1886, Julia Trumbull Howard, (possibly
the 'Jedia' above) sister of his first wife and
widow of Dr. James Harcourt. She died in
1890. Daniel R. Hitchcock died March 31,
1891."
After disposing of his dwelling here the
Major purchased land on St. Paul's avenue
opposite the head of Hannah street and
erected a brick dwelling, still standing, in
which he resided until 1844.
In the good old days when Grymes Hill
was known as Castleton Heights, there
lived on its crest a fierce old war-horse
whose two daughters shared honors as the
beauties of the countryside, but such a
fire-eater was the head of the house that
the youth of the neighborhood stood afar
off lamenting the cruelty of fate. How-
ever, this method could not last, being
against all nature, and the moths kept nar-
rowing the circle until one, more bold than
his fellows, finally plunged within the flame
and lost his wings, as his desire to use them,
but gained that which appeared far more
precious.
At that early period Howard avenue was
a lover's lane fit for a fairy princess. In
these primeval woods were many interest-
ing nooks for young men and maidens, while
the summer breezes that refreshed the hill-
side had a way of fanning the spark of love
until it became a mighty flame. The lovers
thoroughly tested each nook and corner
and found none wanting until one day, com-
ing to the far southern end of the hill, which
was in those times known as Brimstone
Hill, they fell beneath the baleful influence
of a certain hollow from whose depths
came a cold biting wind which ever shiv-
SERPENTINE ROAD
39
ered through the leaves. So wrapped were
our young friends in their own imaginings,
however, that they failed to note the change
in temperature and set themselves on the
very edge of this clove to discuss those
abstruse questions which naturally arise on
such occasions. They so placed themselves,
as it happened, that only the young man
caught the cooling breeze in the region of
his fluttering heart, and as they sat a to
him unaccountable change came over the
spirit of his dreams. The proceedings
which heretofore had been more than in-
teresting began to pall. He even discovered
that the maiden could walk without as-
sistance. She eyed him curiously as they
returned toward her father's dwelling and
speculated inwardly on the frigidity which
by this time had worked through his breast
and particularly affected his good right arm
which was refusing its too evident duty.
As love's fitful fever subsided, the youth's
attentions became more and more intermit-
tent until he fell away, so to speak, entirely,
and there was a long period when the
sighing of the winds around the house found
an echo in the breast of the forlorn maiden.
It would appear that about this time the
stern parent began to fret over the situation,
for a friend who happened to call as the
bleak winds of autumn were spreading
desolation through the trees found the old
gentleman industriously polishing a pair of
antique dueling pistols that long since
adorned the sash of an ancestor whose rec-
ord had been carefully notched upon their
butts. The long, bright barrels attracted
the visitor's attention and he asked con-
cerning their history. The Major, however,
was not inclined to talk overmuch, but
Discord
40
| HOWARD AVENUE~(&
Love
Triumphant
John
Anthon
rather grumbled to himself, sputtering in
an excited fashion that in nowise became
his gray hairs. The caller finally gathered
from the fragments of conversation which
feH to him that there was trouble in store
for the reluctant lover and hastening his
departure sought out the young man and
explained what the future held for him.
And now a most wonderful thing happened.
The love which had for so many weeks lain
dormant suddenly surged back to its proper
channels. No longer did the wind sigh
about the house, but called joyfully to the
reunited lovers whose course ran on so
smooth a track thereafter that even the re-
furbished pistols that had been hung in a
conspicuous place above the mantel by a
thoughtful parent ceased to hold the at-
tention of the gallant youth.
Ever after all true lovers avoided the
darksome hollow that had so nearly en-
gulfed the joy and romance of young love
in its treacherous embrace, and only the
snake and the toad slipped silently through
its slimy ooze.
As before stated Howard sold to John An-
thon in 1838, he caught the real estate fever
and on July 19, 1842, purchased lots 14 to
19 inclusive, Howard map, these adjoined
his place on the north and he had the entire
property surveyed and platted. Lot 6
which contained the dwelling was about
400 feet wide ; between that and Eddy street
lay lot 7 which was something over 200
feet wide while north of lot 6 lay five lots
each 100 feet in width. Lots i and 2, the
most northerly, are now occupied by the
Convent. He expended for all the property
$27,500 and sold for $32,500, having oc-
cupied the dwelling over sixteen years as
SERPENTINE ROAD
41
well; every one seems to have made money
in real estate in those flush times.
John Anthon was a notable member of a
notable family. The first of the name to
land on this soil passed Staten Island in
1757 on his way to New York a prisoner
of war, and no doubt looked up to these
heights with any but friendly eyes. This
was George Christian Anthon, a surgeon
in the employ of the Dutch West India
Company, though himself a German. A
ship on which he sailed was captured by a
British privateer and carried into New
York ; being ,a skilled man of medicine he
soon found employment as assistant sur-
geon in the General Military Hospital at
Albany. After a brief period here he was
appointed assistant surgeon in the First
Battalion, 6oth Regiment, Royal Ameri-
cans, and with his company was sent to
Detroit in 1760. Here he married and here
his, son John was born in 1784. Shortly
after the Revolutionary war he removed to
New York.
John Anthon graduated from Columbia in
1 80 1, studied law and soon became the
foremost lawyer of his time in this city.
He was in command of a company of mili-
tia during the war of 1812 and, served in
the defense of New York City. He was
also employed during this period as judge-
advocate and accumulated many honors in
the course of his long life.
Charles Edward Anthon, son of John, was
for many years professor of Belles-Lettres
and History in the "Free Academy," later
known as the College of the City of New
York. During the years 1850 and 1851 he
gathered material for a history of Staten
Island which he never published, but which
G. C.
Anthon
John
Anthon
C. E.
Anthon
42
HOWARD AVENUE
ir,n. H.
A nth on
l-.nicst
Cazet
has been liberally used by succeeding his-
torians as it supplies much that would have
been lost had it not been recorded at the
time. Sheriff Denyse remembers Charles
E. Anthon well ; says he was a great walker
and a fine man. At one time, probably after
the place on Grymes Hill had been sold, he
boarded at the hotel of Frank Jones, Bay
and Griffin streets, Stapleton.
William Henry Anthon, son of John, fol-
lowed in the footsteps of his father and
was admitted to the bar in 1848. He soon
became distinguished in the profession and
in 1858 was one of those who defended the
rioters who burned the quarantine build-
ings on Staten Island.
Ernest Cazet came to this country from
the wine district of southern France, a
youth of eighteen with "no money, but un-
limited credit." By the time he arrived at
the age of thirty he was a rich man, not all
of it having been made in the wine busi-
ness, however, as his speculations in New
York real estate appear to have been won-
derfully profitable; as an instance, two lots
on lower Broadway are cited, these he
purchased for about $25,000 and sold not
long after to the Produce Exchange for
about $150,000. He also owned several
blocks on Sixth avenue in the dry goods dis-
trict which were the cause of much gain,
but reverses finally came and he lost much
that had made life so fair a prospect.
Mr. Cazet purchased the Anthon prop-
erty with the idea of making his home
here for the remainder of his life. The
Howard dwelling was sold to one Geshidt,
an architect, and removed to Houseman
street, near the Little Clove road; it was
later used by Italians and finally burned. Mr.
SERPENTINE ROAD
Cazet erected the present building and sur-
rounded his land with the stone wall which
to a considerable extent continues to adorn
the locality, but when his losses came he
was stricken with a serious disorder and
returned to France for treatment. There he
was advised that a cure would be a matter
of years and came back to New York, closed
up his interests and returned to his native
France only to die within a few years.
Mr. Cazet is spoken of as a gentleman and
a friend of the needy, as well as a shrewd
business man, and appears to have left only
pleasant memories behind him. He sold
to George Law, one of the conditions in-
sisted on by the latter being that the con-
tents of the house should go with the place ;
this was presumably because of the rich-
ness of the furnishings, everything having
been imported from France, the carpets were
of such quality that after fifty-five years of
use they are still in good condition.
We find a legend to the effect that the
stone wall which surrounds the Cisco place
was constructed with slave labor, but as
Emancipation day came to Staten Island,
July 4, 1825, and Mr. Cazet not until Oc-
tober 25, 1855, the legend can hardly be
taken seriously. It is a fact, however, that
the wall was erected by Frederick Law
Olmstead who did considerable of his early
landscaping on Staten Island. The con-
struction is peculiar in that the wall is built
on the surface of the ground without foun-
dation, the interior being filled with loose
stone and although it has been standing
full fifty-five years it is to-day as good as
when built.
These walls are one of the most pic-
turesque features of the road and it will be
43
George Lam
Frederick
Law
Olmstead
44
HOWARD AVENUE
George
Law
Ji>lui Jay
Cisco
a sad day for the hilltop when the time
of their fall arrives. The effect of ex-
clusiveness has been heightened to some ex-
tent by bits of broken glass set in the top of
the wall as more than one marauder has
been pained to discover.
I have been told that George Law pur-
chased this property as a home for his
daughter, but that the lady found the hill
too dull, preferring brick and mortar to the
enchantment of nature. It is said that there
was a husband who honored the army with
his time and attention, and who was chiefly 1
celebrated for the length of his hair, but
not much appears to have been handed down
concerning this branch of the family.
George Law himself was a self-made man
having built his success on a foundation of
industry and study. A farmer's son, he
learned the mason's trade, secured employ-
ment on the Delaware and Hudson canal,
employed his leisure in study and made him-
self a good engineer and draughtsman.
Became a large railroad and canal con-
tractor. In 1837 went to New York, ob-
tained contracts on the Croton water works,
built High Bridge over the Harlem. In
1842 became manager of the Dry Dock
Bank. Purchased and extended the Harlem
and Mohawk railroads. Assumed the con-
tract to carry the mails to California, 1849
built the first passenger steamer for Pan-
ama. Purchased the steam ferry to Staten
Island and Brooklyn. Was known as "Live
Oak George".
John Jay Cisco. The name Cisco is an
abbreviation of Francisco, the prefix hav-
ing been dropped several generations since.
After having served an apprenticeship of
nine years, Mr. Cisco started in the whole-
THE CISCO-LAW-CAZET HOUSE, ERECTED ABOUT
1855 BY ERNEST CAZET. THE WALL SURROUNDING
THE PLACE WAS BUILT AT THE SAME TIME UNDER
THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF FREDERICK LAW OLM-
STEAD, THE NOTED LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT.
SERPENTINE ROAD
45
sale dry goods business in New York, and
retired at the age of thirty-six with a for-
tune. Some eleven years later, or in 1853,
he was appointed by President Pierce, much
against his inclination, Assistant Treasurer
of the United States, and placed in charge
of the Sub-Treasury in New York. When
President Buchanan came into office he at-
tempted to resign, but was persuaded to re-
main and when Mr. Lincoln was inaugu-
rated he again made an effort to retire, but
his administration had been such that both
Mr. Lincoln and Secretary Chase insisted
that it was his duty to remain and he ac-
quiesced. His relations with bankers and
merchants were such that he was of great
service during the Civil War in placing
early loans, and at one time actually paid
the interest on certain bonds himself rather
than allow the hard-pressed government to
default. As a government officeholder Mr.
Cisco stands almost alone. Mr. Cisco was
finally allowed to retire in 1864, but was
immediately appointed, at the insistance of
Mr. Lincoln, a government director and
Treasurer of the Union Pacific Railroad. In
1865 the banking house of John J. Cisco
& Son was established. Mr. Cisco died on
March 23, 1884. The above account is
taken chiefly from the New York Herald
of March 24, 1884, with some additions by
Hiram Smith and Mrs. Angus McKenzie,
grandchildren.
About a year after the death of John J.
Cisco his son, John A. Cisco, removed from
his own home, now the Convent, to this
place, and it still remains in the family.
Late in 1913 George Cisco, grandson of
John J. Cisco, commenced the erection of a
home at the corner of Howard avenue and
John A.
Cisco
George
Cisco
46
James
Morgan
Davis
Thomas
Eaken
Harvey
North
Supply
Water
on Grymes
Hill
HOWARD AVENUE
Eddy street. The white stuccoed sides of
this, gleaming over the old stone wall and
half shaded by tall hornbeams, has an air of
seclusion and aloofness that a building so
close to the road could not hope to possess
except it were walled about, as is the case
here.
On the east side of the road lies the James
Morgan Davis estate, "East Over". October
1 6, 1841, Caleb T. Ward sold this property
to Harvey North, "late of New Orleans,"
consideration $5,940. October 12, 1853,
North sold to Thomas Eaken "of Nash-
ville," consideration $12,000, and Eakin
erected the present dwelling, but died shortly
after and his family did not long occupy the
place. Mr. E. D. Clark who came to this
place when a boy in November, 1843, tells
me that his father, Eusebius Clark, was em-
ployed by Mr. North to lay out the grounds,
a house being erected for his occupancy in
which he lived thirteen years.
There were two brothers North, in the im-
porting business in New York one of whom,
Harvey, married a French woman. He ex-
pected to build a handsome house and make
this his home, but his wife refused to live in
this country and he went to France with
her. Mr. Clark caused the well, 102 feet
deep, to be dug ; up to this time Logan Spring
had never run out of water but since has
gone dry on occasion and it is supposed this
well tapped the water supply of the spring.
The water supply on this high land is
erratic, there have been in the past at least
three natural ponds here which must have
been fed by springs, two on the Cisco
place and one on the Kendall place and yet
the well on the Cisco place went down 117
feet before water was reached and that
SERPENTINE ROAD
47
on the Kendall place is 130 feet deep.
Many years ago Mr. Davis purchased the
property from Mrs. Eaken and it is still the
Davis home. The architect of the dwelling
was James Renwick, one of New York's
most noted architects. Grace Church,
Broadway and Tenth Street, and the Catho-
lic Cathedral, Fifth avenue, are among the
creations of Mr. Renwick's genius.
James Morgan Davis had a business ca-
reer that was of unusual interest. He was
a member of the New York Stock Exchange
by the time he was old enough to vote, and
retired from business at the age of twenty-
five.
Mr. Davis began his business career in
the stock brokerage office of Travers &
Jerome, and when the latter retired was ad-
mitted to the firm, which was then known
as Travers & Co. By the time he was twen-
ty-five his health became impaired and he
concluded to give up work and go abroad.
His partner, William R. Travers, wished
him to retain his interest in the firm and
step back into the harness when his health
would permit, but Mr. Davis preferred to
leave no loose ends that might carry worry
into his retirement, and refused to entertain
the proposition.
After remaining inactive for seven to
eight years he entered the Wall street arena
again as a member of the firm of Work, Da-
vis & Barton.
Among others, the firm acted as broker
for Commodore Vanderbilt, and it was dur-
ing this period that the Commodore cor-
nered Erie. He had Jay Gould "busted,"
and had it not been for the latter's methods
of high finance, would have completely
cleaned him out, but the ingenious Mr.
James
Renwick
i O
48
HOWARD AVENUE
Gould moved over into Jersey, where the
New York courts could not reach him, and
being in complete control of the Erie, issued
a convertible bond which he immediately
converted into stock. This he put on the
market in large quantities, and as the proc-
ess could be repeated ad libitum, owing to
the lax railroad laws of the day, he rather
had the Commodore "on the hip."
The case was immediately thrown into
the courts and the Commodore brought suit
against Gould. Work, Davis & Barton also
brought suit in the namer. of certain custom-
ers, and it was here that Mr. Davis discov-
ered the real character of Frank Work,
which proved to be anything but lovely.
Work suggested that in order to prevent
the dragging of all members of the firm into
the court and interfering with its business,
suit be brought in his name; this was done
and Work was left to engineer the details.
One fine morning Mr. Davis saw in his
newspaper that the Commodore had com-
promised his suit out of court, and knowing
that Work would, of course, do likewise,
called on him for an accounting, but the lat-
ter insisted that his suit had been dropped
and that he had received nothing beyond at-
torney's fees. This was so palpably untrue
that Davis threatened suit, but to have
brought suit would have dragged the Com-
modore in, and compelled him to uncover
his hand, and this the firm could not afford
to do. The firm was, however, immediately
dissolved, as neither of the other members
cared to be longer associated with Work.
In 1874 the firm of Davis & Freeman was
formed with Commodore Vanderbilt as a
special partner and, some six years later, or
when Mr. Davis was forty-two years of
HOWARD AVENUE, LOOKING SOUTH FROM THE DAVIS GATE. THE AVENUE
WAS OPENED FROM EDDY STREET NORTH BY OR BEFORE 1836 BY MAJOR
GEORGE HOWARD, WHO ERECTED THE FIRST DWELLING ON GRYMES HILL IN
1830 ON THE SITE OF THE PRESENT CISCO HOUSE.
SERPENTINE ROAD
age, he retired from business permanently.
The Davis family came to Staten Island
in 1832 from Rhode Island, and James Mor-
gan Davis was born here in 1837, and al-
ways regarded himself as a full-fledged
Staten Islander.
In the southwest corner of Howard ave-
nue and Eddy street stands the dwelling of
J. D. Lawrence. This is one of two houses
erected by William Butler Duncan about
1870. Apparently these were to be the ni>
cleus of a small colony, but the buildings did
not rent as expected and the venture went
no further. About 1875 Mr. Lawrence pur-
chased, after having rented for a short time,
and he has occupied the property ever since.
The second house stood at the back of
the Critten place and was later moved to
the opposite side of Duncan avenue, where
it still stands.
The before-settlement history of the
Lawrence and Critten properties will be
found under the description of the Hunt
grounds.
Next south stands the home of Mrs. De
Frees Critten, "Olive Crest." In January,
1874, Arthur Oilman, architect, purchased
the land from Wm. B. Duncan, paying $15,-
ooo ; it was he who erected the dwelling now
standing, but it appears to have been too
much of a load for his bank account as we
find the property again in the possession of
Mr. Duncan. In June, 1879, it was sold by
order of the court as part of the bankrupt
Duncan estate, being purchased by the estate
of Orondates Mauran, apparently to protect
a mortgage. April 30, 1881, the Mauran
estate sold to Davis Johnson. July 8, 1886,
Johnson sold to Charles McNamee. No-
vember 23, 1886, McNamee to Anna E. Lord
49
/. D.
Lawrence
Olive Crest
Arthur
Giiman
Davis
Johnson
Chns.
.VlcXaniee
50
Castleton
Heights
Arthur
Gilman
Da7.'is
Johnson
Anna
E. Lord
HOWARD AVENUE
and October 3, 1895, Lord to De Frees Crit-
ten. The plot is known as lots 5 and 8 on a
"map of valuable property in the village of
Edgewater, Staten Island, sold June 19, 1879,
under judgment of the New York Supreme
Court by Theodore C. Vermilye, Jr., referee
in suit of James E. Mauran as executor, etc.,
against William B. Duncan and others.
George M. Root, city surveyor."
In the deed from Johnson to McNamee,
1886, the hill is called "Castleton Heights"
thus it would appear that even so late as
twenty-five years ago the present name was
not universally in use.
Arthur Oilman was an architect of con-
siderable note, not only as a designer but
also as lecturer and at least to some extent
as a writer. Before coming to New York
and while a resident of Boston he advocated
the filling in and improvement of the Back
Bay, and it is claimed that the handsome
features of Commonwealth avenue are due
almost entirely to his efforts. In 1865 he
removed to New York. The Equitable Life
building which burned during the winter of
1911-12 was his work and he had much to do
with the designing of the Capitol at Albany.
St. John's church and parsonage, Clifton, are
also of his creating. Mr. Gilman is recalled
by his old neighbors as an unusually pleas-
ant companion and exceedingly social, a
great after-dinner story-teller and raconteur.
Davis Johnson was a broker and while
recalled pleasantly by his one time neigh-
bors I have not come on any store of infor-
mation concerning him.
While the real estate records show that
Charles McNamee was the next to purchase
the property and that he in turn sold to
Anna E. Lord, it is believed that he was
SERPENTINE ROAD
merely acting for Mrs. Lord who was his
mother-in-law. He or she called the place
"The Beacon", an appropriate name surely
and the more so as the earliest known name
of the ridge was "Signal Hill."
The man who is remembered for his
kindly and neighborly qualities, who re-
verses Shakespeare's oft-quoted lines, "the
evil men do lives after them, the good is
oft interred with their bones," has accom-
plished more than will most of us. Such was
De Frees Critten, who is recalled lovingly
by his neighbors as "the best man that ever
lived," and who also commanded the ad-
miration and respect of the men with whom
he associated.
Mr. Critten was in a way a forty-niner,
that is, he was born in Piqua, Ohio, in that
year of the gold fever, which may or may
not have had something of an influence on
his acquisitive powers later on in life, but it
is more probable that the early struggle to
support a widowed mother developed a
natural ability to improve his opportunities.
In 1886 he came to New York and formed
the firm of Critten, Cliff & Co., and was on
the high road to a large success when death
overtook him. His hobby was his home, but
he was the same clean man in business that
his neighbors knew. "He was known
throughout the business channels of the
country by his manly dealings and upright
character, and was respected for his integ-
rity and honesty of purpose."
Mr. Critten died in 1907, having been a
resident of Staten Island for twenty years.
Still south stands the home of Mrs.
Charles W. Hunt. An abstract of title
gives us the early history of this place and
to a great extent that of the Lawrence and
51
De Frees
Critten
Mrs. C'has.
W. Hunt
52
Orondates
Mauran
Eddy St.
If award Av.
HOWARD AVENUE C&
Critten homes as well. As far back as
1789, this, with the exception of a strip at
the back, was part of the Cornelius Corson
farm. This portion descended to his son
Daniel C. Corson. Was sold by him in 1806
to James Dobson, who immediately dis-
posed of it to David Mersereau and he in
1814 to Daniel D. Tompkins. The strip at
the back of the place was willed in 1798 by
Wilhelmus Vreeland to his son Eder Vree-
land, it having been aforetime probably a
portion of the Hendrick Kbndrickson grant
from the Dongan trustees.* In 1814 Eder
Vreeland sold to Daniel D. Tompkins. Thus
the latter came into possession of the tract
which is now bounded by the Turnpike,
Eddy street, Howard avenue and the Ken-
dall place.
Daniel D. Tompkins fell on evil days and
in 1817 mortgaged the property to Thomas
Hulme, who foreclosed in 1822. He sold to
Caleb T. Ward in 1826 and he to Oron-
dates Mauran June 14, 1831, and Mr. Mau-
ran probably erected the present building
immediately as Mr. Betton, a great-grand-
son, has the record book of the wine cellar
which begins with the year 1833. This
would make it the oldest house now stand-
ing on the hill. The deed to Mauran gives
the impression that neither Eddy street nor
Howard avenue at this point were then
established as Ward agrees therein to allow
an avenue on the north side of the property
fifty-six feet in width and on the east side
of the property forty feet in width. Eddy
street was named by Mr. Mauran in honor of
Vreeland Billed his farm to Ms two sons,
Won tha ivr r ' , m! ? y be Int *-"ff to note in this coimec-
Mr. Delavan believea tlie line of boulders which leav
'* '' rni ", k opposite the division line of the Cisco ad Con veut
Une wWoh <Uvided the Vreeland farm between
THE KAUI'E-HUXT-.MeXAMEE-DUXRAR-MAURAX HOUSE. THE OLDEST HOUSE
NOW STANDING OX GRYMES HILL, BUILT ABOUT 1831-2. IT WAS STIPULATED
IN THE DEED TO MAURAX THAT THE PRESENT EDDY STREET AXD A PORTIOX
OF HOWARD AVENUE SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED FOR HIS CONVENIENCE. EDDY
STREET WAS NAMED AFTER MAURAX'S FATHER-IX-LAW, CHIEF JUSTICE EDDY
OF RHODE ISLAND.
SERPENTINE ROAD
his father-in-law, Samuel Eddy, chief jus-
tice of Rhode Island. Mrs. Mauran died
about 1855 and the house stood vacant for
some time thereafter.
Orondates Mauran died October 6, 1846,
leaving a widow and nine children. James
Eddy Mauran, the elder, was made execu-
tor of the estate and in November, 1868, he
sold the Hunt property to Edward E. Dun-
bar and at the same time the remainder of
the tract to William Butler Duncan. At the
instance of Mr. Duncan it was agreed that
the joint property of himself and Mr. Dun-
bar should be restricted to residential pur-
poses and that this restriction should be
insisted on in future sales.
Edward E. Dunbar married Sophia R.
Sterry Mauran, a niece of O. Mauran. He
died February 18, 1870, Mrs. Dunbar and
two children, Edward Mauran Dunbar and
Clyde Trippett Dunbar surviving him. In
1871 Mrs. Dunbar sold to William B. Dun-
can. In 1875 Duncan (William B.), Sherman
& Co. assigned and in 1881 James McNamee
purchased the Hunt portion of the property.
He died in 1896 and in the fall of 1899
the widow sold to C. W. Hunt.
June, 1913, Mrs. Hunt sold to W. xvaupe.
The Hunt house was built in the most
substantial manner. Its beams were hewn
from oak trees that grew on the place and
it is as sound and strong to-day as when
erected over seventy-five years ago. Mr.
Mauran called his home "Monocnong," an
Indian word which the owner translated as
meaning "surrounded by trees." The
name does not now apply as formerly, as
the hand of time has dealt heavily with the
timber in these parts. In those days the
entrance to the place was from Eddy street
53
Eduard E.
Dunbar
Monocnong
54
/. C.
Mauran
Orondates
HOWARD AVENUE
and the front door of the house was on its
north side.
As in the case of the Anthon family the
Mauran ancestor came to this country a
prisoner. Joseph Carlo Mauran, a native of
Villefranche, Italy, was impressed when
twelve years old on board of a British man-
of-war; he was kept a virtual prisoner for
some two years, but while the vessel lay in
the harbor of New London, he escaped and
in the course of time found his way to Bar-
rington, Rhode Island, where he settled
down and took unto himself a wife. He
soon tired of farming and took to the sea
and by 1776 was a man of importance.
During the early years of the Revolution,
Rhode Island built two "row-galleys" both
of which he commanded with honor to him-
self; each carried a crew of fifty men,
mounted one eighteen pounder and several
swivel guns. In 1778 he received Lettres
of Marque and Reprisal as commander of
the private schooner of war, "Weazel," but
after that we hear of him as a merchant-
man.
Oroondates or Orondates, as the name
was later spelled, was born in Barrington
in 1791. His singular name is accounted
for as follows: His mother owned a book
entitled "Rival Kings or the Loves of
Oroondates and Statira," by John Banks,
and it is supposed she confounded the name
with Onorato, an old Mauran family name.
Oroondates married Martha Eddy, and
removed to New York where he went into
some mercantile business. He was pas-
sionately fond of music and was proprietor
of the first Italian Opera House erected in
New York. Among his other ventures was
SERPENTINE ROAD
an interest with Commodore Cornelius Van-
derbilt in the Staten Island ferry. Old
Staten Islanders used to say that it was
Mauran's money that first put the com-
modore on his feet and gave him his start,
but I do not know how much of fact there
may be in this.
He erected this house on Grymes Hill,
then known as Castleton Heights, as a
summer residence and as many opera
singers and musicians from abroad brought
letters to him, and as he was lavishly hos-
pitable it is to be presumed that notables
of the musical world were frequent visitors
to this hilltop and that Monocnong was as
musical as is its pleasant sounding name.
One of his intimate friends was Captain
Marryat who might easily have found in-
spiration in our view for a background for
some story.
James Eddy Mauran, eldest son of above,
was a noted antiquarian and scholar; while
in New York he was a dealer in books, more
particularly rare volumes of which he him-
self was a large collector, he was also an
authority on Fourteenth century matters and
heraldry and was exceedingly clever in the
art of inlaying prints for the purpose of extra
illustration.
James McNamee was born in New York
and graduated from Columbia at the head of
his class. As a young man he was familiar
with Staten Island and no sooner was he
free to do so than he and Vanderbilt,
daughter of Captain Jake, caused the
preacher to say those mystic words which
flatly contradict the multiplication table.
In the course of time he purchased the
Mauran property and resided here until his
death.
55
Jas. Eddy
Mauran
James
McNamee
56
HOWARD AVENUE
Chas. W.
Hunt
Mr. McNamee became prominent in the
profession of the law, and was also some-
thing of a politician though he appears to
have been too honest to have been much of
a success in the latter line ; in fact, his disin-
clination to any but a straight course was
so pronounced that he became more than
distasteful to those who are disinterested
enough to devote all their time to govern-
ment.
One of his chief hobbies was "good roads,"
and I am told that he worked long with the
legislature at Albany in order to get a bill
through which would deal fairly with the
question and that the first good roads on the
island were largely, if not wholly, due to
his efforts.
Captain Vanderbilt, his father-in-law, was
everlastingly rubbing the wrong way such
neighbors who owned fast horses as he met
on the highway, for the Captain never could
take anybody's dust and consequently he
was much sought after by those who had
claims for damages against him and Mr. Mc-
Namee was kept busy defending him.
Charles W. Hunt who came to Grymes
Hill in 1900 began his business career on
Staten Island about 1868 in the storing and
handling of coal. The clumsy methods then
in use suggested to his inventive mind the
present system of handling through the
use of an automatic railroad by which coal
is lifted from barges and carried back on an
elevated track to be dumped automatically
at any desired point. This led to other in-
ventions and soon Mr. Hunt was one of
the foremost men in his line, the handling
and storage of coal in large quantities.
The coal stations of the United States
Navy at Guantanamo, Puget Sound and
SERPENTINE ROAD
57
Manila, as well as other large plants in South
Africa, Europe and Australia, are of his cre-
ation. His inventions reduced the cost of
handling coal from 30 to 3 cents per ton. He
also applied the principle to the handling of
freight, and this by no means covers the list
of his activities. As a mechanical engineer
and inventor he was known throughout the
world, and was a member of many societies
and clubs which have to do with engineer-
ing and its allied interests.
Mr. Hunt's kindly and practical nature
was early recognized when he was assigned
by Secretary Stanton during the Civil War
to the care of the thousands of negroes who
flocked into the Union lines from the Southern
states. These he taught to care for them-
selves by furnishing work and teaching them
to be self-supporting.
An illuminating side light on the man's
character is the way in which he used his
holidays in photographing the old buildings
of Staten Island. He went at it methodi-
cally, filing the negatives as they were fin-
ished under numbers so that any one of
them could be found readily when wanted.
A number ot the buildings so photographed
have since been destroyed and these nega-
tives are possibly the only records extant.
Even his method of numbering the negatives
was unique as the numbers used included
the date on which the picture was taken
making other record unnecessary.
Opposite to the three last mentioned
places stand the recently erected dwellings
of William Horrmann and Thomas Avery
Hine and Charles Gilbert Hine. They
purchased together the Robert Bonner
tract in July, 1909. All this property
bounded on the east by the Richmond
Wm.
Horrmann
T. A. Hine
C. G. Hine
58
HOWARD AVENUE
The
Wonderful
View
road, on the south by the Strohmeyer,
Drucklieb and Kendall properties, on the
west by Duncan avenue and a continuing
line through the Cisco property, and on the
north by a line which includes most of the
Cisco place, and all of the Davis property
was sold in 1806 by Daniel C. Corson to
James Dobson, who the same day sold to
David Mercereau, and he to Daniel D.
Tompkins in 1814.
The property of William Herrmann, ex-
tending from Howard avenue to the old
Richmond road, now Vanduzer street, con-
sisted originally of three knolls of graduated
height, whose rounded tops probably looked
much as they did when the glaciers retired
from this region. On the highest of these the
house is set, its one hundred and twenty
feet added to the three hundred and twenty
feet which nature provides, elevates the
"crow's nest" to a point in the upper air
from which the horizon line can be seen
around the complete circle north, east,
south and west a glorious panorama.
Grymes Hill has always been noted for
its wonderful view and as we have reached
the point from which the view is best ob-
served from the road suppose we stop a
moment in our mad career and attempt to
grasp it.
A distance of sky and wooded shore
pleasantly dotted with country homes; a
middle distance of water with passing sails
and pennants of smoke, and a bit more near
vessels at anchor fishermen, square-rig-
gers, and tramp steamers, the latter mostly
Irish if one can judge by the evidences of
red flannel, running through all shades to
a sweaty pink, which exude from seeming
rents in their outer garments. A fore-
SERPENTINE ROAD
ground crowded with small homes set about
with a certain abandon that harmonizes
delightfully with the general lack of straight
lines.
Such is the impression after one has re
covered from the first startling magnifi-
cence of the picture and before he begins
to discover its lesser details.
Toward the north we see west of the
Statue of Liberty, Jersey City and the
Palisades of the Hudson when the weather
and the smoke permit, the Upper Bay and
the jagged peaks of New York, the Brook-
lyn Bridge, and the City of Homes itself.
At our feet lies the village of Stapleton,
beyond, the Narrows and Bay Ridge, and
the early riser can see the morning sun
glisten on Jamaica Bay ; further to the south
is to be noted Gravesend Bay, Coney Is-
land and the Atlantic Ocean, whose far
horizon line is about twenty-five miles dis-
tant. Still further toward the right lies
Sandy Hook, the Lower Bay and the blue
Highlands.
At night there are within view from here
eight lighthouses and two light-ships the
Highland light, the two lights on Sandy
Hook, Romer Shoal light, West Bank light,
the red flash of Norton's Point at the west
end of Coney Island, and toward the north
Robbins Reef light and the double red light
on Castle William, Governor's Island; the
Ambrose Channel light-ship twenty miles
away, a flashing white light on the horizon
above the western point of Coney Island,
and the Scotland lightship, one steady white
light, only to be seen on exceptionally clear
nights. Before trie land held so many
electric lights it was possible to catch the
glow from the Fire Island light, forty miles
59
Extent of
the Vieim
Eight Light-
houses and
two Light-
Ships
60
I lie \ 7 \evu
at
HOWARD AVENUE
distant, but in these days the competition
is too keen.
The view from this hill at night is one of
the wonders of the world; to see the moon
rise from the ocean above the summer lights
of Coney Island is a liberal education in art.
Coney Island is as though the Gods had set
the stars in fantastic design for some celes-
tial festival; the Shore Road is platted in
brilliant points which outline the further
side of the Narrows, the streets running
back into Bay Ridge are festoons of sparkles.
When we are to have a southerly wind all
these lights wink in such knowing fashion
that there is no mistaking the signal. New
York's brilliant array is capped by the
Singer Building while the Metropolitan
tower flashes the time to us each fifteen
minutes. Both north and south the water
is alive with winking gas buoys, while tugs
and steamers trying to turn an honest penny
are so many fireflies on the wing.
The heavenly bodies descended to earth
lie at our feet; again the Dipper points the
way to the North Star. What though the
latter be an arc light does it not help the
belated wayfarer to lay a course for home,
its celestial prototype does no more for the
mariner. But probably the lights behind
shaded windows furnish the greatest op-
portunity to the prophetic soul. There
they lie, so many winking eyes, as shadowy
figures pass and repass telling of home and
fireside or, as time grows late, suggesting
to one a sick bed, to another love's young
dream, both calling for late hours and low-
turned lights I am informed.
To sit here of a quiet summer night and
catch the subdued murmur from the val-
ley, the call of children at play, blending
AS THE DAYS BEGIN TO SHORTEN THE FIRST WARM RATS OF THE EARLY
SUN ON THE NIGHT-CHILLED EARTH BRING FORTH VAPORS THAT CONSPIRE
WITH THE SMOKE FROM MANY BREAKFAST FIRES TO SOFTEN THE ANGLES OF
STAPLETON. THE DISTANT OBJECTS, SUGGESTED RATHER THAN SEEN, ARE
NOT BELATED SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT, BUT RATHER SUBSTANTIAL SHAPES
OF WOOD AND IRON THAT BRING TO THIS PORT MUCH SPOIL FROM FOREIGN
LANDS.
SERPENTINE ROAD
61
with the joyous barking of distant dogs
is enough to endow the bosom of a wooden
Indian with sentiment.
Travelers generally compare this view to
that from Mount Vesuvius over the Bay
of Naples and usually to the disadvantage
of the latter. There is undoubtedly no
spot in the world where so much of beauty
and human interest combine to hold the at-
tention. It must be seen many times and
under varying conditions to be fully ap-
preciated. All the commerce of the greatest
city and port of the country passes through
our backyard the Narrows great steam-
ers accumulate during the night until it
is no unusual thing for the rising sun to
look down on a dozen or fifteen of the lar-
gest passenger carriers the world knows,
waiting for the visit of the Quarantine doc-
tors to set them free. When we consider
that the loss of the Titanic was estimated,
vessel and contents, at many millions, some
idea of the enormous values that pass be-
fore us may be had.
The early morning fog and mist effects
give us some of the most exquisite pic-
tures that the mind can conceive, and the
gorgeous sunrises that so often introduce
our days are of infinite variety. Allow me
to quote Robert Browning for a brief space :
"Day!
Faster and more fast,
O'er night's brim, day boils at last;
Boils, pure gold, o'er the cloud-cup's brim
Where spurting and suppressed it lay:
For not a froth-flake touched the rim
Of yonder gap in the solid gray
Of the eastern cloud, an hour away;
But forth one wavelet, then another,
curled,
No Other
View Corn-
pares With
It
Early Morn-
ing Effects
62
HOWARD AVENUE
1'tiriety of
the \ / ie^v.
Till the whole sunrise, not to be sup-
pressed,
Rose, reddened, and its seething breast
Flickered in bounds, grew gold, then over-
flowed the world."
Under the action of a strong wind I have
seen the fog peeled off the surface of the
water as one might lift a sheet from a bed.
But possibly the most weird and startling
fog effect is confined to a gully on the
eastern slope of this hill just south of Eddy
street. The currents of air steal up and
down this depression without much regard
to what the wind is doing elsewhere and
when the fog is abroad it is sometimes
gently wafted back and forth through this
trough in a way to give a sensitive person
the creeps. Particularly is this so when
the occurrence happens after dark the
gliding of this mystic white figure about the
hill slope in the quiet of the night can never
be forgotten once it is seen.
Immediately beneath us spreads a hillside
rough hewn by the elements which carries
an extremely sparse vegetation. As the
grass here takes on a warm tint with which
to meet the coming crispness of fall we have
a singularly beautiful effect when the
rainy day comes, then the wind animates
the dullest blade among them, the wet fresh-
ens the greens and reds and browns with
their varying shades until the life and color
are a magical sight. While the wandering
footpath that is ever seeking an easier way
or the glisten of a wet boulder gives point
and character to the foreground, for the
rumpled land is but a foreground after all,
leading the eye on to the jumbled homes and the
busy thoroughfare we know as the Narrows.
SERPENTINE ROAD
63
No one description can fit this ever chang-
ing picture. Sometimes it is the gray light
of early evening with gray clouds above a
blue film spread over the houses beneath us,
and quiet gray water beyond, picked out with
a square-rigger or two and a handful of
tramp steamers.
Or it is all lines. The brown smoke lies
in level lines, the quiet waters carry long
slicks, distant Jamaica Bay is another line,
the clouds help, most of the visible roadways
of the village middle-distance run north and
south carrying out the effect. Some tall
smokestacks, the city dock, masts of vessels
and the derricks of the wrecking company
but add a few bits of cross-hatching.
The George H. Kendall place, "Kenwood,"
Madame Suzette Grymes purchased in 1836.
Before the Civil War Staten Island was a
notable resort for Southerners and that prob-
ably accounts for the discovery of Grymes
Hill by Madame Grymes. This wilderness
was just beginning to blossom into a home-
land. Major Howard's dwelling had been
standing about five years, his real estate boom
was well under way and the Mauran house
had also been erected, when Madame
Grymes "in jack boots, girded up her skirts,
and with axe in hand struck out a clearing
for her future home."
Before becoming the wife of John Ran-
dolph Grymes, a noted New Orleans law-
yer, the lady was the widow of Governor
Claiborne of Louisiana. So far as can be
learned Mr. Grymes seldom visited these
parts.
The real estate records show that during
the years 1836 to 1843 Madame Grymes
made four purchases of property on the
Kenwood
Susette
Gr vines
1836
64
HOWARD AVENUE
Capo
di Monte
V in. Butler
Duncan
George H.
Kendall
Suzette
Grynies
west side of Howard avenue including
some twenty acres for which she paid
$8,300; and during the years 1839 to 1846
three purchases between the avenue and
the Richmond road for which she paid
$7,400. William Butler Duncan has told
me that she erected the house on the west
side of the road first ; Mr. C. Drucklieb has
been told by members of the family that the
house on the east side was the first. The
shape of the former tends to confirm Mr.
Duncan as it looks like the creation of a
Southerner who would naturally place the
rooms so as to catch every breath of air,
and the first purchases of property were
here, and further one of the deeds, 1845 or
1846, of the lower property is to Suzette
Grymes "of Capo di Monte," the name she
gave to her hilltop dwelling.
In 1846, John R. Grymes gave Suzette
Grymes a power of attorney to rent, sell or
mortgage any or all of the property, giving
as a reason the fact that a large portion of
his time was spent out of the state of New
York and that his wife was permanently a
resident of said state.
In 1858, William Butler Duncan purchased
the place from Madame Grymes and made
it his home until 1896, when it was sold to
George H. Kendall. The place contained
twenty acres.
Members of the Grymes family have failed
to respond to requests for information con-
cerning Madame Suzette Grymes and it has
been necessary to fall back on such slender
facts as have been gleaned from a few long
memories and from official records. The
pickings are somewhat scant.
Madame Grymes was of Spanish descent,
her maiden name being Bosque. She
THE KENDALL-DUNCAN-GRYMES HOUSE. ERECTED 1S3G-7 BV MADAME
SUZETTE GRYMES, WHO CALLED HER PLACE CAPO DI MONTE. FOR A SHORT
SPACE THE ENTIRE HILL WAS SO CALLED, THE PRESENT APPELLATION
HAVING BEEN ADOPTED MORE RECENTLY.
SERPENTINE ROAD
65
married William C. C. Claiborne, governor
of the territory of Mississippi and after his
death married John Randolph Grymes,
a lawyer, of New Orleans. Their children
were :
1. Medora, who married Samuel Ward of
New York.
2. Edgar.
3. Alfred.
4. Athenaise, who married Louis A. von
Hoffman.
A mysterious "Mable" is referred to in
the will of Louis A. von Hoffman, but as
her name does not appear in the genealog-
ical records of the Grymes family it is not
clear who she was.
A codicil of the von Hoffman will disposes
of "principal and income of a certain fund to
me paid over by Suzette Grymes, now de-
ceased, the mother of my late wife, which
said fund was by me received in accordance
with the following instructions in writing to
me at the time given by the donor thereof".
Translation of Madam Grymes's instruc-
tions which are given in the will in the
original French.
"I have given this day 20 thousand francs
to my son-in-law Louis von Hoffman. I
made him a present of it until his death and
then this sum will go to Mabel but not
before, because she will spend it in dresses
and hats. He can do with this sum what he
wants, increase it or invest it. I beg him to
give some little interest to Mabel, as a little
present which comes from me."
Madame Grymes is recalled as a heavily
built woman, very strong and masculine,
and with a peppery temper that would have
done honor to the scrappiest of "red-headed
Macs," and a vocabulary equally as forcible,
66
HOWARD AVENUE CSi,
Wm. B.
Duncan
F. G.
Strohmeyer
Alfred
Grymes
C. Drucklieb
L. A. von
Hoffman
but like many such she was kindly to a
degree and very fond of children. Some of
the present day gray-heads recall with lively
satisfaction her Christmas liberality which
appears to have been as free as salvation.
When William Butler Duncan purchased
the property the four corner wings were
merely one story in height; he transformed
one of these into the present tower and
added a story to each of the others; it was
Mr. Duncan who erected the present stone
wall
Mr. Duncan's father was a native of Scot-
land, but came to this country in his youth
and married a Miss Butler of Providence.
The son graduated from Brown University
in 1860 and five years later became the head
of the banking firm of Duncan, Sherman and
Company. He had many prominent friends
and was visited by King Edward VII, then
the Prince of Wales, when the latter was in
this country and it is possible that the
Prince was entertained in the Grymes Hill
home as were many other notables. Among
such was the first Lord Rosebery who it was
understood was engaged to a daughter of
Mr. Duncan; the visitor was taken sick
while here and returned home to die. The
daughter later married the Honorable
Mr. Phipps.
Opposite, on the other side of our high-
way, lie the Strohmeyer and Drucklieb prop-
erties. The home of Mr. F. G. Strohmeyer,
which is two-thirds of the way down the
hill, was erected before 1845 by Alfred
Grymes, son of Madame Grymes. It passed
from his possession into that of the pres-
ent owner.
The C. Drucklieb house is the former
home of Louis A. von Hoffman, a son-in-law
SERPENTINE ROAD
of Madame Grymes. This is one of the
most beautifully wooded hillsides imagi-
nable. The present owner is constantly re-
foresting his domain, as he believes in mak-
ing two trees grow where one grew before.
Originally Mr. Drucklieb only purchased
the northern end of his present holdings and
the house close on the road, now occupied
by Mr. W. H. Pouch, was erected by him
for dwelling purposes, but having acquired
the larger domain Mr. Drucklieb removed
to the von Hoff man-?Grymes house which
he still occupies.
The decided bend in the road which puts
a kink in the Kendall stone wall hereabouts
is that particular spot spoken of elsewhere
at which Howard avenue and the Serpentine
road become one. If I am correctly in-
formed the Serpentine road is not so named
because it reminds one of the trail of the
serpent, though it 'might well be, but be-
cause it passes over a stratum of rather rare
rock known as serpentine; the rock, how-
ever, is so named because it often occurs
in winding, irregular veins and possibly
the road thus received its cue.
There are more exotics dwelling along
this way than those who live in houses made
with hands. Here, for instance, when
spring comes to us, can be found the Amer-
ican Star Thistle which has been natural-
ized from the dry plains of Missouri and
the southwest. Its red buttons add a
pleasant touch to the garments in which old
Mother Earth clothes herself in these parts.
From the beginning of the Drucklieb
property to the Cunard gateway we catch
but glimpses of the view through the trees.
The sun glistening on the Lower Bay makes
a brilliant background for the tall columns
67
W. H.
Pouch
Howard Av.
Ends
The Serpen-
tine Road
Begins
68
Ckas. E.
Seits
Thos.
Nesmith
J.P.
Nesmith
Col. George
Browne
HOWARD AVENUE C&
"^ ^^" _____^_^^ ffm ^ m ^^^^^^ HH ^^Bm*m^******~*^~^^~**^~~*
I ^^i "
upholding the roof of green above us, and
these in turn break the expanse into in-
numerable small pictures where a bit of
canvas or the long, black trail of a passing
steamer furnishes the motif; or possibly
some ponds in the low country shine like
bright, particular stars under the touch of
the same illuminating hand.
El Paradise, the property of Chas. E.
Seitz, is the next place on the left. This
was originally the home of John P. Nesmitb
while Thomas Nesmith lived just beyond.
Thomas Nesmith made the first purchase
in April, 1836; John P. purchased in Sep-
tember, 1840. The Nesmiths continued to
purchase property up to 1865, some fifty
parcels in all, until they not only owned
everything between the Grymes and
Cunard-Vanderbilt places and the Rich-
mond road and Clove road and the Turn-
pike, but also purchased beyond the Turn-
pike to the shores of Silver lake in the one
direction and east of the Richmond road in
the other. The description of one piece of
property, 1844, which lay along the Rich-
mond road includes "a marked cedar tree
near the foot of Brimstone Hill."
The Nesmiths are identified in some of the
deeds as of the city of New York, merchant.
In a deed dated in 1865 Thomas Nesmith is
spoken of as of Derry, N. H.; it is a com-
mon family name in those parts and the
family may have come from New Hamp-
shire originally.
May 1 8, 1866, John P. Nesmith sold his
home, which he called "Inwood", to Joanna
C. Browne, wife of Col. George Browne,
she in 1874 to William B. Ogden. In 1881
Anna B. A. Shaw, "widow, of the city of
Philadelphia," purchased and placed the
THE SERPENTINE ROAD. LOOKING NORTH FROM THE GATE OF THE OLD
JOHN P. NESMITH PLACE. THE BEND IN THE DISTANCE MARKS THE NORTHERN
END OF THE SERPENTINE ROAD. AT THAT POINT THE ROAD FORMERLY
PLUNGED DOWN HILL TO RICHMOND ROAD AT BROAD STREET, AND HOWARD
AVENUE RAN INTO IT AND STOPPED. THE LOWER PART OF THE ROAD WAS
LATER ABANDONED AND ROAD AND AVENUE BECAME ONE.
SERPENTINE ROAD
69
property in trust for her son, Edward H.
Shaw of New York; in 1890 Amzi L. Bar-
ber became the owner, but sold the same
year to George H. Kendall, and he in 1902
to the present owner.
Sheriff Denyse tells the following story,
but does not recall to which one of the
Nesmiths it applies. Pat Henry, a con-
tractor, undertook to dig a well for one of
the Nesmith houses, he agreeing not to
ask for his money until he could show water,
but after reaching a depth of forty or fifty
feet without even getting damp feet he tired
of his bargain and selecting a dark night
proceeded to cart the desired element from
some pond. In the morning the guileless
Mr. Nesmith was shown his four feet of
water in his well and Pat got his money
and retired. In the course of a few days
the water likewise retired and left the
owner with a perfectly good hole in the
ground, and such reflections as would
naturally go with the situation.
As stated above Thomas Nesmith pur-
chased in April, 1836. His home which stood
south of his brother's place was known as
"Cedar Cliff". By or before 1867 this prop-
erty came into the possession of Eugene
Dutilh, a New York banker. In 1889 Louise
T., wife of Alexander Barring, sold to Mrs.
Winnifred R, wife of Robert A. Ammon of
Tompkinsville, for $6,500, this included the
house and furniture and twelve acres of
land.
Christmas eve, 1894, tne house burned.
The fire caught during the absence of the
owner and while Mrs. Ammon was arrang-
ing a Christmas tree for the children and
was attributed to a lantern in the hands of
the gardener.
Thos.
Nesmith
Eugene
Dutilh
R.A.
Ainnion
70
Serpentine
Road
HOWARD AVENUE CS,
Mr. Ammon's desire for riches exceeded
his ability to keep out of trouble and for a
considerable period he figured prominently
in the New York papers. During the days
of his prosperity he purchased considerable
property hereabouts until he owned all the
property along the south side of the Ser-
pentine road to the King place, which he
also purchased in 1901.
No one can be expected to appreciate the
full beauty of this region until he sees it on
some showery day when those who do not
know enough to go out when it rains are
snugged up at home. Then the adven-
turous one has it all to himself or at least
only divides with the small, wild things.
It is surprising how careless of the pro-
prieties these are at such a time, for it
seems to be with particular gusto that they
scamper along wet boughs or through the
watery grass. At such a time a little brown
bunny is just as apt as not to sit up on the
path and wave his paws at one as though
he were quite ready to spar it out then and
there, or a gray squirrel perched on a near-
by branch will wink an eye with a demure
solemnity that is quite fetching.
Somehow these incautious doings never
seem to happen when the sun shines and it
has occurred to me that the lesser denizens
of the wood have heard of the old admo-
nition to keep one's powder dry and still
labor under the impression that modern
shooting irons do not work at such a time.
But whatever the reason they go skylarking
around the woods like so many small boys
when teacher reports sick; and the birds
are not one whit more serious-minded.
For a short space now the Serpentine
road is a typical winding, woodland road,
SERPENTINE ROAD
71
showing only such evidences of modern
civilization as its macadam bed and bor-
dering telegraph poles furnish. No fence
confines the traveler but trees on either
hand rise up to call it blessed and those so
inclined may take to the woods without
let or hindrance.
Here we gaze down the wooded slopes of
Pleasant Valley, a name which does not
convey much but serves as a handle. This
furnishes Hillside avenue a means of reach-
ing the lower regions, and also lends some-
thing of variety to the view, for one can
not only see through but over the trees and
when a morning sun puts a glitter on the
far ocean horizon line, a very good excuse
is furnished the stroller to stop for a brief
rest.
On the right, opposite Hillside avenue,
stands the R. A. Ammon dwelling, "Fair
Acres". The property was purchased by Rev.
Gordon Winslow in 1846 from John P.
Nesmith who also granted a right of way
over "an intended road" which led "to the
road opposite the house of the said John P.
Nesmith." This accounts for so much of
the Serpentine road. In 1870 the widow of
Gordon Winslow sold to Edward King and
in 1901 he to Mrs. R. A. Ammon.
The Reverend Gordon Winslow came to
Staten Island in 1845, being driven here by
bronchial trouble. He purchased about ten
acres of land and erected a simple house in
which he spent the remainder of his days,
except during the Civil War period. He
was a graduate of Yale, 1830, where he also
studied theology, but later turned to the
creed of the Episcopalian. He became rec-
tor of St. Paul's and chaplain of the Quar-
antine, holding the latter position for sev-
Pleasan t
Fa I ley
Rev. Gordon
Winsloii'
72
HOWARD AVENUE
enteen years and being highly regarded be-
cause of his devotion to the sick during the
yellow fever epidemic.
When the Fifth New York, known as the
"Duryea Zouaves" went to the front, Gordon
Winslow went as the chaplain; from the
first his record stands a shining mark, none
surpassed him in bravery or devotion to the
wounded. Note what the officer in com-
mand reported after the battle at Big
Bethel: "The noble conduct of Chaplain
Winslow and the generous-hearted men
who remained to help the wounded de-
serves the highest praise; and the toilsome
task which they accomplished, of dragging
the rude vehicles filled with their helpless
comrades, over a weary road of nine miles
in their exhausted condition, with the pros-
pect of an attack every minute, bespeaks a
goodness of heart and a bravery never ex-
celled." James Parton speaking of the same
incident says: "The noble Chaplain Wins-
low, with a few other men, remained be-
hind, and, all exhausted as they were, drew
the wounded in wagons nine miles from the
scene of the action to the nearest camp."
Some two years later, Major-General War-
ren, in a report issued in January, 1863,
summarizes his deeds as follows :
"From the first battle of the war at Big
Bethel to the last at Fredericksburg, Dr.
Winslow has shown an adaptability for his
position, and a success in efforts which has
won the confidence of all. At an early day
he was elected by the Sanitary Commis-
sion at Washington for the responsible posi-
tion of the Sanitary Inspector of the Army.
This immense labor he sustained till the
commencement of the Peninsular campaign,
for which he received the earnest thanks
SERPENTINE ROAD
73
of the Department at Washington. Since
the commencement of the Peninsular cam-
paign he has been my aid and a member of
my staff, and has been constantly with me
on the field, except when the claims of
humanity and mercy called him to attend
to the sufferings of his fallen comrades. His
efforts in this department I most gratefully
acknowledge. For days and nights after
the battles of Williamsburg, Hanover Court
House, Gaines Mills, Malvern Hill, Bull
Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg, the
doctor has had frequent recourse to his ex-
perience to guide him to the best measures
of improving hospitals for the wounded, or
means of comfort and solace, which at such
times of trial cannot be too highly valued."
He is spoken of by those who knew him
when he lived on the hill as a pretty good
doctor (of medicine), a good nurse, a taxi-
dermist, hunter, fisherman and nature-lover ;
a genial, agreeable and instructive com-
panion with mind and manners finely culti-
vated.
Dr. Winslow's elder son, Col. Cleveland
Winslow, of the Fifth New York, was badly
wounded in the battle of the Wilderness,
and while bringing him and other wounded
officers and men to Alexandria the doctor
lost his life, June 7, 1864, at the mouth of
the Potomac. He fell overboard from the
transport steamer Mary Ripley, and after
swimming for some time, suddenly disap-
peared as he was about to be rescued. The
remains were never found.
The son mentioned above died in the hos-
pital at Alexandria one month after the
death of his father. Of him Major-General
Warren reported, "I have never known a
braver officer."
Col.
Cleveland
Winslow
74
HOWARD AVENUE CSt,
l : .dward
King
Gen. H'tn.
G. Ward
Edward King was the well-known New
York banker, president of the Union Trust.
He owned this property for about thirty-
one years.
When Mr. King decided to quit he ad-
vertised that the place would be sold at
auction and that half of the purchase price
would be allowed to stand on mortgage.
Much to his chagrin Ammon bought the
place in on a bid of $8,000. Immediately
Mr. King, who had a strong dislike for the
purchaser, decided that if possible he would
avoid holding the mortgage and called in
his legal adviser, Mr. DeWitt Stafford,
charging hi:n to meet Ammon and, if possi-
ble, persuade him to pay the entire amount
They met in the real estate office of Mr.
Cornell in Stapleton and Ammon when
questioned said he would pay the $8,000 if
Mr. King would deduct the $100 he had paid
for searching the title. This was readily
agreed to, whereupon the new owner pulled
an immense roll of bills from his pocket and
counted out $7,900 in cash which he turned
over. Mr. King was greatly delighted with
the result until the lawyer suggested that
this was no doubt part of the ill-gotten gains
of the Miller Syndicate, when his joy was
much abated.
Here again did fire come to mar the per-
fect peace of the new owner. On November
30, 1901 a barn in which was stored con-
siderable furniture was destroyed by a fire
of supposed incendiary origin. Mr. Ammon
thought it might have been started by a
discharged coachman. A reward was offered
by the insurance companies interested, but
nothing came of it.
Next stands the former home of General
William G. Ward, erected by him in 1865 on
SERPENTINE ROAD
75
a twenty-acre plot purchased from one of
the Nesmith brothers. He called his place
"Oneata", a Seminole word brought from the
Dry Tortugas by a friend of the family, a
Doctor Storrow, and which he translated to
mean "Kissed by the dawn". When a young
man in college the General used to visit the
hill. He and John Anthon were friends and
Miss Ward thinks that Doctor Winslow
acted as tutor for her father at this time,
a double incentive to draw him here. Be-
fore building he rented the Winslow house
for three or four summers.
A brief biography of General Ward gives
an outline of his services as follows: April
19 to August 4, 1 86 1, Lieutenant-Colonel
Twelfth Regiment N. Y. S. M. May 31 to
October 8, 1862, Colonel of the same regi-
ment. Participated in the defense of
Harpers Ferry and was paroled at its sur-
render, September 25, 1862. Exchanged
January n, 1863. June 17 to July 22, 1863,
Colonel of the same regiment, being in
Dana's Division and Couche's Corps in the
Pennsylvania campaign. He partly in-
vented and partly improved the Ward-
Burton breech-loading rifle.
The Bellevue. Sir Edward Cunard, Jr.,
married a granddaughter of Thomas Addis
Emmett; the latter purchased property in
1850 on this end of the hill from John Mell
and the same year sold a portion to Sir
Edward, who erected the present house.
Presumably it was he who adopted the name
"Bellevue". Mr. Cunard was American
manager of the Cunard line and could
readily see from his home the vessels of his
line pass in and out.
The next tenants were cousins of the
owner, Allen by name, two or three
Sir Edward
Cunard
76
Kachclors
Club
Amzi
Barber
Capt.
Jacob H.
Vanderbill
HOWARD AVENUE
bachelor brothers. These gathered other
disciples of St. Anthony about them, and
the place was for a time known as the
"Bachelors' Club". Either at this time or
later Sir Oliver Northcut was a tenant. In
the course of time the place fell into the
hands of Amzi Barber, of asphalt fame,
and still remains in the possession of his
heirs.
Captain Jacob Hand Vanderbilt, com-
monly known to all the island as "Captain
Jake", was, the histories tell us, born Sep-
tember 2, 1807, in the old house on Bay
street, Stapkton, known as the Vanderbilt
homestead, which is still standing. By the
time he had reached the age of eighteen
years he was in command of a steamboat.
He died in 1882.
The Captain purchased this property in
1847 and erected the house which burned
about 1904 while being used as an annex
to the Bellevue.
He was one of the best known men of the
island and being free in his hospitality enter-
tained many celebrities including such men
as General U. S. Grant and others.
Every one recalls "Captain Jake" as a
lover of fast horses and many are the stories
told to this end. That part of his property
which lay over against the Cunard holdings
and bordered on the Serpentine road was
known as the "Paddock". It was here that
his horses spent their leisure hours, and
many a boaster has come to grief in this
inclosure when bidden to show his skill on
the back of some particularly lively friend
of the Captain's. To refuse an invitation to
mount was even worse, for then the owner's
wrath was even as that fire which never
shall be quenched.
VIEW FROM THE SERPENTINE ROAD OVER THE LOWER BAY. ONE OF THE
MANY DAZZLING PICTURES WHICH THE MORNING SUN LAVISHES ON THIS
REGION.
SERPENTINE ROAD 77
Pretty much every one on the road took
the Captain's dust, even Wall Street did it
once and this is how it came about and how
the trouble was mended. On the advice of
brother Cornelius, Jake made an investment
in stocks which netted him a handsome loss,
due chiefly to the fact that the stock did not
rise to the occasion, and thereafter brotherly
love between the two was as difficult to
locate as native ore in a salted mine. As
a result Jake ceased his Sunday custom of
dropping in on big brother for tea and the
situation was just the reverse of the quality
of mercy as elucidated by Mr. Shakespeare.
Some time thereafter as the Captain
stepped on the boat one afternoon for the
voyage home, he saw a handsome team of
black horses hitched to a light road wagon
that made his heart glad and promptly pro-
ceeded to investigate by asking the darkey
driver where he was going, to which came
the brief but enlightening response, "Staten
Island." At this our friend sputtered a bit
in his usual Sunday-school fashion, but
made no headway beyond relieving his feel-
ings by consigning the negro to what the
new Baptist version of the Bible calls the
"underworld."
Arriving at his home, he found the darky
and rig awaiting him at his own door with
an olive branch from brother Cornelius
which gave him to understand that this was
for him and which wound up with the ad-
vice, "Don't be a damned fool ; come around
to the house and have tea." Jake rubbed his
hands over the beautiful, glossy coats of the
animals and, concluding to let the dead bury
the dead, simply remarked, "Well, they cost
me $40,000." But the breech was walled up
78
Vale
Sitowden
Mrs. W. S.
Nichols
Fred'k Lau'
Olmstead
HOWARD AVENUE
and the brothers again dwelt together in
unity.
"Vale Snowden", which corners on the
Clove road, is the home of Mrs. William
Snowden Nichols. The house was erected
by Satterthwaite about 1852-1854 and was
purchased by Mr. Nichols in 1864. The
architect was James Renwick, mentioned in
connection with the Davis place, and the
grounds were laid out by Frederick Law
Olmstead.
Mrs. Nichols tells me that General Green,
one time minister to Russia, and who was
associated with Mr. Olmstead in the laying
out of Central Park, once said that Mr. Olm-
stead and Mr. Satterthwaite were friends and
that the former gained a large part of his
practical knowledge as a landscape architect
in the laying out of this place. Originally it
was a most unpromising spot, a mass of
soapstone (serpentine), and it required the
work of eight yoke of oxen almost a year to
haul sufficient earth from the top of the hill
to make a foundation for the garden.
A well which is situated almost in front
of the house and very near the road was, ac-
cording to local tradition, a regular stopping
place for the Philadelphia stages. Mrs.
Nichols does not know anything more than
that this statement came from Mr. Satter-
thwait. It is possible that there may have
been an inn on the Little Clove road here,
but if so there does not appear to be any
record concerning it.
^ Mrs. Nichols recalls that the Richmond
County Country Club grew out of an in-
formal riding and driving club which used
this place as a rendezvous, as the younger
members of her family took a lively interest
in its formation and development.
SERPENTINE ROAD
LAST WORD OF ALL.
One could visit this hill-top a hundred
times and never see the view as I have at-
tempted to describe it, nor, in fact, see it
twice alike, so many things enter into its
make-up, weather conditions, time of day
or night, season of the year; the possible
combinations are almost without number.
The visitor might happen on a time when
an east wind was driving a thin fog up the
hill, one moment revealing the village be-
low, another crowding everything but the
earth on which he stood off the map, merely
allowing fleeting glimpses of the beyond,
and then the hurrying legions of the mist
charging upon the sight until all is lost
again.
It is like the animated face of beauty, ever
changing yet always the same, and never
uninteresting. Only a poet could hope to
do the subject justice, and he must be no
mere juggler of words.
79
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRAE^
CiRCULATJON DEPARTMENT
EXTENSION DIVISION 8TATN ^
ft CEKTWL AVEKtJt
80 HOWARD AVENUE
WHY THERE ARE OMISSIONS!
In the gathering of information for such a
purpose as this there is no point that one may
reach with the feeling that nothing more is
possible. There is always some will-o'-the-
wisp in the distance that leads on to further
investigation and always the feeling that some-
where is an uncovered treasury of facts.
People come and go rapidly. The work on
this book has been progressing some two and
one-half to three years and even in that short
space three men have died from whom I had
secured some information and hoped for more,
and two others have become incapacitated.
I have a strong feeling that the southern
end of the hill has not been covered as it
should be. Rumors have come that some
artist who was later renowned used, in his
more obscure days, the lodge at the John P.
Nesmith gate as a dwelling and studio, but
who he was has not been learned. It is said
that the head gardener on the Cunard place
was an interesting character that was worth
a book in himself. I do not even know his
name. And so there is much that even such
a willing and capacious swallow as mine can-
not quite accommodate itself to.
Consequently there comes a time when such
work must be cut off short and the draggled
ends trimmed into shape as best may be. And
this has very recently happened to the History,
etc., of Howard avenue and the Serpentine
road.
C. G. HINE.
March 17, 1914.
1 I
ill
iiuft liiEijtuiiui
