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Lewisboro Ledger
:
History
Mar 7, 2008
Window into History
John Lewis, common schools
and changing names
Since the Katonah-Lewisboro School District is in the process of
discussing funding for the next school year, we thought it might be a
good time to revisit the eponymous John Lewis and his gift to the town
of South Salem. What was that gift? More ...
Lewisboro Ledger
:
History
Feb 21, 2008
Window into History
Our man William Rainsford:
The man who built Le Château
The subject matter for a history column quite often just falls into my
lap. Actually, the subject of this column popped out at me as I was
reading a book that I picked up at the South Salem Library Fair last
fall,
When the Astors Owned New York
by Justin Kaplin. One sentence in the book mentioned William S.
Rainsford, rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan. Oh, I
thought, how intriguing. The Rev. Mr. Rainsford was once a leading
landowner in our fair town, and I’ll bet not many people even know who
he was. In short, he was J. Pierpont Morgan’s minister and the
recipient of sufficient Morgan funds upon his “retirement” to build for
himself the mansion now known as Le Château. More ...
Lewisboro Ledger
:
History
Jan 31, 2008
Window into History
With sleds now a scarcity, a look
at local life in the good ol’ sledding
times
Is it global warming or just the whim of Mother Nature that we haven’t
seen much snow this winter? There have been few chances to try out that
shiny new Christmas sled or even shovel the walk or plow the driveway
so far this season, but winter is not over yet, and those sleds may
still see plenty of action. More ...
Lewisboro Ledger
:
History
Dec 20, 2007
Window into History
A visit with Chapman Miller
and many Cross River Christmases past
In keeping with the spirit of the holiday season, this column will
sneak a peek at several Christmases from a long time ago. Recently, a
collection of diaries belonging to Chapman Miller, the longtime
postmaster of Cross River, was found in a basement in Katonah. The
little leatherbound books are in the process of being transcribed and
they provide decades of lives lived in that hamlet. The Millers farmed
on the hillside just west of the “downtown” area of Cross River, where
the highway from Bedford meets the highway from Katonah. The post
office and store stood where Yellow Monkey Village is now. The post
office is now the store to the west of the big barn and the Millers’
home is now the art gallery. More ...
Lewisboro Ledger
:
History
Nov 8, 2007
Window into History
Remembering the fiesty,
yet proper, Katherine Nicolai
Baker
Early this summer, Lewisboro lost one of its most treasured citizens,
Katherine Nicolai Baker. Ms. Baker died on June 27 at the age of 85.
She lived in her beloved
hamlet of Lewisboro for most of those 85 years
and was its staunchest supporter. Just ask any highway superintendent
or town official who received her letters and telephone calls asking
that the name Lewisboro Hamlet be added to the official town map and
that signs saying “Welcome to Lewisboro Hamlet” be erected along Smith
Ridge Road signifying the hamlet’s boundaries.
Born in Manhattan on March 14, 1922, Ms. Baker spent most of her long
life in Lewisboro, as a youngster in Vista and then on Elmwood Road.
She was a 1941 graduate of New Canaan High School. Whenever I needed
historical information about those hamlets, Ms. Baker was one of the
first people I called. She was generous with her memories and her time,
always. She loved to meet the children I would bring to the old Vista
one-room schoolhouse on East Street and got a real kick out of telling
stories about when she went to that school in the 1930s. She supplied
several family photos for my Images of Lewisboro book, too. More ...
Lewisboro Ledger
:
History
Oct 18, 2007
Window Into History
Many lake area tales
of spooky happenings
The crunch of leaves underfoot and slightly cooler days leads one to
believe that October has arrived, finally. With October comes the
thought of Halloween, and with Halloween comes an aura of spooks and
mystery. Are there restless spirits floating about in the woods and
meadows of our town? Should we believe in an unseen dimension? Although
I’ve never encountered any myself, I’ve met a number of residents who
claim to have had unexplainable encounters with visitors from the world
beyond. More ...
Lewisboro Ledger
:
History
Oct 11, 2007
Window into History
October 1944: Dateline Lewisboro
Every so often while looking for some tidbit or another in the
historical files, my hand touches a scrap of paper from the past that
corresponds with the current date.
I always marvel at such a coincidence! While looking for ancient voter
registration files for the town clerk recently, a yellowed page from
The Katonah Record for Oct. 12, 1944 appeared, totally out of
provenance. Sixty-three years is a lifetime for some, and an incredibly
long ago for others. Perhaps if I share some of the “hot” news items
from that wartime era a few readers may still recognize names, possibly
even their own, from that autumn so long ago. More ...
Lewisboro Ledger
:
History
Jul 18, 2007
Window Into History
It’s the Old Leather Man story again,
but this time with a new twist
In the midst of researching information for an upcoming book of
Lewisboro ghost stories and local legends I happened to meet a
fascinating gentleman, Dan W. De Luca, who has spent the last 20 years
following the footsteps of the Old Leather Man and rewriting his back
story. At the risk of boring any readers who are tired of reading about
one of our region’s most fascinating human conundrums, I would like to
share some of Mr. De Luca’s thoughts from our meeting last May.
Jules Bourglay?
But first, a brief introduction to the Old Leather Man just in case
someone has never heard about him, or missed the Leather Man columns I
have done previously. For about 30 years, a swarthy gentleman clothed
completely in leather, from his brimmed hat to his sabot-type
wooden-soled leather shoes, completed a 365-mile circuit through
Westchester and Fairfield counties every 30 days. He carried a stout
walking stick and a leather bag and stopped at a number of farmhouses
along his route for handouts. He never worked for his food and seldom
spoke. He had many caves and rock shelters along the route (including
one in Ward Pound Ridge Reservation) in which he would spend his
nights. More ...
Lewisboro Ledger
:
History
Apr 19, 2007
Window into History
In a letter to Lewisboro, the view
from Kentucky, November 1860
The file box containing the letters of the Lawrence family is rather
full. I am always grateful that some families save, if not everything,
almost everything. Before we close that box and put it back on the
shelf, I thought it would be interesting to share another letter in
this column. The letter is written to Darius from a business associate
in Kentucky who is quite frank about his opinions on the current
political crisis that very shortly thereafter led to the outbreak of
Civil War. More ...
Lewisboro Ledger
:
History
Mar 21, 2007
Window into History
A romantic mystery unfolds
along the Leather Man’s trail
Was it a case of unrequited love that gave Westchester and Fairfield
counties one of their most colorful historical characters? Historians
will probably never know what drove a young man to our fair countryside
and caused him to complete a 370-mile path from the Connecticut River
and Long Island Sound to the Hudson River on a schedule as regular as
clockwork every 34 days. Farmers and housewives used to set their
watches and mark their calendars by the Leather Man’s appearance at
their doorsteps and farms. More ...
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