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ON THE H UDSON g li sh rule might prove better than that of the Dutch, New Netherland was taken without bloodshed. Frederick Philipse was among the first to swear allegiance to the new rul er and monarch; he actually did ach ieve far more business and political success under the British than he had under the Dutch. Once the English had taken over, Philipse began to trade openl y with all the Engli sh colonies in America, with the British West Indies , with England herself, and with her far-fl ung outposts in Africa and Indi a. At the same time , his trade with the Indi ans in the Hudson Valley expanded dramatically. Before the end of the decade , Philipse was hai led as the wealthiest man in the colony. Hi s statu s and position in the colony rested on hi s very successfu l trading in profitab le commodities: furniture, needles, pins , cloth , slaves , stockings , lookingglasses , and books are among the many items he imported into the colony . Philipse ' s ships leaving America carried furs of every descripti on, lumber, tobacco , dyewoods , flour , and rum. Consistent with the attitudes of the time , a true member of the aristocracy possessed great landholdings, and the Dutch encouraged this by establi shing "patroonships" throu ghout New Netherl and. But thi s experiment proved a fa ilure. The English Crown also estab li shed landed estates in New York . With the aid of sympathetic governors , during the las t quarter of the seventeenth century , vast properties were distributed to outstanding merchants of New York. Philipse was a leading figure in this and in the 1670s he began to acquire property north of Manhattan Island . Hi s purchases were not made all at once , but were scattered over a twenty-year period. Hi s interest in the lands on the east side of the Hudson River to the north of Manhattan Island can probably be traced to his com mercial activities in the fl our trade . A vast market existed at that time for milled fl our in the colonies (including the West Indies), as well as in England. Although fl our was packed for ex port only in New York City, it was milled throughout the colony . Philipse, a man of ac umen, realized that not only cou ld the acq uisti on of property lead to social prestige in itself, but it could be effecti vely exploited for commercial ends. It is not surpri sing to discover th at hi s first purchase north of Manhattan consisted of a small parcel of land , in what is now Yonkers, containing a stream capable of drivin g a fl our mill. Thi s was a first step in the process by which he graduall y acquired a vast estate of over 50,000 acres SEA HISTORY , AUTUMN 1985
stretching along the Hudson River from Kingsbridge (in what is now the Bronx) to the Croton Ri ver on the north and extending inl and to the Bronx River. In 1680, Philipse acquired from the Indi ans a tract of land stretching along the banks of the Pocantico River which, under the Philipses, became the trade center, the Upper Mills. Then, in order to have his vas t purchases consolidated and officiall y recognized, he obtained a Crown patent in 1693 creating the Manor of Philipsburg .. The Pocantico Tract was ideal for the estab lishment of a milling and trade center. At the point where it emptied into the Hudson, the Pocantico River created a bay suitab le for the safe anchori ng of river sloops. Following the ri ver inland one came to a natural cove which was dredged to provide accommodation for sloops and barges. The cove had a rocky ledge suitab le for building purposes and a natural narrowing of the river provided the perfect location for a dam . The Pocantico supplied the power for a flour mill built on the northern slope of the cove, the abundant rocks provided ample building materials, and the cove itself provided a natural basi n for the loadi ng and unloading of vessels as well as for ship repairs. The Hudson River provided the gateway to New York C ity and so to all the corners of the globe. The knowledge , the foresight , and the willpower to weld all these factors into a unified commerc ial complex was provided by Frederick Philipse. Construction of a mill began soon after he acquired the property. It is a mill, therefore, which is the o ldest known structure at the Upper Mills. The original dam must have come into ex istence at approx imately the same time because it was essential to the operation of the mill . Almost immed iately upon its completion , the mill was providing Philipse with income, because the location was such that he could acquire grai n directl y from hi s own tenants, convert it into flour , bag and bolt the fl our and load the grain on board the sloops lying alongside the mill . On the return trip the sloops brought household necessities which were sold to the farmers. A thriving enterprise had been carved out of the wi lderness in a short space of time. A rudimentary dwe lling was added to the property some time later. At that time the small stone house consisted of five rooms and probab ly served as the center from which Philipse checked on hi s tenants and supervised the over-all operations of this commercial center.
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Above, a view of the mill drawn by Robert Fink, and below, the mill (left), a stone house and barn as they are today . Illustrations courtesy Sleepy Hollow Restorations.
Under the auspices of Sleepy Hollow Restorations, the reconstructed mill , manor house and outbuildings are open to the public throughout the year. Frederi ck Philipse had chosen a site along the Hudson outstanding in gra ndeur. This was to be ampl y appreciated by the e minent nineteenth-century American writer, Washington Irving , who purchased one of Phi lipse 's tenant cottages and remade it into his renowned home, Sunnyside . This, too , is under the supervision of Sleepy Hollow Resto rations and open to the public . Not to be outdone, the Philipse's close New Amsterdam neighbors (a nd soonto-be relatives), the Van Cortlandts, purchased the Hudson River lands to the north of the Croton River , building a res idence on the north bank of Croton near the Hudson shore . By 1750 this became the home of a branch of the Van Cortlandts who resided there unt il the 1940s . Van Cortlandt Restoration at Croton-on-Hudson, consisting of the manor house, grounds, ferry house and kitchen, is the third of the Sleepy Holl ow Restorations. All three restorations are open year round and in lively fashion display and demonstrate the crafts, trades and 1ife sty les of three eras of Hudson River history . U.
Ja cob Judd is professor of history at Herbert Lehman College , City University of New York and historical consultant for Sleepy Hollow Restorations. He resides, appropriately , on the banks of the Hudson at Ossining , New York. 19