INDEX.

Page.

Introduction: The Relation between the Picturesque and

the Historic; and, the Public Right to Famous Landmarks 165

IV. The First Lord of the Manor and the Build-

VI. The Second Lord of the Manor and the En-

largement of Manor Hall....

198

VII. The Third and Last Lord of the Manor..... 203

The Relation Between the Picturesque and the Historic Public Right to Famous Landmarks.

By chapter 168 of the Laws of 1908 of the State of New York, which received the signature of Governor Hughes on April 27, 1908, the State of New York accepted and placed in the custody of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society the venerable Philipse Manor Hall in the city of Yonkers, N. Y., to "be preserved and maintained forever intact as an historical monument and a museum of historical relics, and for such historical and patriotic uses."*

This devoutly wished-for consummation of hopes long entertained was brought about by the generous gift of $50,000 made by Mrs. Wm. F. Cochran for the purchase of the property, supplemented by the public-spirited co-operation of the municipal authorities of the city of Yonkers who voted to sell at that price property which, at a moderate estimate, is worth at least twice that sum. By this act, one of the most interesting antiquities of the United States has been placed in permanent security, and a strong impulse given to the movement for the preservation of American landmarks.

Before taking up the detailed history of this interesting building, it may be profitable to consider briefly the general principles and motives involved in scenic and historic preservation, some of which are conspicuously illustrated in the preservation of this venerable structure.

There is an intimate and fundamental relation between scenery and history, and there is a strong probability that notable features

* On the evening of July 1, 1908, formal exercises with addresses were held in the Manor Hall, accompanying the delivery of Mrs. Cochran's check to the Mayor, who delivered the deed of the property to a Deputy of the State Comptroller. The President of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society accepted the legal custody of the property, the physical custody to take effect when it is vacated by the city government.

of the landscape will possess historical interest from identification with human annals.

The valleys of the earth have, from time immemorial, been pathways of history -the history of war and the history of peace. The navigable streams which ran through them were the natural avenues of travel. The contours of their borders permitted roadways with easy grades. The streams afforded power for industry and water for domestic use. The alluvial soil and abundant moisture yielded the husbandman an ample reward for his toil. The protecting hills sheltered the inhabitants from the chill blasts of winter. And so mankind, from the lowest stage of savagery up to the highest stage of civilization, has traveled through, settled in, and made history in the valleys. This we shall see very plainly demonstrated in the history of Philipse Manor Hall and its site.

In the early settlement of a new country, the wealthiest and most influential families secure the first choice of sites for their residences and naturally select the most eligible and sightly places for their domiciles. Thus picturesque locations become the focal centers of the history which the owners make. This also we find conspicuously illustrated in the Philipse Manor Hall, as also in such buildings as the Hamilton Grange at One Hundred and Forty-second street and Convent avenue, New York City; the Morris Mansion (the married home of Mary Philipse, daughter of the second lord of the Manor) in One Hundred and Sixtieth street, New York City; the Van Cortlandt Mansion (the married home of "Eva Philipse," adopted daughter of the first lord of the Manor) in Van Cortlandt Park, New York City; the Van Cortlandt Manor House at Croton Point; the Hasbrouck House (Washington's Headquarters) at Newburgh, etc.

In military affairs, it is the first instinct of the engineer to erect his castle or fortification on a commanding eminence, which

is invariably picturesque. When Nature piled up the rocky eminence on which Edinburgh Castle is built and molded the surrounding hills, she built not only the foundation for one of the most picturesque cities of the old world, but she also built a theater for human history; and Quebec, the most picturesque city in English-speaking America, tells the same story of the marriage of Nature and History, of Beauty and Tragedy.

Similarly we find history clustering around the smaller indi vidual features of the landscape. A great rock becomes a "council rock," like the Council Rock on the old Seneca trail in Brighton, N. Y., or it becomes an object of worship with the aborigines and a boundary monument with the whites, like Amackassin, the famous boundary stone at the northwest corner of the town of Yonkers. A great tree becomes a "treaty tree," like the Big Tree near Mount Morris, Livingston county (which gave its name to the Big Tree Treaty of 1797 with the Senecas) or the Treaty Oak in Pelham Bay Park, New York City. It was as natural for the aborigines to select a rock like the Devil's Dans Kammer in Newburg bay on the Hudson for their religious rites as for the white man to choose Plymouth Rock as a secure landing place for the pilgrims. It was a common instinct that led the Indians to assemble in Council under the great elm at Cambridge, Mass., before the advent of the Europeans, and that impelled Washington to stand under it when he assumed command of the Continental Army in 1775.

An object may be picturesque without being historic; but when when it is old enough to be historic, it is almost invariably picturesque. The magnitude of the size of a grow ing object, the softening color due to exposure to the ele ments, the state of dilapidation due to neglect and decay, the vegetable growths which spontaneously overrun an abandoned structure, the obsoleteness of style of architecture or construction