20 Years Ago Today – Nyack’s 9/11 Hero, “The Man in the Red Bandana”

Welles Remy Crowther

When the National September 11 Memorial Museum was opened in 2014 with a moving and solemn ceremony attended by current and past Presidents, Governors, Mayors and many other notables. President Obama addressed those assembled for just nine minutes, and more than half of those nine minutes were devoted to speaking about and remembering a remarkable young man – “The Man in the Red Bandana” – a young man who saved so many others that day, but lost his own life returning for yet more people to save. After the President spoke, he was followed by a Nyacker, Alison Crowther, the mother of that remarkable young man – and with her comments it was obvious that this selfless young man did not fall very far from his tree. 

On this 20th Anniversary of that tragic day. it is fitting that we remember and tell the story of one of our own – a remarkable young man.  The mysterious and miraculous “Man in the Red Bandana”, a Nyacker who on 9/11/2001 lived – and died – according to what he believed and what he had been taught by his family, his church and his schools growing up among us. Welles Remy Crowther, NHS Class of 1995. He did us all proud.

The Honor Student from Nyack High and volunteer member of the Empire Hook and Ladder Co. in Upper Nyack graduated from Boston College in 1999. He was working at Sandler O’Neill & Partners as an Equities Trader. From his lofty office on the 104th Floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower it seemed that the world was literally and figuratively at the feet of this polite, dedicated, brilliant young man.  Then that dream exploded on the wings of hijacked planes and a religion hijacked by fanatical extremist devotees.  Welles Remy Crowther would counter those acts of crushing hate with acts of towering love. 

This athletic young man would have easily made it out, and could have. At 9:12 AM he would call his mother in Upper Nyack from his cellphone to say he was okay. His mother would never hear his voice again. For Welles Crowther (who had already somehow miraculously made it down to the 78th floor skylobby from the 104th) could not see the pain and fear and confusion in the Skylobby’s burning ruins and not ACT.  He led people to the only remaining usable stairwell to the lower floors and carried a facially burned woman down all the way to the 61st… and then he went back up for more people, and brought them down, then back up again… On March 19, 2002 Welles Remy Crowther was finally recovered in the company of several FDNY and EMS members – the group had been heading back UP with a ‘jaws of life’ device when the South Tower followed its’ sister in a slow cascade of doomed hopes and broken dreams. At least 18 people are known to owe their lives directly to the selfless acts committed by a man in a red bandanna. On December 15, 2006, through a Special Commendation by the NYC Fire Commissioner Welles Remy Crowther was made an honorary member of the FDNY.  This was the first time in history that the department had done that posthumously. The Crowther family was presented with a framed certificate of appointment which included a department badge and a red bandanna.

The word “hero” is sadly overused these days.  Pampered overpaid athletes simply doing their job are not heroes.  Politicians mouthing platitudes  and slogans of every variety are not heroes. Even those who survive an act of horrifying evil, or lose someone to it, are not heroes but victims of an assault on humanity. People who put their lives on the line everyday fighting fires, crimes and dire illnesses – or fighting in service of their country – are heroes. And people who go back upstairs over and over in a conflagration of staggering proportions, knowing full well that the edifice’s twin has already collapsed, and who are not even “official” rescue workers on the scene? Well to me, that’s the definition of a superhero, or perhaps, a saint. In the spirit of “No greater love than this…” , young Mr. Crowther laid down his life – not even for friends – but for perfect strangers. Strangers he believed were his brothers and sisters in the human condition. When I reach my last day on Earth, I hope that I can face it the way Welles Remy Crowther did – with courage, honor and love.

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Nyack’s Downtown Flooding Redux

Nyack and the rest of the Hudson Valley – along with the City and New Jersey and Philadelphia – suffered through the unpleasant visit of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ida last night and this morning. An unprecedented amount of rain fell overnight (record SHATTERING in New York City) and flooding situations are still underway in much of the area, including Nyack. The NYS Thruway in Rockland was closed, Parkways on both sides of the Hudson covered in water reaching 12 feet and more – and of course Route 59 by the Mall and Main Street in Nyack having issues while in Orangeburg, 11 people had to be rescued on Route 303 and a CSX Freight Train derailed in the same intersection. On social media today I saw a number of posts bemoaning our seemingly all-too-frequent downtown flooding and a few specifically asked if the Army Corps of Engineers should be called in to deal with our flash flood issues. Unfortunately, as Village Historian, I’m sad to say that the floods have been a regular occurrence for over a hundred years when the re-channeling of the Nyack Brook started the flooding problem, and that misguided water project was the work of … you guessed it, THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.

I’m reposting my research for the Village that I completed back in 2013 for my testimony in a lawsuit brought against the Village for the flood that year. It seemed an appropriate day to revisit the story and explain why things are the way they are!

Nyack Underwater – History of Downtown Flooding

Original Post May 24, 2013 by John Patrick Schutz 

So this week it happened again, torrents of water came rushing down Nyack’s East/West Streets and Avenues gathering speed and strength as several inches of rain overwhelmed storm sewers, picking up sidewalks and pavement while filling basements and even first floors from Franklin Street to the River.  It may seem to some residents that downtown has been flooding several times a year just in recent years; however the downtown area has had issues with flooding for over a century.  The frequency of the flooding does seem to be on the rise, but it is likely that Nyack’s original water issues are being exacerbated by three additional stressors: Blocked Culverts, Loss of Tree Cover due to development Upslope, and worldwide climatic change.

              Mayor Jen Laird-White has been actively seeking abatement solutions to our flooding issues since well before this last storm, and in fact, requested that I write about the history of flooding in Nyack the very day she swore me in as Village Historian.  So far, real solutions come with large price tags in the $15 million or more range. Of the three additional factors mentioned above, obviously Nyack can only actively work on the first and regulate the second, the third can only be addressed by higher levels of government (if at all).  Nonetheless, we have inherited an issue that is long-standing and these additional stressors are only showing up the problems in our water management.

              The culprit is a culvert. Though that is actually an oversimplification, it really does get to the crux of the matter.  There is a running body of water known as the Nyack Brook that runs from the hills of Central Nyack right down through Nyack’s downtown and out into the Hudson near Memorial Park.  Its course is basically parallel to Main Street but you can only SEE it in a few select locations, as it has been covered over and confined to culverts since the late 1800s.  It runs north of Main Street from the area near the northbound Thruway entrance near High Avenue past the new Walgreens and the Catherine Street Firehouse.  For several blocks it runs between Main Street and Catherine Street, and you can see it above ground and cross it with a footbridge by the Tappan Zee Florist at 176 Main Street.  From there it once again dives beneath ground and runs under a number of buildings while heading for Franklin Street. When I was a teenager in the early 1980’s I had several friends who worked at the Coven Café (now Café Barcel) who delighted in pulling up a trap door in the floor of the restaurant to show me the Nyack Brook flowing by between the two segments of the building’s basement!  Originally, the Brook meandered south around Bridge Street where there was, no big surprise, a bridge spanning it. If you look at some of the older published maps of Nyack (like the one at Village Hall) you’ll see that bridge at Main and Bridge Street.  In the early 1900s someone decided that it would be a good idea to divert the brook before it got that far east and created a series of tunnels that turned it at Franklin Street.  That would be planning mistake number one.  One of Nyack’s first major flooding incidents occurred in 1903 just after this was done, no surprise there in hindsight.

1903 Downtown Flood – from the Nyack Library Archives

Those temporary tunnels were replaced with concrete by the WPA during the Urban Renewal project of the 1960s that razed the business buildings on the east side of Franklin and the south side of Main Street to replace them with a parking lot, the Cinema East theater (now the defunct Riverspace) and the Nyack Plaza housing community. The brook flows beneath Main and Franklin, below the M&T Bank and the parking lot and pops up again briefly just west of Nyack Plaza south of Depew.  It goes to ground again beneath parts of Nyack Plaza and surfaces for a while in the gorge that lies south of Hudson Street and west of Broadway. You can see the brook and the charming tree filled area around it by looking out the back window of the Strawberry Place. From there it goes below Broadway to emerge from under the east side of Piermont Avenue and then flows along the side of Memorial Park and into the Hudson.  The brook is hemmed tightly in some sections and any kind of blockage by expected debris like broken branches; and unexpected like lumber, cinder blocks and unbelievably, shopping carts! There are many local business people who feel that the really severe flooding downtown experienced in 2011 was exacerbated by construction materials and the like that were blocking the culverts.  It has yet to be determined if those objects added significantly or not to the damage; although the timing of the storm brought the floodwaters just when the downtown curbs and sidewalks were being replaced meaning there was very little to funnel or channel water that wound up above ground and flowing down the surface of Main Street.

              The Nyack Brook may also have a special place in history – it may have been one of the “signposts” on the Underground Railroad, as the home of Nyack’s station keepers, Cynthia Hesdra and her husband, was located on the Brook near what is now the corner of Highland Avenue (9W) and Main Street (see my article about Cynthia Hesdra and the Underground Railroad on my At Home In Nyack blog: http://bit.ly/Z5CRMX ).  If this is true, it is a shame that there are so few places where we can actually see with our own eyes a geological feature that was part of such a dangerous and needful endeavor.  In addition to powering several mill wheels over the centuries, the Nyack Brook had for many, many years collected in a pond created by the Lydecker family for their ice business near where the Best Western motel now stands.  There are still Nyack residents who recall happy winter afternoons on what was for so long called “the skating pond”, an annual wintertime joy for many residents.  That pond and another no longer existent smaller pond just east of the main pond were outfitted with floodgates by the Nyack Water Company in 1891.  According to Jim Leiner, our local expert on Nyack’s residents, Tobias Justrich who lived between the two ponds was the volunteer who raised and lowered the gates during storms to prevent the flooding further down the hill – Jim states that when Tobias passed away around 1930 no one took over the job and much more flooding occurred downtown as a result – planning mistake number two.  A July storm in 1948 raised the brook by 9 feet in one afternoon! The construction of the Thruway in the 1950s filled in the Skating Pond, which became planning mistake number three.

lOOK FAMILIAR?

1930s flooding from the Nyack Library Archives

Village History shows an uptick in downtown flooding during the 30’s after the floodgates were no longer operated, and more so after the construction of the Thruway.  Without the skating pond, there was nowhere for water to collect along the slope from 9W to the river with one exception – the level area in the center of downtown between Franklin Street and Broadway, where there was already an issue due to the forced migration of the stream into the tunnels that turned it prematurely south.  Note that all the water that collected in this last storm was in that section, the same being true for the flooding event in 2011 that filled the Riverspace Theater with water up to the stage and above the seats.

              Nyack’s location on the tidal section of the Hudson River can be a crap game when it comes to an East Coast Hurricane – even if a storm is only labeled a “Tropical Storm” rather than a “Hurricane” when it reaches us, if it strikes during high tide, the results can be devastating – Superstorm Sandy was just the latest of the named storms that have caused us issues – 1954 brought two storms within a month of each other, Hurricanes Edna and Hazel brought severe flooding to downtown and destroyed several riverfront businesses.  Hurricane Donna in 1960, Agnes in 1972, T.S. David in 1979, Gloria in 1985 and T.S. Floyd in 1999 all brought their special form of misery, flooding downtown and eliminating marinas, docks, and other riverfront businesses.  And of course, in a reflection of 1954, the year 2011 brought us two major events – the flash flood in June followed by Hurricane Irene later in the summer, culminating with Sandy last year. 

              The frequency does appear to be increasing (other smaller events have happened throughout the 2000s – one in 2007 being most significant).  Locally there’s not much we can do regarding the increased strength of storm events as our climate changes, they are not in our control.  However increased vigilance would likely help in keeping the culverts of the brook as clear as possible and in assessing the effect of development in the area in regards to water drainage issues.  When Oak Hill Cemetery clear cut a large swath of its property along Highland Avenue (9W) a few years ago, there were no longer trees to catch runoff and as a result Nyack Hospital now has flooding issues it did not have before and more runoff heads downhill to downtown.  Housing developments above 9W in South Nyack/Upper Grandview and just below 9W in Upper Nyack clear-cut their trees as well with the result of increased flooding in the neighborhoods below them.  These were likely unexpected consequences that no one doing the development considered, and in the future, we must make sure that any similar development is done in a more sustainable manner without full clear-cutting. 

              In the end, there is some flooding we simply can’t avoid – we are a River Village on a very large tidal fjord, and our one tributary stream to the Hudson is by necessity culverted.  Diligence and intelligent planning will aid in lessening the blows of flash flooding, but can never eliminate them completely.

Eight Years later… here we are in September 2021, and at least the curbs were present this time and the culvert did have some “housekeeping” done, but much of the problem remains. Fortunately, the new developments on Main & 9W, Main & Midland, and at Pavion have not added to the problem, but the annual increasing of intensity of storms has made some conditions worse. Our Village, our Township, our County and State need to address an issue that will simply continue to worsen even if we don’t add an additional manmade issues to those Mother Nature is sending us more and more often…

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Remembering Nyack’s Civil War “Glory” – Brigadier General Daniel Ullman & the First African-American Combat Unit

Many Nyackers are unaware that Oak Hill Cemetery contains an entire section dedicated to Nyackers who either died fighting the Civil War or were Civil War Veterans. Two Generals are actually buried there, but one was particularly special – he convinced Abraham Lincoln that the time had come for African Americans to be allowed to fight in combat in the Union Army for after all, who had more of a stake in the outcome…? Read on…

OAK HILL CEMETERY CIVIL WAR MONUMENT (photo by J.P. Schutz)

At a time when it seems that selfishness and partisanship often appear to be the rule of the day in all levels of government, I thought a Nyack story about a public figure devoted to fairness, justice and the spirit of “All Men  Are Created Equal” was in order. Many of us have seen the movie “GLORY” but may not realize that Nyack shares in that glory…

Daniel Ullman (sometimes spelled “Ullmann”) was born in April of 1810 in Delaware, and moved to New York City after graduating Yale University in 1829 (you’ll note, he was all of 19 years old!). He passed the bar in New York and began a law practice.  Also something of a minor politician, he ran for Governor of the State of New York in 1854, gaining 26% of the vote.  When the Civil War began, he volunteered and was made a Colonel in the 78th New York Infantry. In August of 1862 he was captured at Cedar Mountain and became a prisoner of war at Libby Prison.  He was paroled in October, and immediately went to Washington to speak to President Lincoln about an idea he thought would help save the Union, and represent just what our Nation was supposed to be all about.

The idea was the inclusion of Black Soldiers – free and those freed from bondage – as regular members of the Union Army. Not servants, not support or camp followers. Soldiers.  A somewhat radical idea for that time period (despite the numerous African-American soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War) President Lincoln was at first cool to the idea, concerned with how some of the top brass of his own troops might feel about the concept, AND the fact that his own coup – The Emancipation Proclamation – was due to become law on January 1, 1863. Too many “radical” ideas at once might break the remaining states of the Union apart.  After that stunning proclamation, Lincoln called Ullman back to D.C. further discuss the idea.

photo: public domain

In January of 1863, Ullman was promoted to Brigadier General and sent to Louisiana under the command of General Banks, where his orders were to raise five regiments of African-American troops, given the designation of Corps D’Afrique, though commonly nicknamed Ullman’s Brigade.  Despite this victory for Civil Rights, all was not smooth sailing for Daniel Ullman and his troops.  In a letter to General L. Thomas dated May 19th, Ullman would bemoan the lack of respect for his troops – the tendency of lower level officers to attempt to use his troops as nothing more than ditch diggers and drudges and those officers’ reluctance to believe African-American troops would be “capable” under fire – and the overall lack of competence of the white junior officers assigned to his command.

Vindication for Ullman and his recruits was just days away – the troops would see their first major action on May 27, 1863 when they advanced over open ground in the face of devastating artillery fire.  Ullman’s Brigade, made up almost entirely of men born into enslavement, desperate for the freedom our Constitution promised all men, stormed the Confederates at a place on the Louisiana shore of the Mississippi River ironically named PORT HUDSON!  They would not win this military battle.  Many of the soldiers desperate for their freedom found their freedom that day only through the boundaries of death. The battle they won, however, was mental and moral. General Banks would write in his official report of the Battle of Port Hudson that: “Whatever doubt may have existed heretofore as to the efficiency of organizations of this character, the history of this day proves…in this class of troops effective supporters and defenders.”  Another “cherished” myth – that African-Americans could not effectively fight as a unit – was laid to rest.  For really, who had more of a stake in the outcome of this conflict than men for whom victory meant liberty and defeat continued bondage?  Amazingly, the display of courage shown by the Corps D’Afrique in the Battle of Port Hudson actually spurred more enslaved men to escape their masters and join the Union Army.  Please note that the more famous assault on Fort Wagner, South Carolina – chronicled in the movie “GLORY” – and fought by the African-American freemen of the 54th Massachusetts occurred several months AFTER Ullman’s troops made their history at Port Hudson. And recall, while Colonel Shaw of “Glory” fame commanded African-American freemen – tradesmen, scholars, artisans and professionals from New England – Ullman commanded former slaves fighting for their very existence.

Ullman’s Brigade was officially renamed “The United States Colored Troops” and served with distinction through the seige of Mobile in early 1865.  However, in February of 1865, Ullman was detached from his command and sent to New Orleans for “rest”. For at heart, Ullman was a thinker and advocate, not a warrior.  The stress of a command constantly plagued with prejudicial suspicion and distrust, and the constant uphill battle for equal treatment had worn him down.  By the spring of 1865 he had developed a serious alcohol problem and was mercifully taken off the front lines, and out of the command structure he’d had to constantly buck for two bloody years.  He was mustered out in August of 1865 and given the rank of Major General.

After the war, where else would he retire to but Nyack-on-Hudson?  He spent the Reconstruction years with literary and scientific studies – and speaking on tolerance and his assertion that “equality of education and universal suffrage” was the right of all citizens of this country, and would be the only means towards healing in the South. Unfortunately, his dreams of equality and suffrage would not bear fruit in the South for almost a century.  Daniel Ullman – Lawyer, Statesman, Scholar, General and Civil Rights Pioneer – died peacefully at his home in Nyack on  September 20, 1892 at the age of 82.  He is buried on the slopes of Oak Hill Cemetery in view of his beloved Hudson. An adopted son of Nyack, perhaps, but so welcome in the diverse tapestry that is our history. Heroes, real heroes, are in short supply in any century, and I’m proud to claim this hero as one of “ours”.

Oak Hill Cemetary on US 9W, across from Nyack Hospital.  Take a walk through the magnificent burial grounds and offer your respects to General Ullman’s grave, along with the other celebrities, authors, artists and politicians making up Nyack’s “permanent” population.  

photo: J.P. Schutz

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100 YEARS AGO IN NYACK: LOVE IN THE TIME OF INFLUENZA

The “Great War” also brings America’s worst epidemic to Nyack and Rockland County…

It’s mid-January 2018, and I’ve spent most of the past week suffering with this year’s particularly nasty Flu giving me plenty of time between coughing, shivering and yes, sleeping to consider the even more severe outbreak a century ago in a chaotic time that even makes our current events pale in terms of apparent madness all around.

The year was 1918. From a personal history standpoint, that means my Grandmother was in and out of the Nyack area shooting silent films with her boss D.W. Griffith and fellow actresses Lillian and Dorothy Gish, and my Grandfather was serving as a Doughboy in The Great War (when he passed in 2001 at age 101 he was one of the last if not THE last WWI Vets in the New York Metro Area and one of the last in the country).  “The Gilded Age” that carried the Western World from the Nineteenth to the Twentieth Centuries was over.  The great barons and monopolists who personified those times were shaken to the core by the Anarchist Movement and the rise of Organized Labor.  The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912 sounded the death knell for the era, as the world at large was horrified and sickened at the loss of life and the uneven conditions that produced them. They were followed shortly by a war like no one had seen before – millions of deaths, gruesome new chemical, biological and airborne weapons, and the targeting of civilian populations struck fear world wide. The sinking of the passenger liner RMS Lusitania in 1915 exemplified this new normal that the average Edwardian could not even begin to contemplate. Though she may actually have had some munitions aboard (which now seems likely) there were still 1,100 passengers and crew aboard, and their targeting changed the way war would be fought thereafter.

Nyack was being carried along in the tumultuous times: Upper Nyack’s Caroline Lexow Babcock had just helped lead the County and the entire State of New York into approving Suffrage for Women in 1917 (the whole country would not follow for another 3 years) but the giddiness of that political milestone was tempered by the US’s entrance into The Great War, despite promises and pledges stating we would never become a combatant.  With a Nyack Parade and bands playing “Over There” while Nyack’s businesspeople raised over a half-million dollars in war bonds, the young men (and a few young women) of Rockland County marched off to save Europe. Eighty-four (eighty-one men and three women) would never return to the shores of the Hudson. Though 1917 marked our official entrance to the war, dark rumblings were felt for several years prior, even to the point of a German Spy Ring operating partly out of the St. George Hotel on Burd Street right under our very noses! (See my post about Nyack’s German Spy Ring here: 96 Years Ago Today: Nyack’s German Spy Ring.  Camp Bluefields in Blauvelt and South Nyack – which had closed its’ firing range in 1913 when the bullets kept overshooting the targets on Clausland Mountain and striking homes in South Nyack – was repurposed as an ROTC training camp and the Village of Rockland Lake hosted “Camp Militor”, another army training camp readying soldiers for their upcoming deployment in Europe.

Nyack’s WWI Home Guard in 1917 Historical Photo from the Nyack Library Collection

Into this confusing and frightening atmosphere of political change, intrigue, and a war of never before seen proportions, a silent killer was creeping – one that would result in the largest loss of life from disease in United States History and that resulted in the one and only time since it’s founding that the population of Rockland County actually DECREASED in a Census, all due to the staggering mortality rate.

It arrived in our area by ship – a terrifying new form of Influenza dubbed “The Spanish Flu” – the second half of August 1918 found ship after ship docking from Europe – whether troopship or naval vessel or the few brave Scandinavian Passenger liners still relying on neutrality – arriving at Quarantine with more and more sailors and passengers ill, and in some cases, already dead. Attempts to isolate became more and more futile as the weeks passed.

The illness was terrifying in several ways: unlike most types of flu, including the 2018 strain, this flu mostly targeted teens, young adults and mid-life people, NOT children or the elderly. The speed with which it spread, and the speed with which it progressed within a victim from no symptoms to critical or fatal was astonishing, as was it’s mortality rate. Nothing like this had been seen since the Bubonic Plague of the Middle Ages.

In just the month of October 1918, it killed 196,000 people in the US. Nyack reported 800 cases that month. Four women played bridge one evening as usual until 11PM, by the NEXT DAY three of them sickened and died.  John Scott, a local writer, was 2 when the flu hit Rockland in 1918, he survived as did his mother but his father and siblings did not. Up at Camp Militor, a Lieutenant Crowhurst was credited in the October 12, 1918 edition of the Rockland County Times with saving a number of Spanish Flu victims by using his Horseless Carriage as a makeshift ambulance from the Camp to Nyack Hospital for several emergency runs.

The Soldier and His Sweetheart…

A find in a home on First Avenue puts a personal face on the tragedy of the “one-two punch” of World War and Global Epidemic.  There was a local doughboy, a Captain Eberlin who was involved with a young lady, Bessie Edwards who lived on First Avenue between Broadway and Gedney in 1918.  Their tragic relationship came to light during a renovation in the First Avenue home in the early 2000’s.  The new owner found Bessie’s diary and postcards and letters from Eberlin and turned them over to the former owner, who turned out to be Cynthia Sheridan of the Rockland County Historic Society, who was a relative of Bessie’s.  Cynthia passed the story and the diary along to local author Linda Zimmerman.

After what was apparently a regular correspondence, with Captain Eberlin recounting the horrors of trench warfare, and Bessie presumably cheering him up with local news and trivia, Eberlin became concerned in early fall when she ceased returning his missives. His postcards and letters became concerned. The war officially ended on November 18, 1918, and knowing he would likely not arrive home for Thanksgiving, he encouraged her to eat Turkey and Pumpkin Pie for him and remember him to her folks and let them know he’d soon be home.

His last postcard dated November 27, 1918 shows his fears begging her to respond, wondering why she had stopped writing, and pitifully hoping she was well. But Bessie could not answer his concerns, Bessie had contracted Influenza and died on October 13, 1918, having never received his promise of coming home soon. Unfortunately, Captain Eberlin would never know why she did not respond, and never returned home. He contracted the Spanish Flu and he too did not recover, dying before year’s end.

Of the 84 deaths of World War I service members from Rockland County, almost as many of them were from Influenza as from Combat. When the Global Pandemic ended in early 1919 at least 30 MILLION people worldwide had died, most of them in the prime of their lives. 

FLU VACCINES ARE STILL CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT KOBLIN’S AND WALGREENS IF YOU’VE WANTED ONE BUT HAVE NOT YET GOTTEN ONE.  CAPTAIN EBERLIN AND BESSIE EDWARDS DID NOT HAVE THAT OPTION. AT LEAST IN 2018 WE HAVE THAT OPTION IF WE CHOOSE. 

THIS POSTING, AND MANY OTHERS WILL SHORTLY BE AVAILABLE IN A PODCAST.

CHECK BACK SOON FOR DETAILS!

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98 Years Ago: KABOOM! Nyack’s Explosive Chemical Industrial Disaster

Yesterdays’ derailment in New Windsor of a CRX freight train carrying sulfuric acid – along the very tracks that run through Blauvelt, West Nyack, Valley Cottage, Congers, Haverstraw and Stony Point inspired me to renew and refresh this post about a frightening and deadly chemical explosion that happened right here in downtown Nyack – directly across the street from an occupied school building. The lower Hudson Valley dodged a bullet yesterday – had the tanks ruptured, or had that train been one of the many that daily cross our county carrying explosive shale oil in antiquated tank cars the results would have been unimaginable.

The balance between successful industry and public safety seems to exist on a fulcrum – tipping first to the one then to the other but generally resulting in a middle ground of “generally safe, generally profitable”.  However, when one or the other side goes too far, and like a playground bully jumps off the see-saw the result is a crash to the ground for the other party. So if safety measures go extreme, profits crash – but when safety is ignored for financial gain, PEOPLE DIE.

 Among the most foolhardy suggestions of our newly elected “slash-and-burn” politicians are the elimination of government-run product safety and consumer protection agencies. Really, haven’t we learned our lesson that industries allowed to operate without any public oversight tend to start sacrificing public safety in pursuit of more profit?  There are countless examples some of these “reformers” should bear in mind: the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, the R.M.S. Titanic, the Union Carbide Plant Explosion in Bhopal, the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and the BP Gulf oil rig explosion are some of the worst disasters that resulted from the drive for profit superseding safety concerns and common sense.  Closer to home, the brick industry in Haverstraw became so greedy that in 1906 they undermined the village itself, causing a landslide that took 5 streets, 2 avenues and 21 buildings with it, killing 19 residents.

photo: Hudson River Valley Heritage Archives

The American Aniline Products plant was located on Cedar Hill Avenue – the picture above shows what it was like prior to the morning of January 30, 1919.  It was just after 9:00 and the 400 plus students of the Liberty Street School across the street from the factory had already begun class.  (It’s hard to imagine the response of today’s parents if there was a factory manufacturing toxic chemicals literally across the street from their kids’ school!)  Overheating chemicals in the drying room of the factory’s first floor ignited and exploded the walls of the ground floor outward, another blast would rip a hole that tore through the upper floors and roof.  The hundred employees on-site fled for their lives as the explosion rocked all of Orangetown and plate-glass windows shattered all over Nyack.  All of the windows of the school facing the factory were blown into the school, covering the students with broken glass.  Amazingly, the force of the blast was so strong that the size of the glass shards were minute and miraculously only one student was seriously injured by the glass.  The 400 students evacuated to Hudson and School Street and joined what appeared to be the rest of the population of Nyack in watching the conflagration. 

photo: Nyack Library Parkhurst Collection

This was perhaps the greatest day for the Nyack Volunteer Fire Department.  Due to their heroic efforts, the ensuing conflagration was confined to the factory, one home and one garage.  Three of the factory’s employees lost their lives that day, with 15 others seriously injured.  What is not known is how many of the residents and workers (not to mention the firemen) would have their health affected by breathing the extremely toxic fumes of the burning aniline dye. See, in 1919, either no one knew – or possibly no one cared – that breathing aniline fumes was toxic and likely to cause cancers, particularly bladder cancers later in life.  (Having a father who suffered from asbestosis, contracted well AFTER the construction industry was well aware of the dangers, suggests that the second scenario though horrifying is indeed possible).  The factory owners would eventually be fined the sum of $2500 for their negligence, after the President of the company and the Superintendent of the factory pled guilty of  violating state labor laws and village ordinances in the storing of explosive chemicals – yet they violated those laws and regulations KNOWING there was a school across the street. 

photo: Hudson River Valley Heritage Archives

Though the families of those who perished or were injured might disagree, Nyack learned its lesson with a miraculously low loss of life.  Had the vector of the explosion been slightly different, the outcome could have been far, far worse.  So while our rhetoric-spouting politicians yammer and bleat about cutting government spending and government interference limiting “business possibilities” they might want to concentrate on the real waste, and not checks and balances put into place to keep our industries’ need to satisfy their shareholders from slipping into disregard for public safety and human lives. I wish more of our elected officials of all persuasions spent a little more time studying history and a little less time studying the polls, remembering that they were elected to do public service, not elected to get re-elected.

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Nyack’s Music Man – George Bryant 1939 – 2016

I woke today trying to fathom a Nyack without George Bryant.  George Bernard Bryant, Jr. passed away at home last evening at the age of 77. George was one of those parts of life that you consider a “constant”, he was so faithfully, quietly, graciously THERE for so long, it seemed to many that he always WOULD be there.  This musician extraordinaire touched so many lives all over our area both as musician and passionate advocate for peace, mutual understanding, fellowship and ecumenism.

For those who don’t know, “Mr. Bryant” as he was frequently known, was the Organist, Liturgical Music Director, and Choir Director of Saint Ann’s in Nyack from 1966 to his retirement in 2014, as well as Organist for Temple Beth Torah in Upper Nyack from 1978 to 2014.  His reputation as both instrumentalist and instructor was not only national, but international, and yet this quiet self-effacing man chose to never leave his beloved Nyack for more than a few weeks at a time despite numerous offers over the course of his long musical career.

He was born June 17th, 1939 to Margaret Beirne Bryant and George Bernard Bryant, Sr and grew up on First Avenue around the corner from St. Ann’s.  George was a musical prodigy and despite his shyness, his talent was apparent at Nyack High School and the church, and his facility with keyboards, both piano and pipe organ, brought him to study at the prestigious Julliard School of Music.  In 1962, at the age of ONLY 22 (just barely, his birthday was only weeks away) George Bernard Bryant, Jr. received his Masters of Science degree from Julliard. Please note, a Master’s Degree at 22, and also note, not a Masters of Arts, but of SCIENCE a more difficult degree in Music.  He was truly both a passionate artist AND a brilliant technician.  He would go on to play recitals here and abroad but his heart and soul and life were in his little village “up the river” from Julliard.  George became musical director at St. Ann’s church a few years later, and despite many offers, including invitations to become organist at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, George stayed put in the house he grew up in on First Avenue, only venturing out of Nyack for the occasional master class, recital performance, international choir tour, or music festival and convention. It seemed he was quite content, first living with his parents, then inheriting the house and living with his dog for many years – though I never could tell if the poor thing was a really big beagle or a less woebegone basset hound…

Along with the two choirs, Catholic and Jewish, George had many private students and many of them would go on to great success in the competitive music world.  He was Vice President of the New York State Association of Music Teachers from 1986 to 2014, on the Board of Directors of the Rockland County Music Teachers from 1962 to his passing, a member of the National Pastoral Musicians, and several time recipient of Rockland Executive Arts Award from the County of Rockland, and in 1997 the George Bryant Organ Scholarship was established in his honor.  He helped found and guide the Rockland County Catholic Choir, and worked with many other Rockland Music groups and schools.

George was passionate about helping youth discover the magic of music – and not just classical or sacred music – but music of all kinds, all periods, all ethnicities.  When I joined the St. Ann’s Youth Choir at the age of 16 in 1979, it would be to join a group that sang not only old church dirges, but vibrant jazz, rock, broadway, creole, american spirituals, gospel and more. It was a multiethnic group, and of the teenagers that were members when I joined, George’s “kids” would go on – as I did – to a number of prestigious music schools and programs and follow with professional musical careers.  Alumni of that group inspired by “Mr. Bryant” would record hit albums (imagine a trance-dance track with a house beat and an operatic soprano soaring over the top… yeah, the album “Aria” for any former club kids featured a lead singer who was in St. Ann’s Youth Choir), others, careers in Musical Theater or Cabaret or Jazz, along with Classical Singers and Instrumentalists, and even a Jazz Vocalist who sang at the White House. Others would become Music Teachers themselves, as well as several who are also now Musical Directors at both St. Ann’s and other churches, Musical Therapists and even the head of People to People here in Rockland.

And somehow, we would all always come BACK to this man… for guidance, for practice, for a task master when needed, and a sympathetic ear if that was required. And we’d all do anything for him.  He wasn’t just a superb musician… he was also a superb human being.

Justice, Fellowship, Peace, Understanding, Civil Rights – these all meant so much to George Bryant. He was instrumental in many music programs – whether here in Nyack, or Rockland as a whole, or even in New York City – music programs that fostered interaction and understanding between different religions, different denominations, different races or different ethnicities all in a search for commonalities while celebrating each groups unique gifts and culture. He was extremely involved with the B’Nai B’rith’s “Brotherhood Thru Music” concerts back in the ’80s and the ’90s, where groups from different churches, synagogues and mosques as well as cultural groups, got together and entertained each other in rousing concerts of wildly different musical styles all celebrating our common humanity and always culminating with several pieces where all the groups performed as one whole.  Any fight for Human Dignity and Human Rights attracted his attention, and George’s most fervent, if innocent-sounding, wish was that we would all somehow learn not only to get along, but to appreciate and rejoice in our minor differences.

Heck, I learned a good amount of Hebrew during the many occasions where St. Ann’s Choir and Temple Beth Torah’s choir would come together for mixed performance and worship services!  To George Bryant, the “music” only got better as the “orchestra of life” added more and more instruments of all kinds, and voices of all kinds.

George was such an understated and constant part of our community that I think in some ways – completely without malice – his absolute genius got overlooked.  There were many times when I was cantor on the altar at St. Ann’s (especially once I actually became a seasoned performer myself) when George would be playing something and I would look out at the congregation wondering “since they hear him all the time, do they realize just HOW good he is? And how NOT normal a musician of this quality is in a suburban Catholic Church?”  The man could play a Fantasy on any given church hymn at the drop of a hat (a Fantasy is taking the basic melody and enhancing and embellishing it, especially with extremely fast and precise keyboard fingering).  He could look at a piece of sheet music he’d never seen before from any given Broadway Show and play every note on the page his first time through flawlessly and I’d even watched in awe when during one of the aforementioned “Brotherhood Thru Music” concerts, a Baptist Choir scheduled to close the show was late and was still robing when all the other performers had finished, so George Bryant, without sheet music, from memory only, proceeded to play several Chopin Nocturnes for the audience… and play them with delicacy, gentleness and sensitivity that could only be described as astonishing.

George Bernard Bryant – Facebook Photo

For many of us, Nyack’s George Bernard Bryant, Jr. was teacher, mentor, coach, therapist, motivator, occasional drill sergeant, and very much FRIEND.

He will be missed.

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Revisiting a True Nyack Character – Dr. Pierre Bernard

I decided to re-visit this post today when a few serendipitous events kept leading back to one of our most famous or infamous (depending on the source) late residents.  It was spurred by attending an open house of a gorgeous listing my colleague and friend Donna Cox was having in a home that was located on the grounds of the former Clarkstown Country Club, owned by the above mentioned fellow.  No matter whether you thought he was a saint or a swindler, NO ONE could deny that he was truly UNIQUE.  Thanks to some additional information from the very knowledgable Jim Leiner, I can flesh out the story here for a bit. 

Okay, so the rest of the county – in fact, the rest of the state – has always accused Nyack and Nyackers of being a little well… different.  We tend not to march to quite the same drummer as most of the rest of the area, which may be what has attracted the artists, writers, musicians and all the rest to Nyack for so many years.  It’s not that we in Nyack “draw outside the lines” – we draw within the lines, we just use brighter colors!  

Many may think that New Age philosophy first made its’ appearance in Nyack during the Nyack Renaissance of the late 1970s.  Au contraire, mon amis! Let’s turn back the clock a moment to one of the most successful and celebrated New Age entrepreneurs of all time – Pierre Arnold Bernard.  After having been a bit too extreme for San Francisco and Manhattan (let’s imagine “too extreme for San Francisco and Manhattan” for a moment, shall we…), Mr. Bernard moved to Nyack in 1918 and first established the “Braeburn Country Club” where the Nyack Field Club is now located.  The property also contained the area where the elementary school now sits, and emblazoned above the entrance gate was a sign reading: “Here Philosopher May Dance, and The Fool Wear a Thinking Cap”.

The property had been world-famous at the end of the 1800s and first two decades of the 1900s as the home of the Nyack Tennis Tournament, a World Cup level tournament held yearly just a few days after the annual Forrest Hills tournament so that international competitors would have another American Tourney after having to spend 5 days to get here by Ocean Liner. (I discuss the Club’s earlier incarnation in my post http://bit.ly/2arZWX4 about our own Nyack  International Tennis star and foundress of the National Tennis Association, Augusta Bradley Chapman).

 According to Mr. Leiner, it was not until the 1920s when the “upper campus” which would become the Clarkstown Country Club consisted of 78 acres where the Junior High School and much of Nyack College sit today was acquired. He started building immediately and many of the current college buildings were actually originally part of the resort – the facility was completed with the construction of a stadium in Central Nyack in 1934. Though known in the press of the time as “The Omnipotent Oom” it appears the man himself preferred to be called either “Doc” or by his initials “P.A.” just as I’m referred to as “J.P.”.  On a more serious note, he IS credited with the real beginning of the yoga movement in the United States.  

The Club was part yoga center, part Ashram, part spa, part entertainment venue… and by many accounts a haven of the “Free Love” movement (look it up if you must!) and high-end opium resort catering to the rich and famous.it abounded with oddities, not the least being that the vast majority of the “Clarkstown” Country Club was located in Orangetown.  There was also a yacht, airplanes on the grounds, minor league class A baseball games – including night games under the lights in 1934, a permanent circus, and elephants – a small herd of them.  In fact, when the matriarch elephant “Mom” died at age 93 her obituary ran in The New York Times. And no, I’m really not kidding.  The elephants became a beloved and welcome part of the Nyack community for decades. In fact the uncle of a very close friend was one of their caretakers, and by all reports, they were EXTREMELY happy here – well treated, well housed, well fed, free to walk the grounds, and never ever living alone or chained (perhaps Mr. Bernard should have taught some things to Ringling Brothers).

photo from Nyack Library Collection

On the whole, Mr. Bernard appears to have been (at a distance of many years and cultural changes) equal parts serious scholar and charletan; a man who did indeed help many desperate people find some peace, but managed to have a rollicking good time doing so.  His interest in the tantric studio – along with some prior “issues” with police in other city dealing with drugs, sex and kidnapping charges – led to his actually being used as the template for several Hollywood “Swami” type villains (one played by W.C. Fields) and having a newspaper comic strip done as a parody of him.  

And yet, his clients were the Vanderbilts and other members of “The 400”. Respected scholars lectured at the Club, authors and artists flocked to his retreat, and like it or not, he moved yoga into the American consciousness for good.  By the time he passed away in 1955 at age 79, he was a Bank President; officer of the Nyack Chamber of Commerce; was head of a very large real estate holding company; held membership in The Masons, of all things; and yeah, he had ELEPHANTS.  His wife, Blanche DiVries, would continue to faithfully teach yoga here in Nyack well into my life time – she taught until 1980 and died in 1984.  

Now, how do I convince the Village Board to bring Elephants back to live in Nyack!

photo from Bernard Collection; Hudson River Valley Heritage

Photo from the Bernard Collection, Hudson River Valley Heritage

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Nyack “In The Course Of Human Events”

This one from July 2013 bears re-posting. To the residents of Colonial Nyack, the Revolutionary War wasn’t some far away conflict, but part of their everyday lives. The first naval battle of the War and the first international salute to the new Country both took place right here in the Tappan Zee. See the struggle for freedom through THEIR eyes, and perhaps cherish “the great experiment” we call the United States a bit more. No human endeavor is ever perfect, and our Nation itself was born of compromise, for without it we would never have existed. We must still strive as our Nyack ancestors did to always make it better, to improve, to grow, and to continue striving in our national quest for “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…”

I started this post having just returned home from watching the skies over Memorial Park light up with glorious fireworks celebrating America’s Independence Day; which as usual thrilled and excited the huge crowds who came to the village to watch.  That got me wondering how many people watching with me realized that in a way they were watching a re-enactment of similar events that occurred over two hundred years ago in the same location, events that with one special exception, brought dread and pain rather than joy and celebration…

When people think of “The Revolution” and Rockland County’s place in it, if they are aware of any connection most would think of Stony Point and Tappan.  Stony Point was the location of the Battle of Stony Point, and Tappan of course hosted Washington’s Headquarters and the famous trial and execution of Major John Andre (the British Officer who was the other important figure in Benedict Arnold’s thwarted plan to give over the plans to West Point).  Both locations are proud of the roles they played in the American War for Independence – and rightly so – however the rest of the county did not just sit idly by and twiddle their thumbs or hum “Yankee Doodle” while history was made nearby.  The Nyacks for instance were attacked by the Redcoats several times – not by land, but from the British War Vessels in our own Tappan Zee – the bombs bursting in air would come from the guns of warships firing on the homes, farms and businesses of the Hudson Shoreline.  In fact, the very first Naval Battle of the Revolution would take place right off our shores in our own Tappan Zee.  Later, the first ever acknowledgement of the United States of America as a Sovereign Nation would come as a seventeen-gun salute to General Washington from the guns of the British Warship fired with honor in the very same location just off our shore.

How Nyack and the Riverfront became a wartime target…

A bit of background would probably help in understanding how Nyack and what would become the other River villages wound up on the receiving end of Musketshot and Cannonballs.  When Nieuw Netherland was handed over to the British by the Dutch without a shot fired in 1664, bloodshed was prevented by some shrewd bargaining on both sides.  The British very much wanted the finest deep water port on the North American continent, and control of Hudson’s River beyond which all acknowledged would be the key to opening the continent’s interior.  Nieuw Amsterdam and Pavonia (today’s lower Manhattan and Jersey City/Hoboken) were already a very busy FREE port with goods leaving the New World and heading to many European, Caribbean and African ports without the hinderance of the English King’s royal tariffs and restrictions of the New England ports to the north or the Virginia port to the south.  Nieuw Netherland’s polyglot population, not just Dutch, but Walloon, Prussian, French Huguenot, Free West Africans and Caribs, Jewish Refugees, Irish, Moorish, and yes, Englishmen and women fleeing New England’s puritan regime made the young city and the Valley of the Hudson to the north the finest mercantile trading post and port on the continent.  The Duke of York wanted our port and our river, but he also wanted to keep it profitable and running just the way it had been – only now paying taxes to the British Crown rather than as a state of the Dutch Republic.  A student of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” the Duke did not want to mess with a system – no matter how quirky – that worked and showed a profit.  Peter Stuyvesant, discovering his city and the other communities of Nieuw Netherland beyond under the guns of a number of English Warships while he had nothing but his trading fleet in port meant there could simply be a massacre or there could be a deal.

The deal between the Duke and the Dutchman was called the “Articles of Capitulation” and transferred the ownership of the colony to England – under the written and signed treaty that allowed the colony – now separated into New York and New Jersey – to keep their freedom of religion (unlike New England), their system of courts (innocent until proven guilty, not the opposite as in the other colonies – as well as the public defender which did exist in English jurisprudence), allowance of women to own property (two of the major colonies that were part of Nieuw Netherland had been founded by women), manumission of slaves (slaves – black, indian or white – could not be kept in that condition for life, and could work their way to freeman status in just a few years, earn money while doing so, and could own property afterwards) and their continued status as a free port dealing directly with both London and Amsterdam as well as the rest of the Atlantic world.  That meant that the two middle colonies wound up with a host of freedoms the other 11 did not have or would not have until significantly later.  Oddly, that left New York colonists a bit ambivalent when it came to independence from the Crown – the Crown, frankly had for almost 100 years left them to their own devices demanding only their taxes.  While New England chafed under more and more crippling taxes and infringement of civil rights, life was better and easier here. It was only when King George III and Parliament started chipping away at the Articles that the residents of Nyack and Tappan and the rest of Orangetown felt that perhaps something was amiss and they needed to take action.

Take action they did – as I’ve written elsewhere in this blog – the locals met at Jost Mabie’s Tavern (now the ’76 House Restaurant) and drafted the Orangetown Resolutions – ON JULY 4,1774. Two years to the day before the Declaration of Independence would be signed in Philadelphia! In it they addressed the King and Parliament stating: “We cannot see the late Acts of Parliament imposing duties upon us, and the Act for shutting up the port of Boston, without declaring our abhorrence of measures so unconstitutional and big with destruction… That we are in duty bound to use every just and lawful measure, to obtain a repeal of Acts, not only destructive to us, but which of course must distress thousands in the mother country… That it is our unanimous opinion, that the stopping all exportation and importation to and from Great Britain and the West Indies, would be the most effectual method to obtain a speedy repeal.” This was not a call for separation from England, but a reminder to her government that their recent behavior had been abusive and disruptive to the colonies.  Unfortunately, George and his Parliament did not care for criticism very much, and declared the document treasonous and the residents of Orangetown rebellious and inciting of sedition. THAT response would push most of the population of what would become Rockland County into the Patriots camp, though a few notable citizens such as ferry mistress Molly Sneden remained Tory throughout the coming conflict.

Once the hostilities began, the British realized that New York and the Hudson Valley were critical to their efforts to break the rebellion and re-exert their rule in the lower 13 colonies.  By holding the Hudson, the British commanders felt they would have effectively driven a wedge between New England and the Southern colonies, had they been completely successful with the strategy we might still be singing “God Save the Queen” instead of the “Star Spangled Banner”.  On August 3, 1776 the American Galleys Whiting, Lady Washington, Crown and Spitfire engaged the British ships Phoenix, Roebuck and Tartar in the Tappan Zee in the first naval skirmish of the Revolution. The Patriots succeeded in keeping the Redcoats from heading further up the Hudson, and they were assisted by the local Shore Patrol on land with shots fired from the gun emplacements in Piermont (then known as Tappan Slote), Nyack and Upper Nyack. Retaliation came in the form of cannon-shot targeting shore side residences – the Haring Estate (now called the Onderdonk House in Piermont), the Cornelison home (a large colonial home where Salisbury Point Co-ops now stand) and the Hazzard Home near Hook Mountain took damage, but the enemy ships could not proceed further north.

October 15, 1776, Captain A. Hawkes Hay commanding repulsed an attack by the British on Nyack.  By the fall of 1776, the British were not only in control of the City of New York, they had also gained control of Harlem, Bloomingdale and the other communities on Upper Manhattan and Fort Lee on the Jersey side.  The Patriots firmly controlled the Hudson above West Point, but there was a struggle to keep the lower Hudson from coming under British control. Hay reported that the ships attempting to land at Nyack were prevented by the men under his command, including the use of the Swivel Gun emplacement in Upper Nyack.  Severe damage was done to the house and barn of Philip Sarvent and though only a few men were injured in this encounter (no deaths) there were several other attacks on the area in 1777 and 1780.  Hay’s own home would be targeted by the British from the River and destroyed in one of these raids, Major John Smith’s house in Upper Nyack destroyed in another.  Land incursions came as well – and not only soldiers were injured or died.  Horrified Patriots discovered the body of Mrs. Garret Myers on her farm near Rockland Lake left to rot with her face smashed in from attempting to protect herself and her farm from British soldiers intent on food and perhaps something else, as a young and attractive woman named Mrs. Snyder was raped and left for dead on her nearby farm by the Hook.

Salisbury Manor, home of the Cornelisons (hence, Cornelison Avenue) because of its exposed location continue to attract enemy fire from the Hudson, and it seems holes from musket balls were still present in the door frames up until the Manor Home was raised in the 1950s to build the Salisbury Co-ops.  A Tory neighbor, reportedly jealous of the lovely home, would betray Michael Cornelison Sr and his wife to the British for their efforts to assist the Patriots, imprisoning them in New York City – Mrs Cornelison was allowed to return to Nyack 6 months later, her husband would remain in custody for 3 additional months. Oddly, the same quisling neighbor did not alert the Redcoats to the presence of Michael Cornelison Jr, even though he spotted the young man hiding in the house’s vast rafters during the raid. It appears young Michael was a Mason as was the tattler, and I suppose Masons just don’t DO that to each other… not that it did the young man much good, as he had to suffer through the local British Commander using his home as a headquarters for several months! All that’s left of that historic home now are some of the sandstone blocks of the walls used as stairs leading to Salisbury Point’s pool.

At the time Nyack, though small, was the headquarters of the Whaling Fleet – all rugged ships and men who favored the Patriots and vigorously defended the Nyacks from attempted landing after attempted landing by the British. Between the Whaling Fleet, the very successful and accurate shore patrol and swivel guns, and a certain resident sea-captain named Henry Palmer (of the Old Palmer Burial Ground Palmers) the British fleet went from annoyance to absolute loathing of Nyack and fired at will at any visible structure whenever possible.

photo by J.P.Schutz

Captain Palmer owned a large vessel carrying goods for one of the largest mercantile firms in New York City prior to the outbreak of hostilities.  He was offered great monetary compensation for serving the King’s forces, but he adamantly refused – in fact, on his next sailings he transported two cargos of ammunition, arms and supplies “acquired” by the  Sons of Liberty from British supply depots in the city which he brought to the camp of the Continental Army. His activities made his family unsafe in Manhattan and he moved them to Broadway in Upper Nyack, near Old Mountain Road. From there he continued to harry the British and was responsible for repulsing attempted landings numerous times – with consistent fatal results for the British and naught but wounds for the Nyackers. In early July 1777 he and the Shore Guard fended off two boats killing 3 men; in late July they returned, both to attempt a landing and to destroy a sloop moored between the Palmer home and the Sarvent home. Palmer, Sarvent and the Shore Guard prevented three attempts at landing with the toll for the British this time at 9 men.   Later that year, the Upper Nyack swivel gun emplacement, close by his property, enabled the Nyackers to later capture two landing boats and send their crews over to Tappan as prisoners of war.  A warship becalmed off Nyack’s shore unable to reach land and floating with the tide saw the loss of 36 men to Palmer’s crew of fatally expert gunners.  The result of his actions was a constant barrage of enemy fire anytime a ship reached this far up the river. By 1781, Nyack’s defenders had in addition to the Shore Patrol and gun emplacements, six whaleboats and forty-two men led by Captain Palmer, Nyack’s own Bane of the British.  Major John L. Smith, Captain Aury Smith, and Corporal Philip Sarvent, three of our Revolutionary War heroes may be found resting beneath their headstones in the Old Palmer Burial Ground on Old Mountain Road in Upper Nyack. 

The British finally surrendered at Yorktown in October of 1782, though due to distance, travel time and red tape the Peace Treaty would not be fully signed until the next year. In May of 1783, General Washington met with Sir Guy Carleton in Tappan to confer on the final evacuation of British Troops from New York – they would then ride back to the riverfront to Onderdonk House on May 7th.  At that time Onderdonk House was owned by John Haring, who was our own representative at the Continental Congress. Onderdonk House, too, had taken an extreme beating from British guns during the war (looking at it today, in the process of some kind of restoration – we hope – it might look like it did at its worst).  Carlton and Washington were feted and feasted at Onderdonk House, and then the H.M.S. Perseverance fired its seventeen gun salute to honor Washington and to acknowledge, for the first time, our new sovereign nation – these United States of America.  That’s right folks, it happened… right here.

photo by J.P.Schutz

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Nyack’s Oldest House – “This House Matters”

I’ve just come from a remarkable event. This evening at Nyack Library, a documentary film by Director Tina Traster made its debut before a packed room of enthusiastic history buffs, both professional and casual. The film is appropriately and succinctly titled “THIS HOUSE MATTERS”.

An important film for preservationists everywhere, it features Nyack’s own John Green House, and the John Green House Preservation Coalition extensively, while also highlighting other Rockland County historic structures recently lost to the wrecking ball, others in peril of destruction, and those fortunate enough – like the Green House – to have found a respite from oblivion.  

Traster’s engaging and instructive film was prompted among other things by the loss of a Historical Treasure. See, you might not know that  the historically significant “Lent House” in Orangeburg – built in 1752 -was completely demolished last year on the weekend of Easter with almost no fanfare. The home was built by a Revolutionary War veteran and one of the signers of the Orangetown Resolutions (discussed in its own post on this blog). Though some minor and ultimately ineffective attempts were made to save the structure, nothing materialized and the financially cash-strapped owner (with some mild regret) allowed the beautiful Dutch Sandstone Colonial to be bulldozed. 

As a Realtor, I understand better than most the rights of property ownership and the amount of an individuals financial wealth that is tied up in any property owned. I could not blame the owner though it pains me to say so. As a Historian, this was a Crime Against History, and truly, I cried when I came upon the ruins of the structure unexpectedly last Spring. Full disclosure, as Village Historian I do appear in the film both in interviews, and some candid discussions.  The loss of the Lent House spurred local preservationists to action to prevent this from happening to other important structures. One of them was Nyack’s own John Green House – contrary to popular belief not the oldest house in the village, but the second oldest – it is however the oldest stone structure currently standing in the Village of Nyack, but the home of a man extremely important to the history of Nyack, Rockland County and for that matter, the entire Hudson Valley.

The John Green House, circa 1900. Photo: Nyack Library Local History Collection

SO WHO WAS THIS JOHN GREEN?

John Green was an merchant, entrepreneur, speculator and developer in Nyack in the early 1800s. He arrived in Nyack shortly after the turn of the 19th Century from New York City where a fire had cost him his business and all of his belongings. He began work here as a common laborer and eventually saved enough to open the area’s first lumber yard. By 1812 he had amassed enough to become one of the original founders of The First Methodist-Episcopal Church of Nyack. Built in 1812-1813 of the same Dutch Sandstone the John Green House would use in its construction, we now know it as the Old Stone Church, Upper Nyack’s oldest structure. 

Using similar materials – reddish brown sandstone from the quarries in Nyack and Grandview, Green built his own three story home on lower Main Street, completing it in 1819. This was one of the last, if not the last, Gambrel-roofed Dutch Sandstone homes built in Rockland County in a style that was very specific to one place in the world, the lower Hudson Valley Communities in what are now Rockland and Bergen Counties.  This particular style are large solid homes, with brown rough cut sandstone walls as much as 27 inches thick, and with a Gambrel for a roof (that’s a roof, much like a barns that is shallow peaked at the top and on each side takes an abrupt sharper downward slant halfway between the peak of the roof and the roof line. Further distinguishing OUR Dutch Sandstone Colonials was the “flare” at the edges of the roof where today you would find rain gutters. This brilliant innovation was significantly better than what we currently use in shunting water away from a house’s foundation.

As he continued to prosper, Green saw a bright future for Rockland County and Nyack. Already, wind-driven sloops were bringing our contributions to the growing metropolis of New York – stone from Nyack’s quarries, ice from Rockland Lake, iron from the Ramapo mountains and Suffern, and what produce grew in our rocky, hilly county.  Green foresaw a need to get the products to New York City faster, and became the major sponsor of the Nyack Turnpike in the 1820s, a turnpike road that would connect Nyack to Suffern directly and cut hours off the trip.  Green also began to build a seaport for Nyack, and he began the first steam ferry and cargo runs from Nyack to New York City. He and his partners began construction of ‘The Orange’ (originally ‘The Nyack’) in 1826, not even 20 years from when the world’s first successful steamboat – Fulton’s ‘Cleremont’ first docked in Nyack. By 1828 ‘The Orange’ – or as some nicknamed the ungainly looking craft ‘The Pot Cheese’ was dutifully steaming back and forth to New York City daily carrying both freight and passengers. This only spurred more commerce, more boat and ship building for Nyack, our burgeoning textile industry and more. Green is truly one of the architects of the prosperity and development of Rockland County. 

The John Green House, circa 1984. Photo: Nyack Library Local History Collection

BUT WHY SAVE A WRECK?

Trust me when I say that as a Historian I saw the significance of John Green in Nyack and the County’s history, but as a Realtor – and a realist – I was not convinced the structure could be saved or if so, the cost could be justified.  I actually rented an apartment in the house to a young lady getting government assistance in 2004, it being the only apartment in the Village her stipend could pay for. The house was in tough shape THEN. It was purchased shortly after with intentions of renovation on the new owner’s part, only to be met face on with the housing crash. The owner could not renovate and put the house on the market. I believe I may have been one of the last Realtors to show the home before it was foreclosed upon. By that time, deterioration had accelerated significantly and a portion of the north east wall was beginning to collapse into the structure, and we dared not climb the almost non-existent stairs to the third floor. Shortly thereafter, the home was condemned and labeled dangerous.   

This is the picture I had in my head when some local historians and preservationists approached me as Nyack Historian and asked me to support the project. I was very reluctant to do so, because I feared the structure was too damaged to repair, or at least that such repair would be so prohibitively expensive that Nyack would wind up with another unfortunate circumstance like the old Helen Hayes Theater, which was land-marked, but could never raise enough funds to be repaired and so symbolically if not literally collapsed around itself and was lost, along with all the monies dumped into owning it and allegedly restoring the theater. 

However, the folks who would become The John Green Preservation Coalition were not pie-in-the-sky dreamers, but a determined group set out to do things correctly. Structural and engineering reports, work estimates, funding needs, timetables, possible usage outlines – all were presented professionally and efficiently, and slowly but surely my mind changed, and now I became convinced that the strengthening and restoring of the property WAS possible and not at an astronomical cost. I was thrilled that this looked like a project that would save something historically significant and actually work.

Wonderful things began to happen. The Coalition was able to acquire the foreclosed property after Rick Tannenbaum, an attorney and one of the group’s leaders, completed a complicated negotiation with Ocwen Loan Servicing, an Atlanta-based mortgage company. The result was that the bank GIFTED the house to the organization. This is unprecedented. Though very rarely banks will gift a foreclosed property, those gifted properties are always to municipalities, and generally for the purposes of creating additional affordable housing. Gifting a historically significant structure to a group of preservationist just had never been done before. I will however, lay heavy bets other groups around the country will be watching us closely and will attempt similar negotiations on other significant properties that have defaulted.  Not a single Nyack tax dollar was used or will be used on this project. The home is owned by the Non-Profit Coalition, not by the Village of Nyack.

Other wonderful things included support from local politicians like State Senator David Carlucci, Orangetown Supervisor Andy Stewart, Mayor Jen White and many others who it seems also found the destruction of the 1752 Lent House a wake-up call for our historic communities. Local businesses have contributed time, labor, materials, or in the case of my own company’s ‘Rand Community Fund’ made needed financial donations to the restoration. And with some melancholy, the destruction of the Lent House in a way will help preserve the John Green House. The Coalition was permitted to glean the original reddish brown sandstone blocks from the Lent House to rebuild the collapsing area of the north east wall of the John Green House. It’s almost like as it died, the Lent House gave an organ donation to save the Green House.

All this has come to pass on nothing more than the dedication and determination of this extraordinary group of historians, history buffs and history nerds who said with one voice “enough is enough, let’s do this”.  Folks like Upper Nyack Village Historian Winn Perry and local contractor Ken Sharp can be seen at the house doing backbreaking labor, volunteering their time (and probably blood, sweat and tears) to keeping this House alive and present in the Nyack Community. The day the official ceremony of donation was held in front of the John Green House, I was present (as you can see in the picture below) and the mood was astonishing… such a feeling of triumph, of hope, of accomplishment glowed off these folks that it was absolutely contagious. 

Gifting Ceremony, Summer 2015. Photo: Ken Sharp collection.

The John Green House is a success (knock wood) in the world of local history and preservation, a success that appears to come too infrequently recently. Tina Traster’s excellent documentary beautifully documents the lost, the saved, and those still in peril.  Look for its next screening near you, and don’t hesitate – make sure you see this call to action that reminds us that Nyack and all of Rockland are really special places indeed.

If you want to get involved with the restoration, or if you want to contribute, contact: THE JOHN GREEN PRESERVATION COALITION:  http://www.johngreencoalition.org/contact/ or http://www.johngreencoalition.org/donatesupport/ 

To watch the trailer and find out more about the film “THIS HOUSE MATTERS” by Tina Traster, go to: http://www.thishousematters.com/

 

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Nyack’s Historical Twins – Memorial Park and the American Legion Post

Exactly HOW are a Club House for Veterans and a Village Park twins? I’m glad you asked.  The opening of Memorial Park’s new Fishing and Observation Pier and an upcoming fundraiser for the C.R. & R.O. Blauvelt Post 310 of the American Legion prompted me to write about two long-term Nyack entities that are intrinsically linked.

Just after the ending of “The Great War” – known to us now as World War I – two groups of dedicated and grateful individuals in the Nyacks decided that recognition of the sacrifices of our young residents in past conflicts was needed, and that living veterans of those conflicts needed a place where they could find assistance, friendship and fellowship with fellow veterans at all times.

Consequently in 1919, the Tappan Zee Soldiers & Sailors Association, later re-named The Tappan Zee Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Association began work on building a suitable Memorial Park for Remembrance, while at the same time another group of Veterans petitioned the American Legion for a Post in Nyack to serve the needs of living veterans. What we now know as Memorial Park was graciously conveyed to the TZ Soldiers and Sailors by the DePew family who owned the property at the time.The DePews or rather, their descendants, had owned river-front property on the Hudson shore at the foot of the Nyack Brook since they purchased it back in 1732. Over the years the property had served a number of purposes having been covered with glass greenhouses for the winter flower and vegetable markets in New York City and then by a clothing factory known as “The Shoddy Mill” for the poor quality of its’ clothing. The Mill was still located on the property when the Deed was conveyed on July 26, 1920. The Mill was razed, and the Garden Club of Nyack planted Memorial Trees along the park’s bordering streets of Piermont and Depew.  Work would begin but took time, and as seems to happen frequently enough when major projects are constructed in Nyack, major changes were made to the models and designs of the Memorial even after the process had begun.

Plaque Memorializing Nyackers who died in WWI. photo: JP Schutz

Meanwhile, the new American Legion Post – #310 – named itself for two local brothers who gave the ultimate sacrifice in WWI – Charles R. and Raymond O. Blauvelt, becoming the Charles R. and Raymond O. Blauvelt American Legion Post 310.  At first meetings were held in the “Grand Army of the Republic Room” in Village Hall, but the room was not always available to them, and substitute rooms were difficult to find. By 1927, the need for a permanent home was obvious and several possibilities fell through at the last moment.

Finally, the Tappan Zee Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Association came to the rescue and on June 22, 1927, they granted to Post 310 the right to occupy and use the grounds south of the bridge culvert on Piermont Avenue for the sum of $1, in perpetuity, so long as the land and club house to be constructed were used for “Patriotic, Fraternal and Social Purposes”.  By 1929, the Post had moved into its’ new home and was even allowing other groups to use the facilities for events. The post’s records show that one of the first organizations that asked to use the facility for a social event was the Mazeppa Fire Company.

The Charles R. and Raymond O. Blauvelt American Legion Post #310; photo by JP Schutz

Things prospered for the Charles R. and Raymond O. Blauvelt American Legion Post, but in a complete reversal of fortunes times were now less sunny for the Tappan Zee Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Association.  After numerous changes and alterations to the original concept, the final design choice for their Memorial Park was a rectangular upper park area tree-lined along the north and west border balanced by a Flagpole and the Memorial Stone Stairway in the south-east corner.  Unfortunately, once the Park was completed and dedicated, the TZSSA group seemed to lose direction and membership dropped significantly. 

The flagpole and memorial stairway were designed and executed by the architectural firm of Marshall and Henry Emery. Bronze Plaques honoring those who served in World War I, and another listing those who lost their lives in World War I, lined both sides of the Memorial Stairway. At that time the Stairway led from the developed upper section of the park to the undeveloped area at the foot of the Nyack Brook. The Emery brothers maintained offices in New York City (where they designed the Bowerie Mission) and in Nyack, and the two are significantly responsible for much of the look and feel of Nyack today.  Along with their work in Memorial Park, they are responsible for St. Ann’s Church on Jefferson, the original building of Nyack Hospital (and several additions) still visible on the Fifth Avenue side, the First Reformed Church on Broadway, the former St. Paul’s Methodist in South Nyack, and with the approval of Andrew Carnegie, the Nyack Library. After his brother’s passing, Henry completed the design of the Nyack YMCA on his own with another partner. further solidifying the “Emery Style” as Nyack’s own.  

When it became obvious that the Soldiers and Sailors Association could no longer maintain the Park properly, the group deeded the rights to the park to the Village of Nyack on January 29, 1935, again for the sum of $1. This conveyance was subject to the rights of American Legion Post 310 certifying and guaranteeing their occupation of their clubhouse in perpetuity so long as the Post continued to operate under the stipulations stated above, and further stated that Soldier’s and Sailors Memorial Park (its’ proper name) remain a Park intended for Recreation and as a Perpetual Memorial to those who served in WWI.

When the Thruway Authority began the construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge in 1955, the Village seized an opportunity to significantly expand the size of Memorial Park. By sinking a number of old barges in the shallows, and then filling and covering them with a fill of soil, gravel and rocks produced by the Bridge Construction, the lower level of the park was significantly expanded allowing the addition of ball fields, a playground, basketball hoops, parking, and eventually a Gazebo. The American Legion Post continued to expand its’ services to the Veteran’s community, welcoming each new group as sadly, “The Great War” was followed by WWII, then Korea, then Vietnam, then various police actions in the Balkans, the Caribbean and the horn of Africa, and eventually the Gulf War, and the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The American Legion ensconced in their corner of the park became a haven for all our local Veterans.

Both Park and Post continue to thrive and grow today – Post 310 is one of the fasting growing posts in the region and is undergoing needed repairs and restoration including a new roof; and a new Fishing and Observation Pier – allowing a great view of the construction of the NEW Bridge was just dedicated this week in Memorial Park.

If you’d like to help the Charles R. and Raymond O. Blauvelt American Legion Post repair and replace their roof, a fundraiser is being held at LaFontana Restaurant on Veteran’s Day (November 11) at 6:30pm. Tickets are $45 and include Dinner and Wine with $10 going to the Post for their roof – and all of the donated portion of the evening will be matched by the Rand Community Fund. The evening will also feature a silent auction, gift baskets and more. So if you’d like to help us “Raise the Roof”, stop by the BH&G Rand Realty Office during business hours to purchase tickets or a journal ad, or why not just come to our booth at the Halloween Parade and get tickets from Barbara Carroll, Anthony DelRegno, Jamie Brannigan or ME! Thank you for helping us thank our Veterans!

New Fishing and Observation Pier is now open. photo: JP Schutz

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