Early Pocantico History
The 1600's
Henry Hudson and the crew of his boat, the
Half Moon, were the first white men to see the Pocantico Hills in September 1609. Hudson
was searching for the Northwest Passage, a water route across North America to China. As
he was sailing up what is now called the Hudson River, he anchored near the mouth of the
Pocantico and the area we call Pocantico Hills. With the discovery of Pocantico Hills came
settlers and with those settlers came conflicts and prosperity.
Before the whites arrived, two specific Indian tribes lived in the Pocantico area- the Mountaynes and the Algonquins. The Algonquins had a village near the mouth of the Pocantico River, and it is these Indians the Henry Hudson probably first encountered. In fact the word "po-can-tee-co" means "a dark swift river running between two hills" in the Algonquin language.
Hudson's first encounter with the Indians at Pocantico did not go well. An Indian, most likely out of curiosity, began stealing clothing from the cabin of the ship. Hudson had the Indian killed; when other Indians approached the Half Moon they were also shot by Hudson's men. Despite this unfortunate beginning, settlers began to move up the Hudson gradually and live in the Pocantico area.
One of the early settlers was a young man named Vredryck Flypsen from Bohemia. Born on 1626 in Germany, Flypsen came to New Amsterdam in the 1640's to seek his fortune. He began to acquire land in the Southern part of Westchester County. In the 1660's Flypsen swore an oath of allegiance to the British, who took control of the New Amsterdam region from the Dutch. At some point during this period, Flypsen became known as Frederick Philipse.
Philipse was the largest white trader with the five Indian Nations that inhabited New York. Slowly buying land in Westchester County, Philipse acquired land in Pocantico in the 1680's. The land around Pocantico Hills was still owned by the Indians at that time.
Goharius, the "sachem" or leader of the Indians in the area, sold the land from the mouth of the Pocantico River to the Saw Mill River to Philipse for tools, rum, beer, gun powder, and wampum. To farm the land, Philipse brought back slaves and used Indian slaves. He brought in Dutch settlers and gave them land in exchange for working for him. In this Way, the Pocantico Area slowly developed as Philipse and the Dutch settlers cleared the land of trees, plants crops and built houses and fences.
The center of Philipse's activities in the Pocantico area was the Manor House he built on the Pocantico River. The Manor House had a grain Mill for making flour from wheat and also served as the center of trade for the settlers and the neighboring Indians.
Frederick Philipse died at his Manor Home in 1702. He began his life in poverty and worked to become one of the richest men in New Amsterdam. He was the most important man in the early history of Pocantico.
by
Aleks Jarosz
Toll House Constructed by:
Shirley Arcan
James Hornby
Jessie Ma
Tommy Reynolds
