New-York tribune., 1921-11-06
WHERE COBWEBS
THRIVE
Continual from page fvs)

under the great apple trees and copper beeches
on the lawn, and behind the lattices where
struggling roses grow. But the paint is seal
ing, the glass Of the great bow windows IS
breaking and the hand Of decay is everywhere
The old Nathan Straus homestead is further
son. 1t must have been a charming place IN
it's PRIME but it is in melancholy state os
dilapidation now. Still there is q policeman
living in it, very happy apparently. He is 3
fresh air enthusiast, and, not satisfied with
the ozone that must enter through the cracks
of the old house, he parked his two infant sons
day and night for many months on the roof Of
the wide veranda. Stern signs, Beware of the
Dogs" surround the Nathan Straus house, but
if you are brave enough to pass the signs you
ind the dogs that are playing with the apple
checked youngsters are most amiable and
waggy of tail.
Across the road from the big house. if YOU
penetrate the thicket of sumach you viii find
the stone foundations Of the Straus stables
The stables are gone, and their foundations
are grassy terraces held up by hchened stone.
and grape arbor, and IT is a delightful place to
picnic, with great trees lifting their heads from
the steep slope below. and the Ship Canal be-
yond, thick with rowboats and motor boats and
darting canoes.
To reach the McCreery house you retrace
your steps TO the House of Rest and then. if
you don't care to plod to Dycknan Street.
scramble down a narrow path to the River
Road. Walk north, past overgrown terraces
and box hedges, and quaint houses with
cupolas and pillars, with the river and the
railroad tracks below, and at the end Of the
path-it is hardly more than a path. tho,igh
an automobile might negotiate its the home
of the founder Of the drygoods house where
our mothers shopped. It is lot beautiful
building. High and square, -shouIdered. Il
looks like boarding house But it commands
splendid view, and it has generous air, as
If IL had tales TO tell of the hospitality that
once made it social center.
IN the parsonage, built in 1ss3-it is 10
Seaman Avenue now, then it was an apple
orchard-Eves the Rev. George Shipnan
Payson, who for long lean decades kept the
faith as the head Of the little church that
Samuel Thomson built. During his first
thirty years there were but sixty-seven Protes
sant families within reach Of the church
often he had to wade through mud knee hign
to the railway station at Dyckman Street. and
he was, he pathetically says, ten miles from
Deefsteal''
The old Dyckman home, slant-roofed wne
ick-chiInneyed, is in an excellent state ~
preservation, maintained by the city as
museum. It is on Broadway, at 204th Street.
Michael, who came to Tubby Hook in 1925 and
lived their lives there, active farmers and
elders in the Presbyterian Church The house
where the second brother lived is standing
TOO, frame building at Broadway and Dyck-
man Street. The Mcdonald family has lived
there long time and can tell Of the davs
when there was not an apartment house be-
tween them and the Harlem. a little further
down Broadway, where Fort Washington Ave
nue. starts to wind up the hill, is a quaint
wooden residence, with smooth lawns and
climbing roses, and funny old barn almost
topping over, that was part OF the William
Henry Hayes estate. But the Hayes home, up
on the HILL is now the Abbey Inn and the re-
sort of motorists
We are now in Washington Heights
Fort Tryon Hall, which C <. G. Billings.
the racing man, erected above the Hudson.
south Of the Abbey Inn, is new from its
soaring towers TO its pergoIa, though the
ground on which it stands is rich in relics OF
the Revolutionary War. Right here, as tablet
IN the rock says, Margaret Corbin, in the
battle of November 16, 177e, took her dying
husbands place at the cannon he had served,
and served till she was wounded, too.
Across the road from the Billings place Is
the Norman structure, with its narrow win
dowss and stone towers, that is called Libby
Castle, though Mr.. Bolton says it shouldn't be.
Tor Mr. Libby was inconspcuous and lived
there but short time. It's claim TO notice is
that William III. Tweed, the Tammany boss.
had 1t for his home when he was arrested fer
his crooked practices and fed from there 10
Spain. The land which it stands was pux-
chased IN 1846 by Lucius Chittenden, New
Orleans merchant, who got ninety-seyen acres
Tor $4,000 The only road there was drive
way along the line Of l8Tth Street from, Kings
bridge Road, but he built house and lived IN
1t. Angus c. Richards bought piece of the
ground i'll 1856 and erected the castle. which
IN 1869 ne sold TO General Daniel Butterfield,
who was acting for Tweed
Old residents say that ABiu Tweed put
through Fort Washington Avenue and the