Tappan Zee Historical Society

published by
Tappan Zee Historical Society
Rockland County, Nyack, New York
Vol. 2 No. 1
January — March 1958
The Sneden’s Landing and Piermont area about 1846 from the Panorama of The Hudson
River by Wade and Croome. Courtesy—The New York Public Library.
THE STORY OF THE FERRY
In 1698 Jeremiah Dobbs, an enterprising fisherman, started a primi­
tive ferry-service from his property on the East bank of the Hudson
River to a point opposite, then called “Rockland," but referred to later by
the unwieldly name of “Dobb’s Ferry-on-the-West-Bank-of-the-Hudson."
With the ferry from Manhattan to btaten Island it was the oldest in the
region. It ran continuously from Sneden’s Landing in some form until the
year 1938.
Little is known of the history of the ferry between 1698 and 1759 when
records show that on April 26th Mr. Thos. Lawrence presented a bill
“to Mr. Snethen [SnedenJ of Snethen’s Landing for sundryes of Smith
Work. To 2 King Bolts for the Ferry Boate: L2:9:2.’’
The Sneden family was known to be living as early as 1719 at the land­
ing which now bears its name. The gravestone of Mary [MollieJ Sneden
in the Palisades cemetery showed that she“departed this life January 31st
A.D. 1810, aged 101 years and 13 days.” This woman [deemed capable
even by modern standards] ran the ferry herself for fifty years of the 139
it was run by her family. The boats were known as “perriaugers, 'which
is believed to be a corruption of the Spanish“piragua,“ the name for the
dugout used in the shallow waters of the Southeastern Atlantic Seabord.
These vessels averaged over 50 feet in length. They were flat-bottomed,
without keel, but with lee-boards either side. The middle was open, the
ends decked over. They were propelled by oar and sail, the latter on two
masts easily demounted. There was no bowsprit or headsail. In 1792
there is a record of sale by “John Van Orden and Elias Jaycocks of Tappan
for the sum of eighty dollars of the pettiauger Tappan Packet, 55 feet
long, 15 feet 11 inches wide and 4 feet 6 inches deep, 35 tons burden,
built at Tappan Slote. [Piermont Landing.]''
The first point north of Hoboken accessible to the River by cart from
the West was Snedens Landing. Using black shutters [one for passengers,
two for horses] as signals, Captain Dobbs and the Snedens ferried
travelers across the River east and west. Later they performed the double
service of meeting in midstream the sailing sloops which plied between
New York City and points further up the River, depositing or taking off
passengers and cargo.
There was considerable transportation of Continental troops by ferry
up to 1776 when it became dangerous due to the presence of British menof-war in the River. In the autumn of 1775 Martha Washington drove
from Mount Vernon to join the General in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Washington had directed that“a proper place be found to cross the River,
by all means avoiding New York on account of Toryism.’’ And so, after
stopping the first night with friends at Trenton, Lady Martha Washing­
ton is described as descending the steep hill to Sneden’s Landing “in a
chariot drawn by four horses, driven by a negro coachman and pos­
tillion in scarlet and white livery." After a two hour wait for the tide to
rise sufficiently, the future First Lady of the Land was ferried across the
two-mile river by that redoubtable ferryman, Molly Sneden.
Gerald Murphy
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Dr. Carl A. Nordstrom of Nyack is serving as the co-ordinator for a
“Finding List” which the Society is preparing as a summary of local
historical data. A limited edition is scheduled for publication during the
summer of 1958 in mimeograph form for the use of county libraries.
Librarians or other county residents having data on books, family col­
lections and records bearing on Rockland County history are requested
to send information to Dr. Nordstrom prior to June 1, 1958 so that it may
be included in the listing as a guide to those interested in studying the
county’s history.
Rockland Light and Power Company, Nyack Bank and Trust Company,
Shea’s Drug Store and Carworth Farms, Inc., were among the first to
apply to become Group Members in the Society, the new classification
established for business or other organizations. For further information
regarding membership, write Mrs. Leighton Cree, Pearl River, N.Y.
Special thanks are due Miss Antoinette Wilson for handling the
preparation and mailing of the January 1st dues statement with this issue
of South of the Mountains.
Your cooperation in a prompt response in forwarding the 1958 mem­
bership dues will be appreciated. Please notify Mr. Robert Demarest,
Treasurer, c/o Nyack Bank and Trust Company, Nyack, or Miss Wilhemina Brush of Nyack, Membership Secretary, of any corrections in
mailing addresses. Membership in the Society is open to all. Annual dues
for 1958 are $1.00 and should be forwarded directly to Mr. Demarest.
Francis H. Campbell of Nyack is scheduling the showing of the slide
film, “Historic Rockland County." Several presentations have been
made during the last three months period. Radcliffe Hall is responsible
for the narration. The INew York Trap Rock Corporation assisted by
furnishing the use of its helicopter in obtaining the aerial views of the
Hudson.
Carl C. Marcum of Mt. Ivy, Mrs. Margaret A. Robinson of Valley
Cottage and Oswald D. Reich of Pearl River are serving on the Nominat­
ing Committee for the coming year.
This issue oi South of the Mountains is in letterpress instead of offset.
We hope our members will find it more readable.
OFFICERS and TRUSTEES
BLAUVELT
Dr. Walter MacKellar
GRAND VIEW
Charles R. Carroll
A. Roger Kelly
ls£ Vice President
Miss Ruth Vickers
HAVERSTRAW
Miss Anne McCabe
NEW CITY
Dwight F. Hoover
NYACK
Robert Demarest
Treasurer
William H. Hand
Arthur J. Prindle
Mrs. Geo. M. Schofield
John R. Zehner
President
ORANGEBURG
Mrs. Joseph Dodge
PEARL RIVER
Mrs. Leighton Cree
Corresponding Secretary
PIERMONT
Dr. William V. Berg
Milton Immermann
2nd Vice President
STONY POINT
Mrs. Stuart K. Atha
Miss Cordelia Hamilton
Publication Editor
SUFFERN
John Bristow
Gardner Watts
TAPPAN
Henry V. Stebbins
WEST NYACK
Mrs. Wm. J. Mcllvain
Recording Secretary
During the last year sponsors for South of the Mountains were:
Rockland County Bankers Association
Rockland County Savings and Loan Associations
Orangeburg Manufacturing Co., Inc.
New York Trap Rock Corporation.
Our thanks go to these organizations who, with the current sponsor,
Spring Valley Water Works and Supply Company, have made this
publication possible.
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IN MEMORIAM
Hiram B. D. Blauvelt
Miss Marian E. Haynes
Miss Florence Demarest
Judge Mortimer B. Patterson
Dr. Wolfgang Seligmann
Books, maps, pictures,
records and many other ar­
ticles bearing on Rockland
County history are being
assembled in a classroom that
has been set aside "for storage
and study” for the Society’s
use in the Old Orangeburg
Grammar School. Mrs. Edwin
D. Miller is in charge of the
project. Members having Rock­
land County historical mater­
ials which they desire to con­
tribute to the Society’s col­
lection, should write to Mrs.
Miller, Box 30, Western High­
way, Blauvelt, N. Y.
Among those who have al­
ready contributed are:
Dr. William V. Berg
Mrs. Myra K. Collins
Miss Genevieve Coonan
Mrs. G. H. Crawford
Mrs. J. W. Hesselgrave
Mr. & Mrs. Harold T. Larsen
Miss Martha Morse
Russell Maines
Herbert Sperber
Suffern Free Library
Miss Marjorie Tompkins
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DATES TO REMEMBER
January 13—Evans Park School, Pearl River, at 8:15 p.m.
Charles T. Haight will speak on "Antiques—Their Past, Present and
Future." Mr Haight is Director of the Interior Decorating Department
and Stylist of the Home Furnishing Division of B. Altman & Co., New
York.
February 10—Suffern High School, Suffern, at 8:15 p.m.
John C. Orth will speak on "Indians of the Bear Mountain—Harriman
Section of the Palidases Interstate Park." Mr. Orth is assistant super­
intendent with the Park Commission.
March 10—Old Orangeburg Grammar School,Orangeburg,8:15 p.m.
Miss Anne Lutz will speak on "Folklore of the Ramapo Region." Miss
Lutz, from the Ramsay, N.J. High School, will also present recordings
secured during her study of the Ramapo Region.
Refreshments will be served. Mrs. Joseph Dodge, Chairman.
March 25, 26, 27—Society’s 4th annual exhibit at the Antique
Show being held at the Y.M.C.A., Nyack.
April 10—Annual Meeting, Rockland Light and Power Company
auditorium, Nyack, N.Y.
The United States Steel Corporation him, "The Cantilever Bridge"
featuring the building of the Tappan Zee Bridge, will be shown.
MAY 3—Commemorative ceremony—175th anniversary of the Washington-Carleton meeting at Tappan.
May 12—Stony Point Gerald C. Stowe will speak on "Weapons of the
Ages." Mr. Stowe is curator of the museum at the U.S. Military Academy,
West Point, New York.
0m
"You and I make our de­
cisions on our individual ex­
perience. A local history mu­
seum dramatizes a commun­
ity’s past experience—makes
it come alive.
“So we, as individuals and
as a community, are better
equipped to cope with the
present and look to the future."
Detroit Historical Museum
SPRING VALLEY WATER WORKS
AND SUPPLY COMPANY
Spring Valley, New York
Louis W. Evans, Nanuet, N. Y., Business Manager, South of the Mountains
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