Month: February 2023

Edward Kemeys – Ossining Artist

This is my inaugural post as the Ossining Town Historian (yes, I was so appointed on January 1, 2023.)  

As such, I thought it appropriate to highlight an Ossining story (okay, Scarborough, but close enough for history.)

Sometimes I think one could easily play Six Degrees of Ossining – mention any person or any place in the entire world and you could connect it back to Ossining (or Scarborough or Briarcliff) in less than six degrees.  

First, for you runners out there, does this statue look familiar?

“Still Hunt” by Edward Kemeys
Central Park, NYC

If you’ve ever run a race in Central Park, you’ll be familiar with the steep hill, sometimes called “Cat Hill,” right after the Boathouse at about East 76thStreet.  It’s there, almost at the top, that you see this remarkably life-like panther crouched in the shadows on top of a rock to your left.  

The story I’m about to share delighted me and I hope you’ll find it just as interesting.

But let’s set the stage first — those of you who are familiar with Ossining might know of Kemeys’ Cove.  Today it’s a condo complex near the Jug Tavern and the Arcadian shopping mall.  But back in the day, it was homestead of one of the first European settlers in the area. (Watch this space for a post about the pre-European people who lived here.)

Just after the Revolutionary War, William Kemeys, a wealthy shipowner from Scarborough, England left the mother country due to his lack of enthusiasm for the Church of England and the social constraints he suffered from because of that.  He came to America looking for tolerance, acceptance and opportunity.  Taking a brief foray up the North River (as the Hudson was called in those days), he found a delightful spot in which to settle: “There he built a long low ceilinged English House of red brick facing south on the cove and called the place Scarborough after the English town from whence he came. The house was still standing about 1870 until the property passed out of the hands of Edward Kemeys, the great grandson of William Kemeys and was demolished.”[1]

Now, it’s this Edward Kemeys that concerns us here.  Born in 1844 in Milledgeville, Georgia (“during a sojourn of his parents to the South”[2]) to Abby Brenton Greene and William Kemeys.  Abby sadly died soon after Edward’s birth, and he spent much of his childhood on the Kemeys homestead in Scarborough, with his grandparents Judge Edward Kemey and Gertrude Bleeker.  

At the outbreak of the Civil War, our young Edward enlisted in the 65th New York Volunteer Regiment, eventually attaining the rank of Captain of Artillery.  Edward and the 65th served nobly at many battles,[3] Antietam and Gettysburg being perhaps the most well-known today.  

After the war, Edward studied civil engineering and helped survey Central Park.  But his heart wasn’t in it — he soon became interested in animal sculpture and went west to study animals (so the story goes) and then to London and Paris to learn how to sculpt.

Here’s a slightly more in-depth history on Kemeys and his work written by the NYC Parks Department[4]

“Still Hunt” was by no means his only famous sculpture – if you’ve ever been to the Art Institute of Chicago, you’ve seen his handiwork —  the two bronze lions at the entrance were sculpted by Kemeys.

One of a pair of lions at the entrance of the Arts Institute of Chicago
sculpted by Edward Kemeys

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York also has a number of his works on display – this one, called “Mutual Surprise” is one of my favorites:

“Mutual Surprise” by Edward Kemeys
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Here’s a link to his New York Times obituary just because I like obituaries.  

I still do wonder why Edward let the Kemey’s homestead go.  Seems like it would be an idyllic spot for an artist.

But there you have it, from Ossining to Central Park to famous sculptor.  

[1] From a xeroxed history with no author information found at the Ossining Historical Society

[2] From the same xeroxed history with no author information found at the Ossining Historical Society

[3] See here for more:  https://civilwarintheeast.com/us-regiments-batteries/new-york-infantry/65th-new-york/

[4] https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/central-park/monuments/1506

FDR Park and the Comte de Rochambeau

“The code word is Rochambeau, dig me? . . . You have your orders now, go man go!”  (From Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda)

I originally wrote this post back in December 2022 in honor of the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House:  

French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden toasting each other at the State Dinner hosted at the White House on December 1, 2022 (Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

At the time, there was all sorts of talk about how France was America’s first ally, during our glorious Revolution of 1776.  So, I thought it would be interesting to share some nitty gritty details about a local spot where the French Army encamped during the American Revolution on their way down to Yorktown, Virginia where they helped us defeat the British in 1781.

However, the Harry Potter Forbidden Forest Experience had other ideas.  

They had loaded in an enormous amount of equipment and closed off a big section of Franklin Delano Roosevelt State Park.  And they’d set up right on top of the campsite and the historical markers I sought. But, as of February 15, all is clear and now the story can be told.

(As an aside, if you missed the Harry Potter Experience, it’ll be back next Fall, so try and snag a ticket.  They are not cheap, but it’s definitely a fun experience for young and old.   (No they’re not paying me to say this!)  Plus, the company has left the park better than they found it, with both new and upgraded trails. So win/win.)

On August 21, 1781 Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau and his army first encamped within the boundaries of today’s FDR Park to rest before their big march south to attack the British in Virginia.

General Rochambeau. Painting by Joseph Desire Court (National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.)

Local historian Lincoln Diamant wrote about their sojourn in our backyard in this charming article for the New York Times in 1996 (back when the NYT still published charming articles of local history and culture.)

Now, Rochambeau’s army of 3,500 had arrived in Westchester in early July.  They met up with George Washington’s army, camping in Ardsley, and Washington and Rochambeau planned the upcoming offensive.  

Rochambeau commandeered the nearby Odell House in Hartsdale as his headquarters.  (See here for more on this Westchester Historic Site.)

Diamant mentions that the two armies “exchanged civilities,” and shares a description written by a French officer of a banquet the Americans offered that consisted of ”la haute cuisine Americain . . .  vegetables, beef, potatoes, lamb, chicken, salad (dressed with nothing but vinegar), puddings and pie — all heaped upon the same table, and often upon the same plate.”

I can just see the French officers chuckling to each other behind perfumed, lacy handkerchiefs at such peasant fare and rough presentation, can’t you?  Oh, those Americains! I dread to think what the French thought about the wine served.

Washington took a few weeks to decide where he was going to launch what he must have known was the Colonies’ Hail Mary attack on the British.  By late August, Virginia had been selected as the attack point.

The two armies split up and began marching.  The French took a slightly different route, but all were marching through 90* heat, in wool uniforms, carrying heavy loads up to 60 pounds over some pretty hilly terrain. 

It’s at this juncture that Rochambeau’s army stopped in what is today FDR Park, camping near Crom Pond, on the property of one Caleb Frost, a Tory who had long before escaped south behind British lines.  According to Diamant, the precise location of this campsite is noted as near “Solomon Hunt’s Tavern in the pleasant settlement of what is now Yorktown Heights (near the corner of Hallock’s Mill Road and U.S. 202)”

They only stayed one night, heading off to Verplank to cross the Hudson River at King’s Ferry, marching south to Virginia, to the Siege of Yorktown and the Battle of the Chesapeake (I know I don’t need to tell you what happened there.)  Let’s just say that without General Lafayette (who was waiting there in Chesapeake Bay), General Rochambeau, and all the French soldiers fighting and dying for our cause, we would not be the vibrant, independent country we are today. 

So yeah, France really IS our first ally.

But the story doesn’t end there. In 1782, on their way up to Boston to embark on ships that would return them to France, Rochambeau’s army would return to this campsite for almost a month’s stay in September/October. As they packed up to leave, Rochambeau was very nearly arrested. You see, mill owner Hallock was miffed that the French army had cut down trees and destroyed some of his fences (3500 men will do that), and so had the local sheriff try to collect 15,000 livres from Rochambeau in damages. Ever the diplomat, Rochambeau defused the situation by offering to pay a significant, but much lower amount. While I certainly understand Hallock’s ire, in the big picture, Hallock would have likely had nothing if the British had won. Plus, the sign below notes that Rochambeau’s army had made improvements to the Crom Pond to give themselves more access to water and their work had also benefited mill-owner Mr. Hallock. I think Mr. Hallock was being unreasonable. Don’t you?

Here is the sign I have been waiting to photograph

The National Park Service has helpfully put together this Washington – Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Trail Brochure which you can use to follow in the footsteps of these patriots all the way from Boston down to Yorktown, Virginia.    (I know what I’m doing this summer . . .)