I live in Ossining, New York and I love history.

I also love to run.

And in the years that I’ve lived and run here, I’ve been intrigued by the number of historical sites within about a twenty-mile radius of my house.  This blog is my attempt to properly research and set the stories down so others can enjoy them.

Please — if you find any errors, or have anything to add to these stories please contact me.  I want these stories to be as accurate as possible!

[As of 2023, I have been appointed Historian for the Town of Ossining. However, please note that these posts are my own personal observations and are not sanctioned by nor approved by the Town of Ossining.]

8 thoughts on “Ossining History on the Run”

  2. As a fiction writer I’m always leverage local history and around here you don’t have to make that much up! I’m also a trustee on the OHSM so feel free to reach out if you have any questions as well.

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  3. Great site! Do you know Dr. Bob Seebacher on Spring Valley? He’s a wealth of historical info…knows about the silver mine and the horse track across the street. I live at 75 Glendale, where the British hanged the owner by his thumbs from an apple tree (we have the jail in our basement).

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    1. Hi Carole, I live near you (as the crow flies) on Cedar Lane in an 1828 “farmhouse” – before putting my house on the market I researched the area and my property as well as I could. Most fascinated by the tales of the Cowboys and Skinners as well as the British and American armies’ abuse of residents in “no man’s land” during the long Revolutionary conflict. I searched for tales close to home like yours in vain! I’d lover to know more about your source.

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    2. Thanks for that endorsement. I just discovered this blog and posted elaborate comments re
      1/ the race track, 2/ Egon Ottinger, 3/ the Heddy Cemetary
      contributing my two cents, if you’re interested.

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      1. Well, if it’s okay with you, I would like to update those posts with your comments — they are so full of interesting information that I’d like to be sure others see them!

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  4. I am so happy you are doing this! I live just inside the Town of Ossining line on Cedar Lane and devoted several months to reconstructing – as well as I could – the history of my house and the surrounding area and collecting it in a document (I had a Blurb booklet in mind, but haven’t had time to learn their system, format, etc.) – all with the hope of assuring that anyone buying my house, said to have been suilt in 1828, would treasure its historic value. I wish I’d stumbled on your site last year while I was doing it. If you contact me I’ll share what I put together.

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  5. This is in regard to the Glen Road Racetrack. We have a real mystery here. I did some research and found, in multiple sources, that Flora Temple and Highland Maid were racing at the Centreville Course at Long Island on that very day. Here is a notice from the New York Herald dated June 10, 1853.
    “GREAT TROTTING MATCH, $2,000 — THE TROT OF the season — Flora Temple and Highland Maid, Centreville course, Long Island. Wednesday, June 15, 1853, at 3 o’clock, P.M.; match $2,000, mile heats, best three in five, in harness. Hiram Woodruff names P. m. Flora Temple; F.J. Nadine names b. m Highland Maid. Omnibusses leave South ferry, …. ”
    I also found a newspaper review of the race dated June 16, 1853, so it really did happen at that location, no sudden change of venue. I’m not sure what the answer is to this puzzle. Maybe someone else can tell us?

    Speaking of mysteries — did you know that just around the corner from the old Glendale Park is the home of Julie Campbell Tatham, who developed the Trixie Belden mystery series? She wrote the first six books when she lived at Wolf Hollow on Glendale Road. She used her own house, as well as other houses on Glendale Road, as a “template” for the setting.

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