Part 7 : Somers Historical Tidbits

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The Cows Come Home

In 1878, Frederick Hopkins purchased the land that is now Muscoot Park. He was a New York City businessman who owned a large pharmaceutical company and his big financial claim to fame kept us all on the move. Mother Sill’s Travel Remedy was used for motion sickness, and the acreage he bought served as a family farm and a summer retreat. The house that stands was moved in 1898 when the New Croton Dam was built, and in 1968, Westchester County purchased 777 acres of the property. For recreational purposes, the cows, pigs, goats, chicken and vegetable rows are meant to show what life was like at the turn of the 19th century.

Post-Up

In the early days, Somers really prospered because of its proximity to waterway outlets to NYC. Still, as settlements began to spring up, land based travel became a necessity. So a road system became necessary, and in 1703, the New York Colonial Assembly established a general highway law. Among them was Boston Post Road and Albany Post Road. They were called Posts because stagecoaches required posts to change horses at regular intervals. Of course, mail transport traversed the line, and the posts served as the location drops. Hence the name post office was born.

Somers Gets Fishy

The water was still the way, though, and Philip Van Cortlandt attempted to turn the Croton River into a navigable body. His plan and financial backing proposed to run boats from Croton to Dutchess County, and local governments were agreeable. That was until the local fishing interests got involved. They feared their trade would be impacted, and New State Law was passed to prevent any changes to the body of water.

Somers Strikes Gold

Prior to the Revolution, there was a passable bridge that breached the Croton River at what is now Golden’s Bridge. Times picking up, the town voted for a replacement by 1790, and two iterations later, the span was in use into the 1980s. Of course, the name remains and came from one Abraham Golding. He was a prominent resident who was one of the founding members of the Mount Zion Church.

Somers Takes a Turn

After the Revolution, roads were poorly maintained, and towns became responsible. Only thing, little revenue existed, so the necessary taxes were raised in labor form. This had 15 property owners engaged as pathmasters, and they were required to spend a certain number of days in the upkeep. Moving forward, Governor John Jay signed the first highway law in 1797, and out of the legislation came a system where residents circulated petitions for potential thoroughfares. They had to show that the roadways were in the public interest, and approval was given by the Commissioner of Highways. Of course, property owners didn’t always approve of having traffic traversing their lands, but monetary compensations had them changing their minds at times. Still, the system fell short, and the Turnpike act of 1800 brought change. Private companies took the initiative and were required to build a foundation of “stone, gravel, wood or other hard substance.” 88 firms received charters to build 900 miles of turnpikes, and down home, the Croton Turnpike or today’s Route 100 got its birth. Already a stagecoach route which facilitated travel between Boston, NYC and Danbury, investors likely saw a good return on their money. So tolls or gates were situated every ten miles, and three sprung up in Somers. The Bailey House, Croton Falls and Pines Bridge Road gave rise to a change in town economics. Somers farmers turned to cattle droving, and an offshoot westerly road emerged. Traveling through Yorktown en route to Verplanck, we know it today as Route 202.