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1776. The highest point of land in the Borough, 282 feet, 

 is in Riverdale. There are no stores in Riverdale, and no 

 village in the ordinary sense of the word. The genial humorist, 

 Mark Twain, lived here in 1901 ; and among the landowners 

 and residents have been many whose names have been famous 

 in the political and mercantile history of the city. 



South of Riverdale was the farm of William Hadley, extend- 

 ing from the Hudson River to the Albany Post-road. Hadley 

 acquired it in two parcels : one from Colonel Jacobus, or James, 

 Van Cortlandt, grandson of the first of the name, in 1761, 

 and the other from the Commissioners of Forfeiture in 1786. 

 The two parcels, comprising 257 acres, were bought from 

 Hadley's executors in 1829 by Joseph Delafield, and the 

 property remains with his descendants to this day. 



In 1853, Hudson Park was laid out by a land company in 

 the northwest corner of the Betts and Tippett tract of 1668, 

 on a farm formerly belonging to Samuel Thomson. It lies 

 south of the Delafield property mentioned above. 



South of Hudson Park lies the bold promontory between 

 the Hudson River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek, which has been 

 known under the several names of Shorrack-kappock, Tippett's 

 Neck, Berrien's Neck, and Spuyten Duyvil Neck, the first 

 being its Indian title and the last its present one. It was 

 formerly known as the village and post-office of Spuyten 

 Duyvil, and that is the name of the station of the Central 

 Railroad to-day. The more northerly portion comprised a 

 tract of 356 acres and was purchased by Frederick Van Cort- 

 landt, brother of Colonel James, between 1768 and 1788 from 

 several owners who had acquired the Betts and Tippett tract 

 by purchase or inheritance. Upon the eastern side of the 

 property, overlooking the Albany Post-road, Van Cortlandt 

 erected a mansion which, during the Revolution, was known as 



