330 The Story of The Bronx 



companions entered the city of New Amsterdam itself, causing 

 great uneasiness to the inhabitants; they were, however, 

 prevailed upon to withdraw to Nutten (now Governor's) Island. 



The old Tippett house stood on the eastern side of the neck 

 in a grove of locust trees. During the Revolution, the Tip- 

 petts were loyalists, and, in consequence, lost their property 

 by confiscation. It was sold to Samuel Berrien, who had 

 married Dorcas, a daughter of George Tippett; another 

 daughter was the wife of the celebrated James De Lancey, 

 sheriff of the county and leader of the Westchester Light 

 Horse. Though the Berriens were good Whigs, their house, 

 as well as that of Tippett, was a resort for the loyalists, owing 

 to the protection offered by the forts above, whose officers 

 could not have found duty upon the neck so very irksome with 

 several pleasant houses in the neighborhood to visit. 



In 1852, the old Berrien tract was composed of three farms. 

 These were sold to three gentlemen of Troy, New York, who 

 had the property surveyed and laid out as a village. It was 

 at first called Fort Independence, under the impression that 

 that fort had been located on the crest of the hill; but later, 

 the name was changed to Spuyten Duyvil, after the creek. 

 A foundry was established at the base of the bluff, which has 

 expanded as the years have gone by into an extensive plant 

 which has for a number of years supplied a large number of 

 modern and improved projectiles for the guns of the United 

 States Navy. There has thus grown up near the foundry a 

 small village to accommodate the hands who work in the 

 Johnson mill, and it is here that the stores and post-office are 

 located. From the point upon which the mill stands, to the 

 opposite shore of the creek on Manhattan, there stood, in 

 Revolutionary days, a pontoon bridge connecting the posts 

 and fortifications of the two sides of the creek. It was also 



