Fordham Manor 343 



Immediately south of Fort Independence is Tetard's Hill, 

 which gets its name from Dominie Tetard, who bought a farm 

 of sixty acres lying south of the Boston Road from Peter 

 Vermilye, in 1763, and who came to live here about three 

 years later. In 1772, he opened a French boarding-school, 

 probably the first in New York. As related elsewhere, he 

 served during the Revolution ; after its conclusion, he became 

 professor of French in the reorganized King's College, which 

 became Columbia in 1784. He held this position until his 

 death, in 1 787, at the age of sixty-five. All traces of the Domi- 

 nie have disappeared, except the name of the hill; though, 

 until the cutting through of some new streets within a few 

 years, there stood an old stone archway, whose real purpose 

 was unknown but which was called "Dominie Tetard's Wine 

 Cellar." Under the edge of the hill, probably on the line of 

 Bailey Avenue, is the site of the ancient village of Fordham. 

 Just half a mile south of Fort Independence are the remains 

 of Fort Number Five, a few rods east of Sedgwick Avenue at 

 the southwest corner of the reservoir ; it can be easily found by 

 the relic hunter. Its position was well selected, as it is within 

 plain view of Number Four, besides commanding the Farmers' 

 Bridge. 



Continuing our way along the ridge, we cross theKingsbridge 

 Road, leading to Westchester by way of Bronxdale and the 

 Bear Swamp. A short distance east of Sedgwick Avenue, 

 and between it and Jerome Avenue, is the old Dutch Church 

 of Fordham. The southern end of the reservoir lies on the 

 north side of the Kingsbridge Road, so that the reservoir is 

 within both the ancient manor and the town of Kingsbridge. 



Adjoining the Kingsbridge Road on the south, with Sedg- 

 wick Avenue as their western boundary, are the grounds of 

 the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum. A society for the care 



