THE TOWN OF RYE. 1 65 



By an act of Assembly of the Province of New York, passed in 1692, 

 Rye was erected into a market town, and was entitled to the extraordi- 

 nary privilege of holding and keeping a yearly fair, on the second Tues- 

 day in October, to end on the Friday next, following, being in all four 

 days, " for selling of all country produce and other effects whatsoever." 

 It appears, however, that the inhabitants had not chosen to avail them- 

 selves of this great privilege until 1771, when they petitioned his Excel- 

 lency, the Right Honorable John Ead, of Dunmore, Commander in 

 Chief in and over the Province of New York, to " appoint Doctor 

 Ebenezer Haviland, of said Rye, to be Governor, and to have full 

 power, according to said Act of Assembly, to keep and hold a fair in 

 said Rye, in the month of October next." This petition was signed by 

 fifty-seven inhabitants, and was presented to Governor Dunmore in 

 April, 1 771. His Excellency graciously appointed Dr. Haviland to be 

 Governor of such a fair, to be kept at Rye on the second Tuesday in 

 October, yearly, and to end the Friday next following, being in all four 

 days, and no longer. 41 



Courts of Special Sessions were also held in Rye during the Colonial 

 dynasty. 



"A great event for Rye," says Baird, "was the establishment of a 

 Ferry in 1739, between this town and Oyster Bay, Long Island. The 

 charter issued in that year for this purpose, sets forth that ' the principal 

 freeholders and proprietors of the lands in the two patents called Budd's 

 Neck and Penning's Neck, have made application for it/ The inhabi- 

 tants generally seem to have taken a deep interest in the enterprise. 

 Messrs. John Budd, Hachaliah Brown and Jonathan Brown were at the 

 head of it. The list of subscribers, towards the expense of obtaining the 

 patent, embraces twenty-six names. Those who thus contributed were 

 to ' enjoy a share of the privileges and emoluments of the ferry in pro- 

 portion to the sums ' subscribed." 



"This ferry continued in use till the latter part of the century. In 

 1786, Mr. Isaac Brown, of Rye, purchased the rights of the proprietors 

 of Rye Ferry."<* 



Many handsome villas and country residences adorn the village of 

 Rye. The Kingsland Place, now owned by Jasper E. Corning, Esq., is 

 a beautiful specimen of the old English style. The gables are enriched 

 with elaborately carved scroll work, and surmounted by finials. The 



a See Baird's Hist, of Rye, p. 212. 

 b Baird's Hist of Rye, p. 78. 

 c Ditto do do. 

 d Ditto do do. 



