THE TOWN OF YONKERS. 625 



places still standing, of the old Phil 1 ipse manor. Against its walls, near the river, 

 now in a forest but said to have been cultivated lands a hundred years ago, re- 

 main the foundations of Nanny Piper's cottage, perhaps the widow of au old re- 

 tainer or wood guard, by whose name a never dying spring, famous for the pur- 

 ity of its waters, is still known. Other springs with which the wooded hills are 

 wonderfully well supplied, yet point to old dwellings, especially one on the high 

 ground above the Albany turnpike, near which are the foundations of a house, of 

 which even Tradition can give no account ; and another, hid iu the woods, is 

 known as Cork Tom. 



On the south of the farm, an upland pasture, until lately covered with ancient 

 apple tiers, too old in this generation to bear fruit, was twenty years ago known 

 as Johnson's meadow. Here Johnson, a spy, was hung during the revolution. 

 Until increasing population and Riverdale avenue opened the woods and let in 

 the light, Johnson's ghost haunted the spot, to the terror of young and old among 

 the farmers of the soil. His was the only undoubted ghost of antiquity, certified 

 to by many eye witnesses that favored with his presence the rocky ridge from 

 Spuyten-Duyvel to Tonkers. In 1S30 there were many traces of the revolution 

 remaining; an old chariot covered with gilt, taken from some British officer, 

 caltrops found on the broad river slope, thrown there to impede the charge of 

 cavalry ; old English muskets and a grind-stone, marked with the regal R, which 

 restored to a frame has until recently been in use. 



On the turnpike stands the old stone farm house, then one of the best build- 

 ings iu the neighborhood, occupied in turn by officers of either party and claimed 

 to have more than once given shelter to Washington. 



In 1S30 Major Delafield built himself a bachelor establishment (destroyed by 

 fire in 1833) directly over the river and near by a lime kiln, erected on a new 

 plan as described in volumes imported by him for the purpose from France. 

 This kiln, the first of its kind in America, became the model of all those subse- 

 quently built throughout the country. The enterprise proved very profitable, so 

 long as the coal dealers of New York gladby gave the coal dust in exchange for 

 carting it away from their yards ; as lime kilns on the same plan increased and 

 other uses were found for coal dust the profits diminished and the work was 

 abandoned in 1837. 



In 1849 Major Delafield built a residence in a beautiful position overlooking 

 the river, which he occupied in summer until his death. It is now enlarged and 

 occupied by his eldest son. His second son built at Fieldstou iu 1S70. 



Major Joseph Delafield born 22d. August 1790, graduated from Yale college 

 1808, studied law with Hon. J. Ogden Hoffman, admitted to practice 1811, ap- 

 pointed lieutenant 1S10 and captain 1812 in Hawkins famous battery of artillery, 

 and in the following year major of the 46th U. S. infantry. At the close of the 

 war he resigned his commission in the army and wishing active service accepted 

 the appointment first of acting arid later as full agent for settling the northern 

 boundary of the United States under the 6th and 7th articles of the treaty of 

 Ghent. Until 1828 his summers were occupied in command of the detachment on 

 the boundary, there he commenced the formation of his afterwards famous col- 

 lection of minerals. The long cold winters of the north preventing active op- 

 erations he passed in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, always 

 studious but not neglectful of the pleasures of society. He married 12th De- 



