CHAPTER XIV 



CLASON'S POINT 



The Coney Island of The Bronx — Cornell's Neck — Three Clergymen who Hid 

 in a Farm House in the Days of the Revolution — The Distinction of the 

 Ferris Mansion at Zerega's Point — The Fate of Anne Hutchinson. 



ROSSING the railroad bridge on Westchester Avenue 

 and Edgewater Road, we pass what was once the beau- 

 tiful Watson estate and the old Westchester golf 

 grounds. The property is now in the hands of a real 

 estate company, which is cutting up the land into build- 

 ing lots. 



One of the most delightful trolley rides thru picturesque 

 Westchester, is the trip to Clason's Point, called by the Indians 

 Snakapins. The car passes thru charming country regions 

 that would never be looked for on the very edge of New York City. 

 Clason's Point is ideally located on the Sound, and is fast be- 

 coming famous as a summer amusement resort, having all the 

 attractions of Coney Island. 



Clason's Point is at the extremity of Cornell's Neck, which 

 was named after its first settler, Thomas Cornell, who came in 

 1643 from Rhode Island with John Throckmorton and Roger 

 Williams. Cornell had emigrated to America with his family from 

 the shire of Essex in England, and had acquired from the Indians 

 a tract of land lying just east of the Bronx River; here he estab- 

 lished a plantation, which, with that of his neighbor, Jacob Jans 

 Stoll, who had purchased Broncksland from the widow of Jonas 

 Bronck, formed the outpost of civilization in the vicinity of New 

 Amsterdam along the East River. 



During the Indian massacre of 1643, Cornell escaped on a 

 vessel which had just arrived in the nick of time. He later re- 

 turned to his estate and received in 1646 from the Dutch authori- 

 ties in New Amsterdam a patent confirming his purchase, but he 

 was again forced by the Indians to abandon his property. After 

 this he never more returned. His daughter Sarah, who had mar- 



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