Image of Hawkswood Published in 1831

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I previously have written about Elisha W. King and his estate known as "Hawkswood".  See

Wednesday, April 5, 2006: "Hawkswood", Later Known as the Marshall Mansion on Rodman's Neck in Pelham.

Thursday, June 28, 2007:  19th Century Notice of Executor's Sale of "Hawkswood" After Death of Elisha W. King.  

In the early 19th century, Elisha W. King was a distinguished New York City lawyer. He also served as an alderman and an assemblyman. In the 1820s, he built a lavish home in Pelham on Rodman's Neck opposite City Island. According to one source, King purchased nearby High Island in 1829 and quarried stones from the island "which he used in the construction of a foundation" for the mansion he built on Rodman's Neck. See Twomey, Bill, The Bronx, in Bits and Pieces, p. 83 (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc. 2003). King named his mansion and the estate on which it stood "Hawkswood".

I have located an engraving of Hawkswood published in a literary magazine in 1831.  The image appears immediately below.  The image was accompanied by a brief description of the property with interesting information about its origins.  I have transcribed that text below the image, followed by a citation to the source.

"PELHAM - RODMAN'S NECK, N.Y.
The seat of E. W. King, Esq.

This beautiful edifice is fifty feet in breadth and sixty-two in depth, composed of stone.  It is entirely of the Grecian order, and was planned by, and executed under the superintendence of Mr. Martin E. Thompson, Architect of New York, in the year 1828-9.  The Lawn is enriched with almost every variety of tree and shrub, and its arrangement is one of the happiest efforts of the late distinguished Landscape Gardener, Mr. Andrew Parmentier, of Brooklyn.  It is situated on a point of land jutting into the East River, or Long Island Sound, in Pelham, about sixteen miles east of New York; and is the property of E. W. King, Esquire.

The situation is peculiarly picturesque; in the rear are woodlands of great height, having one ravine, through which the banks of the Hudson are visible; on the east and west the shores are skirted with seats of uncommon beauty.  In front are three small inhabited Islands of great fertility.  The river affords an ever varying scene of vessels, with sails and steamers passing to and from the great commercial emporium of the west."

Source:  Atkinson's Casket Or Gems of Literature, Wit and Sentiment, 1831, No. 10, pp. 457 (October 1831) (Image appears on page between pages 456 and 457). 

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