More on the Little Mothers Aid Association and its Use of Hunter's Mansion on Hunter's Island

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In late 1890 or early 1891, a woman named Alma Calvin Johnson founded a charity based in New York City called The Little Mothers Aid Association.  The charity recognized that there were many young girls in the tenements of New York City who were forced to serve as the principal caregivers for their siblings while their parents toiled away at jobs to make ends meet.  Alma Calvin Johnson founded the charity to allow such tiny caregivers to visit the countryside outside New York City and enjoy a time to play and to celebrate the joys of youth. 

By the mid-1890s, the New York City Park Commissioner granted the charity the right to use the old Hunter Mansion in Pelham Bay Park on Hunter's Island and the surrounding estate for the benefit of the "Little Mothers."  The organization named the mansion "Holiday House" and transported girls from New York City on the New Haven Branch Line to Bartow Station from which they were taken by carriage to Hunter's Island.

I have written before about the use of the Hunter's Mansion on Hunter's Island by the Little Mothers Aid Association.  See, e.g. Fri., Apr. 15, 2016:  The Little Mothers Aid Association and its Use of Hunter's Mansion on Hunters Island in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries.

Exterior of Front of John Hunter's Mansion on Hunters Island, 1882. Embedded
Image Not Copied to the Historic Pelham Blog so If the Image is Removed by its
Owner or the Link to it is Changed, It Will No Longer Display Here. Source: 
Digital Version of Albumen Print in Collections of the Museum of the City of
New York, No. X2010.11.10134.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Today's Historic Pelham Blog article transcribes the text of a fascinating article published in 1903.  The reporter who wrote it visited Hunter's Island on a number of occasions one week and even traveled with the young girls selected to enjoy the island and Hunter's Mansion under the auspices of the Little Mothers Aid Association.  The article provides a fascinating glimpse of what it was like for the youngsters who enjoyed the island and its amenities in the first years of the Twentieth Century.

*          *          *          *          *

"OUTINGS OF LITTLE MOTHERS.
-----
EXCURSIONS FROM THE EAST SIDE TO HUNTER'S ISLAND.
-----
Country Pleasures for Little Girls With Younger Brothers and Sisters to Care For -- A Deserted Baby -- A Little Mother Who Believes in Race Suicide.

A place of joy is Hunter's Island, in the Sound, for there the little mothers forget their burdens.

It is a great deal more fun, especially if one is under 12 and frail, to gather golden rod and pick blackberries, to go in bathing and to eat two plates of ice cream for dinner than it is to carry a baby up and down tenement stairs and take care of it all day long in close rooms or the street.  That is why little mothers are so anxious to go to Hunter's Island that they will resort to little subterfuges to get there and to stay as long as possible.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays parties of them, marshalled by the chaperons of the Little Mother's Aid Society, seek the Hunter's Island woods and shore, and it was last Tuesday that one little mother went in spite of obstacles.  She had obtained an outing badge at the society's office in Second avenue, but the trouble was that there was no one save herself to take care of her brother, eight months old, while her mother was away cleaning windows in an office building.  On this account Jennie didn't dare to ask if she might go.

At 7 o'clock on Tuesday morning her mother went to work.  Before 9 Jennie had the baby dressed and fed and lulled to sleep and was herself arrayed in her very best.  She had to hurry in the writing of the little note telling where she had gone, but she reached the starting place in time.

Apparently no one enjoyed more than she did the ride in the cars, and in the stage through Pelham Bay Park and woods on Hunter's Island up to the big house overlooking the Sound.  She went in bathing, ate plenty of dinner and in the afternoon filled her apron with apples to take back to the city.

It was not until Jennie was on the Third avenue elevated train in the early evening and near home that she began to cry.  Then the story of her running away came out.  She was afraid to face her mother.

'Now don't you cry any more,' exclaimed the young woman who had lent a sympathetic ear to Jennie's recital of her troubles.  'I'll go home with you myself, and it will be all right.  You see if it isn't.'

And it was.

'I heard the little tyke a-hollerin' away,' Mrs. Cassidy, who lives on the same floor, remarked in the course of the explanations, 'and I brought him in here, and after I got him quiet I give him a crust, and he ain't hardly been any trouble all day.'

Jennie's mother was appeased by the tactful words of the teacher, and by the apples, which her small daughter had held in her apron as a peace offering.

'Sure, and we'll get four or five messes of apple sauce out of this, anyhow,' was an observation with which she consoled herself for the danger to the baby.

Keen as the little mothers are about getting to Hunter's Island, they are even more anxious to remain when they have felt its charms.  The poorest and most delicate, who are allowed to stay a week, are greatly envied by those who must return to the East Side after a single day of roaming in the woods and along the shore and on the grassy slopes around the fine stone house that is the society's country home.

'Teacher, teacher, Annie ain't here!' called out a shrill-voiced little girl in the train one afternoon when the children were returning from a day's outing on the island.

A hasty and agitated count by the chaperons proved that this was true.  It is difficult to keep track of each one of fifty youngsters on a trip involving changes.  Annie might easily have stayed away unnoticed, and visions of accidents destroyed the peace of mind of those who were responsible for the children.

But they learned that night that Annie was all right.  She was still on Hunter's Island.  When the time had come for her to go home with the others, she had hidden away, but had put in an appearance when the horn blew for supper.

When the stage was about to start for the station on Tuesday a little mother, surrounded by a group of sympathizers, approached the superintendent with tears rolling down her cheeks.

'I -- I came to stay for -- for a week,' she sobbed, 'but I got a mark, and the -- the teacher says I must go home.'

'Well, well,' said the superintendent soothingly, 'that's too bad.  Will you promise me that you'll be such a good girl that you won't get any more marks?'

'Yes'm,' answered this repentant little mother, eagerly brushing away the tears.

'Well, then, you just take off your hat again, and go with the rest out to the swing.  But, remember, I shall expect you to be one of the very best of my girls all week.'

'It is a rule that if a girl gets a bad mark she has to go home,' explained the superintendent; 'but I don't send a girl home once in a month.  They are very easy little things to manage if you take the trouble to put yourself in a sympathetic relationship with them.'

'I like this place just -- just fierce,' remarked Lizzie, settling back in her rocking chair on the porch, with a little sigh of contentment over the fact that she was staying, as she watched a crowd of the others climb into the stage.  Lizzie, who is 12, is busy knitting a woollen jacket for a small sister at home.

'But it seems awful funny at night till you get used to it,' she went on.  'It's so dark all around outside, and the bugs and things in the grass sing so dreary that you feel scary and kind o' wish you was home.  But in the daytime you forget all that.'

Within a few minutes after the children arrive at the house on Hunter's Island in the morning they go running down the grassy hill where small waves lap the sand between the rocks.  As quickly as possible they don the bathing suits furnished by the society, and then the fun begins.

There are duckings and splashings and screams of laughter; a few who live in neighborhoods where there are free baths can swim.  The majority have never been bathing before, and they approach the water gingerly until they gain courage from the example of others.

'Teacher, are you allowed to get your suit wet?' asked one of the first little girls out of the bathhouse the other day.

A little while after the bath is over the horn toots for dinner.  The little mothers, who have heard that there is to be ice-cream, crowd eagerly into the wide hallway, form in a line impatiently, and, to the music of a lively air on the piano, march in to their places in front of long rows of plates with meat and potatoes and stewed corn on them, and glasses of milk with big pieces of bread and butter on top.

After dinner the little mothers go for blackberries in the woods, and gather big bunches of goldenrod and clover and black eyed susans in the meadow, and load their aprons with apples to take home for apple sauce.

'Do you see that round-faced little girl over there swinging?' said a chaperon.  'She looks quite happy, doesn't she?'  She didn't look that way when we first found her, about two weeks ago.  Her mother was in the hospital and her father had disappeared.

'She had been living all alone in the tenement for a day or two when the landlord came along and put the few pieces of furniture on the street and turned her over to a neighbor.  The latter couldn't keep her, and when we picked her up she was sitting crying on the curb, with her little bundle in her arms.'

'Have you any little brothers and sisters, Mamie,' asked the chaperon of a serious-faced child who was sitting near.

'Yes'm.  I have one that high,' answered Mamie, holding her hand on a level with her neck, 'and one that high,' lowering her hand to her waist, 'and the baby.'

'Who takes care of them all?'

'I do, and I do the housework, too.'

'I don't believe in children,' volunteered an ex-little mother who had graduated, as many of them do, from housekeeping in a tenement to work in a department store, and was spending her vacation at Hunter's Island.  'Why not?  That's easy.  Because they cost too much, and you can't tend to them right if you have to work yourself.'"

Source:  OUTINGS OF LITTLE MOTHERS -- EXCURSIONS FROM THE EAST SIDE TO HUNTER'S ISLAND -- Country Pleasures for Little Girls With Younger Brothers and Sisters to Care For -- A Deserted Baby -- A Little Mother Who Believes in Race Suicide, The Sun [NY, NY], Aug. 23, 1903, p. 6, cols. 3-4.

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Seal Hunting in the Town of Pelham???

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An easterly wind blew stiffly across Pelham and the waters off its shores on the bitterly-cold morning of Thursday, February 20, 1879.  Pelham was in the grip of a lengthy and brutal cold spell that had iced portions of Long Island Sound and sent ice floes sailing into Long Island Sound and many of the bays that dotted the mainland shores overlooking the Sound.

That morning, Joseph E. Rogers was tucked warmly inside his Pelham home along today's Shore Road overlooking LeRoy Bay, the stretch of water from today's Shore Park to Pelham Neck.  The map detail immediately below shows where that home once was located, overlooking LeRoy Bay and Hunter's Island.

Detail from 1881 Bromley Map Showing Location of Joseph E. Rogers

Estate Overlooking LeRoy Bay and Hunter's Island. Source: "Town of

Pelham (With) Pelham-Manor From Actual Surveys and Official Records

by G. W. Bromley & Co., Civil Engineers. Published by Geo. W. &

Walter S. Bromley, 1881)" in Atlas of Westchester County, New York,

From Actual Surveys and Official Records by G. W. Bromley & Co., Civil

Engineers, pp. 56-57 (NY, NY: Geo. W. & Walter S. Bromley, 1881).

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

As Rogers looked across LeRoy Bay from his home, he saw an ice floe sailing along the waters of LeRoy Bay, being pushed by the easterly winds.  On the ice was some sort of living being, perched for a brisk ride in the brutal cold.

Rogers ran outside, grabbed a boat and an unidentified friend.  The two men shoved off from shore with a loaded shotgun in pursuit of the floating ice with the strange beast aboard.

Others in the Rogers household peered from the windows of the home to watch as the two men in the boat struggled to approach the ice floe.  Though it took some time, as the men neared the beast they could see that it was either a seal or a sea lion "of large proportions, weighing apparently about two hundred pounds."

As the boat drew near the ice cake, the beast delivered a "loud bark" and plunged into the icy waters of the bay.  For a moment, it disappeared.  Soon, it emerged partially at the water's surface swimming briskly, headlong toward its pursuers.  One of the men raised the shotgun, pointing it directly at the head of the beast. . . .

At that moment, the swimming creature showed "rare sagacity," turned abruptly putting "a wall of water between the weapon and his glossy sides," and plunged underwater passing beneath the boat.

Shortly the beast climbed out of the water onto another ice floe far to the windward of the little boat.  Rogers and his friend turned and began the pursuit anew as the occupants of the Rogers home watched excitedly.    

Rogers and his friend battled the wind, the icy waters, and the cold to pursue the floating beast for nearly an hour.  Once or twice them pair approached closely enough "to observe the creature's form and color" but they could not get close enough to take a shot with their shotgun.  Finally, heavy snow began and obscured the view at a distance.  The men lost sight of the ice cake and its occupant.  

The two men continued their search for another hour in the heavy snow.  Occasionally they came upon ice floes where the creature clearly had been as it moved around LeRoy Bay.  "From an examination of the impressions left in the snow on several cakes of ice, the seal was estimated to be something more than five feet in length."

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, today "only true seals" -- not sea lions or walruses -- "are found in New York."  Harbor seals are the most common and, today, are the most common of the five principal species of seals that frequent Long Island Sound.  Less common are Grey seals, and certain "arctic" species including Harp, Hooded, and Ringed seals.  

We may never know what Rogers and his friend saw that day that they seemed to consider so unusual.  Most likely it was a Harbor seal that, thankfully, showed "rare sagacity" and avoided a gruesome death at the hands of the two curious Pelhamites and their shotgun.

Spotted Seal on an Ice Floe.

Source:  NOAA.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Galapagos Sea Lion Sketched from Life by Blake A. Bell.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"SEAL HUNTING ON THE SOUND.
-----

On looking from his residence at Pelham, on Leroy Bay, last Thursday forenoon, Mr. Joseph E. Rogers discovered a living object perched on the floating ice, some distance from shore, and sailing rapidly along before an east wind.  A boat was quickly procured, and, accompanied by a friend, Mr. Rogers started in pursuit of the strange beast, which proved to be a seal, or sea lion, of large proportions, weighing apparently about two hundred pounds.  A loud bark was followed by a plunge, and for a moment the beast disappeared, but, partially emerging, faced his pursuers and swam toward them.  A shotgun was pointed at his head, and, with rare sagacity, he put a wall of water between the weapon and his glossy sides.  Passing beneath the boat, another cake of ice some distance to windward was reached and mounted at a bound.  An hour was spent in the chase, but though the huntsmen got near enough once or twice to observe the creature's form and color, the distance was too great to warrant the hazarding of a shot.  Finally a flurry of snow concealed the game, and after another hour of search the boat was headed for the shore.  From an examination of the impressions left in the snow on several cakes of ice, the seal was estimated to be something more than five feet in length.  It is supposed that the seal was carried into the Sound by the strong easterly winds which had prevailed for the previous two days.  His pursuit and escape were witnessed by the occupants of Mr. Rogers' house."

Source:  SEAL HUNTING ON THE SOUND, N.Y. Herald, Feb. 23, 1879, p. 11, p. 4.

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More on the History of Community Rowing in Pelham

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Understanding the history of repeated efforts to construct a world-class rowing course in Pelham Bay and the area between Hunter's Island and the mainland known as the Orchard Beach Lagoon is critically important to understanding the evolution of the area that became today's Orchard Beach and the Orchard Beach parking area.  Today's Historic Pelham Blog article attempts to shed further light on that history.

The lovely Orchard Beach Lagoon formed from the remnants of Le Roy Bay off the shores of Pelham were improved and used as the site of the 1964 Olympics Rowing Trials. See Tue., Apr. 19, 2016:  The 1964 Olympic Rowing Trials Off the Shores of Pelham in The Orchard Beach Lagoon. The Orchard Beach Lagoon, however, was used as a competitive rowing course for many years before the 1964 Olympics Rowing Trials. 

Indeed, during the 1930s, noted North Pelham resident Theodore J. Van Twisk of River Avenue began pressing to convert a portion of the Orchard Beach Lagoon into a one-mile rowing course.  See Fri., Sep. 01, 2017:  Long History of Community Rowing in Pelham.  Van Twisk was widely known as an avid oarsman who eventually served as executive of the New York Rowing Association, a member of the Rowing Association, and a member of the Rowing Committee of the United States Olympic Games Committee. He also served for a number of years as Captain of the New York Athletic Club. 

Theodore J. Van Twisk's efforts did not bear fruit for a number of years. After the construction of Orchard Beach and the Orchard Beach parking lot, the bay that once separated Hunter's Island from the mainland looked more like a quiet, beautiful, still-water lake than a bay. Only the northeastern end of what once was known as Le Roy Bay remained an outlet to the Long Island Sound. The resultant "lagoon" (not a true lagoon) was viewed as a perfect site for a competitive rowing course. 

There was a problem, however. Even as late as 1940 there were remnants of a wooden bridge that once connected Hunter's Island to the mainland in the lagoon. The remnants cut across the Orchard Beach Lagoon. Until these bridge remnants could be removed, any such rowing course would have to be developed on one side of the bridge or the other and, depending on the side chosen, could only be as long as one mile rather than the preferred 2000 meter or 1-1/4 mile length necessary for Olympic tryouts, National rowing races, and Intercollegiate races. Additionally, there was a need to dredge the lagoon which had begun to grow shallow due to the buildup of silt. 

These issues did not stop Theodore J. Van Twisk and his colleagues. In an effort to show the viability of the Orchard Beach Lagoon as a rowing race course, they arranged for the New York Rowing Association, composed of sixteen colleges, athletic clubs, and rowing clubs, to hold a high-visibility regatta in the lagoon on August 18, 1940. The course ran from the remnants of the old Hunter's Island wooden bridge toward the southwest end of the Orchard Beach Lagoon at the shore adjacent to City Island Road -- a distance of one mile. See id.  

The move showed the viability of the Orchard Beach Lagoon as a world-class rowing race course, leading to its successful development and deployment as the site of the 1964 Rowing Trials off the shores of Pelham.  See Tue., Apr. 19, 2016:  The 1964 Olympic Rowing Trials Off the Shores of Pelham in The Orchard Beach Lagoon.

As one might suspect, Theodore J. Van Twisk's efforts to develop the Orchard Beach Lagoon as a premier rowing race course were not the first such efforts.  Even in 1915, more than a century ago, such a planned race course was described by a New York City newspaper as " long anticipated and long projected water course for aquatic sports on Pelham Bay."  

In about 1913, oarsmen throughout the New York City region began efforts to organize a rowing club the membership of which was to be limited to "university graduates" with the purpose of boating "an all-college crew each year that will rank with the Leander Club of England," the best in the world at the time.  Efforts to organize the club, however, foundered due to "lack of a suitable course."

Beginning at the outset of 1915, however, the New York Rowing Association began working with New York City officials to develop a world-class racing course.  The plan that emerged by July of that year was a grandiose and expensive scheme centered on the Orchard Beach Lagoon off the shores of Pelham Manor and Pelham Bay Park.

The plan was to create a perfectly calm and well-regulated racing course by building massive causeways at both ends to completely enclose the lagoon.  Each of the causeways was to have swinging locks that could be opened or closed.  Engineers planned to open the locks twice a month at high tide to flood the lagoon and ensure that the water would be kept at the highest possible level at all times.  One news report put it this way:

"In order to insure perfect water at all times the engineers contemplate the novel plan of completely locking the water in by means of causeways, extending from Rodman's Neck to Hunter's Island and from Hunter's Island to the mainland, just south of Travers Island.  Each of these causeways will contain swinging locks, and it is part of the plan of the engineers to flood the course at high water twice a month and to keep it at all times at high water level."

There was a problem, however.  In order to construct the rowing race course within such an enclosed lagoon, the decrepit wooden bridge between Hunter's Island and the mainland had to be removed.  By that time (mid-1915), the wooden bridge had been condemned by park authorities.  The same news report said:

"The construction of this land-locked course will make necessary the removal of the wooden bridge between Hunter's Island and the mainland.  This bridge has been condemned by the park authorities in The Bronx, and $60,000 has been appropriated for construction of a new one.  By using this money -- and the scheme has the approval of the city officials -- to build the causeway at the northern end of Hunter's Island the cost of the entire project will be greatly reduced.  In all about 1,800 feet of causeway will be necessary -- 600 at the north end of the island and 1,200 at the south end."

Local oarsmen were overjoyed.  Talks of creating the new club of university oarsmen began anew.  A sense of optimism pervaded local rowing clubs.  Several announced they would build boathouses on Pelham Bay as soon as construction began on the causeways with swinging locks.

Construction never began.  Indeed, it was another two decades before Theodore J. Van Twisk's efforts to develop the Orchard Beach Lagoon began to bear fruit.  With the construction of today's Orchard Beach and the Orchard Beach parking area that connected Hunter's Island with the mainland and closed off one end of the "lagoon," Van Twisk's efforts took on added urgency.

1966 Map Showing the "ROWING BASIN" Between Orchard

Beach and the Mainland Extending from an Area Near Orchard

Beach Road in Pelham Bay Park to Shore Park in the Village

of Pelham Manor. Map from the Author's Collection.

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

*          *          *          *          *

"GREAT AQUATIC COURSE PLANNED FOR NEW YORK
-----
Land-Locked Waterway To Be Located in Pelham Bay Park.
-----
EXPENSE TO CITY WILL BE SMALL
-----
University Rowing Club Project Has Been Revived -- Would Rival Leander.

New York's long anticipated and long projected water course for aquatic sports on Pelham Bay seems at last to be close to realization.  It is confidently believed by those who are furthing the plans that actual construction work will be started in a few months and that the project will be carried through to a speedy completion.

The New York Rowing Association, in conjunction with the city officials, has been pushing the scheme for the last six months, with the result that plans have been drawn and specifications outlined.  All that remains is to obtain the consent of the Board of Estimate and the appropriation of less than $100,000, which, it is believed, will be sufficient to carry the project far enough along to make it nearly ideal for canoeing, rowing and long distance swimming sports.

Coincident with authoritative statements that the Pelham Bay course will be ready in a short time, there has also come to light the projected formation of a rowing club, whose membership is to be restricted to university graduates, and whose purpose will be to boat an all-college crew each year that will rank with the Leander Club of England.  

All that has retarded the organization of this club in the last two years has been the lack of a suitable course. With the completion of the Pelham Bay course in sight the originators of the plan for a university club are going ahead with their plans and expect to have their organization complete early in the fall.

The projected water course is in the extreme northeast corner of Pelham Bay Park and taken in the stretch of water beginning at Travers Island and running south between Hunter's Island and the mainland to Rodman's Neck.  There is ample room for a mile and 1/2 straight away.

Perfect Water Assured.

In order to insure perfect water at all times the engineers contemplate the novel plan of completely locking the water in by means of causeways, extending from Rodman's Neck to Hunter's Island and from Hunter's Island to the mainland, just south of Travers Island.

Each of these causeways will contain swinging locks, and it is part of the plan of the engineers to flood the course at high water twice a month and to keep it at all times at high water level.

The construction of this land-locked course will make necessary the removal of the wooden bridge between Hunter's Island and the mainland.  This bridge has been condemned by the park authorities in The Bronx, and $60,000 has been appropriated for construction of a new one.  By using this money -- and the scheme has the approval of the city officials -- to build the causeway at the northern end of Hunter's Island the cost of the entire project will be greatly reduced.  In all about 1,800 feet of causeway will be necessary -- 600 at the north end of the island and 1,200 at the south end.

Even in its present condition at high water the course offers few obstructions and practically no shallow water, so that a minimum amount of dredging will have to be done.  The course is 500 feet wide at its narrowest point, and the shore on both sides is high and rocky, affording a natural grandstand from end to end.  

It is not the intention of the city authorities to restrict the course exclusively to rowing, although the rowing clubs of the city have been the most active in having the plan advanced.  Sites for rowing and canoe clubs will be granted by the city at the southern end of the course, where a small creek will be dredged out to afford a waterway to and from the course.  

One of the features of the course is that a boulevard is to encircle it completely.  In the event of regattas being held on the course, the boulevard will afford a means of following the races from start to finish.

Rowing Clubs Interested.

When completed the course will be the only one within the metropolitan district where rowing may be enjoyed in safety and without interference from currents and river traffic, as is the case on the Harlem and the Hudson.  It will be possible, too, the rowing men assert, to hold regattas of national importance on the course.  New York has not had the national regatta since 1900, because of lack of facilities.

What the project would mean for rowing in New York can only be conjectured.  Already the Atalanta, Friendship, and Lone Star clubs have agreed to build at Pelham Bay as soon as the course is ready.  Although the course will not be as accessible as the Harlem, it is not more than fifty minutes from the Battery by way of the subway to West Farms, and thence on the Harlem River Railroad to City Island station.  The proposed site of the boathouse is not more than three minutes' walk from that station.

The proposed club of university rowing men will be organized, it is said, as soon as work is begun on the Pelham Bay course.  The plan for such a club was proposed by a group of Columbia, Harvard and Yale rowing men last summer, and the project was dropped temporarily after several discussions because no course was available for practice.  The broaching of the Pelham Bay plan has revived the scheme, however.

Letters have been addressed already to Anson Phelps Stokes, secretary of Yale University; Dr. J. Duncan Spaeth, of Princeton; Thomas Reath, of the University of Pennsylvania, former steward of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association; Public Service Commissioner Frank Irvine, former dean of the Cornell University Law School and an intercollegiate steward; William A. Shanklin, president of Wesleyan University, and officers or old rowing men of all other colleges, inviting them to submit ideas and the names of former oarsmen from their universities who are in New York.  It is estimated that more than three hundred former college oarsmen live in the metropolitan district.

It is planned to interest these men first of all and to have them form the nucleus of the club, afterward recruiting the membership from university men in general.  There will be a combination of rowing for pleasure and in competition.  Primarily all men using the boats will be considered pleasure oarsmen, but the best of these will be grouped in shells, from which will eventually be chosen crews which will be sent into competition.

These crews will be coached by one of the college coaches during the summer months, and it is the plan to be represented in the Henley regatta in England at least every other year, if not every year, and also to invite the best of the English crews to visit this country."

Source:  GREAT AQUATIC COURSE PLANNED FOR NEW YORK -- Land-Locked Waterway To Be Located in Pelham Bay Park -- EXPENSE TO CITY WILL BE SMALL -- University Rowing Club Project Has Been Revived -- Would Rival Leander, N.Y. Tribune, Jul. 18, 1915, p. 6, col. 1.

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Automobile Club "Run" from the Hunter Island Inn on the Pelham Manor Border in 1901

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In the autumn of 1901, the Runs and Tours Committee of the Automobile Club of America had a problem.  Each year the committee sponsored "fall runs" during which club members climbed into their electric-, steam-, and gasoline-powered automobiles for "runs" to distant suburban destinations.

The problem was that club members really treated the excursions as "runs."  They raced as fast as their crude automotive equipment would allow along terrible country roads as they tried to be first to reach the designated suburban destination.  

It was time for a change.  It turns out that the Pelham Manor area and Pelham Bay Park played a role in that change.  

In October, 1901, the chairman of the Runs and Tours Committee, Mr. Dave Hennen Morris, decided to change the format of the the Club's "fall run" completely.  On October 8, 1901, Morris announced that the first fall run of 1901 would be held on Saturday, October 12 and would involve having club members meet at a designated suburban location at their leisure for a dinner that would begin at 6:00 p.m.  After dinner, according to the announcement, the participating automobiles would line up behind a pace car driven by Albert R. Shattuck, President of the Club, who would lead the line of vehicles back to the Club's clubhouse in New York City at a "moderate" pace.

Dave Hennen Morris chose one of the most beautiful suburban locations in the New York City region as the location for the rendezvous and dinner:  Hunter Island Inn on Shore Road adjacent to the Pelham Manor border (often referenced as "Hunter's Island Inn").  It could not have been a better choice.  I have written extensively about Hunter's Island Inn before.  See, e.g.:  Wed., Feb. 26, 2014:  Research Regarding "Greystones," The Elegant DeLancey Estate that Became Hunter Island Inn and Once Stood in Pelham on Today's Shore Road.

Undated Post Card View of Hunter Island Inn with Following

Notation: "HUNTER ISLAND INN, PELHAM BAY PARK, N.Y.C.

A.E. MACLEAN, PROP."  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

During the afternoon of Saturday, October 12, 1901, early automobiles of a number of makes began to chug up Shore Road and pull into the driveway of the beautiful Hunter Island Inn.  These were very early horseless carriages that, with a couple of notable exceptions, bore little resemblance to the modern automobile that evolved during the remainder of the 20th century.  A number used a system of levers and handles for steering and braking.  Most were electric, although there was a steam machine and a monster with a "40 horsepower" gasoline engine.

The makes of the automobiles represented a cross-section of those available in the region in that day.  There were four Wintons, two De Dions, a Panhard, a Desheron, a Reading, and even an "Orient Tricycle."  

Orient Tricycle, Manufactured by Waltham Manufacturing

Company from 1899 to About 1901.  This Image Shows the

Vehicle with a Tandem-Trailer Attached, Although There is

No Indication the One that Visited Hunter Island Inn in 1901

Had Such a Trailer.  Source:  "Orient Tricycle" in Wikipedia --

The Free Encyclopedia (visited Aug. 27, 2017).  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Post Card View of 1901 Panhard & Levassor Automobile.

Although it is Not known Exactly What Model of Panhard

Was Driven to Hunter Island Inn on October 12, 1901, This

Was One of the Company's More Elegant Models.  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

1901 Advertisement Showing Country Touring Vehicle Manufactured

by The Winton Motor Carriage Co. of Cleveland, Ohio.  This Likely

Shows a Model Similar to One or More of the Four Wintons That Drove

to Hunter Island Inn.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

The ten automobiles carried a total of about twenty club members, apparently all men.  At 6:00 p.m. the automobilists gathered in the dining room of Hunter Island Inn for a lovely meal in the famous Pelham Bay roadhouse across Shore Road from Hunter's Island in Long Island Sound.  

At the close of the meal, cigars were distributed and the men had a chat before officially beginning their "run" to the clubhouse in Manhattan.  At about 8:45 p.m., the gathering ended and the score of automobilists climbed into their respective vehicles and lined up behind President Albert R. Shattuck in his elegant Panhard and left for the clubhouse at Fifth Avenue and East 59th Street at a "moderate" pace.  

The line of vehicles proceeded down today's Shore Road, across Pelham Bridge, along Pelham Parkway to Fordham, then via Jerome Avenue, Central Bridge, Seventh Avenue and, finally, across to Fifth Avenue where the run ended at the clubhouse at East 59th street at about 9:45 p.m.  The one hour drive covered fifteen miles.  

Pelham, in 1901, already was becoming a beautiful destination for automobilists in the New York region.

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Below is the text of a number of news articles that form the basis of today's Historic Pelham article.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.  

"FIRST AUTOMOBILE RUN.
-----
New System To Be Put Into Practice at Initial Fall Outing.

Mr. Dave Hennen Morris, chairman of the Runs and Tours Committee of the Automobile Club of America, announced yesterday that the first fall run of the club will take place on Saturday.  Upon that occasion a new system of club outings will be put into practice.  

The run, in place of being from the club house to a suburban destination, will be from a suburban rendezvous back to the city.  Hunter's Island Inn will be the rendezvous, and the meet will be there at six o'clock in the evening.  Members will eat supper before the start for New York, and the run back to the club house will be paced by a member of Mr. Morris' committee.

One of the objects of this system is to obviate excessive speeding on club runs, members being more likely to follow a moderate pace on a return trip to the city in the evening than on an outward trip earlier in the day.  Participants may go to the rendezvous by any route or in any manner they see fit.

Hunter's Island Inn is situated on Pelham Parkway [today's Shore Road], near Traver's Island, and is about fifteen miles distant from Fifty-ninth street and Fifth avenue.  The return route will be via Pelham parkway, Jerome avenue, Central Bridge and Seventh and Fifth avenues.  A large attendance of members is expected on the run."

Source:  FIRST AUTOMOBILE RUN -- New System To Be Put Into Practice at Initial Fall Outing, N.Y. Herald, Oct. 9, 1901, p. 13, col. 6.  

"SPORTS AND SPORTSMEN
-----
PROGRAMME OF SPORTS TO-DAY. . . . 

AUTOMOBILE -- Run of Automobile Club of America, Hunter's Island Club of America, Hunter's Island Inn to clubhouse. . . ."

Source:  SPORTS AND SPORTSMEN -- PROGRAMME OF SPORTS TO-DAY,  N.Y. Tribune, Oct. 12, 1901, p. 5, col. 1.  

"AUTOMOBILES IN CLUB RUN.
-----
First Organized Outing of Fall Season Held Under Auspicious Conditions.

Under auspicious conditions the first fall run of the Automobile Club of America was held last evening.  The usual order of things was reversed, and the run, instead of being away from the city, was to the city, with the starting point at Hunter's Island Inn.

More than a score of members of the club met at the latter point at six o'clock in the evening and sat down to supper together.  After a chat over the cigars the run was begun, at a quarter of nine o'clock.

Those who formed in line were Mr. A. R. Shattuck, president of the club (Panhard), who had with him Messrs. W. E. Scarritt, Homer W. Hedge and E. M. Butler; Mr. A. C. Bostwick, first vice president (Winton), with whom were Messrs. J. Dunbar Wright and B. B. McGregor; Dr. E. C. Chamberlin (De Dion), Mr. Richard Esterbrook (Winton) and Mr. C. W. Frazer, Mr. B. C. Barry (De Dion) and Messrs. W. Hazeltine and W. D. Gash, Mr. Paul H. Deming (White) and E. M. Young, Percy Owen (Winton), E. T. Birdsall (Desheron), Leon Schermerhorn (Reading) and A. Schwarzenbach, William A. Hall (Winton) and C. A. Persons (Orient tricycle).

The route in was via Pelham Parkway [today's Shore Road] to Fordham, thence via Jerome avenue, Central Bridge and Seventh and Fifth avenues to the club house, at Fifth avenue and Fifty-ninth street.  The pace was made by Mr. Shattuck's Panhard and the run of fifteen miles was made in one hour, the club house being reached at a quarter of ten o'clock."

Source:  AUTOMOBILES IN CLUB RUN -- First Organized Outing of Fall Season Held Under Auspicious Conditions, N.Y. Herald, Oct. 13, 1901, p. 7, col. 1.

"Automobile Club Run.

The first run of the season by members of the Automobile Club of America was held yesterday.  It was purely an informal affair, and instead of the participants meeting at a given place and starting off at the same time, a change in method was adopted.  The members met at Hunters' Island at any time in the afternoon they chose and after dining there in the evening came back to the city together.  President Albert R. Shattuck paced the run coming home.  The vehicles left Hunters' Island a few minutes before 9 o'clock and the distance to the club house at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-eighth Street, about fifteen miles, was made in one hour.  Among the members who took part in the run were President Shattuck with W. E. Scarritt, Homer W. Hedge and Secretary S. M. Butler, Albert C. Bostwick, in his forty-horse power gasoline, with J. Dunbar Wright and Bradford McGregor; Percy Owen, Dr. E. C. Chamberlin, Richard Esterbrook, Leon Schermerhorn, Arthur Schwarzenbach, William Hazeltine, B. C. Barry, W. G. Gash, E. T. Birdsell, C. A. Persons, William A. Hak, and Paul H. Demong.  A number of similar runs of an informal nature will be held during the next two months."

Source:  Automobile Club Run, N. Y. Times, Oct. 13, 1901, p. 10, cols. 6-7 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

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I have written before about the early days of automobiles in Pelham.  For a few examples, see:

Fri., Apr. 21, 2017:  The Great "Two-Gallon Efficiency" Run of 1906 Through Pelham for Early Automobiles.

Mon., Mar. 06, 2017:  "Fool Automobiling" in Pelham in 1906.

Mon., Dec. 12, 2016:  One of the Earliest Illegal Motorcar Races Tore Through Pelham in 1905.

Thu., Dec. 01, 2016:  Pelham Manor Sided With the Anti-Automobilists in 1902.

Wed., Nov. 09, 2016:  Who Drove the First Automobile in Pelham?

Thu., Nov. 05, 2015:  The Earliest Days of the Automobile in Pelham.

Thu., Jan. 07, 2010:  Pelham Manor Police Establish Speed Traps on Shore Road in 1910 to Catch Those Traveling Faster than Fifteen Miles Per Hour.

Mon., Jul. 20, 2009:  Early Automobile Accident and Explosion on Shore Road Near Travers Island in 1902.

Wed., Jan. 21, 2009:  "Fool Driving" in Pelham in the New-Fangled Automobile in 1906.

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Mysterious Rock Construction on Two Trees Island Off the Shores of Pelham

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Two Trees Island was made famous, in effect, by local historian Theodore L. ("Ted") Kazimiroff in a pair of books he published entitled:  The Last Algonquin (1982) and If These Trees Could Only Talk (2014).  In these books Kazimiroff told the story of Joe Two Trees and his ancestors, Native Americans who once lived in the region of Hunter's Island and roamed the area from the Harlem River to today's Pelham Bay Park and beyond.  

In The Last Algonquin, Ted Kazimiroff tells the story of how his father (Dr. Theodore Kazimiroff, former Bronx Historian) was befriended as a young Boy Scout in the early 1920s by an elderly Algonquin who continued to live a simple Native American life while essentially hiding in a vine-covered campsite in the Hunter's Island region of today's Pelham Bay Park.  Joe Two Trees, according to the tale, was born in the area more than eighty years before and, in his final months, befriended the young boy and taught him much about Native American ways.  Then, as Joe Two Trees neared death in his Native American shelter in the early 1920s, he asked the young boy to listen to his life story and to keep his deeds alive by retelling that story as a way to keep his spirit alive.  

When the young boy grew into a man and had his own son (whom he named Theodore L. "Ted" Kazimiroff), he told his young son the story of Joe Two Trees and stories of the ancestors of Joe Two Trees.  Ted Kazimiroff later decided to help keep the spirit of Joe Two Trees alive by writing his two books (which I recommend highly as both informative and entertaining reading of interest to those wanting to learn more about the histories of the Town of Pelham, Pelham Bay Park, Hunter's Island, and the Northeast Bronx).  

Joe Two Trees was so-named by his mother, Small Doe.  She named him after a tiny island off the shores of Pelham with two trees on it at the time.  Two Trees Island stood only a few feet north of East Twin Island, once one of a pair of islands known as "the Twins" (West Twin Island and East Twin Island).  The Twins, in turn, were a pair of islands immediately east of Hunter's Island.  Eventually a small stone causeway was built to connect Hunter's Island to West Twin Island.  

During the 1930s, Robert Moses led a project that used landfill to create Orchard Beach and the Orchard Beach Parking Lot which attached Hunter's Island to the mainland.  Then, in 1947, an expansion of Orchard Beach joined the Twins to the mainland as well.  

Even today it is possible to get to Two Trees Island at low tide simply by walking across to it from East Twin Island via a mudflat that connects the two.  One author recently wrote:

"[Y]ou can continue to the northern end of Twin Island and cross over at low tide to Two Trees Island.  This charming small island is great for exploring with children.  (It is, however, common to find a man or two sunning themselves on rocks in extremely skimpy bathing suits.)  Litter can sometimes be a problem, but don't let that stop you from combing the area for arrowheads left by Native Americans and artifacts from early European settlers, which are still occasionally found.  The mudflat between Twin and Two Trees Island is also a great spot for finding fiddler crabs and tasty glasswort (a sea-side herb) and beautiful sea lavender in spring and summer."

Source:  Seitz, Sharon & Miller, Stuart, The Other Islands of New York City:  A History and Guide, p. 135 (3rd Edition - Woodstock, VT:  The Countryman Press, 2011)

Immediately below is a satellite image showing the area today and indicating the location of Two Trees Island.  

2017 Google Maps Satellite Image of Orchard Beach Area.  Two Trees

Island is in the Upper Right Corner with a Portion of Hunter's Island Visible

on the Left, a Portion of the Orchard Beach Parking Lot Visible on the

Lower Left, and a Portion of Orchard Beach at the Bottom.  NOTE:  Click

on Image to Enlarge.

The detail below from a map published in 1905 shows the area that includes Hunter's Island, the Twins, Two Trees Island, and other rock outcroppings and islands in the area before Hunter's Island, the Twins, and Two Trees Island were attached to the mainland.

Detail from 1905 Map of Pelham Bay Park Showing the Twins, at Bottom,

and Two Trees Island Slightly to the Right of East Twin Island.  Source:

Office of the President of the Borough of the Bronx Topographical

Bureau, Topographical Survey Sheets of the Borough of the Bronx

Easterly of the Bronx River, Sheet 29 "Map of OPelham Bay Park City of

New York Forming Sheet 29 of the Topographical Atlas of the Territory East

of the Bronx River" (1905) (Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division,

The New York Public Library).  NOTE: Click Image to Enlarge.

Immediately below is a photograph of Two Trees Island taken several years ago, followed by attribution.

Photograph of Two Trees Island by Matthew Houskeeper Taken on

November 30, 2010.  Used With Magnanimous Permission.  Please

Visit His Important and Informative Blog Soundbounder Located at

http://soundbounder.blogspot.com.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Immediately below is an image of a 19th century painting by Frederick Rondel believed to depict a portion of Two Trees Island with David's Island in the distance behind the sailboat.

"Pine Island, New York" by Frederick Rondel (1826-1892).

Oil on Board (8.1" x 10.2"), Thought to Depict Two Trees

Island.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Two Trees Island is located adjacent to (and some sources state within) the "Hunter Island Marine Zoology and Geology Sanctuary" located north of Orchard Beach.  See Day, Leslie, Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City, p. 31 (Baltimore, MD:  The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007) (In Association with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation).   

A most intriguing and unusual feature may be found on Two Trees Island.  There is a rocky campsite where a rock outcropping likely has been used as a shelter.  Ted Kazimiroff has identified this site as the very campsite used by Joe Two Trees before his death in the early 1920s.  See Kazimiroff, Theodore L., If These Trees Could Only Talk -- An Anecdotal History of New York City's Pelham Bay Park, p. ii (Outskirts Press, Inc., Copyright 2014 by Theodore L. Kazimiroff).  Ted Kazimiroff includes a photograph on page ii of his book showing himself standing in front of the shelter with the following caption:  "Ted Kazimiroff, author, in the old campsite.  This is where many generations of immigrants to America both Indian and Europeans sought shelter from the elements over thousands of years."

Photograph of  Shelter on Two Trees Island by Matthew Houskeeper Taken

on November 30, 2010.  Used With Magnanimous Permission.  Please

Visit His Important and Informative Blog Soundbounder Located at

http://soundbounder.blogspot.com.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Who built the shelter marked by the flat rocks laid along a sheltering rock outcropping on Two Trees Island?  The short answer seems to be:  no one knows.  Even if Joe Two Trees used the location as a campsite, it does not, of course, mean that the flat rocks laid along the outcropping were his or that they even were laid before (or after) he used the site.  Indeed, it is possible to wander the entire areas of Two Trees Island, West Twin Island, and East Twin Island and see rock stairs and even the remnants of sheltered locations such as this one that were built by campers, members of local summer colonies, members of the so-called "Twin Island Cabana Club," and many others who frequented this area throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.  

It is, for example, well known that members of what once was known as the "Twin Island Cabana Club" built a dozen or more "rock shelters"  fashioned by stacking heavy stones to create a shelter from wind and inclement weather on the Twin Islands and, in this case perhaps, on Two Trees Island as well.  Similar rock shelters, stone fireplaces, and the like were built on Hunter's Island as well and were used regularly at least from the 1920s through the 1970s.  In fact, in a written survey regarding Hunter's Island and its resources prepared in 1974, the author noted the existence of such rock shelters, saying:

"Hunter's Island doesn't have sand covered bathing beaches and access is by foot.  However, there is a group of visitors, that because of their unique style and use of the Island, who must enter into this discussion of the area.  They are a close knit group of friends and acquaintances, predominantly of Russian and German origin, who visit the place practically every day throughout the entire year. These visits have taken place for the past fifty years.  Individually they make their way to the park and meet at certain established places, where they will spend the day enjoying each other's company and cooking their communal meals.  They have built stone fire places, picnic tables and shelters for protection against inclement weather.  The interior of Hunter's Island is almost completely free of litter since these people, voluntarily, take the responsibility for the cleaning and maintenance of the area.  The boardwalk that extends to one of the knolls described before, was built entirely by these groups.  They have a tie with Hunter's Island, one built on time and respect."  

Source:  Geraci, Robert, Hunter's Island Existing Resources and Potential Uses Preliminary Survey, p. 6 (mss; June 1974) (thanks to Jorge Santiago of the East Bronx History Forum for bringing this reference to my attention).  

In short, we may never know who constructed the sheltered area on Two Trees Island depicted above.  Yet, the name of the island, the existence of the sheltered area, and the two wonderful books by Ted Kazimiroff have kept the spirit of Joe Two Trees alive -- and that seems far more important.  

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