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.

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"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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More on Jack's Rock, Formerly Known as Van Cott's Grove, a Popular 19th Century Excursion Destination in Pelham

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During the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century before Robert Moses filled in much of Pelham Bay and created Orchard Beach, bathers and day excursionists thronged the shores of Pelham Bay and that portion of the Bay some called "Le Roy Bay" on warm days.  There were a host of lovely places to enjoy the waters of the Bay and the views toward City Island and Hunter's Island.  None, perhaps, were as lovely as the place known as "Jack's Rock."  

I have written about Jack's Rock before.  The area was known for many years as "Van Cott's Grove" and was a famed picnic area and swimming site in the Town of Pelham.  See Fri., Dec. 26, 2014:  Van Cott's Grove: Once a Famed Picnic Destination in 19th Century Pelham.  

Jack's Rock was a rocky promontory that extended into Pelham Bay and ended with a giant boulder adjacent to comparatively deep water.  It was a favorite destination of bathers and day excursionists.  Jack's Rock clearly was a special place with gorgeous views of Hunter's Island and City Island.  See IT'S A GREAT COLOR SHOW -- The Autumn Spectacle of the Parks Beyond the Harlem, The Sun [NY, NY], Oct. 27, 1895, p. 6, col. 2 ("Hunter's Island, as seen from Jack's Rock, is as a perpetual sunset.").  Indeed, Jack's Rock was so notable that a successful local artist named William Sylvester Budworth (1861-1938) of Mount Vernon, New York painted a watercolor entitled "Jack's Rock" and exhibited it in 1895.  See ARTIST BUDWORTH'S WATER COLOR EXHIBITION -- A Display of Special Merit, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Dec. 7, 1895, Vol. XV, No. 1125, p. 3, col. 3.  The whereabouts of the Budworth painting are unknown.

Precisely where is Jack's Rock?  I still have not been able to answer that question with precision.  Analysis suggests that it may have been adjacent to the old Rapelje Estate on Pelham Neck.  Catherine Scott concluded in a story published in The Island Current published on City Island in 1990 that "The Rapelje estate was located close to Jack's Rock, a waterfront boulder buried by landfill when the Orchard Beach parking lot was created." (Emphasis added.)   Jack's Rock clearly extended into the bay.  A review of period maps, however, has not revealed the precise location of Jack's Rock.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog offers a rare treat regarding Jack's Rock.  An engraving included among images on a newspaper page published in 1907 may offer the only known image of Jack's Rock.  (See below.)  Thus, today's posting includes not only that image, but also additional information about Jack's Rock.

On March 15, 1905, the Stuyvesant Yacht Club leased property located at Jack's Rock and operated it as its headquarters for nearly the next thirty years until the creation of Orchard Beach filled in a portion of Pelham Bay.  See The City of New York Department of Parks Annual Report 1914, p. 168 (NY, NY:  City of New York Department of Parks, 1915) (indicating lease began on March 15, 1905); Ultan, Lloyd & Olson, Shelley, The Bronx:  The Ultimate Guide to New York City's Beautiful Borough, p. 107 (Rutgers University Press, 2015) (noting the club had to move to new quarters in 1934 when a portion of the bay was filled to create Orchard Beach).

Additionally, Jack's Rock was such a popular bathing spot that it was included among the locations along Pelham Bay and City Island with a designated lifeguard station for many years.  The area was within District No. 2 of The United States Volunteer Life Saving Corps in the early 20th Century.  According to one report, District No. 2 was: 

"one of the best organized districts in the Greater City [of New York] due to the energy, interest and enthusiasm of Com. Augustus G. Miller through whose efforts, a complete organization has been effected, giving a total of ten stations and 2 sub-stations to the district, with a membership of approximately 400 men.  This district is one much frequented by yachtsmen, row boat parties, fishermen and bathers, needing constant supervision of the watchful eyes of the volunteers.  It takes in all of the waterfront from Fort Schuyler on the Sound to City Line, including Eastchester Bay, Pelham bay, the Hutchinson river, and many minor bays and coves.  The Throggs' Neck, Pelham Bay Park, Orchard Beach, and City Island sections are those most frequented by the public and were the scenes of a number of daring rescues."  

Source:  Annual Report of the United States Volunteer Life Saving Corps of the State of New York for the Year Ending October 31, 1907, p. 19 (Albany, NY:  J. B. Lyon Company, 1908).  

Among the many life-saving stations for which Commodore Miller was responsible in District No. 2 were two stations located at Jack's Rock.  Id. at 20.  A few of the many others were stations at Belden Point, the East Shore of City Island, Rodman's Neck, Orchard Beach, and Le Roy Bay.  Id.  

Clearly the area around Jack's Rock, once known as Van Cott's Grove, was long an important place.  Native American remains and artifacts have been found there.  As one report noted:

"Ancient encampments were plenty in what is now Pelham Bay Park, and shell heaps attesting the fact are scattered all along the shores.  One of these, near 'Jack's Rock' was explored for the Museum in 1899.  The shell heap itself yielded little, but the pits near by and on the adjoining knolls contained much of interest, including three skeletons and a quantity of pottery, together with many bone and stone implements.  These knolls are mentioned by R. P. Bolton in his 'History of Westchester County' as a burial place of the Siwanoy Indians -- one of the few cases in which 'Indian Cemeteries' have proven anything but the burial grounds of the early White settlers.  The collection found here is now at the Museum."

Source:  Harrington, M.R., "Ancient Shell Heaps Near New York City" in The Indians of Greater New York and the Lower Hudson edited by Clark Wissler - Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. III, pp. 167, 175 (NY, NY:  American Museum of Natural History, 1909).

Immediately below is the image of a newspaper page published in 1907.  The images on the page include one near the top with a sailboat adjacent to Jack's Rock.  This is the only image of Jack's Rock and the area around Van Cott's Grove that I have been able to locate so far.  The same page includes an image of The Marshall Mansion (later, the Colonial Inn) as well as other important images of the region.    

1907 Article that Includes a Rare Image of "Jack's Rock"

Near Top with Sailboat Nearby.  Source:  Where Nature Still

Holds Sway -- PICTURESQUE SHORES WITHIN THE CITY'S

LIMITS -- No. 1 Pelham Bay Park, N.Y. Herald Magazine Section,

Jul. 7, 1907, p. 8, cols. 1-3.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Detail from 1905 Map of Pelham Bay Park Showing Pelham Bay

Park Area Where Jack's Rock (Once Known as Van Cott's Grove)

Was Located.  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 Topographcial 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.

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Transcribed below is the text of a couple of additional sources that mention Jack's Rock.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"PELHAM BAY PARK.
-----
Pleasant Walks that May Be Taken There at This Time of the Year.

Nobody visits Pelham Bay Park these days, though to the man who loves to feel turf beneath his feet it is a pleasant place to walk at almost any time of year.  It is the only one of the city parks where one may take a really long walk without doubling on one's tracks.  It is larger than Central Park and Bronx River Park put together, and nearly double the area of Van Coutlandt Park, and it so lies that one has the choice of four fine walks, any one of which will occupy about two hours.  It is well to choose for a walk in Pelham Bay Park at this season the morning after a hard 'black' frost, when the roads and the spongy meadows of the park shall be frozen dry, and thus afford good footing.

The New Yorker who goes to Mt. Vernon by the New Haven Railroad will find before him a trolley ride of ten minutes to East Chester, and thence a walk of fifteen minutes by the old Boston Road to the entrance of the park.  The first turn to the east beyond East Chester bridge brings the park into view, and the visitor should lose no time in getting off the road and into the park.  The meadow here slopes through a cedar grove to the hard marsh on the left bank of East Chester Creek.  Because the soil is damp and spongy the slope of the meadow is green all winter long.  The sun falls pleasantly through the dense bower of the cedar grove and rests in broad floods upon the East Chester marsh.  The color of the marsh is the marvel of the early winter landscape in Pelham Bay Park.  Just now mmen are still reaping and stacking the long, dead marsh grass, and no words can quite convey the mellow richness of the smooth-shaven marsh meadows, or the soft golden brown of the stacked harvest.  The marsh spreads nearly a mile in width, and winds for fully two and a half miles with the winding of the stream.  A break in the cedar grove here and there reveals the full sweep of the march, the sun-burnished surface of the streamm, at high tide lyi9ng in broad, golden skeins, and beyond a horizon dense with wood and dim with frost.

The walk of half a mile through the sloping edow brings one to a neglected apple orchard, overgrown with goldenrod and briars, and that to a low, breezy meadow, treacherrous with wet hollows to careless feet, and a narrow, sluggish stream, but rich in color and good enough wlking for the really active pedestrian.  Less than half a mile of this brings one to the embankment of the New Haven Railroad's suburban branch.  Here the railroad crosses on an iron trestle one of the main roads through the park, and a little further on one must choose whether he will go north-ward to Hunter's Island or southward to Jack's Rock, City Island, Bartow Station, or the village of West Chester.  The walk to Hunter's Island is a full mile and a half by a well-made road, with the park on each side.  It gives one another inspiring view of the marshes, as well of the Sound, flecked at all times with moving craft fr and near.  The rocks at the Twin Island, reached by way of Hunter's Island, and still in the park, go sheer down to the water at some points, but afford an excellent promenade and sunny nooks where it is warm at noon of a winter's day, if the wind be not from the east.  The Sound, the Long Island shore, and the irregular coast of the park, lie in full view from this spot, and the outlook is scarce more beautiful in summer than in winter.

If the walker's choice at the forks of the road fall to the southward, he finds himself with Jack's Rock scarce a mile distant, and quaint little City Island a matter of perhaps two miles.  The scene from this island is repeated at Jack's Rock with variations, and few views are more delightful than that from Jack's Rock toward City Island, while the Sound is peopled with brilliant colored rocks, vitreous and reddish yellow with iron.  Southward again lies nearly two miles of the park bordered with a broad road that crosses the mouth of East Chester Creek at a point where the stream is about widening to a great bay.  The eastern horizon is forever ghastly with phantom sails that seem refined to gossamer and appear to follow one another in an orderly nautical procession.  Inland stretch broad marshes of the same delightfully mellow tint as before, and the uplands gird them round with a leaden horizon of forest tops soft with entangled frost.  Nearly everything in sight from the bridge is park land, a noble domain of marsh, meadow, inhabited upland dotted with fine old ansions, and glorious bits of timber.  Bartow Station and the New Haven's suburban line offer an easy way home from Jack's Rock or the East Chester Bridge, but there is a pleasant two-mile walk from the latter to the village of West Chester, with the broadest and richest marsh meadow view the whole way from the little bridge that leads into the village.  Thence one has the choice of the suburban road or the trolley homeward.

The good walker who hits upon just the right day for this expedition may well explore Hunter's Island and Jack's Rock and still have time for the walk to West Chester.  It is a comfortable trip of two and a half hours from the Mount Vernon station to Hunter's Island, though any rapid walker may do it in less than two hours.  Thence to Jacks Rock is about forty-five minutes, and thence to West Chester the better part of an hour.  There are houses of entertainment scattered along the way, and one may easily time his journey so as to have a comfortable nooning ten minutes from Jack's Rock.  In the course of the journey one comes upon a tempting old inn whose signboard proclaims the house to have been built in 1735."

Source:  PELHAM BAY PARK -- Pleasant Walks that May Be Taken There at This Time of the Year, The Sun [NY, NY], Dec. 26, 1894, p. 2, col. 2.    

"Stuyvesant Yacht Club, 10 Centre Street at the western edge of the street on the north side of the street two blocks west of City Island Avenue, is a private member-owned yacht club with a restaurant and bar open for lunch on Saturday and Sunday and for dinner on Wednesday and Friday.  Visits must be arranged in advance.  Dress is casual, but bathing suits and bare feet are not permitted and shirts are required. . . . The club was chartered in 1890 using the ferryboat named Gerard Stuyvesant as its clubhouse, beached along the East River at Port Morris on the southern coast of The Bronx.  Membership growth led the club to move to Jack's Rock on Pelham Bay in Pelham Bay Park, but a short time later, in 1934, it was compelled to move when the bay was filled in to create Orchard Beach.  The club then moved into a tent on what had been a coal yard at the end of Centre Street on City Island.  Members pitched in to build a permanent home with improvements over the years.  However, a fire in 1968 destroyed the clubhouse and the current one was erected on the site.  The club sponsors and participates in several maritime events and races.  Sailboats and motorboats fill the marina behind the club."

Source:  Ultan, Lloyd & Olson, Shelley, The Bronx:  The Ultimate Guide to New York City's Beautiful Borough, p. 107 (Rutgers University Press, 2015).  

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