What Two Pelham Residents are the Subject of Songs in the Broadway Musical Mega-Hit Hamilton?

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Those who follow the Historic Pelham Blog know that "Pelham Trivia" provides fun and fascinating insights into the history of our little Town.  Indeed, Historic Pelham has assembled a number of Pelham Trivia tests in the past few years.  See:

Thu., Nov. 06, 2014:  Historic Pelham Trivia Test -- One of the World's Most Difficult Exams! 

Wed., Jul. 22, 2015:  More Pelham Trivia.

Tue., May 30, 2017:  More Pelham Trivia!

Today's Pelham Trivia question seems to deserve an entire article!  The question:  what two Pelham residents are the subject of songs in the Broadway Musical mega-hit Hamilton An American Musical?  The answer:  Aaron Burr, featured in songs including "Aaron Burr, Sir" and Theodosia Burr, featured in the song "Dear Theodosia."  

Aaron Burr, who served as third Vice President of the United States during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson and fought the infamous duel with, and mortally wounded, Alexander Hamilton on July 11, 1804, spent time in Pelham.  He bought a farm there (including a home known as "The Shrubbery").  He promptly sold the farm and home to his step-son Augustine J. F. Prevost.  He married Theodosia Bartow Prevost, a widow born in the Manor of Pelham who was ten years his senior.  In fact, I have written extensively of Aaron Burr and his many ties to Pelham.  (See the extensive list of such articles at the end of today's posting.) 

Portrait of Aaron Burr, 1802, by John Vanderlyn.

Source:  Wikimedia Commons.

Hamilton An American Musical is a mega-hit Broadway musical based on the life of Alexander Hamilton with music, lyrics and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda.  The musical was inspired by the biography Alexander Hamilton by noted historian Ron Chernow published in 2004.  The musical received a record 16 Tony nominations in 2016 and won 11 including Best Musical.  The same year it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  Its music incorporates elements of rap, hip hop, rhythm and blues, pop, soul, and even traditional-style Broadway show tunes.  Two lovely songs from the musical are "Dear Theodosia" and "Aaron Burr, Sir" both about Pelham residents.

While one is tempted to assume merely from the title of the song "Dear Theodosia" that the subject of the song is Burr's beloved wife, Theodosia Bartow Prevost Burr, it is not.  The song is about Burr's beautiful and enigmatic daughter who was named after her mother.

In this song, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton sing about children they and their wives each had shortly after the Revolutionary War ended.  Burr sings of his beloved infant daughter, Theodosia, while Hamilton sings of his baby son, Philip.  The two men focus in the song on their realization that the new nation they just have formed holds endless promise for their offspring and all others like them if the founders continue to lay a strong enough foundation for the future of the infant nation.  The song also reaffirms uncanny similarities between the two men whose lives would intersect so tragically on July 11, 1804, noting that both were orphans, nation builders, Revolutionary War figures, new parents with all the fears and worries that entails, and men who promised to lay a "strong enough foundation" to ensure the success of the infant nation.  The lyrics of the song say:

[SUNG BY BURR] 

Dear Theodosia, what to say to you? 
You have my eyes. You have your mother’s name 

When you came into the world, you cried and it broke my heart 

I’m dedicating every day to you 
Domestic life was never quite my style 
When you smile, you knock me out, 
I fall apart 
And I thought I was so smart 

You will come of age with our young nation 
We’ll bleed and fight for you, 
we’ll make it right for you 
If we lay a strong enough foundation 
We’ll pass it on to you, we’ll give the world to you 
And you’ll blow us all away . . . 
Someday, someday 
Yeah, you’ll blow us all away 
Someday, someday 

[SUNG BY HAMILTON] 

Oh Philip, when you smile I am undone 
My son 
Look at my son. 
Pride is not the word I’m looking for 

There is so much more inside me now 
Oh Philip, you outshine the morning sun 
My son 
When you smile, I fall apart 
And I thought I was so smart 
My father wasn’t around

[SUNG BY BURR] 

My father wasn’t around 

[SUNG BY HAMILTON AND BURR] 

I swear that I’ll be around for you (I’ll be around for you) 

[SUNG BY HAMILTON] 

I’ll do whatever it takes 

[SUNG BY BURR] 

I’ll make a million mistakes 

[SUNG BY BURR AND HAMILTON] 

I’ll make the world safe and sound for you . . . 
. . . Will come of age with our young nation 
We’ll bleed and fight for you, we’ll make it right for you 

If we lay a strong enough foundation 
We’ll pass it on to you, 
we’ll give the world to you 
And you’ll blow us all away . . . 
Someday, someday 
Yeah, you’ll blow us all away 
Someday, someday

Cover Art from Original Broadway Cast Recording of

"Hamilton An American Musical".  NOTE:  Image is

Embedded from Another Location and May Not Display

if Original is Removed or Relocated by Copyright Owner.

Aaron Burr married the widow Theodosia Bartow Prevost on July 2, 1782.  About a year later the couple had a daughter whom they named Theodosia after her mother.  According to a number of authorities and evidence from the correspondence of Theodosia Bartow Prevost, Aaron Burr and his wife bought a farm on Split Rock Road, promptly sold it to a stepson, then spent many summers on the Pelham property with Burr's stepson and family.  Little Theodosia and her father cavorted and enjoyed the Pelham countryside.  As one brief biography states:

"His Estate 

On February 6, 1790, Aaron Burr bought an estate in Westchester. 

It comprised 155 acres of land lying near the Eastchester Creek and bound by property owned by the Pells. This, too, had been Pell property, for though Burr paid 800 pounds for it to Nicholas Wright of Pelham Manor and William Wright of Oyster Bay, it had been the estate of Joshua Pell and from him had descended to his son, Joshua, Jr. The first Joshua was the son of Thomas, third lord of the manor, and of his Indian wife, Anna, daughter of Wampage.) 

A month after Burr bought the property he turned it over to his step-son, Augustine James Frederick Prevost, 'in consideration of the love and affection which he (Burr) bears Augustine. . . ' And for the sum of ten shillings. This was on March 1, 1790. The property remained in the Prevost family until 1898, when on October 6, Adelaide S. Prevost, widow of George A., deeded it over to the Pelham Summer home for Children. 

Apples 

At the time of Burr's purchase a fine mansion, called 'The Shrubbery,' stood on the property. It was only about thirty years old then, having been built around 1760; its entrance stood just north of Split Rock. This was one of the best farms in the county, especially renowned for its apple orchard. During the Revolution, a few years previous, Colonel Leommi Baldwin, commanding one of the regiments which took part in the Battle of Pelham, noted the orchard. When the war was over, he obtained some of the trees, took them to his home at Woburn, Mass., where he was a noted horticulturist, and proceeded to develop the Baldwin apple. 

Colonel Burr's stepson -- of whom he was as fond as of his own children -- lived in 'The Shrubbery,' and here the Colonel, no longer a military figure but one of America's most famous lawyers, came with his wife for the Summers. He had become Attorney General; he was to become, in 1791, a United States Senator, after a bitter campaign, in which he defeated General Philip Schuyler, and added fuel to the fierce hatred smouldering between him and Alexander Hamilton, for Schuyler was Hamilton's father-in-law. Burr sat also in the New York Assembly. 

Church Has His Paper 

It is quite possible that it was during his visits to Augustine Prevost's home he appeared in legal cases in the old Eastchester church where there is still cherished a legal document signed with Burr's name. Burr lived at this time in Richmond Hill, the Greenwich Village estate then far out in the country but on property now bounded by King, Varick, Charleston and McDougal Streets. Little Theodosia Burr must have played, those Summers of long ago, on the lawns near Split Rock Road. (She was the only one of her father's four legitimate children to survive. Two boys were stillborn and a little sister, Sally, died in babyhood. Theodosia herself, the wife of John Alston, Governor of South Carolina, was lost at sea.)"

Source:  Cushman, Elizabeth, Aaron Burr, The Great Lover, Used Barge To Reach Only Woman He Ever Cared For, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Jul. 31, 1931, p. 12, cols. 1-3.

As one would expect, another important song in the musical is about Aaron Burr.  Entitled "Aaron Burr, Sir," it is sung, once again, principally by the actors portraying Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr although portions include other members of the company as well.  

The song depicts the first meeting between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr and their subsequent encounter with John Laurens, Hercules Mulligan and the Marquis de Lafayette at a local tavern in New York City.  These latter three, of course, became important players in the American Revolutionary War and grew close to Alexander Hamilton.  The song serves to introduce two young men raised as orphans with different backgrounds but similar aspirations.  It further establishes that although each is intensely competitive and ambitious, they have very different philosophies regarding how they will reach their own potential.  Moreover, the encounter with Laurens, Mulligan, and the Marquis de Lafayette seems to reinforce the notion that Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were competitors rather than friends from the outset and that Alexander Hamilton grew a circle of friends whom he liked better -- a circle that never included Burr.  The lyrics of the song say:

[SETTING:  1776 IN NEW YORK CITY]
[HAMILTON SINGS]

Pardon me, are you Aaron Burr, sir? 

[BURR SINGS]

That depends, who’s asking? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Oh, well sure, sir 
I’m Alexander Hamilton, 
I’m at your service, sir 
I have been looking for you 

[BURR SINGS]

I’m getting nervous 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Sir, I heard your name at Princeton 
I was seeking an accelerated course of study 
When I got sort of out of sorts with a buddy of yours 
I may have punched him it’s a blur, sir 
He handles the financials? 

[BURR SINGS] 

You punched the bursar? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Yes, I wanted to do what you did 
Graduate in two, then join the revolution.
He looked at me like I was stupid 
I’m not stupid 
So how’d you do it, 
how’d you graduate so fast? 

[BURR SINGS]

It was my parent's dying wish before they passed 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

You're an orphan?  Of course I’m an orphan 
God, I wish there was a war 
Then we could prove that we’re worth more 
than anyone bargained for 

[BURR SINGS]

Can I buy you a drink? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

That would be nice 

[BURR SINGS] 

While we’re talking, let me offer you some free advice 
Talk less 

[HAMILTON SINGS] 

What? 

[BURR SINGS]

Smile more 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Ha 

[BURR SINGS]

Don’t let them know what you're against or what you're for 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

You can't be serious 

[BURR SINGS]

You wanna get ahead? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

Yes 

[BURR SINGS]

Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Yo yo yo yo yo 
What time is it? 

[LAURENS, LAFAYETTE, AND MULLIGAN SING]

Show time! 

[BURR SINGS]

Like I said . . .  

[LAURENS SINGS]

Show time, show time Yo! 
I’m John Lauren's in the place to be! 
Two pints o’ Sam Adams, but I’m workin' on three, uh! 
Those redcoats don’t want it with me 
'Cause I will pop chick-a pop these cops till I’m free 

[LAFAYETTE SINGS]

Oui oui, mon ami, je m’appelle Lafayette!
The Lancelot of the revolutionary set! 
I came from afar just to say bonsoir!
Tell the king "casse-toi." 
Who’s the best? C’est moi 

[MULLIGAN SINGS]

Brrrah, brraaah!  I am Hercules Mulligan 
Up in it, lovin' it, yes I heard ya mother said 
Come again? 

[LAFAYETTE AND LAURENS SING]

Ay, lock up ya daughters and horses, of course 
It’s hard to have intercourse over four sets of corsets . . . 

[LAFAYETTE SINGS]

Wow!

[LAURENS SINGS]

No more sex, pour me another brew, son! 
Let’s raise a couple more . . . 

[LAURENS, LAFAYETTE, AND MULLIGAN SING]

To the revolution! 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Well, if it ain’t the prodigy of Princeton college! 

[MULLIGAN SINGS]

Aaron Burr! 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Give us a verse, drop some knowledge! 

[BURR SINGS]

Good luck with that, you’re takin' a stand 
You spit, I’m 'a sit.  We’ll see where we land 

[LAFAYETTE AND MULLIGAN SING]

Boo! 

[LAURENS SINGS]

Burr, the revolution’s imminent. 
What do you stall for? 

[HAMILTON SINGS]

If you stand for nothing, Burr, what’ll you fall for? 

[MULLIGAN, LAFAYETTE, AND LAURENS SING]

Ooh!
Who you? 
Ooh, who you? 
Oh, who are you? 
Ooh, who is this kid, what’s he gonna do?

"Aaron Burr, Sir" and "Dear Theodosia" are two Broadway musical numbers that provide important insights into the lives of two Pelhamites who enjoyed days in the Manor of Pelham nearly 230 years ago:  Aaron Burr and his beloved daughter Theodosia Burr.

*          *          *          *          *

I have written about Aaron Burr, Theodosia Bartow Prevost Burr, Augustine J. Frederick Prevost and the Burr home on Split Rock Road known as "The Shrubbery" on a number of occasions.  For examples of such earlier postings, see the following:

Wed., Feb. 10, 2016:  Slaves Likely Were Held, and Forced to Work, at the Shrubbery, Once Located Near Split Rock Road in Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 13, 2017:  The Prevost Mansion Known as The Shrubbery, Once Owned by Aaron Burr, Burned December 31, 1880.

Thu., May 21, 2015:  Pelham Manor Romance:  A Tale of Aaron Burr and His Love, Theodosia Bartow Prevost of the Manor of Pelham.  

Thu., Apr. 23, 2015:  Augustine James Frederick Prevost of The Shrubbery in Pelham Manor.

Tue., Sep. 30, 2014:  Pelham Resident Recorded His Impressions of Meeting Aaron Burr.

Fri., Feb. 7, 2014:  Early History of The Pelham Home for Children, an Early Pelham Charity (Notes that The Pelham Home for Children first occupied the Shrubbery before the building burned in the 1890s).

Wed., Aug. 1, 2007:  1805 Real Estate Advertisement Offering Prevost Estate in Pelham for Sale.

Mon., Jun. 4, 2007:  Abstract of 1797 Will of John Bartow, Sr. Who Owned Land in Pelham and Whose Family Became Early Pelham Residents.

Wed., Jan. 31, 2007:  A Large Distillery Once Stood on the Prevost Farm in Pelham During the 1790s.

Tue., Jul. 18, 2006: Aaron Burr Tries to Pull a Fast One in the 1790s and Must Sell His Farm in Pelham.

Wed., Jun. 14, 2006: Text of Deed by Which Aaron Burr Acquired Pelham Lands in 1790

Thu., Apr. 14, 2005: The Pelham Home for Children that Once Stood on Split Rock Road

Mon., Oct. 2, 2006: The Revolutionary War Diary of Loyalist Joshua Pell, Jr. of the Manor of Pelham.

"The Shrubbery," a Home That Once Belonged to Aaron Burr

and, Later, His Stepson, Augustine James Frederick Prevost

and Stood Along Today's Split Rock Road in Pelham Manor.

Source:  Courtesy of The Office of The Historian of the Town of Pelham.

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Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.
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Tiny Pelhamwood Threatened to Secede from the Village of North Pelham in 1920

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.
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"We are willing to pay taxes for benefits received, but believe it

unfair to be taxed for upkeep of streets in other parts of the village

to the exclusion of our own.  What is the remedy?  The formation

of the village of Pelhamwood."

Resolution Adopted by the Pelhamwood Association at its

Annual Meeting Held in May, 1920.

Ten years!  Nothing had been done to repair the dirt roads that wound through the tiny little neighborhood of Pelhamwood for an entire decade after the roads were first graded as the neighborhood was developed in 1910.  Pelhamwood residents and members of the Pelhamwood Association were furious.  Yet, it was not the fault of the Village of North Pelham within which the neighborhood existed.  Nor was it the fault of the Town of Pelham.  How could that be?

The roads of Pelhamwood were privately owned by the development company that developed the residential area.  The roadways were deemed private "Parkways" -- much like certain roadways in Pelham Heights (including the Boulevard) when that region was developed during the late 1880s and early 1890s.  But, with development of that portion of "Pelhamwood" located within Pelham nearing completion (and the development of that part that stood within New Rochelle not fully begun), the development company made virtually no effort to maintain the dirt roads.

Postcard View of "THE CLOCK TOWER.  'PELHAMWOOD'" Showing

A Dirt Roadway Entrance to Pelhamwood in About 1910.  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Pelhamwood residents were angry because they paid the same property taxes as other residents of the Village of North Pelham, but their tax dollars were used to maintain and improve only those roadways outside the neighborhood of Pelhamwood.  Thus, the Pelhamwood Association was reduced to trying to maintain the roads on its own -- including the application of expensive oil to keep the dust down.  

By 1918, the situation had gotten so bad that the Pelhamwood Association, using dues paid by its members, hired Louis Civitello -- who eventually became a beloved local figure known as "Pelhamwood's Louie" -- to perform general handyman work and street repairs.  The organization issued Pelhamwood Louie a bright blue uniform with "dazzling brass buttons" and even used him as a "traffic officer" at the intersection of Highbrook and Washington Avenues.  Even the energetic Pelhamwood Louie, however, couldn't keep up with necessary road repairs in Pelhamwood.

By 1920, Pelhamwood residents were clamoring for the Village of North Pelham to take ownership of the local streets, retain them as "Parkways" (while banning truck traffic on them), oil and maintain them and, eventually, macadamize them.  Pelhamwood residents seethed because, despite their years of effort to achieve that objective, they believed the Village of North Pelham had done little to make it happen.  

At the regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of North Pelham on April 6, 1920, a large delegation of Pelhamwood residents attended.  Led by William M. Uhler, President of the Pelhamwood Association, the group formally requested the Village to take over Pelhamwood streets.  According to Uhler, the principal thing Pelhamwood wanted was to have the Village undertake the upkeep of the roads and continue to maintain them as Parkways while banning truck traffic.

The President of the Village of Pelham, Jim Reilly, pointed out that there were a number of difficult issues to be addressed.  First, a number of the streets that were part of the larger "Pelhamwood" development were within New Rochelle.  Moreover, the sewer lines beneath those streets flowed into a trunk sewer beneath Highbrook Avenue.  Thus, new connections to the sewer system along the comparatively undeveloped "Pelhamwood" streets in New Rochelle might lead to issues beneath the Pelhamwood streets in the Village of North Pelham, costing time, effort, and money to address.  Additionally, President Reilly cautioned that only $9,000 was appropriated for the entire year to maintain all the roadways in the Village of North Pelham.  It would cost $3,500 just to apply oil all the streets of Pelhamwood, leaving only $5,500 for the rest of the village streets.

Nevertheless, the Village Board that night instructed its Village counsel to "devise ways and means to 'take over the streets from the Pelhamwood company, the streets to remain parkways and the police to prevent heavy trucking.'"  When it came to any promise to macadamize the streets, however, the Board seemed to favor putting "the proposition up to the taxpayers and let them decide if they want all the streets paved or merely patched up."

During the ensuing weeks, the matter seemed to drag -- at least in the eyes of the residents of Pelhamwood.  Indeed, the residents became so frustrated that by mid-May, they were in open revolt threatening to secede from the Village of North Pelham by forming their own tiny village of 500 residents.  Thus, the Pelhamwood Association held a raucous annual meeting in Town Hall the week of May 10, 1920.  Following debate, the members of the Association passed the following resolution, quoted in full:

"The time for positive action on our part has arrived.  If the village of North Pelham does not wish to father us, let them so declare themselves and give us a chance to go it alone.  I am sure we are fully competent to do so.  It is true that in return for taxes we are given police service, garbage removal and street lighting.  We fully appreciate the fact that the abnormally high cost of labor at present precludes any great improvement in the condition of our streets.  But the control of the streets by the village will assure the enforcement of village regulations relative to the restoration of the streets after excavation for sewer, water and gas connections as well as the help of legal machinery to prohibit heavy trucking over our streets.  We are willing to pay taxes for benefits received, but believe it unfair to be taxed for upkeep of streets in other parts of the village to the exclusion of our own.  'What is the remedy?  The formation of the village of Pelhamwood.  We believe this can be accomplished by an act of the legislature.  The state of New York will certainly not permit any group of its citizens to pay taxes without any return.  One more village added to the present cluster should make no difference.  Perhaps the efforts of the Men's club committee on Greater Pelham may result in the amalgamation of all villages under one government, in which even we might be recognized in the general shake-up.  The unscrambling of this Pelham-omelet, however, may be long deferred and we suggest that a committee he appointed to consult a lawyer in reference to forming a village and that a proper amount of money be placed at the disposal of the committee to cover the expense of securing this advice.'"

The resolution seemed to have its intended effect.  At a Village Board meeting held on June 7, 1920, the Village Counsel announced that the officers of the development company that owned the private roadways in Pelhamwood had executed and delivered a form of dedication surrendering the easement to the streets of Pelhamwood in favor of the Village of North Pelham.  The dedication was read into the record and a motion to receive the streets as set forth in the dedication passed unanimously.  According to the local newspaper "Then occurred something which has seldom, if ever taken place at a village board meeting; the people present broke into hearty applause."

The union of Pelhamwood and the Village of North Pelham was saved.  There would be no secession.

*          *          *          *          *

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

"BUSY SESSION HELD BY THE PELHAM BOARD
-----

North Pelham, April 7. -- The full board was present including 'Our Mary' Dickenson, the new village treasurer, when President Reilly called it to order at 8:10 last night.  So great was the number of interested spectators that the village room was not big enough, so the meeting was held in the court room.  Clerk R. C. Smith read the minutes of the organization meeting and also a special meeting held March 31st, which were approved as read.  The latter meeting was for the purpose of meeting emergencies such as the payment of interest on bonds, paying the police and reappointing Lester Champion patrolman for another month pending the report from the civil service commissioner on his examination for that position.  A communication was received from John Matthew Tierney, stating that as he understood a vacancy existed in the North Pelham police department, he applied for the job.  He claimed nine months' experience.  He was placed on one month's probation beginning April 15th.  Communication was received from Fred L. Merritt of the county board of supervisors, asking for the names and addresses of the village board of assessors.  The clerk was directed to send the names and addresses of the president and trustees.  George B. Gibbons and J. B. Thill sent letters asking that they be notified at any time a bond issue was contemplated.  

A large delegation from Pelhamwood was present and asked that the streets of that section be taken over by the village.  President Reilly asked the committee just what it expected the board to do.  Mr. Uhler stated that the principal thing was the upkeep of the roads and maintaining them as parkways.  Mr. Reilly asked if the committee had taken into consideration that some of these streets are in New Rochelle and the sewer in those streets flowed into the trunk sewer, in Highbrook avenue.  The committee admitted this and stated that plans had been made to limit the number of new connections with this sewer.  Mr. Reilly replied:  'You see there is only $9,000 appropriated in this year's budget for a street fund which is insufficient.  It will cost $3,500 for oil alone and that will leave only $5,500 for all the rest of the village streets.'  Mr. Voight then stated that the old board had promised to spend $2,000 on the Pelhamwood streets this year.  It was finally agreed to turn the matter over to the village counsel with a request that he devise ways and means to 'take over the streets from the Pelhawood company, the streets to remain parkways and the police to prevent heavy trucking.  Alderman Connacher stated that the village engineer in 1913 prepared an estimate of the amount [required] to macadamize all the streets in the village including curbing and the amount did not exceed $71,838.  He stated that during the last 10 or 12 years between $90,000 and $100,000 had been spent on the streets and 'we still have mostly dirt roads.'  He said he preferred to put the proposition up to the taxpayers and let them decide if they want all the streets paved or merely patched up.

Mrs. Kingsland, who owns the old Costello property, appeared before the board to find out the true dimensions of her property which is situated on the west side of Fifth avenue between Fourth and Sixth streets.  The deed calls for 107 feet while the mortgage claims 114 feet.  It appears the two surveyors employed had made surveys from their private starting points which were at opposite ends of the village.  This matter was laid over.

Mr. Kendall, representing the New Rochelle water company, appeared to request permission to lay a 16-inch water main from Mayflower avenue along the west side of Fifth avenue, under the sidewalk, to Sixth street.  This would give the village greater water pressure.  The request was granted on condition that a contract be drawn up by village counsel guaranteeing that the work be completed in three weeks, the village to be relieved of all responsibilities from accidents and other causes relating thereto, and that the street and sidewalks be left in as good condition as found.  The proposed main is about 1200 feet long.

Nick De Feo appeared praying for relief from the present flooded condition of Eighth avenue and Sixth street.  The question was discussed at length and finally referred to counsel to determine if the village can legally acquire property for the purpose of opening a road.  It seems a colored woman, Nellie Russel, owns a piece of property which blocks the north end of Eighth avenue and prevents a curb and gutter being laid.  She wants $2,000 for it and the board believes the price rather high.

The 'cold storage' box was then opened and a number of bills taken out.  Thomas Stewart's for $6 automobile hire was laid on the table as it was presented in January and the present board wanted to find out what was wrong with it that the old board had not paid it.  Henry I. Rurert's bill for counsel fees $200 was also laid over for the same reason; Edward F. Campbell's bill as village engineer to the old board, for making report and map on the sewer area on New Rochelle where it affects this village.  It was gently laid on the table; C. Tamke, taxi hire for last October in the Miller case was laid over; Westchester Lighting company, $360.42 was ordered paid as was also the New York Telephone company bills for $3.75 and $3.45.  Two more telephone bills for $4.20 and $.40 were ordered paid although the company will be asked what the forty cent bill is for.  A bill from the Pelham Sun for $60 was laid over for investigation and Mr. Reilly explained he had received another one from the same firm for $124 and some cents but had forgotten to bring it along.  Williamson Law Book Co. $18 ordered paid as were the election officers, Thomas Carson, Grace Amundsen, Ezra Daggett, Daniel J. Kennedy, $8 each; Melville J. Wheeler as inspector, including expenses was $8.32 which was ordered paid.  Albert Laiser who pleaded guilty to making the bluebird emblem for the Citizen's ticket sent in his bill for $5.20 which was ordered paid.  William J. Griffith's bill for bonding the tax collector and treasurer $27, paid; Clerk Smith's bill for books and supplies $34.06 paid; all the bills for the street department help, $75, $22, $33, and $7 were paid.  John Carmarano presented a bill for $220.83 for the ashes and garbage removal contract; it was ordered paid if found correct, the contract to be looked over.  A bill for rent from the Town of Pelham was laid over; Polhemus Printing company printing election cards, $8, paid; the bill of Dr. McGuire for $42 for services as health officer was ordered paid; Westchester Lighting company, $372.50, tabled; ex-Clerk Wheeler, salary and postage, $34.92, paid.

Harry A. Anderson appeared to ask for a compromise on the Marvel property taxes; denied.  John T. Logan was reappointed registrar of vital statistics.  The village clerk was directed to notify Edward F. Campbell, the former village engineer, to turn over to the village all maps, papers, profiles, etc. in his possession belonging to the village.  President Reilly called attention of the board to the condition of the burned flat at Sixty street.  The village counsel directed to see what could be done to abate the nuisance.  The night of the regular meeting conflicting with the board of fire commissioners' meeting and the village counsel being a member of the fire board, the village meeting will be held hereafter the first Wednesday in each month.  The assessors will start work next Thursday and continue until finished.  Mary A. Dickenson, the village treasurer asked for a new treasurer's book and stationery.  Owing to the frail condition of the general fund, $2,000 was ordered transferred from the contingent fund to the general fund.  The meeting then adjourned."

Source:  BUSY SESSION HELD BY THE PELHAM BOARD, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Apr. 7, 1920, No. 9254, p. 12, cols. 3-5.  

"Pelhamwood Talks of Breaking Away From Village of North Pelham
-----

North Pelham, May 19.  --  The board of trustees of the village of North Pelham will hold a special meeting tonight at which many important matters will be discussed.  The Pelhamwood section has threatened to break away and incorporate as a separate village, unless certain conditions are complied with.  Pelhamwood wants North Pelham to take over the streets of that section but the presence of a swerage [sic] system which includes a part of New Rochelle has held up this action for several years.  The board has spent considerable time trying to devise ways and means to acquire the streets without incurring any liability to the town or other two villages for this outside sewerage which must pass through the pipes of the other two municipalities.  The New Rochelle section of Pelhamwood has not as yet reached the stage of development that the North Pelham part has, and the board fears that when this section is built up and houses connected it may be necessary to lay larger mains to carry off the additional flow.  The disposal plant is now taxed to capacity and increased matter to be treated will require expensive additions to the works.  

There is nothing to stop the section from forming a separate village.  The village of Pelham was incorporated in 1896 with a population of less than one hundred.  Pelhamwood has over 500 population today and is expanding rapidly, but the cutting off of this part of the village with an assessed valuation of almost half the entire village, is viewed with alarm by taxpayers.  Coming at a time when the people are complaining that there are too many officials in the town and that the work is being duplicated as a result, they seem amused at the thought of another board being created.  

Pelhamwood is exclusively residential.  There is another tract almost as large lying north of Fourth street [i.e., today's Lincoln Avenue] belonging to this corporation which is as yet undeveloped and may be included in the new village.  If the cutting up of this starts this year, Pelhamwood will have more than 1,000 people within five years.  The resolution adopted by the Pelhamwood association at its annual meeting  held at the town hall last week is as follows:

'The time for positive action on our part has arrived.  If the village of North Pelham does not wish to father us, let them so declare themselves and give us a chance to go it alone.  I am sure we are fully competent to do so.  It is true that in return for taxes we are given police service, garbage removal and street lighting.  We fully appreciate the fact that the abnormally high cost of labor at present precludes any great improvement in the condition of our streets.  But the control of the streets by the village will assure the enforcement of village regulations relative to the restoration of the streets after excavation for sewer, water and gas connections as well as the help of legal machinery to prohibit heavy trucking over our streets.  We are willing to pay taxes for benefits received, but believe it unfair to be taxed for upkeep of streets in other parts of the village to the exclusion of our own.

'What is the remedy?  The formation of the village of Pelhamwood.  We believe this can be accomplished by an act of the legislature.  The state of New York will certainly not permit any group of its citizens to pay taxes without any return.  One more village added to the present cluster should make no difference.  Perhaps the efforts of the Men's club committee on Greater Pelham may result in the amalgamation of all villages under one government, in which even we might be recognized in the general shake-up.  The unscrambling of this Pelham-omelet, however, may be long deferred and we suggest that a committee he appointed to consult a lawyer in reference to forming a village and that a proper amount of money be placed at the disposal of the committee to cover the expense of securing this advice.'"

Source:  Pelhamwood Talks of Breaking Away From Village of North Pelham, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], No. 9290, May 19, 1920, p. 10, col. 4.  

"Pelhamwood Streets Are Taken Over By the Village

North Pelham, June 8.  --  The board of trustees met at the board rooms in the town hall last night to act on the dedication of the streets of Pelhamwood.  Every member was present when President Reilly called the meeting to order at 8:35.  A large delegation from Pelhamwood, many of them women, were present and Mr. Reilly officially welcomed them.  Counsel Lambert read the form of dedication which surrendered the easement to the streets to the village and informed the board that it had been signed by the officers of the Pelhamwood company.  Mr. Reilly asked that the agreement be read; this was done by the counsel.  The chair then asked if there was any discussion on the agreement either among the board or among the Pelhamwood delegation present.  There being no objection, Trustee Connacher moved that the streets be received as set forth in the dedication agreement, Trustee Krueger seconded the motion and it was carried unanimously.  Then occurred something which has seldom, if ever taken place at a village board meeting; the people present broke into hearty applause.  Mr. Reilly then assured them that their wants would be taken care of, at which there was more applause.  President Uhler of the Pelhamwood association brought the old army cry of 'when do we eat?,' to mind when he said 'Now that you have the streets, what are you going to do to them?,' to which Mr. Reilly replied that they would be taken care of and the street commissioner who was present was instructed to go over them and see just what was needed.

Addressing the Pelhamwood association, Mr. Reilly said 'At present we must wait for crushed stone, as it would be useless to oil the streets now and then put stone on afterward.  The oil would only be wasted and oil for the streets now costs 10 cents a gallon.  We have only $9,000 in the budget for streets and this is intended to fix every street in the village.  Pelhamwood pays about 37 per cent of the taxes of the village and for the last ten years you had nothing done to your streets.  You are entitled to something and we believe you are going to get it.'  The question of preventing trucking on the parkways of the section brought the response that the village would draw up an ordinance prohibiting trucking on the parkways of the village and the police would be instructed to enforce it.  Village counsel was instructed to draw up an ordinance to that effect, and the village will erect signs at each entrance.  

Street Commissioner Smith was asked if it was possible to fix the street approaching the Pelhamwood station, which is now a 'rocky road to Dublin.'  Smith replied that the street in question was in the city of New Rochelle.  It then was explained that New Rochelle is about to take over the streets of Pelhamwood within the city limits and has already placed monuments there.  Another unusual scene was enacted when Mr. Uhler asked the village board to declare a recess for a few moments so the Pelhamwood association could hold a meeting.  This was granted and Mr. Uhler called the meeting to order and asked that a resolution of thanks be extended to President Reilly and the board of trustees of the village of North Pelham.  This was carried midst much applause.

President Reilly in the name of the board officially thanked them and again assured them that they would get all that is coming to them.  The Pelhamwood people then left and the board proceeded to business.  The next business was the proposed police booths.  President Reilly stated that he had received a bid, or rather an estimate from E. L. Lyon, he did not open it and asked the board whether they wished to award the bid at the meeting or ask for bids.  If the latter course was proposed, he would return the estimate to Mr. Lyon unopened; if, on the other hand, the board wished to erect the booths immediately, Mr. Lyon's estimate was there.  Trustee Harris stated that in his opinion the booths would cost close to $200 each, in which case it would be proper to award the contract by competition.  It was decided by the board to look at the estimate and the sealed envelope was handed to the clerk.  There was a series of long drawn breaths when the amounts were read.  For a booth 6 feet five inches by 6 feet six inches, 8 feet high, double floor, clapboard outside and ceiled inside, $296 each.  For booths same size, single floor, unceiled inside, $248 each.  The matter was laid over.  In the meantime the clerk was instructed to write to the Cheeseborough and Whitman for any catalogue they may have of police booths, etc.

Harry A. Anderson appeared before the board to defend his bill which had been laid over at last week's meeting.  It resulted in Mr. Reilly telling Mr. Anderson that he considered it an insult to himself and the board for Mr. Anderson to continue collecting taxes when he knew the administration which had appointed him, had gone out of business.  Mr. Anderson said he had never been notified to stop collecting, although he admitted that it might have been better had he consulted the board.  He disclaimed any intention at discourtesy toward the board.  The matter will come up at the next meeting.

Health Officer McGuire had not been notified to be present at this meeting so no action can be taken regarding the burned Sixth street flats.  A special meeting has been called for next Monday night at which this and other matters will be attended to.  The meeting then adjourned."

Source:  Pelhamwood Streets Are Taken Over By the Village, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], No. 9306, Jun. 8, 1920, p. 8, col. 5.  

"Pelhamwood's 'Louie' Completes 18th Year In Employ of Community Group
-----

Louis Civitello, 'Pelhamwood's Louis,' to young and old alike in North Pelham, observed an 'anniversary' on Wednesday.  As the street department of Pelhamwood, 'Louie' was just 18 years old, to use his own words.  It was on April 15, 1918, that William M. Uhler, then president of the Pelhamwood Association, hired 'Louie' as general man-of-all-work for the residential section covered by the association.  Since that time 'Louie' has become as indispensable to Pelhamwood as the 'Toonerville Trolley' is to Pelham Manor.

Ask the property owner who wants to dispose of some leaves.  Ask the mother sending her children off to school.  Ask the kids themselves among whose best friends the genial street man is numbered.  Ask the commuter who dashed out of the house in a rush for his train, forgetting to tell the lady of his household that the water was still running in the bathtub.  Ask the delivery boys who have packages to leave when no one's home.  Ask the officers of the Pelhamwood Association when they have notices to be distributed to every house in Pelhamwood.  Ask Santa Claus when his pack is too heavy on Christmas Eve.  Just ask them all, whom they can rely on and they'll all chorus, 'Louie.'

'Louie' was originally employed by the association, but for the last ten years the Village of North Pelham has paid one-half of his compensation.

His duties are principally street work, but at hours when children are going to and from school 'Louie' garbed in his coveted light blue uniform with the dazzling brass buttons acts as traffic officer at the intersection of Highbrook and Washington avenues.

'Louie' is a Pelhamwood feature, and has been for 18 years."

Source:  Pelhamwood's "Louie" Completes 18th Year In Employ of Community Group, The Pelham Sun, Vol. 27, No. 9, Apr. 17, 1936, p. 5, cols. 3-4.  

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The Ghost Ship Palantine and its Mad Dutch Woman Specter Continue to Haunt Waters Off Pelham

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All Hallows' Eve is upon us.  Today Historic Pelham presents the last in this annual series of Pelham ghost stories.  Today's is particularly horrific. . . .

The shrieks are undeniably horrifying.  They begin in the distance, difficult to hear over the rumbling surf crashing onto the shores of Pelham and Pelham Bay Park and pounding the rocks around Shore Park in Pelham Manor.  As the shrieks and screams intensify, usually there is a glow in the distance -- many say a greenish glow.  Those willing to remain at waters edge despite the unearthly shrieks and the terrifying, constantly-growing glow typically must strain to focus into the distance until, eventually, they can make out the profile of a large 18th century ship sailing on Long Island Sound enveloped in flames.  As the burning ship nears, the unearthly screams become louder until it is clear they are the demoniac screams of a mad woman in hellish agony.

Those who have seen the apparition report that the luminous, green, glowing ship is entirely afire, with flames even climbing the masts of the vessel.  In the midst of the flames can be seen the specter of a woman screaming and writhing in agony as the flames envelope her until the  burning deck seems to collapse beneath her and she disappears into the flames below, screaming preternaturally as she falls, while the burning ship sails into the distance and disappears.

Those who have witnessed the horrifying spectacle have witnessed "The Ghost Ship Palantine and its Mad Dutch Woman Specter" that plies the waters of Long Island Sound.  It can be seen from Hell Gate to Block Island and beyond.  Indeed, mariners and coastal dwellers have seen the apparition as far north as Boston and even beyond there.  The specter is so widely known and has been seen in our region for so many centuries that even famed American poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem about the terrible 18th century tragedy involving the Palatine and its apparition that sails Long Island Sound (quoted in full below).  

A simple search on the Web for Palatine ghost ship will turn up hundreds of fascinating resources that detail the well-founded history of the actual shipwreck on Block Island at the northeast entrance to Long Island Sound that led to the terrifying apparition that has been seen -- and reported -- by thousands since the mid-18th century.  The shipwreck of The Palatine led to investigations and even depositions intended to get to the bottom of the matter.  Nevertheless, several versions of the story since have evolved.

The most widely-told legend of The Palatine involves pirate "wreckers" on the shores of Block Island.  Eighteenth century "wreckers" used "false lights" to lure ships to rocky shores where the ships wrecked and, then, were plundered.  

In the mid-eighteenth century, so the story goes, The Palatine was carrying a shipload of Dutch immigrants from Holland to Philadelphia but was blown wildly off-course by a terrible gale.  As the gale intensified, the captain of the ship saw onshore lights on a small island indicating safe harbor shelter.  The captain sailed toward the lights only to sail into the trap set by pirate wreckers on Block Island.

The ship wrecked and many, many of the hopeful immigrants were drowned.  The wreckers climbed onto the wreckage and killed others as they plundered the wreckage.  One of the Dutch women witnessed the carnage from the hold and lost her mind from the butchery she witnessed and the fear that she would be next.  She secreted herself in a wrecked niche below and listened to the screams of her fellow immigrants until, finally, all grew silent.

As the storm intensified, the wreckers looted all they could from the wounded vessel.  Once the dastardly slaughter and thievery was completed, they set fire to the ship to destroy as much evidence as possible and slithered off the burning wreckage back to shore with their booty.

To the surprise of all, however, the rising torrents of tide and the massive waves raised by the gale lifted the burning wreckage from the rocks and washed it offshore, burning all the way.  As the wreckers watched the sight they began to hear in the distance, quite difficult to hear over the waves crashing onto the shores, undeniably horrifying shrieks.  Those shrieks and screams intensified and the glow of the burning ship shimmered on the frothing waters and lit the demonic faces of the wreckers straining to focus into the distance to watch the burning ship.  As the deck burned and the flames climbed the masts of the ships, the wreckers could see a single Dutch woman standing on the burning deck screaming demoniacally, in hellish agony, as she burned with the ship.  As the burning ship rolled into the distance on the massive waves, the burning deck collapsed and the mad Dutch woman disappeared into the flames below, her screams soon ending.

Tonight, as Trick-or-Treaters scurry about the dark streets of Pelham, those near Long Island Sound should pause a moment and stare across the distant waters.  Search for a greenish glow.  If you see it, watch closely.  You may join the ranks of thousands  of coastal-dwellers along the shores, and mariners sailing, Long Island Sound who have witnessed the ghost ship Palatine and its mad Dutch woman specter. . . . . 

"A WOMAN APPEARED ON DECK AMID THE CRACKLING

BLAZE."  An Artist's Depiction of the Mad Dutch Woman Specter

of the Ghost Ship Palatine.  Source:  Bridges, T. C., "Ghosts of the Sea"

in The Strand Magazine, Vol. XXXV, No. 205, pp. 62, 66 (Jan., 1908).

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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Today's story of The Ghost Ship Palatine and its Mad Dutch Woman Specter is one of at least three ghost ship stories that form part of Pelham's rich legends and lore.  The other two such ghost stories previously have been published as Historic Pelham articles.  See:

Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends, The Pelham Weekly, Oct. 25, 2002, p. 1, col. 1 (article includes the story of "The Fire Ship of Long Island Sound").

Fri., Oct. 26, 2018:  The Ghostly Gunship that Sails Off the Shores of Pelham.

Tue., Oct. 30, 2018:  The Ghost Ship Palantine and its Mad Dutch Woman Specter Continue to Haunt Waters Off Pelham.

*          *          *          *          *

"Lights Of Ghost Ship Reported Seen Again Off New England

BOSTON -- The lights of the ghost ship Palatine are being sighted again off the eastern seaboard. 

Harbor police at Boston received more than 100 calls in the last year from waterfront residents who insisted they had sighted a mysterious green glow out to sea. 

Patrol boats failed to find any trace of the eerie lights or what may have caused them, however.

The phenomenon is nothing new.  For two centuries seamen and landlubbers alike have been spotting the 'Palatine lights,' named for the lost vessel from which they are said to emanate.  Some even claim they have sighted the ship, sailing in flaming majesty on the horizon.

The legend started in 1752 when the Palatine was making a voyage from Holland to Philadelphia, carrying a cargo of immigrants.  Winter gales lashed the little ship and drove it far to the north off its course.

CREW MUTINIED

The crew mutinied.  They killed the captain, stole the possessions of the passengers, took all the food and water on board and left the ship in small boats. 

Winds blew the Palatine landward, into a cove of Block Island on Long Island Sound.  The island was the headquarters of a ruthless band of wreckers who had terrorized settlements along the entire coast in their quest for salvage.

The hardened wreckers softened at the sight of the starving immigrants.  They took them into their homes, fed them and cared for the sick.

According to tradition, a pretty Dutch girl. driven insane by the horrors of the shipboard ordeal, refused to leave the Palatine.

SHIP SET AFIRE

The Block Islanders grew impatient.  Another storm sprang up, and rather than have their prize carried out to sea by the gale, the wreckers set the ship afire.  The sea nevertheless still claimed the Palatine.

The wreckers and immigrants stood on the shore, watching the burning ship move out to sea while back across the water came the unearthly screams of the mad woman left aboard to burn. 

Legend has it that the Palatine, like the storied Flying Dutchman, is doomed to sail the seas forever, her masts blazing above the screams of the Dutch immigrant girl who went out with her on that last flaming voyage."

Source:  Lights Of Ghost Ship Reported Seen Again Off New England, OleanTimes Herald, May 5, 1951, p. 7, cols. 4-5. 

"GHOSTS of the SEA

HAS the reader ever heard the voice of the night-shrouded sea?  Has he heard the wild wail of the raging hurricane and the weird whispers of the ambrosial calm?  Has he seen ships creep out of the night when they blot out the stars with their darling silhouettes, or when the sea and sky are one save for the gray patches of froth left trailing in the wake of breaking seas; has he seen great gray sails ooze out of the fog, or ships stealing across the 'moon glade' athwart the glitter of silver cast upon the waters by the imperial votaress when the rays pierce the sails so that they become gauzy films?

If he knows these things, who shall blame him for not scoffing at the superstitions of those who go down to the sea in ships?  Will he not rather give an ear to the tales of strange things seen and believed by sailor-folk?

It is the writer's pleasure to waste time sailing the sea in a sound craft usually alone.  Upon one of these voyages having anchored upon the edge of Nore Sands, he awoke in the middle of the night to find himself enshrouded by a thick fog -- eerie enough the uninitiated reader will doubtless think.  Upon looking out at the black woolly wall of fog that surrounded him, he distinctly heard his own name hailed across the water.  No other craft was near.  This struck him as being so peculiar that he mentioned it to a friend when he arrived at one of the little anchorages, and the skipper of a barge, chancing to overhear, said:  'That's the ol' gentleman of the Nore!  Often on foggy nights ye may 'ear 'im a-yelling aht in a kind o' 'elpless way, but sometimes 'is language is something horful.  They say as 'e was a first mate wot dropped overboard and swam to the sands, where 'e walked about until the tide rose an' drownded 'im.'

Upon another occasion I was sailing along the coast of France, under the cliffs upon which stands Gris Nez lighthouse, which is about the most powerful light in the world.  It was a very dark night, and the revolving rays of the lighthouse kept flashing upon the sails of my boat, lighting them like a powerful searchlight, until proceeding along the course I got out of their range.  The strange effect had been forgotten only to be remembered in time to prevent me from becoming a firm believer in ghosts.  There out at sea a ghostly ship was sailing; she was rather too modern, perhaps, to be a real ghost, for every sail set like a glove; ghost ships were never particular in this respect -- indeed, she was one of those fine ships out of Glasgow which are the last words in sailing craft.

From apparently nowhere a ship had come -- a ship uncannily glowing with an unnatural light.  Her sails were surely cobwebs and her ropes were spider strongs.

Strange sights and sounds frequently come the way of seafarers.

The grovelling hissing sea, breaking through the night.  Its appearance is ghastly gray.  It comes from nowhere, it fades away soon after.  What could not the imagination weave it into?  Shape or sound of [illegible] chased by the Evil One, the dying wife with arms outstretched, or sound of mother's voice.  Moreover, such messages as sea sounds give have frequently come from the dead; the howl of the raging gale, or the murmur of the gentle breeze through the halyards have borne the departing message in words that were exactly those the lost one whispered last.

To the mind of one who knows the sea, it would seem strange that sailors are not more superstitious than they are, and there are certainly many reasonable excuses for their belief in such stories as that of the Flying Dutchman.  A patch of swirling vapor through the rigging of his ship upon a dark night.  Imagination does the rest; he has seen the Flying Dutchman.

Cornelius Vanderdecken, a Dutch navigator of long ago, was making a passage from Batavia.  For days and days he encountered heavy gales and baffling head winds while trying to round the Cape of Good Hope.  Struggle against the winds as he would, he lost as much on one tack as he gained upon the other.  Struggling vainly for nine hopeless weeks, he ultimately found himself in the same position as he was in at first, the ship having made no progress.  Vanderdecken in a fit of wrath, threw himself on his knees upon the deck and cursed the Deity, swearing that he would round the cape if it took him till the day of judgment.  Thereupon came a fair wind, he squared his yards and set off, but although his ship plowed through the seas he made no headway, for the Deity had taken him at his word and doomed him to sail the seas for ever.  Superstition has it that the appearance of the phantom ship leads to certain and swift misfortune.

Old sailors will tell of the ship of the Flying Dutchman bowling along in the very teeth of the wind, and of her overtaking their own ship which was beating to windward.  Some of them say they have seen her sail clean through their ship, the swirling films of her sails and rigging leaving a cold clammy feeling like the touch of death.

Cornwall in the old days was remarkable for its wreckers and its rock-bound coast was the scene of many evil deeds.  The Priest's Cove wrecker during his evil life lured many vessels to their doom upon the cruel shore by means of a false light hung round the neck of a hobbled horse.  To this day the good Cornish folk will tell you of the phantom of the wrecker seen when the winds howl and the seas rage high, carried clinging to a log of wood upon the crests of the breaking seas, and how it is sent crashing upon the rocks, where in the seething foam it disappears from sight.

The wide stretching sand-choked estuary of the Solway has many a ghost story and more than one phantom ship, ran into the Solway 

The 'Spectral Shallop' is the ghost of a ferry-boat which was wrecked by a rival ferryman while carrying a bridal party across the bay.  The ghostly boat is rowed by the skeleton of the cruel ferryman, and such ships as are so unlucky as to encounter this ghastly pilot are usually doomed to be wrecked upon the sands.

No money would tempt the Solway fishermen to go out to meet the two Danish sea-rovers whose ships, upon clear nights, are seen gliding up one of the narrow channels which thread the dried-out sands, the high-curved prows and rows of shields along the gunwale glittering in the moonlight.  These two piratical ships, it seems, ran into the Solway and dropped anchor there, when a sudden furious storm came up and the ships, which were heavily laden with plunder, sank at their moorings with all the villains which composed their crews.

Among the rocks upon the rugged coast of Kerry was found one winter morning, early in the eighteenth century, a large galleon, mastless and deserted.  The Kerry wreckers crowded aboard, and wild was their joy, for the ship was laden with ingots of silver from the Spanish Main.  They gradually filled their boats until the gunwales were almost down to the water's edge, and hastily they pulled to the shore in order that they might return for further ingots before the tide rose and floated the ship away.  Nearing the shore a huge tidal wave broke over the boats and ship, and when the wave had passed, the horrified women watching on shore saw no sign remaining of boats, men or ship.

Wild horses would not get a Kerry fisherman to visit the scene of the disaster upon the anniversary of the day the grim tragedy took place, for only bad luck has come to those who have seen the re-enactment of the affair, which Kerry folk believe takes place upon that day.

The Newhaven [sic] ghost ship signified her own doom.  A ship built at Newhaven in January, 1647, having sailed away upon her maiden voyage, was thought to have been lost at sea, when one evening in June, during a furious thunderstorm, the well-known ship was sighted sailing into the river mouth -- but straight into the eye of the wind -- until she neared the town, when slowly she faded from the sight of the people who crowded on shore to watch her.  The apparition was significant -- the ship was never heard of again.

The rocky coasts of New England are haunted by many ghost ships.  The Palatine is the best-known specter.  The coasters and fishermen of Long Island Sound will tell you that when a sight of her is gotten, disastrous and long-lasting storms will follow.  The Palatine, a Dutch trader, misled by false lights shown by wreckers, ran ashore upon Block Island in the year 1752.  The wreckers, when they had stripped the vessel, set her on fire in order to conceal their crime.  As the tide lifted her and carried her flaming out to sea, agonizing shrieks came from the blaze, and the figure of a woman who had hidden herself in the hold in fear of the wreckers stood out black amid the roaring blaze.  Then the deck fell in and ship and woman vanished.

The whaling in Nantucket, as you will remember, was in its palmy days carried on almost entirely by Quakers.  One Sunday evening a meeting was in progress, the simple service seemed as though it might pass, and the spirit moved none of the company.  The elder Friend was just about to offer his hand to his neighbor in the closing of the meeting, when a stranger rose and declared that the Lord's wrath was upon a certain whaling ship, and that he had seen her in a vision descending a huge wave from the hollow of which she never rose.  The meeting closed hurriedly, but the speaker could not be found, and the ship was never heard of.

Some of the best ghost stories are those which the writer has heard from the simple folk of the salt marshes.  It is hardly possible to describe these dreary districts, for when one has said they are flat, stretching for miles, and rather subject to mists, one has said pretty well all that is to be said -- the rest must be felt.  However, just as there is a call of the sea, so there is a call of the marshland.  You shall go into the saltern and feel its moist breath upon your cheek and the breath of its salty winds and the ozone of its calms.  You shall be lost in its vastness, and, threading its innumerable twisted narrow waterways, which lead to nowhere, ye shall tread its carpet of scentless flowers.  You shall go to its very edge where the sea comes oftenmost, and where the flowers decaying leave their rust-colored remains.  There you shall meet mud, and the cry of the curlew shall mock as you flounder it its filth.  The moon shall come up refracted by the mist into unrecognizable shape, which shall be blood color.  You shall be a gray shape, differing little from the common things that are there, for you shall be enshrouded by fog; nay, it shall sink into your very soul, until you are not flesh and bones, but a particle of fog yourself.  You shall listen to its silences; you shall be told things by them, and, strong man that you are, you shall be afraid.

Is it to be wondered at, then, that these simple Essex marsh-dwellers remember such tales as that of the young skipper, home from a long voyage, whose haste to embrace his wife, and the babe he had not yet seen, bid him to go the nearer way of the marshes?  The tale has it that in crossing a narrow gutway, near Pitsea, he sank in the mud.  So deeply did he sink that he could not extricate himself; the more he struggled the deeper he sank, and with the horror of knowing that the tide was rising and would come stealing up the creek, he shouted.  As the tide rose higher the louder were his screams.  The salterns near the Pitsea are lonely; the cries were heard only by a half-witted peat-cutter, who often in his less sane moments heard such screams and thought no more of the matter.  So the shrieks became gurgles, and by the time the tide had lifted the peat-cutter's punt they had ceased.

The older folk at this stage of the story assume a mysterious air, and with large-eyed glancings athwart their shoulders, will tell you that the skipper's shrieks are heard on starlit nights as the tide glides up that creek.  

So here are my ghost stories, and if I sometimes believe in them when I sail all alone on the midnight deep, you will not laugh at me."

Source:  GHOSTS of the SEA, The Mancelona Herald [Mancelona, MI], Dec. 19, 1912, Vol. 34, No. 18, p. 6, cols. 1-3.  

"Lights Of Ghost Ship Reported Seen Again Off New England

BOSTON -- The lights of the ghost ship Palatine are being sighted again off the eastern seaboard.

Harbor police at Boston received more than 100 calls in the last year from waterfront residents who insisted they had sighted a mysterious green glow out to sea.

Patrol boats failed to find any trace of the eerie lights or what may have caused them, however.

The phenomenon is nothing new.  For two centuries seamen and landlubbers alike have been spotting the 'Palatine lights' named for the lost vessel from which they are said to emanate.  Some even claim they have sighted the ship, sailing in flaming majesty on the horizon.

The legend started in 1752 when the Palatine was making a voyage from Holland to Philadelphia, carrying a cargo of immigrants.  Winter gales lashed the little ship and drove it far to the north off its course.

CREW MUTINIED

The crew mutinied.  They killed the captain, stole the possessions of the passengers, took all the food and water on board and left the ship in small boats.

Winds blew that Palatine landward, into a cove of Block Island on Long Island Sound.  The island was the headquarters of a ruthless band of wreckers who had terrorized settlements along the entire coast in their quest for salvage.  

The hardened wreckers softened at the sight of the starving immigrants.  They took them into their homes, fed them and cared for the sick.

According to tradition, a pretty Dutch girl, driven insane by the horrors of the shipboard ordeal, refused to leave the Palatine.

SHIP SET AFIRE

The Block Islanders grew impatient.  Another storm sprang up, and rather than have their prize carried out to sea by the gale, the wreckers set the ship afire.  The sea nevertheless still claimed the Palatine.

the wreckers and immigrants stood on the shore, watching the burning ship move out to sea while back across the water came the unearthly screams of the mad woman left aboard to burn.

Legend has it that the Palatine, like the storied Flying Dutchman, is doomed to sail the seas forever, her masts blazing above the screams of the Dutch immigrant girl who went out with her on that last flaming voyage."

Source:  Lights Of Ghost Ship Reported Seen Again Off New England, Olean Times Herald, May 5, 1951, p. 7, cols. 4-5.  

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Famed American poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem about the terrible incident in 1867.  It is quoted in full immediately below:

"The Palatine 

by John Greenleaf Whittier 

Leagues north, as fly the gull and auk, 
Point Judith watches with eye of hawk; 
Leagues south, thy beacon flames, Montauk! 

Lonely and wind-shorn, wood-forsaken, 
With never a tree for Spring to waken, 
For tryst of lovers or farewells taken, 

Circled by waters that never freeze, 
Beaten by billow and swept by breeze, 
Lieth the island of Manisees, 

Set at the mouth of the Sound to hold 
The coast lights up on its turret old, 
Yellow with moss and sea-fog mould. 

Dreary the land when gust and sleet 
At its doors and windows howl and beat, 
And Winter laughs at its fires of peat! 

But in summer time, when pool and pond, 
Held in the laps of valleys fond, 
Are blue as the glimpses of sea beyond; 

When the hills are sweet with the brier-rose, 
And, hid in the warm, soft dells, unclose 
Flowers the mainland rarely knows; 

When boats to their morning fishing go, 
And, held to the wind and slanting low, 
Whitening and darkening the small sails show,-- 

Then is that lonely island fair; 
And the pale health-seeker findeth there 
The wine of life in its pleasant air. 

No greener valleys the sun invite, 
On smoother beaches no sea-birds light, 
No blue waves shatter to foam more white! 

There, circling ever their narrow range, 
Quaint tradition and legend strange 
Live on unchallenged, and know no change. 

Old wives spinning their webs of tow, 
Or rocking weirdly to and fro 
In and out of the peat's dull glow, 

And old men mending their nets of twine, 
Talk together of dream and sign, 
Talk of the lost ship Palatine,-- 

The ship that, a hundred years before, 
Freighted deep with its goodly store, 
In the gales of the equinox went ashore. 

The eager islanders one by one 
Counted the shots of her signal gun, 
And heard the crash when she drove right on! 

Into the teeth of death she sped 
(May God forgive the hands that fed 
The false lights over the rocky Head!) 

O men and brothers! what sights were there! 
White upturned faces, hands stretched in prayer! 
Where waves had pity, could ye not spare? 

Down swooped the wreckers, like birds of prey 
Tearing the heart of the ship away, 
And the dead had never a word to say. 

And then, with ghastly shimmer and shine 
Over the rocks and the seething brine, 
They burned the wreck of the Palatine. 

In their cruel hearts, as they homeward sped, 
"The sea and the rocks are dumb," they said 
"There 'll be no reckoning with the dead." 

But the year went round, and when once more 
Along their foam-white curves of shore 
They heard the line-storm rave and roar, 

Behold! again, with shimmer and shine, 
Over the rocks and the seething brine, 
The flaming wreck of the Palatine! 

So, haply in fitter words than these, 
Mending their nets on their patient knees 
They tell the legend of Manisees. 

Nor looks nor tones a doubt betray; 
"It is known to us all," they quietly say; 
"We too have seen it in our day." 

Is there, then, no death for a word once spoken? 
Was never a deed but left its token 
Written on tables never broken? 

Do the elements subtle reflections give? 
Do pictures of all the ages live 
On Nature's infinite negative, 

Which, half in sport, in malice half, 
She shows at times, with shudder or laugh, 
Phantom and shadow in photograph? 

For still, on many a moonless night, 
From Kingston Head and from Montauk light 
The spectre kindles and burns in sight. 

Now low and dim, now clear and higher, 
Leaps up the terrible Ghost of Fire, 
Then, slowly sinking, the flames expire. 

And the wise Sound skippers, though skies be fine, 
Reef their sails when they see the sign 
Of the blazing wreck of the Palatine!"

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