What’s a ‘Haverstraw’?

“Haver” is the Dutch word for oats. Prior to the brick making industry that began in Haverstraw in the late 1700s, miles of “haver grass” or wild oats spread out into Haverstraw Bay, the widest length of the Hudson River. Legend has it when Henry Hudson sailed up the river in 1609 he commented on these magnificent grassy plains.

The Village was originally named Warren, or the Village of Warren after a Revolutionary general, but was subsequently changed to a more “historic” and “representative” name later during the mid-1800s.

Hudson River 400

The Half Moon

As many of you are aware, the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Celebration has been moving full steam ahead for the past few months. The Hudson River is 400 years old! That’s cause for celebration. Below is an op-ed written by the Director of the Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commission Tara Sullivan. Please, come out and celebrate the Hudson River this year by attending some of the fantastic events that are being held throughout the year, especially this summer and fall.

Pride in New York’s great history and a commitment to a sustainable economic and environmental future for the Hudson River Valley were in evidence among the thousands of residents and tourists who turned out to welcome the fleet of heritage ships in its stately parade from the Statue of Liberty to Albany, following the course of Henry Hudson’s voyage 400 years ago.

A Big Red Tomato Grows in Haverstraw

A Big Red Tomato has sprouted in Haverstraw Village. Reyes “Ray” Dominguez, a long-time Haverstraw resident, has created his most recent venture, The Big Red Tomato at 9 Main Street, right across from Lucas Candies. The new bar and grill boasts a tasty fusion of Latin, American, and international flavors. Ray has come a long way since his immigration from Mexico years ago. His story is an inspiration for us all, and the true entrepreneurial spirit of the Big Red Tomato is bright.

The Picturesque Hudson

In a fantastic account of the Hudson River towns, The Picturesque Hudson, author Clifton Johnson paints an elaborate and detailed picture of Haverstraw and surrounding communities in 1909. Haverstraw is described as a vibrant village with a rich history, even 100 years ago. I have attached Chapter IX: Haverstraw & Stony Point. The account reads as follows:

THE ferries on the Hudson between New York and Albany average about twenty miles apart, and often when I wanted to go from one side to some place directly opposite, my choice lay between a long and inconvenient journey around, or hiring a special conveyance. Thus it happened that I voyaged to Haverstraw by motor boat from a village on the east shore. The river here is at its widest — four miles is the official figure, but my skipper called it five and I suppose charged accordingly. The sun had set, and the western haze was suffused with color. As we cut rapidly through the water the shore toward which we were going became less vague and I could see the clustering buildings of a town with lofty hills of irregular outline behind. The most conspicuous peak in this range of hills is known as High Tor, and a local legend relates that one of the wise men of the East long ago found his way to America and on the summit of High Tor built an altar. This aroused the Indians to demand that he should worship as they did, and when he refused, they were so enraged that they prepared to attack and kill him. But he was saved by a miracle — for an earthquake opened a great gaping crack in the earth and engulfed his enemies. This crack is the channel through which the Hudson now flows.

Knickerbocker Ice Festival Celebrates a Cool Past

Rockland Lake, the former home of one of the largest and most famous ice houses in America – the Knickerbocker Ice Company, is hosting the annual Knickerbocker Ice Festival. The festivities are full of new events to mark the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s famous trip up the river that bears his name as well as the 200th anniversary of the beginning of the steam age when Henry Fulton sailed the first steamboat, the Clermont, up the Hudson. The festival will boast Hydrogen cars by GM, solar technology, hot air balloon rides, a fireworks display, scale ice-carved replicas of Hudson’s ship Half Moon and the Fulton Clermont, and an ice gallery that displays historic photographs encased in ice blocks. I highly recommend visiting the festival this year, and to learn more about the ice works that graced Rockland Lake for nearly a century. The festival website is http://knickerbockericefestival.com/ and to learn more about the history of Rockland Lake and the Knickerbocker Ice Company, visit the Palisades Parks Conservancy website at www.palisadesparksconservancy.org .

A Tribute to Our People

As we ring in 2009, let’s celebrate Haverstraw’s diversity and its people. The following clip offers documentary photography generated from students ages 5-20 from Ken Karlewicz’s After School Photography Program in the Village of Haverstraw. The photo journalist project offers a unique glimpse into daily life in the Village.

The Babe Comes Home

In 1920, George Herman “Babe” Ruth spent the summer in Haverstraw filming one of his more famous roles in “Headin’ Home.” The film was shot almost entirely in the Village of Haverstraw. Baseball scenes were filmed at Babe Ruth Field, behind Saint Peter’s Church on Broadway. The original field was fitted with covered bleachers and resembled an early twentieth-century stadium. The Haverstraw farm team mainly used this stadium.

Julie Andrews and Bing Crosby in “High Tor”

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, author, poet, reporter and lyricist Maxwell Anderson, came to the aid of High Tor Mountain in 1936 when he wrote an immensely popular verse play of the same name, “High Tor.” The United States Traprock Company was interested in purchasing the peak at the time and planned to remove the rear side of the mountain for the aggregate it contained. Traprock, now called Tilcon, had already tore down the peak directly south of High Tor. Anderson wove an intricate tale of bribery and the supernatural and eventually prompted the Palisades Interstate Park Commission to save the mountain from industry shovels. The story, as told by the Dramatists Play Service, begins as follows:

Through the Haverstraw Tunnel

Even before the time when Haverstraw was known as “Hollywood on the Hudson,” it became the center of attention for a new type of film. At this time, cinematic artists were exploring the limits of reel-to-reel films to gain new effects and to dazzle audiences that were just starting to embrace film as a major form of media and art. Mind you, these films were heavily popular before even silent films and well before “talkies.” The movie industry was in its “pre-infancy,” so to say.

Haverstraw Reachout Featured in New York Times

The Haverstraw Reachout Program, a mentoring and community support program at the Haverstraw Center, has been featured in the New York Times as a model of thanks and giving on Thanksgiving. Visit the story here.

Remembering a Landmark

Chris Lima of Stony Point has recently created www.anniessnackshack.com, an online tribute to the Annie’s Restaurant and Drive-In on Route 9W and Filors Lane in Stony Point. The 1951 County Landmark will be razed in the coming weeks to make way for a CVS drugstore, the eighth drugstore in the immediate area. The story of Annie’s and its demolition prompted me to write an opinion for the Rockland Journal News:

Hopper’s Haverstraw Icon

In 1925, Edward Hopper, of Nyack, New York, set out to immortalize the “House by the Railroad” on Route 9W in Haverstraw. The canvas and oil masterpiece is on display in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Midtown Manhattan. Hopper’s signature juxtaposition of light and dark shades created by a glaringly bright sun is evident on this piece. The “Railroad” on the lower portion of the painting is the West Shore Line, still active with freight trains. The “House by the Railroad” still sits prominently on Route 9W just north of the entrance to Main Street in the Village of Haverstraw.

General Electric Cleaning up the Hudson’s Dirty Past

The General Electric Company, who is responsible for the dumping of PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyls) into the Hudson River in the north-of-Albany region, has hired two contractors to develop an environmental dredging facility. The federal government recently mandated the Hudson River cleanup, which will cost GE over $700 million. Scientists believe PCBs are probable carcinogens, or cancer causing chemicals. The chemicals are used in production of electrical equipment. PCBs were dumped into the Hudson between 1940 and the mid-1970s at the General Electric Hudson Falls and Fort Edward plants, and have since washed downstream into the Lower Hudson Valley and as far south as Manhattan. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered GE to dredge out tons of PCBs from a 40-mile stretch of the Hudson River. This project is slated to become the largest and most expensive environmental dredging project and cleanup in the history of the United States. The project will begin Spring 2007. Read the article here.

Columbus Day Parade a Hit

For the first time in 25 years, the Rockland County Columbus Day Parade weaved its way through the Village of Haverstraw’s streets. Read more at the Journal News website.

George M. Cohan’s Debut

In time for Independence Day, it might be fitting to discuss George Cohan’s relation to Haverstraw, as he was so famously “Born on the Fourth of July!” Cohan travelled and performed with his parents and sister on a Vaudeville circuit that continually stopped at Haverstraw’s Waldron Opera House Theatre. Cohan would stay in Haverstraw for weeks on end practicing, writing and performing on stage for the local elite in Westchester and Rockland Counties. It was here, at the Haverstraw Waldron Opera House (once located on Broadway in the Village of Haverstraw, but lost by fire) in the spring of 1888 that he first performed Yankee Doodle Dandy, which would later go on to be one of his most famous songs in 1904 in his Broadway hit Little Johnny Jones. These plays became popular just as Cohan was becoming a teenager and as he was moving away from Vaudeville and into the spotlight in New York City.