Date: Sunday, September 19, 2004 Time: 2 pm Place: Town of Pelham Library 530 COLONIAL AVE. PELHAM, NY 10803 PHONE: (914)738-1234 The Town of Pelham Public Library will sponsor the ninth in its series of twelve monthly local history lectures as part of Pelham's 350th Anniversary celebration this year. The lecture, on "The History of Pelhamwood" will begin at 2:00 p.m. A flyer for the lecture is attached below. Pelhamwood, the lovely neighborhood bounded by the New Haven Line tracks on the south, Harmon Avenue on the west and north and Pelham's boundary with New Rochelle on the east, has one of the most fascinating histories of all the neighborhoods in Pelham. At one time or another, it was: a forest frequented by hunters, a dairy farm, an area dotted with cow pastures, winter hay farmland and an early planned commuter subdivision. The New York, Boston and Westchester Railroad once crossed the neighborhood and the great ?Black Swamp? had to be drained before the neighborhood could be developed. Col. Richard Lathers of New Rochelle once owned Pelhamwood. When the tax burden became too great, he sold the land to a group of Pelham residents who planned to develop the land as a luxury home neighborhood with a nearby luxury hotel. When their plans failed the land was sold to a company affiliated with Clifford B. Harmon - one of the nation's earliest aviators and ?aeronautic daredevils?. The efforts of Clifford B. Harmon Co. to develop the area proceeded very slowly. Some of the advertising gambits and showmanship used by the Company to sell lots in the neighborhood provide a fascinating glimpse of the early development of the Village of Pelham. This presentation will include a very large number of images showing early views of Pelhamwood, as well as the early players in this wonderful drama.