Hi all, This is the Reader's Digest version of what the tunnels are. I spoke with Norman McDonald, president of the Ossining Historical and he told me he knows all about the tunnels and what they are. The area of the site, Riverdale Farm, was owned by Orlando B. Potter, a huge dairy farmer. The farm was 100 acres. The tunnels were built about 1871 to be used for several different things. Some rooms were to store cattle food, some rooms were a root cellar and it was also a path for cattle to get to different pastures. Seems you can't move a herd of cattle over grass or they stop to eat the grass. Since the brick was on the bottom on the tunnels (paved) it was easy to move the cattle through the tunnels to different pastures! Potter died in 1915 and his two daughters began selling off sections of the farm. The Ossining Historical Society has maps of the farm and also has pictures (taken my Norman) before the mansion was torn down. It was in the area of St. Augustine's Church. The mansion had 30 marble fireplaces! Norman spoke to a reporter and the entire story should be in the newspaper in a day or two. Now someone has to decide if the tunnels should be saved! Jean Ann

This topic has been a really interesting dialogue--suggestions and sleuthing! Thank you for 'going to the mat' to find and share the true story of the tunnels in Ossining. I would never have had that one on my 'guess list'--not having lived on/near a dairy farm as prime reason. The variety of suggestions was interesting as well. Did anyone guess correctly? It's a part of the area history and we subscribers have learned something new about a place we thought we knew well. As far as the bricks are concerned, my ggrandfather worked at a brick factory in Peekskill and has a patent for improving the "Method of Operating the mold-drivers of Brick Machines, the same being so constructed that the mold is driven out at the proper time by the power used to operate the machine and further so constructed that should any obstruction enter the clod-cutter to prevent the passage of the mold, the mechanism will yield before an injurious pressure can be exerted on the mold, thereby saving a great expense in the repairs of molds". It is logical that much of the interior was constructed of brick, there being much of that industry in the area. When the article that you referred to appears in the paper, will you or someone be able to scan and send? Jan jgrellim@sbcglobal.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean Ann Lupinetti" <jeanann@bestweb.net> To: <NYWESTCH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 11:33 AM Subject: [NYWESTCH] Mystic Tunnels/Mystery solved! > Hi all, > > This is the Reader's Digest version of what the tunnels are. I spoke > with > Norman McDonald, president of the Ossining Historical and he told me he > knows all about the tunnels and what they are. > > > > The area of the site, Riverdale Farm, was owned by Orlando B. Potter, a > huge dairy farmer. The farm was 100 acres. The tunnels were built about > 1871 to be used for several different things. Some rooms were to store > cattle food, some rooms were a root cellar and it was also a path for > cattle > to get to different pastures. Seems you can't move a herd of cattle over > grass or they stop to eat the grass. Since the brick was on the bottom on > the tunnels (paved) it was easy to move the cattle through the tunnels to > different pastures! > > Potter died in 1915 and his two daughters began selling off sections of > the farm. The Ossining Historical Society has maps of the farm and also > has > pictures (taken my Norman) before the mansion was torn down. It was in > the > area of St. Augustine's Church. The mansion had 30 marble fireplaces! > > > > Norman spoke to a reporter and the entire story should be in the newspaper > in a day or two. Now someone has to decide if the tunnels should be > saved! > > Jean Ann > > > > *************************************** > Have you checked out the Westchester County GenWeb site yet? > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywestch/ > *************************************** > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYWESTCH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thanks, Jean Ann. It had occurred to me that perhaps the tunnels were used for cattle moving from pasture to pasture...... except my thought was that a busily trafficked road might have been the reason. I grew up on a dairy farm and when farmland was taken for state and county roads it often dissected the pastures used for cattle to eat. "Cattle Crossing" signs usually sufficed for county roads back then but many people traveling thru on state roads to and from NYC hadn't a clue as to what the signs meant......and when they were told were absolutely amazed that CATTLE had the right-of-way.LOL. Our cows moved just fine on grass and didn't stop when they weren't supposed to. Either that guy had really stupid cows or he was a "gentleman farmer" who knew nothing about them. LOL. I've often found that the "dumb" animals are not as dumb as the people labeling them. Maureen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean Ann Lupinetti" <jeanann@bestweb.net> To: <NYWESTCH-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 2:33 PM Subject: [NYWESTCH] Mystic Tunnels/Mystery solved! > Hi all, > > This is the Reader's Digest version of what the tunnels are. I spoke > with > Norman McDonald, president of the Ossining Historical and he told me he > knows all about the tunnels and what they are. > > > > The area of the site, Riverdale Farm, was owned by Orlando B. Potter, a > huge dairy farmer. The farm was 100 acres. The tunnels were built about > 1871 to be used for several different things. Some rooms were to store > cattle food, some rooms were a root cellar and it was also a path for > cattle > to get to different pastures. Seems you can't move a herd of cattle over > grass or they stop to eat the grass. Since the brick was on the bottom on > the tunnels (paved) it was easy to move the cattle through the tunnels to > different pastures! > > Potter died in 1915 and his two daughters began selling off sections of > the farm. The Ossining Historical Society has maps of the farm and also > has > pictures (taken my Norman) before the mansion was torn down. It was in > the > area of St. Augustine's Church. The mansion had 30 marble fireplaces! > > > > Norman spoke to a reporter and the entire story should be in the newspaper > in a day or two. Now someone has to decide if the tunnels should be > saved! > > Jean Ann > > > > *************************************** > Have you checked out the Westchester County GenWeb site yet? > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywestch/ > *************************************** > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYWESTCH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message