I did one year of dress revue, but mostly just cattle. My grandmother was Ivy Fish--a real character. Those were indeed the "good old days." My biggest thing was to get up ahead of (why can't I think of his name?) and get the milking machine first so I could be done early. My grandmother wouldn't let me leave before 4. The boys had no such rules, but I still managed to get it first at least half the time. Barbara L. de Mare, Esq. Historian, genealogist and attorney 155 Polifly Road Hackensack, New Jersey 07601 (201) 567-9440 office BarbaradeMare@yahoo.com (home) http://historygenealogyesq.blogspot.com/ ----- Original Message ---- From: quillpen1 <quillpen1@optonline.net> To: nywestch@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 9:38:57 PM Subject: Re: [NYWESTCH] Mystic Tunnels/Mystery solved! You're welcome, Barb. Even when I was in my twenties it only went as far as the turnoff to Craryville...then much later I was up that way again and it connected to the Mass Turnpike. I never needed to use it that far up regularly except when visiting. I didn't show cattle at the Fair but did get lots of ribbons for clothing and also participated for many years in Dress Revue so I must have known your grandmother if she supervised the 4-H kids who stayed at the 4-H bldg. Maureen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Barbara de Mare" <barbarademare@yahoo.com> To: <nywestch@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 9:27 PM Subject: Re: [NYWESTCH] Mystic Tunnels/Mystery solved! > We had Jerseys, but did lose a few to hunters. My uncle, who lived in > Salt > point, closer to you, had Guernseys. Did you show at the Rhinebeck Fair? > My uncle was in charge of the livestocvk show for many, many years. My > grandmother slept in the gorl's dorm and enforced curfew when I was young. > We lived in southern Columbia County. I was on 55 a couple of weeks ago > going to check out my great-grandparents graves in Pleasant Valley--I was > staying with a cousin still in Columbia County. He is in the northeast > part. > The Parkway didn't go that far when I was growing up. It ended at Red > Hook. > > Thanks for the trip down memory lane. > > Barbara > > Barbara L. de Mare, Esq. > Historian, genealogist and attorney > 155 Polifly Road > Hackensack, New Jersey 07601 > (201) 567-9440 office > BarbaradeMare@yahoo.com (home) > http://historygenealogyesq.blogspot.com/ > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: quillpen1 <quillpen1@optonline.net> > To: nywestch@rootsweb.com > Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 9:22:53 PM > Subject: Re: [NYWESTCH] Mystic Tunnels/Mystery solved! > > I think you're right Barb. > > We lived near Route 55 and it was basically the only state road in the > area. > The Taconic (which we locals simply called the Parkway..and still do among > ourselves) was far away and 82 also....so drivers coming and going to and > from NYC used 55 most of the time. > > Later when the Taconic became popular with hunters there were a lot of > State > Police stops for "deer" that were proudly displayed on the fenders of cars > going to NYC. Actually they were cows. Our neighbor who had Jerseys > painted > signs on them saying "COW". We had only one Jersey for personal use and > kept > her near the barn during deer hunting season. The rest of ours were > Holsteins .......with a couple of Guernseys which we kept out of sight > too...... especially after the time I was hanging clothes and several > bullets went thru the garment in my hand. When I ran for the house the > idiots kept shooting at me. Found out later they were from NYC. > > Maureen > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Barbara de Mare" <barbarademare@yahoo.com> > To: <nywestch@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 8:52 PM > Subject: Re: [NYWESTCH] Mystic Tunnels/Mystery solved! > > >>I grew up on a farm, and our cows weren't that dumb either. They knew >>where they were supposed to go and went there. At least in my rural >>neighborhood drivers knew they had to stop for cows crossing the road. >>Sounds to me like someonew had more money than they knew what to do with. >> >> Barbara L. de Mare, Esq. >> Historian, genealogist and attorney >> 155 Polifly Road >> Hackensack, New Jersey 07601 >> (201) 567-9440 office >> BarbaradeMare@yahoo.com (home) >> http://historygenealogyesq.blogspot.com/ >> >> ----- Original Message ---- >> From: quillpen1 <quillpen1@optonline.net> >> To: nywestch@rootsweb.com >> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 8:39:01 PM >> Subject: Re: [NYWESTCH] Mystic Tunnels/Mystery solved! >> >> 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 >> >> *************************************** >> 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 >> >> >> >> >> *************************************** >> 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 > > *************************************** > 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 > > > > > *************************************** > 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 *************************************** 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