the Headless Horseman Was Here

Westchester County, a suburb of NYC, is home to some of the nation's most well-heeled citizens, but it's also obscenely rich in history. Deposit a few of these factoids into your cocktail-party conversation bank.

• The highest point in Westchester is North Salem's Sal J. Prezioso Mountain Lakes Park, at a rather unimpressive 928 feet above sea level. It's but a shadow of its former self, though—back when Africa and North America touched as part of the prehistoric super group Pangea, they created a long-gone, definitely more impressive mountain range 30,000 feet fall. That's as high as the Himalayas, and probably would've provided a fabulous view of the Manhattan skyline. Also, maybe dinosaurs fighting or eating or something.
• When "Mean Joe" Greene traded his game-worn, dirty and probably really gross/really valuable football jersey for a soda in the iconic 1979 commercial, it was filmed in a tunnel under Mount Vernon's Memorial Field. That trade-off was the last pass completed there—it was demolished soon afterward.
• The wives of two Beatles attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville—Linda (Eastman) McCartney and Yoko Ono both enrolled at the small private school before they met their outrageously famous husbands.
• The Bronx River, which splits lower Westchester in two, was named for Jonas Bronck—a Danish settler who purchased 500 acres of land from the Dutch in 1639, becoming the area's first European settler. The "x" at the end just makes it look so much cooler.
• The rich marble deposits found in and around Tuckahoe were quarried from the early 1800s until 1930 to build landmarks like Federal Hall, Tweed Courthouse and the Washington Square Arch in Manhattan; the Yonkers Public Library; and The General Post Office (now the Hotel Monaco) in Washington, D.C. Known as Westchester, Inwood or Tuckahoe marble, it varies in color from light greenish-gray to bluish-white and bright white. It can also take on an orange-brown hue once exposed to the elements depending on the amount of hematite and pyrite in the stone. That was a mouthful, so just remember: "Westchester had really cool marble."
• The real Ichabod Crane didn't actually disappear and was never chased by a headless horseman. He was an Army Colonel and acquaintance of Washington Irving, who gave Crane's name to the ill-fated character in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Crane is buried in Staten Island, and his son was one of the attending physicians who cared for Abraham Lincoln in his last moments.
• Irving also used the pseudonym "Dietrich Knickerbocker" for his satirical 1809 book, History of New York. "Knickerbocker" became a term for someone descended from the city's original Dutch settlers, as well as those short baggy pants that were popular in the early 20th century for some reason ...aaand right about now you should be getting the connection to New York's basketball team.
• Rye was originally part of Connecticut when it was founded in 1665 and included all of Harrison, White Plains, North castle, Mamaroneck and parts of Greenwich. In 1683, it was tacked onto New York as a gift to the Duke from his brother King Charles II. When a New York court decided in 1695 that the Harrison area would be split from Rye, the perturbed residents protested by rejoining Connecticut. By 1700, by royal decree, Rye became permanently part of New York. Sounds a lot like high school, doesn't it?
• The Boston Post Road has retained its colonial-era name, but the Albany Post Road was changed to the less dramatic and way less interesting "Route 9" a long time ago.
• It would seem some churches are more blessed than others—Union Church in Pocantico Hills is bathed in heavenly light by eight Marc Chagall stained-glass windows and a "rose window" designed by Henri Matisse. Nelson Rockefeller commissioned the Matisse window in honor of his mother, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, who knew the artist and hosted him in her NYC home. And MOST churches don't even get ONE famous artist. Sadly, the window would prove to be Matisse's last work—he passed only two days after the design was complete.