North Castle Historical Society

Happy Holidays from the North Castle Historical Society! https://youtu.be/EUvsq-WqJkY

The church and monument look great! So glad to be able to see all these names clearly now that the overgrown shrubbery has been removed.

Reminder to NCHS members...please join us for our Annual Meeting this Sunday. If you are not able to attend, please fill out the proxy card you received in the mail recently, scan or photograph it and email to [email protected] . Thank you!

Digging in the garden getting ready for spring planting? Ever find buried treasure? These old bottles were found in my yard on Old Mount Kisco Road over the years. Winter freeze-thaw cycles bring new treasures up periodically. The Boehmer bottle is my favorite, probably from around 1871 when Rudolph Boehmer opened his business in Mount Kisco.

Back to Have You Seen It?... driving along Bedford-Banksville Road near Middle Patent Road is the Middle Patent United Methodist Church. It has a long and interesting history you can read about here beginning on page 17 of the pdf. While you are on the link you can also read about North Castle’s first historian, Richard Lander. https://www.northcastleny.com//vyhlif35/f/file/file/20.pdf

The end of January was typically ice harvesting season until the 1930s or so when people started using refrigerators. Our local newspaper reported on the great harvest and the videos linked below detail the process. When the Smiths Tavern Educational Complex is able to reopen you should come by and see our collection of ice harvesting tools. You can also see them on our website linked to below. https://youtu.be/969EwYCVjJk https://youtu.be/BjXv6Wsr0VQ... http://www.northcastlehistoricaltools.org/gr/Ice+Harvesting

A fascinating interview with North Castle resident Herman Geist...enjoy! In this special Pearl Harbor Day episode, Herman Geist, a World War II veteran, former Westchester County legislator, and NYSAC Parliamentarian, reflects on his memories of the attack on Pearl Harbor and his experience serving during WWII. Herman’s company was the first U.S. Army unit that entered Domažlice in the Czech Republic and helped to liberate the city. At the end of the war was promoted to the ...rank of 1st Lieutenant, and after the war he graduated from the New York University School of Law and later became the First Chairman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators. https://nysac.podbean.com

As published in The Villager on March 1, 1950, additional telephone exchanges were added including the familiar AR3 or 273 district office. This video will teach you how to dial your rotary phone. https://youtu.be/uaQm30DDHL8

In 1996 the Rockefeller Tree came from Armonk

Looking for something different to do on a beautiful autumn day? How about checking out this great historical site at the corner of High Street and Greenway Road. Read the story before you go! https://www.northcastleny.com//vyhlif3581/f/file/file/7.pdf

Our annual Halloween Haunt has been cancelled this year. Hope to see you all again soon Our annual Halloween Haunt has been cancelled this year. Hope to see you all again soon

Does anyone recognize where this bench is located?

This might be an easy one for some of you...where have you seen this?

We will be posting a series of photos in a game called Where Am I? Has anyone seen this before?

Andre was held for a while in North Castle; learn more about it here https://www.northcastleny.com//vyhlif35/f/file/file/32.pdf

Congratulations to Nick Skiera on achieving the rank of Eagle Scout! For his Eagle Scout project, he cataloged the entire historic tool collection at Smith’s Tavern. It was a huge undertaking and he did a marvelous job. We are grateful for this work. Here’s the link: https://www.northcastlehistoricalsociety.org//north-castle

Here's a "hometown" Armonk video from 1950 - a wonderful addition to our video links on line. It came to The Historical Society from Dayton Datlowe, whose father was Sam Datlowe. The Datlowes made their home at today's 440 Bedford Road in the 1950s (today's Historic Smith's Tavern). The video was made for the National Institutes of Health - presumably as a training tool. It is long (about half an hour), and it is health class instructional, but the scenes of Armonk 1950 ar...e beyond terrific! And, the connection to Historic Smith's Tavern is too! You'll recognize St. Stephen's Church, Bedford Road Historic District and specific houses therein, the baseball field behind Town Hall before the 2nd parking lot covered it up, Chief Hergenhan, Main Street, Lander Brothers Store (today's Grand Lux Realty), Crittenden School, Wampus Brook Park ... maybe some other scenes I missed. Hope you enjoy seeing some scenes of Armonk from 70 years ago! https://collections.nlm.nih.gov//hmdvid/hmdvid-9515562.mp4

It is with great sadness we share the news of the passing of a very special person.

The 25th anniversary of the NCHS was in 1995. A special Annual Meeting was held in the Quaker Meeting House to commemorate the occasion with long time North Castle residents, many with names you’ll recognize, telling stories of old North Castle. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/EN-mDlErTEk

A wonderful tour of the stained glass windows at St Stephens in the Bedford Road Historic District.