Yorktown Historical Society - NY

10/24/2026

On this day in 1973, a scientist working in Yorktown Heights won the Nobel Prize.

Leo Esaki found out that morning. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics, and he worked at IBM's research lab in Yorktown Heights.

Photos: IBM Yorktown Heights by Simon Greig, CC BY 2.0. The research center entrance by Autopilot, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Did you know a Nobel Prize winner worked in Yorktown Heights?

10/22/2026

On this day in 1789, John Jay became the first Chief Justice of the United States.

He took the oath in New York City. In 1801 he retired to his farm in Katonah, and he lived there until 1829. The John Jay Homestead is still there. The house is closed for repairs right now, but the grounds are open every day for free.

Photos: Gilbert Stuart's 1794 portrait of Jay, National Gallery of Art (CC0). The Jay house, Library of Congress. The Homestead by Daniel Case, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Have you been to the John Jay Homestead?

10/11/2026

On this day, October 11, 1614, the place name "New Netherland" appeared for the first time in a resolution of the States General of the United Provinces, known as the Netherlands. On that day, the States General granted the newly formed New Netherland Company "the right to resort to or cause to be frequented" the territory in America extending from the present-day boundary between New York State and the Province of Quebec (45° north latitude) south to roughly present-day central New Jersey, near Philadelphia (40° north latitude). The company, formed by merchants from Amsterdam and Hoorn, received a three-year trading monopoly, beginning January 1, 1615, to pursue the fur trade in America.

10/02/2026

On October 2, 1780, British Major John André was hanged as a spy by the Continental Army. André had been negotiating with disillusioned American General Benedict Arnold, who was then serving as the Commandant of West Point, to surrender the base for £20,000. Had it succeeded, the Hudson River might have been taken and New England would have been cut off from the rest of the colonies.
André found himself isolated after the British sloop-of-war Vulture was driven off by artillery fire while he was conferring with Arnold at the Joshua Hett Smith House (Treason House) in West Haverstraw, New York. Donning civilian clothes provided by Arnold, André set off to return to British lines with six papers hidden in his stockings as well as a signed pass from Arnold.
Setting out on the morning of September 23, he was captured near Tarrytown, NY by a group that has been described as militia units but that deserves more analysis. Parts of Westchester County were operated by highway men groups called the Skinners and Cowboys. Their allegiance to either side was tenuous at best and more so dependent on payoffs.
When Andre came into contact with three men who stopped him, his initial thought was that they were Tories as one of them wore the coat of a Hessian soldier. Andre called out, “ Gentlemen, "I hope you belong to our party." "What party?" asked one of the men. "The lower party," replied André, meaning the British. "We do," was the answer. André then told them that he was a British officer who must not be detained, when, to his surprise, they said that they were Continentals, and that he was their prisoner. He then told them that he was a U.S. officer and showed them his pass signed by Arnold, but the suspicions of his captors were now aroused. They searched him and found Arnold's papers in his stocking. Only one of the men could read and Arnold was not initially suspected. André offered them his horse and watch, if they would let him go, but they declined. André testified at his trial that the men searched his boots for the purpose of robbing him. At this point they realized that he was a spy and took him to Continental Army headquarters in Sand's Hill in modern Armonk on the CT border.
André was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged for operating as a spy behind enemy lines. Had he wore his uniform the sentence would have been imprisonment. Most of the jailers found themselves endeared to André as a he was a charming, good looking young man of 29 years.
Further reading:
The Arnold/Andre Story: Ten Days that Shook Our Coutnry. https://www.hudsonrivervalley.org/.../34027eeb-a4e9-4077...
James Thacher. Military Journal of the American Revolution. https://archive.org/details/thacherjamesmil00revorich
Image: The Unfortunate Death of Major John Andre by John Goldar. 1 January 1783

09/23/2026

The Amawalk Friends Meeting House will host a Living History Experience Sept. 26-27, with presentations at 1:30, 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. and a trivia challenge on Colonial Westchester and the Revolutionary War at 1, 2, 3 and 4 p.m.

09/08/2026

On Sept. 8, 1664 the Dutch surrendered colony of New Netherlands to 450 English soldiers. Though a melting pot of people and cultures even then, their population never expanded to the same degree as those of the English to their North and South. At its peak about 9,000 people lived in the New Netherlands colony, many of them of English descent.
With the Duke of York granted the lands by his brother Charles II, it was only a matter of time before the English took it. Connecticut Governor, John Winthrop the Younger exchanged letters with Peter Stuyvesant concerning border and trade negotiations over the course of which he probed his peer in flattering language over the state of New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant, always prone to flattery informed him of the size and conditions there which were passed along to the English. Given this, they chose to take the colony even though the nations were at peace.
On the morning of August 27, 1664, four English frigates led by Richard Nicolls sailed into New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded New Netherlands surrender. Peter Stuyvesant was prepared to fight for the colony but found his citizens were not. In a formal petition, the leaders of New Amsterdam asked him not to fight. His son was the last signature. Stuyvesant agreed and the New Netherlands colony came to an end.

Reading suggestions: The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America ISBN 0-385-50349-0 (New York, Doubleday, 2004).
Image: The Fall of New Amsterdam by Jean Leon Gerome Ferrls, 1932

09/04/2026

07/14/2026

Reminder for tonight, July 14, 2026 at 6 PM at John C. Hart Memorial Library in Shrub Oak. Thanks. Hope to see you there.... 😀🇺🇸

07/13/2026

In 1785, the Bedford Presbyterian Church, where Westchester County court sessions were held from 1778 to 1779 when it was burned down, was rebuilt. Court sessions moved back here from Upper Salem. In 1787, a new Bedford Courthouse was built and court sessions were held both here and in White Plains where a second county courthouse was also built in 1787 to replace the 1759 courthouse that was burned down in 1776. The following men oversaw the construction of the two new Westchester County courthouses in 1787: Stephen Ward, Ebenezer Lockwood, Jonathan G. Tompkins, Ebenezer Purdy, Thomas Thomas, Richard Hatfield, and Richard Sackett, Jr. The 1787 Bedford Courthouse still stands; the 1787 White Plains Courthouse does not. More tomorrow!

📷 1787 White Plains Courthouse (“the second”)

05/02/2026

Hey Yorktown! Any local folks have lineage tied to Yorktown Revolutionary War veterans? Tell us about it! And no shame if there were Loyalist ties. People had various reasons for their political stance, and families were often divided.