Hammond House
We've driven along this road countless times over the years and have always seen the sign that reads "Hammond House Road Closed". We always wondered if the house had some sort of history. A little research provided us with the following:
The Hammond House is one of the oldest houses in Westchester County, with construction of the main house starting in 1719 and that is the building that still exists there today. It is one of only two remaining tenant houses from Philipsburg Manor, the colonial land grant that comprised most of what today is eastern Westchester County.
Bermuda-born William Hammond came to the U.S. in the early years of the 18th century. Eventually, he saved enough money to lease 200 acres of farmland on the Philipsburg Manor. Hammond built the house without a basement and with its structural beams dovetailing with each other, so that the house could easily be dismantled, moved and reassembled in another location if he lost his lease (it has been described as an early version of a mobile home). Hammond served as captain of the local militia in 1755. He also became an elder of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, the oldest church in New York. Upon his death in 1762, his eldest son James inherited the house and property. James Hammond followed his father into the local militia, serving as its captain, including when it fought on the Patriot side during the Revolutionary War. In August 1776, he was promoted to full colonel shortly before leading his troops into the Battle of White Plains. Legend has it that, minutes after George Washington left a brief meeting with Hammond at the house in 1780, it was surrounded by opposing Loyalists. Seeking to capture Washington, they instead settled for Hammond and he was held prisoner on a ship in the Hudson River for a year and a half, then released at the end of the war. Some evidence suggests that the Hammond House was frequented by Washington and his troops and used as a military camp.
The Hammond family eventually bought the land and held on to it until the 1920s, when New York City acquired the 157-acre property to protect its watershed in Eastview. They were planning to demolish the structure, when the Westchester County Historical Society bought the deteriorating house and restored it for use as a historic house museum. It remained open in that capacity for another half-century. When the society shifted its focus to primarily serving as an archive, it sold the house to New York Medical College in 1989 and for a decade, they used it as a Lyme disease field research center. It was again saved from potential demolition by two brothers, who bought it in the 1990s. They have been restoring it and using it as a venue for small folk music concerts. The Hammond House is listed on the National Register of Historic Houses.
When you search for this cache do not stop on Grasslands Road. There is a wide shoulder and a small pull-over near the cache location. The cache is not located on/in the stone wall or nearby fence, so there is no reason to poke around in either spot. BYOP.
FTF gets a small prize.
Congrats to B2Pi on a lightning fast FTF!