Canada -- Description and travel; United States -- Description and travel
In the hills behind Point-no-Point, on the western verge of the Tappan
Zee, at one hundred and sixty feet elevation, is Rockland Lake, a
crystal sheet of water which gives New York much of its ice supply,
the blocks being sent from the top of the hill on a long slide to the
barges that carry it down the river. As they glide along, they look in
the distance, under the sunlight, like a string of diamonds. Hook
Mountain, separating the lake from the river, is over six hundred feet
high, and out of the lake flows the Hackensack River behind the
Palisades, through the Jersey meadows to Newark Bay. Just above
Tarrytown, on the eastern shore, is Sing-Sing Village, on a pretty
slope, the name coming from the Indian Ossining, meaning "a stony
place." Here, just back from the shore, is the famous Sing-Sing
Prison, the long, low tiers of white stone buildings having the
railway tunnelled through them, and the pleasant village rising on the
hillside behind. The convicts built their own prison many years ago,
with stone hewn out of an adjacent marble ridge, called Mount
Pleasant. Just above, the long forest-covered projection of Teller's
or Croton Point, thrust for two miles, or more than half-way across
the broad river, from the eastern bank, makes the northern boundary of
the Tappan Zee. The West Shore railway, which has come up through the
Hackensack Valley from Jersey City, emerges high on the western hills
and runs gradually down to the river bank, so that the Hudson above
has a railway on either shore. Alongside the Point, the Croton River
flows in, the Reservoir being about six miles up that stream. It was
off Teller's Point the British sloop "Vulture" anchored, when she
brought André up from New York for his interview with Arnold.
ENTERING THE HIGHLANDS.
Beyond Teller's Point is another broadened expanse of the Hudson,
Haverstraw Bay, spreading in parts five miles wide, its western shore
lined with brickmaking establishments, lime-kilns and the factories
which break up the stone quarried in the neighboring hills into
Belgian blocks for New York street paving. Far in front, over the
spacious bay, looms up the distant range of Hudson River Highlands, an
outcrop of the great Kittatinny ridge, stretching broadly across the
country, a part of the same deep blue-gray mountain wall we have
already penetrated farther south. Its changing hues and appearance, as
approached, remind of Campbell's couplet in the _Pleasures of Hope_:
"'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,
And robes the mountain in its azure hue."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account