Mount Pleasant

by George Waterbury, Claudine Waterbury, Bert Ruiz

Overview

Mount Pleasant has deep American roots going back to the Revolutionary War, when local tenant farmers filled the ranks of General Washington's Continental army. For years, travel to New York City was difficult, until the arrival of the railroad in 1846 allowed easy transportation to lower Manhattan. In 1893, John D. Rockefeller Sr. began buying land in Pocantico and built his classic Georgian mansion. The massive Kensico Dam in Valhalla was completed in 1917 to satisfy the growing thirst of New York City. In 1927, Rose Hawthorne, the daughter of writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, completed the Rosary Hill Home to care for the unfortunate. The following year, Dewitt Wallace and his wife Lila moved to Pleasantville to launch the production of Reader's Digest. Through photographs, Mount Pleasant remembers these historic moments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738562162
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	03/02/2009
Series:	Images of America Series
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,132,198
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

George Waterbury is president of the Mount Pleasant Historical Society and also serves as the historian for the town of Mount Pleasant. His wife, Claudine Waterbury, is secretary of the historical society, and both are lifetime Mount Pleasant residents. Bert Ruiz is the society's lead trustee and a financial advisor for Edward Jones.

Editorial Reviews

Title: Mt. Pleasant latest to offer local history book

Author: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

Publisher: The Journal News

Date: 3/2/09



As lifelong residents of the town, George and Claudine Waterbury have lived through much of its history.



At the age of 86, George Waterbury serves as town historian and president of the Mount Pleasant Historical Society. His wife, 84, is the society's secretary.



Tonight, the couple, along with the Historical Society's lead trustee, Bert Ruiz, will debut as co-authors of a pictorial book detailing the town's history.



"Images of America: Mount Pleasant," published by Arcadia Publishing, is part of a series that chronicles communities throughout the United States.



All proceeds from the sale of the books, retailing at $21.99, will be donated to the Historical Society, said Waterbury, who also serves as a trustee of the Westchester Historical Society.



"We knew a lot of the history," said Waterbury, who was born in Pleasantville and has lived in Thornwood since 1954. "And we discovered a few more things during our research."



The book traces the history of the town starting with the paintings of some early inhabitants of the land, the Weckquaeskeck.



It journeys through the early years, mentioning Henry Hudson and Philipsburg Manor, and visualizes the impact of the railroad and the Rockefeller family in the late 1800s and early 1900s.



The book includes the history of local churches, including the 1818-built First Methodist Episcopal Church, which collapsed in a heavy ice and snowstorm in January 1948.



"It was a blizzard, and there was just too much snow," said George Waterbury, who was baptized there.



The book also tells the story of Rose Hawthorne, daughter of author Nathaniel Hawthorne.



"I didn't know Hawthorne (the hamlet) had three other names before," said Claudine Waterbury, a retired advertising agency executive.



In 1787, it was called Hammond's Mill. In 1818, the name was changed to Unionville to make it more "patriotic-sounding," she said.



The area was called Neperan in 1851, in honor of the American Indian name for the Saw Mill River.



The hamlet was finally renamed Hawthorne in 1901 after Rose Hawthorne established the Rosary Hill Home for terminal cancer patients.



"We just love this area; we attended the local schools and have been part of the community for a long time," said Waterbury, who served in the Navy during World War II as a bombardier and retired as the chief financial officer of a food brokerage company.



Many of the pictures for the book have come from peoples' attics, said Lynn Beahm, the public relations coordinator of Arcadia Publishing.



"It's a great way to preserve and capture history," she said. "People find it enjoyable to look at old photographs and learn about their communities."

From the Publisher