Jones's Wood

By Hopper Striker Mott

Most of the property in this tract, mellowed by
romance and favored by nature, was beautifully wooded,
the trees towering to a great height and from the owners
the territory took the name of Jones' Wood. The hillock
known as Dead Man's Rock marked its beginning some
75 years ago. In later times the site of this landmark
became ignoble in police annals as the boundary of
Battle Row. This region was the.last fastness of the
forest primeval that once covered the rocky shores of
the East River and its wildness was almost savage. In
the infant days of the colony it was the scene of tradition
and fable having been said to be a favorite resort of the
pirates who dared the terrors of Hell Gate and came
here to land their treasures and hold their revels. The
gifted pen of Irving* has described it as "a new creation"
to the eyes of voyagers from the settlements, for no
signs of human thrift appeared to check the delicious
wildness of nature which here revelled in all her luxuriant
variety. The hills along the river were adorned with
the vigorous natives of the soil: the lordly oak, the
generous chestnut, the graceful elm,—while here and
there the tulip tree reared its majestic head, the giant of
the forest. Where later were seen the gay retreats of
luxury,—our author muses,—villas half buried in twi¬
light bowers, whence the amorous flute oft breathed the
sighings of some city swain,—there the fish-hawk built
her solitary nest on some dry tree that overlooked her
watery domain. The timid deer fed undisturbed along
these shores now^ hallowed by the lover's moonlight walk
and printed by the slender foot of beauty; and a savage
solitude extended over these happy regions, where now
are reared the stately towers of the Joneses, the Scher¬
merhorns and the Rhinelanders. Its shores were re¬
nowned for its fisheries and under the shadow of its rocky

* Irving's His. of N.  Y., Chap. IV.

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