Cold Spring is a village in the town of Philipstown in Putnam County, New York, United States. The population was 1,983 at the 2010 census.[2] It borders the smaller village of Nelsonville and Garrison. The central area of the village is on the National Register of Historic Places as the Cold Spring Historic District due to its many well-preserved 19th-century buildings, constructed to accommodate workers at the nearby West Point Foundry (itself a Registered Historic Place today). The town is the birthplace of General Gouverneur K. Warren, who was an important figure in the Union Army during the Civil War. The village, located in the Hudson Highlands, sits at the deepest point of the Hudson River, directly across from West Point. Cold Spring serves as a weekend getaway for many residents of New York City.
Commuter service to New York City is available via the Cold Spring train station, served by Metro-North Railroad. The train journey is about an hour and ten minutes to Grand Central Terminal.
History
Early industry
The site of present-day Cold Spring was part of the lands belonging to Adolphus Philipse. The first settler of Cold Spring was Thomas Davenport in 1730. In 1772 a highway master was chosen for the road from Cold Spring to the Post Road from New York to Albany. A small trading hamlet grew alongside the river by the early 1800s.[3] A couple of sloops made regular weekly trips from Cold Spring to New York, carrying wood and some country produce, which came over this model road from the east. Those trips by sloop usually took a week.
In 1818 Gouverneur Kemble established the West Point Foundry opposite West Point to produce artillery pieces for the United States Government. The nearbys mountains contained veins of ore, and were covered with timber for fuel. A brook provided hydropower, and the Hudson a ready shipping outlet. In 1843, the Foundry built the USS Spencer, the first iron ship built in the U.S.[4] With the influx of workers at the Foundry, local housing, businesses and churches increased, and Cold Spring was incorporated as a village in 1846. The first President of the Village was Joshua Haight. The Foundry became famous for its production of Parrott rifles and other munitions during the Civil War, when the foundry grew to a sprawling 100-acre complex employing 1,400. It also manufactured cast iron steam engines for locomotives, gears, and produced much of the pipework for New York’s water system. The rise of steel making and the declining demand for cast iron after the Civil War caused the Foundry to cease operations in 1911.[5]
Many artifacts from the Foundry's history can be viewed at the Putnam History Museum on Chestnut Street. Built in 1830, the building was originally a one-room schoolhouse for the Foundry's teenage apprentices and the children of employees.[6]
On January 22, 1896, local businessmen of Cold Spring formed a fire brigade known as the Cold Spring Hose Company, No.1. A horse-drawn hook and ladder was donated in 1899.[7] The Municipal Building, designed by Louis Mekeel, was constructed in 1926 to house the company's first firetruck, an American LaFrance. The company, renamed Cold Spring Fire Company No.1 in 1900, serves the Villages of Cold Spring, Nelsonville and a district in the Town of Philipstown.[8]
Mr. Willis Buckner, a former slave from the South, was a driver and groom for Susan and Anna Bartlett Warner at their farm on Constitution Island. Mr. Buckner taught Sunday School at the Methodist Church.[7] In the early decades of the 20th century blacks who stayed in this part of New York state migrated away from rural towns to nearby cities with waterfront manufacturing such as Peekskill, Beacon, Newburg, Ossining. During the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan had a presence in Cold Spring[9] as well as Fishkill and Nelsonville.
Pete Seeger formed the Clearwater organization, an environmental group dedicated to advances in sewer treatment, industrial waste disposal, and addressing the discharge of major pollutants into the Hudson. In 1970, the sloop Clearwater docked for a songfest at Cold Spring. As Seeger appeared on stage to thank the audience for coming, fifteen drunks stood up waving little American flags, yelling “Throw the Commies out.” That night someone cut the sloop’s moorings and there were threats to torch the boat. All of this created tension within the Clearwater organization. [10]
Country estates
Towards the latter part of the nineteenth century artists, writers and prominent families were drawn to Cold Spring by the beauty of the Hudson Highlands. Mansions were built along Morris Avenue, including "Undercliff", the home of publisher George Pope Morris, and "Craigside", the home of Julia and General Daniel Butterfield.,[3]
Nearby towns :
Communities
There are six towns and three incorporated villages in Putnam County. There are no cities:
Statue of Sybil Ludington, Revolutionary War heroine, in Carmel
Carmel
Main article: Carmel, New York
The Chuang Yen Monastery (莊嚴寺), in Kent, houses the largest indoor statue of Buddha in the Western Hemisphere.[55]
Carmel is the county seat of Putnam County, with a population of 34,300.[56] The Town of Carmel includes the hamlets of Carmel, Carmel Hills, Field Corners, Hopkins Corners, Mahopac, Mahopac Falls, Secor Corners, Tilly Foster, and West Mahopac. Carmel is along the southern border of Putnam County.
Carmel is known for its historic courthouse and high school, which serves grades 9–12.[57] Carmel was taken in 1795 from Frederickstown, a town which encompassed the present towns of Kent, Patterson, and Carmel.[58]
Kent
Main article: Kent, New York
Kent is a town located along the northern border of Putnam with a population of 14,000.[59] Kent contains the hamlets of Lake Carmel, Kent Corners, Kent Hills, and Ludingtonville. Kent was the last remaining section of Frederickstown, after the towns of Carmel and Patterson were divided from it in 1795. Frederickstown was founded in 1788.[58]
Patterson
A church and cemetery in the town of Patterson
Main article: Patterson, New York
The Town of Patterson is located in the northeast area of Putnam County and has a population of 12,000.[60] Patterson, originally named Franklin, was divided from the former town of Frederickstown, in 1795.[58] Patterson contains the hamlets of Patterson, Barnum Corners, Camp Brady, Fields Corners, Haines Corners, Haviland Hollow, Putnam Lake, Steinbeck Corners, Towners, and West Patterson.
Philipstown
Main article: Philipstown, New York
Cold Spring's Main Street, part of the federally recognized historic district in the village.
Philipstown is a town located along the western end of Putnam County and it has a population of 10,000.[61] Philipstown contains the villages and hamlets of Cold Spring, Forsonville, Garrison, Garrison Four Corners, Glenclyffe, Manitou, McKeel Corners, Nelsonville, North Highland, Storm King, and the north side of Continental Village. It was founded in 1788.[58] West Point (in Orange County) is located across the Hudson River from the village of Cold Spring.[58]
It has three stations on the Metro North Railroad Hudson line: in Garrison, Cold Spring and Manitou, which has limited train service.
Two public libraries are located in Philipstown: the Desmond-Fish Library in Garrison and the Julia L. Butterfield Library in Cold Spring.
Surprise Lake Camp is in Cold Spring, New York
Southeast
Main article: Southeast, New York
The Town of Southeast is located in the southeastern corner of Putnam County, with a population of 18,000.[62] It was founded in 1788 as one of the three original towns in what would later become Putnam County.[63] Its shape changed greatly in 1795, when it lost its northern half to Patterson and gained a great amount on its western side.
It is the second-largest town in Putnam County, second only to Carmel.[63] The crossroads of Interstate highways 684 and 84; State Routes 22 and 312; and US Highways 6 and 202 are located here. Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line has two stops that service the area, at Brewster Village and Southeast Station (formerly Brewster North) off Route 312.[63] Southeast contains the village of Brewster, and the hamlets of Brewster Hill, Brewster Heights, Deans Corners, Deforest Corners, Drewville Heights, Dykemans, Milltown, Peach Lake, Sears Corners, and Sodom.
Putnam Valley
Main article: Putnam Valley, New York
Putnam Valley is a town located on the southern border of Putnam County with a population of 11,000.[64] Putnam Valley contains the hamlets of Adams Corners, Christian Corners, Gilbert Corners, Lake Peekskill, Oscawana Corners, Putnam Valley, Tompkins Corners, Sunnybrook.
Putnam Valley was created in 1835 as the Town Of Quincy, taking its current name the following year. The town was created by splitting off from Philipstown. Putnam Valley is home to the Clarence Fahnestock State Park, which covers much of Putnam County and some of Dutchess County.[48]
Cold Spring
Main article: Cold Spring, New York
Cold Spring is an incorporated village surrounded by the Town of Philipstown and the village of Nelsonville.
Nelsonville
Main article: Nelsonville, New York
Nelsonville is an incorporated village surrounded by the Town of Philipstown and the village of Cold Spring.
Brewster
Main article: Brewster, New York
Brewster is an incorporated village within the Town of Southeast.