Pocantico Hills, New York

Pocantico Hills
Hamlet
Pocantico Hills

Pocantico Hills within the state of New York

Coordinates: 41°5′40″N 73°50′9″W / 41.09444°N 73.83583°W / 41.09444; -73.83583Coordinates: 41°5′40″N 73°50′9″W / 41.09444°N 73.83583°W / 41.09444; -73.83583
Country United States
State New York
Town Mount Pleasant

Pocantico Hills is a hamlet in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York, northeast of the village of Sleepy Hollow and southwest of the village of Pleasantville. The area was originally settled by native Americans of the Wecquaesgeek tribes; "Pocantico" means "running between two hills," and the name is a reference to the meandering Pocantico River. Nestled between the Hudson River on the west and the Saw Mill River Parkway on the east, one finds pristine woodlands, brooks, 1,000 acres (400 ha) of hiking trails, and nature walks an hour's drive from downtown Manhattan.

The Rockefeller family estate, anchored by Kykuit, the family seat builit by John D. Rockefeller, Sr., is located in Pocantico Hills, as is the adjacent Rockefeller State Park Preserve.

The Union Church of Pocantico Hills is also in the hamlet. This quaint stone church was built by the Rockefeller family for their and the communities’ use. It features beautiful stained glass originals including one by Henri Matisse and nine by Marc Chagall. The Matisse window was his final piece prior to his death in 1954 and was commissioned by Nelson A. Rockefeller in memory of his mother, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art.

The Stone Barns agricultural center was established in 2003 to demonstrate multi-cultural, self-sustaining farming techniques; it is host to the Blue Hill restaurant, a high-end eatery which features foodstuffs grown (or raised) on the Stone Barns property.

The hamlet and park have invited countless photographers from the Audubon Society to Hollywood. Woody Allen's A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy and The Rebound (2009) with Catherine Zeta-Jones have been filmed amongst the wooded trails and quaint country lanes.

The areas was once called Beeckmantown, after the Beeckman family. Stephen D. Beeckman, MD, had lived in a residence on the highest ground of the area, just west of the "Irving Institute".[1]

Notable residents

References

  1. ↑ Bolton, Jr., Robert (1848). A History of the County of Westchester, From its First Settlement to the Present Time. New York: Alexander S. Gould. p. 327. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
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