Pound Ridge


Book Description

Pound Ridge began as an isolated town where shoe making, dairy farming, and basket making were the main occupations. It is blessed with being located slightly away from main highways, industrial development, and commercial sprawl, and during its first 200 years of settlement, Pound Ridge's isolation was also its greatest asset. In the late 19th century, the town had key local industries that provided employment for its residents, but by the time of the Great Depression, the town's population had dwindled to around 500 residents. During the 1960s, Ye Great Meadow on Long Ridge Road was the alternate site for the United Nations world headquarters. Pound Ridge features rarely seen archival photographs of important events and buildings, as well as maps and historical narrative that span 300 years.




Pound Ridge Past


Book Description




Ward Pound Ridge Reservation


Book Description

Ward Pound Ridge Reservation's expansive landscapes and long-abandoned cellar holes tell a unique story. Its 4,315 acres, set aside by the Westchester County Parks Commission in 1925, hold within its boundaries a legacy left by the Native Americans and 18th- and 19th-century families who farmed the rolling fields and rocky hillsides. Marks of the 20th century include the remains of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) encampment and the stone walls, trailside shelters, and roads built by these young men. Thousands of trees planted by the CCC stand tall, shading the reservation's hiking and riding trails. Sitting amidst the park's streams, cliffs, and hills is the Trailside Nature Museum, which was enhanced by the efforts of local garden club women. Indian rock shelters and a cave used by the Leather Man lend an air of mystery to the beauty and wonders of the park's protected flora and fauna. Almost a century after its quiet beginnings, the reservation still invites visitors to enjoy and learn about the wonders of nature.




The Old Leather Man


Book Description

In 1883, wearing a sixty-pound suit sewn from leather boot-tops, a wanderer known only as the Leather Man began to walk a 365 mile loop between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers that he would complete every 34 days, for almost six years. His circuit took him through at least 41 towns in southwestern Connecticut and southeastern New York, sleeping in caves, accepting food from townspeople, and speaking only in grunts and gestures along the way. What remains of the mysterious Leather Man today are the news clippings and photographs taken by the first-hand witnesses of this captivating individual. The Old Leather Man gathers the best of the early newspaper accounts of the Leather Man, and includes maps of his route, historic photographs of his shelters, the houses he was known to stop at along his way, and of the Leather Man himself. This history tracks the footsteps of the Leather Man and unravels the myths surrounding the man who made Connecticut’s caves his home. Ebook Edition Note: Six of the 111 illustrations have been redacted.




The Play Goes On


Book Description

A revealing and heartfelt memoir of a Pulitzer Prize–winning artist finding joy and inspiration after tragedy. In his critically acclaimed Rewrites, Neil Simon talked about his beginnings—his early years of working in television, his first real love, his first play, his first brush with failure, and, most moving of all, his first great loss. Simon's same willingness to open his heart to the reader permeates The Play Goes On. This second act takes the reader from the mid-1970s to the present, a period in which Simon wrote some of his most popular and critically acclaimed plays, including the Brighton Beach trilogy and Lost in Yonkers, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. Simon experienced enormous professional success during this time, but in his personal life he struggled to find that same sense of happiness and satisfaction. After the death of his first wife, he and his two young daughters left New York for Hollywood. There he remarried, and when that foundered he remarried again. Told with his characteristic humor and unflinching sense of irony, The Play Goes On is rich with stories of how Simon's art came to imitate his life. Simon's forty-plus plays make up a body of work that is a long-running memoir in its own right, yet here, in a deeper and more personal book than his first volume, Simon offers a revealing look at an artist in crisis but still able and willing to laugh at himself.




History of Westchester County


Book Description




Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves


Book Description

In 2020, COVID-19, the Australia bushfires, and other global threats served as vivid reminders that human and nonhuman fates are increasingly linked. Human use of nonhuman animals contributes to pandemics, climate change, and other global threats which, in turn, contribute to biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and nonhuman suffering. Jeff Sebo argues that humans have a moral responsibility to include animals in global health and environmental policy. In particular, we should reduce our use of animals as part of our pandemic and climate change mitigation efforts and increase our support for animals as part of our adaptation efforts. Applying and extending frameworks such as One Health and the Green New Deal, Sebo calls for reducing support for factory farming, deforestation, and the wildlife trade; increasing support for humane, healthful, and sustainable alternatives; and considering human and nonhuman needs holistically. Sebo also considers connections with practical issues such as education, employment, social services, and infrastructure, as well as with theoretical issues such as well-being, moral status, political status, and population ethics. In all cases, he shows that these issues are both important and complex, and that we should neither underestimate our responsibilities because of our limitations, nor underestimate our limitations because of our responsibilities. Both an urgent call to action and a survey of what ethical and effective action requires, Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves is an invaluable resource for scholars, advocates, policy-makers, and anyone interested in what kind of world we should attempt to build and how.




Westchester County


Book Description




Walkable Westchester


Book Description

The best guide to the Westchester outdoors just got even better. Walkable Westchester, an indispensible handbook to hiking, walking and exploring in Westchester County, has been issued in a second edition. It includes more than 600 miles of trails in over 200 parks, preserves and sanctuaries. Discover Westchester as you walk, hike, run, ride a horse, walk your dog, bike, cross country ski, or snowshoe. This edition, at 448 pages, is bulging with new and updated information, including details on 26 new parks, 42 more miles of trails, and intriguing sidebars on history, lore and nature. There are plenty of new photographs, detailed maps as well as county locator maps and driving directions with GPS coordinates. Every park description has been updated and enhanced, all making for informative, yet delightful reading. The book covers a wide variety of walking, from level, paved pathways to narrow woodland trails. The environments range from salt-water wetlands to rock outcroppings. So for any kind of walking this book is the perfect companion, whether a suburban mom looking for a paved path or a veteran hiker out for a day-long trek. It's even fun reading on a treadmill. One doesn't have to walk them all, because the authors already have, several times; just let them be your guide so you can pick the best ones for yourself. The book features: Information on 200 parks, preserves, sanctuaries, and protected open space including 26 additional parks not in the previous edition. Descriptions of over 600 miles of trails including 42 miles of new trails. County-wide locator maps and detailed maps of all but the smallest parks. History, science and local lore. Great photographs to encourage you to visit. Icons of activities permitted in each park. Driving directions, GPS coordinates, and availability of public transportation. Links to websites for additional information about the parks. Park contact information.