The Star, December 13, 2001

Huntersville: The community that would not die

by Susan Chitwood

This is the second of a two-part series about Huntersville, the Yorktown community that almost disappeared with the building of the new Croton Dam in 1907.

The new Croton dam brought change to all the surrounding communities. The old Anglo-Dutch mix was leavened by the Italian masons and Irish workers who stayed on, and many farmers went to work for the city of New York.

Christopher Tompkins' grandfather became superintendent of the Croton Reservoir. He occupied the post for 40 years, and his collection of before-and-after photographs of the dam and its construction would provide the impetus for his grandson's book, "The Croton Dams and Aqueduct," published almost a century later.

Of old Huntersville itself little remains. In addition to an old school, there are several homes along Hunterbrook, Baptist Church, Baldwin and Underhill roads that date to the 18th century. Two are thought to have belonged to the Tompkins.

The interior of the old Baptist church, constructed in 1785 and rebuilt in 1848, has been restored. Now the Community Church of Yorktown, its sanctuary was painted in shades of green and beige appropriate to the period. A fund drive initiated earlier this year has raised $4,000 out of the $10,000 needed for new roofing. In addition to weekly services, the church offers a popular Christmas Evening service lit by candles and some of the church's original whale oil lamps. "Silent Night" is played on an old pump organ.

Pastor Bill Harris lives next door in the old parsonage, built in 1802, which served as the Baptist meeting house until the present church was built. Before leaving for his other job in Peekskill at Engelhard Corp., Harris sometimes slips into the church for a few minutes. It is "absolutely wonderful, a peaceful place to be," he said. "Tony Masi, our head deacon, likes to point out that we're sitting in pews people made 100 years ago."

The church cemetery, which church members are gradually reclaiming from the woods, hosts dozens of Tompkins and pre-Revolutionary War residents. There are also scores of Tompkins alive and well in the area, including patriarch Chester Tompkins, in his 90s. Tompkins Garage on Route 129 is owned by Jimmy Tompkins, Christopher's cousin. Jimmy's mother, Marcena, lives next door - in a house that was taken apart, moved and reassembled before the dam was built and old Huntersville was inundated by the waters of the Croton River.

Christopher's uncle Sam Tompkins is also an area resident. It was Sam who actually visited old Huntersville in 1957, when the reservoir was drained for repairs following a howler of a storm. But Sam Tompkins didn't just see his old home at the bottom of the lake; he also found a pair of children's shoes, still intact.

Will similar artifacts from a lost civilization turn up in the future, should the reservoir be lowered again?

Perhaps. But the residents of modern-day Huntersville are more focused on preserving what remains. Just this year, the 150-member Huntersville Association triumphed against the Yorktown Planning Board in a suit filed in New York State Supreme Court in White Plains, according to association president Paul Moskowitz. In an attempt to improve Hunterbrook Road, the board decided to bulldoze a stretch of stone walls. Association members donated money for court fees, a lawyer joined the neighborhood cause, fee-free, and in the end the judge ruled that the planning board had acted "arbitrarily and capriciously," Moskowitz said.

The 50-year-old association, which has its own website, is one of Yorktown's strongest, according to Town Clerk Alice Roker. While scattered among little-known and remote byways like Old Logging Road, the some 150 members form a close-knit community. Members of the association voluntarily pay $20 dues annually, and the nine-member board of directors sponsors a fall neighborhood party and a spring cleanup. Last year there was a community recital.

But belonging to the association is clearly about more than socializing. Board members regularly attend town meetings to guarantee that Huntersville's pastoral charms, almost eradicated 100 years ago by New York City's need for water and at risk again just this year, remain protected from mindless growth.

"This is not anti-development," Moskowitz said of the association's goals. "We oppose irresponsible growth. We have an area where people have moved because it's rural and they support the association that fights to preserve it. That means being in favor of preserving open space, old structures and stone walls built by farmers clearing fields."

Christmas in Huntersville

The Christmas Eve Service at the Community Church of Yorktown is open to the public. The service lasts one hour. The church is at 1645 Baptist Church Road. Call 962-5832 for information.

©2001, The Journal News. Reprinted with permission.