Muscoot on the Move

A shadow lurked on the horizon as Ferdinand Hopkins began enlarging his farm and modernizing his dairy operation.  In 1883, the state legislature passed “An Act to provide new Reservoirs, Dams and a new Aqueduct with appurtenances thereof, for the purpose of supplying the City of New York with increased supply of pure and wholesome water."   This act allowed the City’s engineers to begin assessing possible sites in Westchester for future dams.

It was clear from the beginning that northern Westchester would be greatly affected by the new reservoirs.   Ultimately the entire village of Katonah had to be moved, while significant portions of Golden Bridge, Purdys and Croton Falls would vanish.  The farms which fronted the Croton and Muscoot Rivers also faced probable losses to rising flood water.

On January 5, 1897 the City of New York notified Ferdinand T. Hopkins that it was taking 160 acres of land on Muscoot farm.  This included land actually flooded once the Cornell Dam (New Croton Dam) was completed in 1906, plus adjacent acreage needed to protect the watershed of the reservoirs.   This also included the parcels on which the house and all the farm buildings were located.  Like most of the Westchester farmers he immediately set out to lease back the lands and buildings.  Once he had regained the use of his summer home, he could concentrate on planning his next move.

The City did not want to pay demolition expenses before its lands were flooded and preferred to offer the buildings to the public with the proviso that the buyer remove them at his own expense.  In April 1899, the City put the buildings up for public action.  Hopkins made an offer to the Aqueduct Commission which the city accepted.

The buildings acquired at auction had to be moved from the city property.  Moving the various buildings required patience and ingenuity in an era when horse power meant just that.  Each building was moved without being dismantled.   It would be gently moved off its foundation onto a bed of logs which served as rollers.  A team of horses worked a large windlass which was set up in front of the building in the direction it was to be moved.  Ropes from the building were attached to the windlass and as the horses turned it, the building was pulled forward off it foundation and across the log rollers.   Once the edge of the bed of logs was reached, the logs from behind the house were moved to the front, the windlass advanced further.

There were many large buildings on the Hopkins property that had to be moved, plus a plethora of smaller structures.  The main house, Carriage House, Carriage Barns, and the horse barn at the southern end of the dairy barn each required weeks of preparatory work.  Each building had to be carefully examined and reinforced to withstand the move. New foundations had to be prepared at the new site.  The path between the old and new sites had to be leveled and smoothed, to make the move as easy as possible.  In addition to these large buildings, the hen house, ice house, outhouse, old milk house, and corn crib made the journey northward toward the large dairy barn.

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