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Mountain Lakes Park History Date Acquired: 1961 Acres: 1082 Background: Mountain Lakes camp is part of a tract of land originally settled by 25 men from Norwalk, Connecticut and called “Ridgefield.” The majority of the lands were purchased between 1708 and 1729 by Chief Catoonah of the Long Pond Indians of the Tankiteke sachemdum of the Wappinger Tribe (Long Pond is now called Lake Waccabuc). When the Connecticut - New York border was changed in 1731, this land was given to New York and the town of North Salem was created. By 1840, part of the property that is now the park was owned by George F. Bailey of the Bailey’s circus fame. From 1906 to 1918 it belonged to Henry B. Anderson, a prominent attorney who wanted to create a development that would rival Tuxedo Park. He built ten miles of roads and brought in sewers and water. To attract buyers, Anderson and his associates built a teahouse in 1907 and named it “The Port of Missing Men,” after the 1905 Meredith Nicholson novel. In two years more than 20,000 people came to enjoy the food and the view from the tearoom’s glassed porches. World War I may have ended the sales promotion, but the teahouse continued into the 1930s. In 1956 it was sold to a developer and in 1961 Westchester County bought the property and started an overnight camp for boys and girls. The park is now used for fishing, ice fishing and skating, boating and canoeing, hiking, picnicking, ball fields, ski touring, snowshoeing, swimming, and nature study. The legendary hermitess, Sarah Bishop, lived in a cave on West Mountain from the early 1780s until her death in 1809. A slender young woman of fair complexion and graceful figure, it is said that she had been mistreated by the British who burned her home on Long Island, causing her mind to become unstable. She went into seclusion in a tiny cave only three feet wide and too low to stand erect in. She lived on vegetables grown in a garden patch near her cave. Sarah kept several dresses of rich silk and satin at the home of Jared Hoyt, which she would change into from her cave clothes in order to attend the Lower Salem Presbyterian Church. She was skilled at knitting, sewing and spinning, and would visit members of the congregation often spending the night but saying little. When her brother finally found her she refused to return home with him. In January 1809 she died in a snowstorm.
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