Miguel Hernandez

Miguel Hernandez, BA, MA, MPA, CHP, currently serves as Vice President of the Westchester County Historical Society and is a member of the Historic Preservation Commission of the Village of Ossining, NY.

Newburgh: Cradle of the American Lawn Mower Industry

March 5, 2013 by Miguel Hernandez 21 Comments

Abraham Levitt, the man who arguably built more suburban homes in the United States than anyone else in the years following World War II once said that: “No single feature of a suburban residential community contributes as much to the charm and beauty of the individual home and the locality as well-kept lawns”

The ubiquitous American suburban lawn in America began 100 years before in 1841 when a 25 year old resident of Newburg New York named Andrew Jackson Downing published a landscape-gardening book entitled, “Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening.”

It counseled readers to improve themselves by improving their front yards and could well be the impetus of the self-help book craze of the later third of the 20th century. He believed that the perfect front yard had to have a large area of “grass mown into a softness like velvet.” [Read more…] about Newburgh: Cradle of the American Lawn Mower Industry

Founding St. Peter’s: Spain’s Gift to Catholic New York

February 27, 2013 by Miguel Hernandez Leave a Comment

It is hard to imagine now but in the 18th century New York City and much of the rest of the thirteen British colonies of America, it was practically illegal to be a Roman Catholic. Widespread anti-Catholicism was a side effect of the Catholic-Protestant wars of 17th century Europe and the geo-political rivalries between the English Crown and the allied Franco-Spanish Kingdoms for control of the Americas.

The anti-Catholic animosity – Leyenda Negra the Spanish called it – was ingrained into the psyche of the largely Protestant British immigrants who came to dominate North America in the wake of the arrival of the Pilgrims and other fundamentalists in the early 1600s. [Read more…] about Founding St. Peter’s: Spain’s Gift to Catholic New York

Elijah Hunter: Revolutionary War Spy

February 21, 2013 by Miguel Hernandez 13 Comments

Spying was a major component of the strategy and the tactics of the American Revolution. However it’s only recently that historians have focused on the intrigues, subterfuges and skullduggery that were used by all sides. Except for the spying of British Major John Andre, his collaboration with Benedict Arnold, and of the failed spying of Nathan Hale, undercover intelligence gathering operations during the Revolution is a mostly forgotten aspect of that conflict.

Nonetheless, spying was quite common in that era and George Washington was its chief proponent. Washington made full use of the 1700s tools of the spy trade including invisible ink, hiding messages in feather quills, and small silver balls for hiding messages that could be swallowed in the event of capture. He also encouraged forging documents and making sure they fell into British hands. [Read more…] about Elijah Hunter: Revolutionary War Spy

An Ossining Castle: David Abercrombie’s ‘Elda’

February 13, 2013 by Miguel Hernandez 36 Comments

Since the days of the Dutch to more recent times, Ossining and its neighboring areas has been the site of magnificent homes, estates and other properties that are or once were owned by prominent New Yorkers.

Many of these people were attracted to Ossining for the relatively inexpensive cost of land, the commanding views of the Hudson River and the easy commute to nearby to New York City. However, because of reduced personal circumstances, as well as changing tastes and life styles, many of these homes and estates are just memories. [Read more…] about An Ossining Castle: David Abercrombie’s ‘Elda’