AHS Senior on a Mission to Unlock Greenburgh's Revolutionary History

Ardsley teen Chris Hofmann is frustrated by how little locals—even longtime residents—know about Greenburgh's part in the American Revolution. 

"Most people don't know about the revolutionary encampments that were here in our town," he said, with an enthusiasm most teens reserve for talking about baseball or soccer. "There was even one right where the Ardsley High School is now."

For his senior internship at Ardsley High School, Hofmann is working to unlock the secrets of the area's past with Greenburgh Town Historian Frank Jazzo, Sons of the American Revolution, NY Chapter President Robert Stackpole and Thomas Madden, the Commissioner of Community Development and Conservation for the Town of Greenburgh.  With grant money they received from the Greenway Historical Conservancy, the historians have hired Dr. Robert Selig  to work with them in their investigation of American and French encampments during the war for independence. 

They are investigating four "hot spots" which correlate with the American-French encampment in Greenburgh during the summer of 1781.  The sites include the Joseph Appleby house on Secor Road—where George Washington stayed—the Odell house on Ridge Road—where French General Rochambeau stayed—Sunnidale golf course—where the French encampments were—and the American encampments located at present-day Ardsley High School.

According to Hofmann, "The final decision to march to Yorktown [VA, which won the Revolutionary War] was made here."

Hofmann, who will start as a history major at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island next September, can lead tours of the town as if he were already an accomplished historian. He noted how many people  know nothing about this research though, "It's pretty big," he said. 

Hofmann also mentioned an ongoing controversy with Dobbs Ferry historian , who believes that the Americans started their march to Yorktown in Dobbs Ferry.  Hofmann feels that the evidence to support Dr. Borkow's thesis isn't very strong.  Hofmann and colleagues are hoping that Dr. Selig will settle the controversy and discover what truly happened.

Madden added that Selig is working on overlaying French maps from the war with current GIS maps to find out where the encampments were actually located.  The project will be done by the end of this year, he said, and it will be "nice when it's done to solidify what happened there."

Hofmann is also working individually on researching the history of the American encampment—now Ardsley High School—from the time it was inhabited by Native Americans to the present day. 

So far he has learned that a 1720 house owned by a revolutionary-war captain was burned down during the war. The captain was later rewarded with a new house—the property for which "covered all of Ardsley, " said Hofmann. The next major development on the property was the Lewis Ohen house which stood from 1909-57.  

Greenburgh has additionally received some parcels of land from the county on which they plan to build a Washington-Rochambeau walking path. The trailway will preserve old farm walls and will go between trailways and roadways in following the path of the Revolutionary War.

When Hofmann is done with his research, he plans to give it to the Ardsley Historical Society since, "Not even [they] know about it."