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The main branch of the Hudson River Railroad, with its station at Forty-second Street and Fourth Avenue, crosses the Harlem River at Mott Haven, and, following its northern bank, meets the Hudson at this point, where the 30th Street branch, following the river, joins the main line.  The steamer now passes Riverdale, with its beautiful residences and the Convent of Mount St. Vincent, one of the prominent landmarks of the Hudson, located on grounds bought of Edwin Forrest, the tragedian, whose “Font Hill Castle” appears in the foreground, and we come to

=Yonkers=, on the east bank, seventeen miles from New York, at the mouth of the Nepperhan.  West of the creek is a large rock, called A-mac-lea-sin, the great stone to which the Indians paid reverence as an evidence of the permanency and immutability of their deity.  The Mahican Village at the mouth of the creek was called Nappechemak.  European settlements were made as early as 1639, as shown by deeds of purchase.  Here are many important manufacturing industries:  carpet, silk, and hat factories; mowers and reapers, gutta percha, rubber and pencil companies.  Its “Recreation Pavilion” on the pier was a noble thing for the city to build—­costing $50,000.  The structure is of steel and capable of accommodating 5,000 people.

It is said that Yonkers derived its name from Yonk-herr—­the young heir, or young sir, of the Phillipse manor.  Until after the middle of the seventeenth century the Phillipse family had their principal residence at Castle Phillipse, Sleepy Hollow, but having purchased “property to the southward” from Adrian Van der Donck and obtained from the English king a patent creating the manor of Phillipsburgh, they moved from their old castle to the new “Manor Hall,” which at this time was probably the finest mansion on the Hudson.  This property was confiscated by act of Legislature in 1779, as Frederick Phillipse, third lord of the manor, was thought to lean toward royalty, and sold by the “Commissioners of Forfeiture” in 1785.  It was afterwards purchased by John Jacob Astor, then passed to the Government, was bought by the village of Yonkers in 1868, and became the City Hall in 1872.  The older portion of the house was built in 1682, the present front in 1745.  The woodwork is very interesting, also the ceilings, the large hall and the wide fire-place.  In the room still pointed out as Washington’s, the fire-place retains the old tiles, “illustrating familiar passages in Bible history,” fifty on each side, looking as clear as if they were made but yesterday.

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  Once more I walk in the dark old street
    Wearily to and fro:—­
  But I sit no more on the desolate pier
    Watching the river flow.

  Richard Henry Stoddard.

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Mary Phillipse, belle of the neighborhood, and known in tradition as Washington’s first love, was born in the “Manor House” July 3, 1730.  Washington first met her on a visit to New York in 1756, after his return from Braddock’s campaign, as guest of Beverly Robinson, who had married her elder sister.