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This
Long, "dog-legged" town in northeast Westchester is
comprised of the hamlets of Cross River, Goldens Bridge, Lewisboro,
South Salem, Vista and Waccabac, and borders on the Connecticut
towns of Ridgefield and New Cannan. Each hamlet has retained a rural
character and has only a few stores or government facilities. the
town prides itself on the ratio of parkland to population, with over
3,000 acres reserved for recreational use. Part of the towns eastern
section was first brought by settlers from the Indians as early as
1640, at which time it was erroneously considered part of
Connecticut. In 1683, a boundary dispute allowed Connecticut to
retain several long Island settlements in return for New York's
Keeping an equal amount of land on its northeastern border, which
became know as Ye Oblong or Equivalent Lands. A deed in 1731 changer
Ye Oblond into Salem Town, which later was subdivided into Upper and
Lower Salem. The western portion of the township
belonged to the Cortlandt Manor, 86,000 acres bestowed upon
Stephanus Van Cortlandt by William III in 1697. It wasn't until the
1730's that tenant farmers moved into the area. By the middle of the
1750's, most of the manor land was being farmed. the first big sale
of manor land took place in 1788, Cortlandt Manor's land was divided
up among several towns, one being Salem. Two years later, the town
established its present borders with Lond Pond Mountain as the
dividing line between North and South Salem; in 1808, the townships
name officially became South Salem. In 1840, John Lewis, a
descendant of a south salem family who made a fortune on Wall
Street, enticed the town to change its name in his honor by setting
up a fund for public schools. So in 1840, the town became Lewisboro.
by 1859, the Lewis fund was worth 18,000; today the fund buys
educational books for the library. Lewisboro retained
its self-sufficiency until the 20th Century. With the popularity of
the automobile, road development and the telephone, the town became
a summer retreat as the local farms were sold of. After WWII, many
summer cottages were renovated for year round use and the population
increased, through today, Lewisboro still attracts many summer
residents.
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