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Upcoming Events
Fair Ridge Cemetery Tour
Sunday, October 27 - Buy Tickets
The Great Holiday Train Show
November 16 - January 4 - Buy Tickets
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On this fascinating tour of the Fair Ridge Cemetery’s historic sections, New Castle Town Historian Gray Williams will talk about some of the prominent New Castle families that since 1867 have chosen this non-sectarian community cemetery for their final resting place. The monuments that mark their graves will be given vivid context through photographs of their homes and businesses, plus portraits of several of them. Come and meet your (former) neighbors, now permanently residing at one of our historic landmarks.
Buy your tickets for Sunday, October 27th for 1pm, 2pm or 3pm.
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Castles House Tour a Great Success!
We wish to thank everyone who contributed to make the return of our Castles of New Castle house tour such a wonderful experience. Our October 6th event saw five home owners graciously open the doors to their "castles" to share the special architecture and history found in our community. Additionally we would like to thank all of the volunteers who helped on the day of the event, the over 100 attendees we welcomed, and our House Tour Committee Trustees.
| A special thank you to our sponsors | | |
Second Graders Explore Our Local History Through Beloved Tours
The recent second-grade tours of the Horace Greeley House were a delightful celebration of our community's rich history, sparking joy and curiosity among our young learners! These interactive tours not only allowed students to explore the summer home of one of our nation's influential figures, but also to engage with history in a hands-on way that made learning come alive.
From peering into rooms adorned with period furnishings to participating in lively discussions about what it was like going to school in the past, the students were fully immersed in the experience. Our Second Grade Tour docents have worked to bring to life the childhood experience of our community in the 19th and early 20th century: one-and-two-room schools scattered throughout New Castle - each school with 8 grades and usually with only one teacher. For high school, students had to take a train to Pleasantville. These tours are part of the Society's commitment to fostering a love of local heritage and history.
|  | Circa 1905 photo of school District #4, formerly at the southwest corner of King Street and Bedford Road. It was the most populous school in New Castle at the beginning of the 20th century, and became the nucleus of the Chappaqua Central School District | | | | |
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Tickets on Sale Now for The Great Holiday Train Show!
Our family holiday favorite returns November 16th through January 4th with magical miniature landscapes and train sets displayed in the festively decorated Greeley House.
This year will feature an expanded Lego City display and an activity room with a scavenger hunt and other fun holiday activities for kids. For the train enthusiasts, there will be two all new displays, including a whole new Polar Express layout and a brand new Southwestern desert scene highlighting Amtrak passenger service. All aboard for a magical Holiday Train experience!
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Collection Highlights
This fall Kari Weis, our new Collections Assistant, has been digitizing our postcard collection for our online catalogue on CatalogIt HUB. The work of digitizing and making our collections more accessible is a work in progress - please watch this space!
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Historic Places of New Castle
Chappaqua Railroad Stations
To those of us now living in Chappaqua, the present railroad passenger station is all we know. But there were others before it, going back to the arrival of the railroad itself in the 1840s.
The first was contained within a couple of flat-roofed boxes, utilitarian but homely, located on the west side of the tracks, where the recently constructed 54 Hunts Place is now. It also served as the freight depot, and continued to do so for several decades. Below it is how it looked about 1900, when it was a fuel dealership.
| Meanwhile, at least as early as the 1860s, the passenger station moved to the lobby of the Chappaqua Hotel, at the Main Street crossing on the eastern side of the tracks, where 1 King Street is now. | About 1870, a proper passenger station was constructed on recently opened North Greeley Avenue, where the former Rite Aid building is located. It continued to serve until the end of the century. | By 1900, Chappaqua had grown considerably, and the station and its site became increasingly cramped. The controversy over whether and where to move the station was only settled when Horace Greeley’s daughter, Gabrielle Greeley Clendenin, and her husband, the Reverend Dr. Frank M. Clendenin, donated land from the family farm for both the station and the access to it, Woodburn Avenue. The new station was dedicated in 1902 with much ceremony, and has remained in use ever since. | The former passenger station remained in service as a freight depot until the end of World War II, after which local demand for railroad shipping dried up, and the station was demolished. After the railroad was electrified and ticket machines were installed in the overhead bridge, the passenger station became increasingly obsolete, and in 2015 was repurposed as a restaurant and café. And so it remains today. | | | |
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Museum Shop
For the perfect gift, check out our Museum Store collection of locally inspired products.
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