Train Show Tickets on Sale Now

November 22 to January 3

This beloved annual tradition returns to the Horace Greeley House. New layouts for this year include LEGO Around the World, alongside classic family favorites like the Polar Express and Santa’s Holiday Train. The trains are set in the festively decorated historic home, with several full-sized holiday trees decorated by local designers. For those who are young or young at heart, we offer a train-themed scavenger hunt, an activity room with crafts and hands-on trains, and even a mini train engine for the perfect photo op!

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Help with the fun by volunteering to greet visitors, provide information and oversee the model trains.

Chappaqua Tree Lighting

Friday, November 28, 4-5pm

Free Digital Guide Launch

The New Castle Historical Society is thrilled to announce the launch of our free digital guide through Bloomberg Connects. You can access exclusive New Castle history content right from your phone or tablet! Enhance your Greeley House tour experience or learn more about our town from the comfort of your home. With content ranging from the story of New Castle to historic walking tours, our new digital guide has something for everyone!

Part of our Community

Hoppin' House Tour

On Sunday, October 5, more than 150 people attended the Castles of New Castle House Tour and enjoyed exclusive access to five privately-owned historic homes. Built between the 1790s and the 1930s, these beautiful houses highlighted period architecture, local history, and interior design, and all the proceeds from the event support the mission of NCHS to preserve and share the history of New Castle.

Winning Wine Tasting

Thank you to everyone who attended our wine tasting on Friday, October 24, with proceeds supporting the NCHS volunteer program. Attendees enjoyed catering from Jean-Jacques Culinary Creations, a tour of the historic Greeley House by Town Historian Gray Williams, and a lively wine tasting led by Thierry Pradines of Best Wine Purveyors.

RevFest250 Rendezvous

The New Castle Historical Society participated in RevFest250, a major commemoration of the American Revolution's 250th anniversary. This immersive, two-day living-history festival took place at Croton Point Park, featuring reenactments, period crafts, and historical storytelling.

A Capital Community Day

We hosted a lively booth at New Castle Community Day on September 14. We offered engaging activities, historical displays, and information about local heritage and upcoming programs, fostering a deeper connection with the town's history.

Historic Places of New Castle

Cabin Ridge

by Gray Williams, Town Historian

This year’s Castles of New Castle House Tour included two homes in a distinctive and historic neighborhood. Cabin Ridge was founded by members of a famous national organization that still has its headquarters here, the Camp Fire Club of America.

Cabin at Cabin Ridge Road

The Camp Fire Club was founded in 1897 by William Hornaday, the first president of the New York Zoological Society. Its mission, in his words, was to “bring together men who subscribe to the principles of adventure and fellowship in the great outdoors, to share their experiences, and further the interests of hunting and conservation.” Its most famous member was Teddy Roosevelt, but others included Gifford Pinchot, father of the National Park system; Ernest Thompson Seton and Dan Beard, founders of the Boy Scouts of America; and David Abercrombie, proprietor of Abercrombie & Fitch (and a New Castle resident). Although largely an organization of hunters and fishermen, the club attracted nature lovers from all walks of life, and it was in the forefront of wilderness and wildlife conservation efforts such as the rescue of the buffalo from extinction, and the end to the slaughter of birds for their decorative feathers. Today, the Camp Fire Conservation Fund is a significant sponsor of education, research, and wildlife preservation.

Starting in 1917, the club purchased a large tract of land on the road that now bears its name. The purpose was to provide a place where its members could experience the outdoors simply and directly. A rustic clubhouse was built, and water from springs was dammed to form a large lake. Fencing turned much of the property into a wildlife preserve. But part of it, on the north side of Campfire Road, was set aside for members who wanted to build their own retreats in the vicinity. The area was named Cabin Ridge, and the houses built there gradually evolved from seasonal cottages to year-round homes. In 1975, the formal connection with the Camp Fire Club ended, and Cabin Ridge now consists of privately owned properties on a private road.

Old Clubhouse at Cabin Ridge Road

When the original houses in Cabin Ridge were built, they were intended to resemble woodland hunting lodges. Several of them took the form of log cabins. But they were log cabins with a difference, for their walls were constructed of smooth cedar timbers, fastened together so tightly that there were no chinks between them. One of the houses on the tour is a particularly well-preserved example. Except for modernized utilities, its rustic appearance has changed very little, inside or out, since its original construction.

The house next door is more elaborate. Cabin Ridge was a community in itself, and this building was its clubhouse. Its walls, inside and out, are constructed of local fieldstone, in the style of an early rural cottage. It has been considerably enlarged over the years, but its core retains most of its original form.

Cabin Ridge is now a neighborhood of permanent homes rather than rustic retreats. It nonetheless retains much of its open space and woodland atmosphere. Its history is still quite evident and accounts for a lot of its distinctive charm.

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