Let’s start with a softball! This is a story that has many references to our area locale that have been fictionalized. What are some you spotted, and what are their real-life counterparts?
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It’s curious that some names have been changed (Peterskill for Peekskill, but there is an actual Peters Kill in Minnewaska State Park) while other local references are not fictionalized. Dunderberg Mountain, Fishkill, Sing Sing, Croton and ever Robeson appear unaltered. The original NY Times book review talked about the renaming. “The names were changed, he said, to create a sense of ‘hyper-reality,’ a reminder to the reader that the book is a work of fiction, not ‘replicated history.’ Boyle says, ”I wanted to re-invent history; to use it as a point of departure for a meditation on what my life has been, where I came from, what my antecedents and the antecedents of the region I grew up in were.”
I find Boyle’s interweaving of personal and place names fascinating because it brings such a interesting complexity and heightened self-awareness to the book. Consider this six-degrees of separation for our Field Library: the modern character of Catherine Depeyster Van Wart (wife of dust-eating Rombout Van Wart) has her ancestral name linked to the real-life Catherine M. Van Cortlandt Field, whose son, Cortlandt De Peyster Field, founded our library in her memory with a donation of $10,000! And library philanthropy ran in this family–his father, Benjamin H. Field, was one of the founders of the New York Free Circulating Library, aka, The New York Public Library! You’re talking old Knickerbocker families here–no wonder we need a genealogical tree at the beginning of the book!
Te interweaving of past and present make the stories particularly interesting.
And particularly if you know the places and people he’s referring to. Here are a few gleanings:
Jan Pieterse is obviously, Jan Peek or Peeck, according to the records of the court of New Amsterdam for 1653, and he was a “tapster” (originally from New York City) who was fined and had his license revoked for disorderly behavior and drinking on Sundays. After his death, his wife continued his business but she was also banished for repeating his offences.
Stephanus Van Cortlandt was the actual lord of Van Cortlandt Manor: isn’t he the character of Oloffe Stephanus Van Wart?
His manor home is in the area of Van Cortlandtville, three miles north of Peekskill, where the original village of Peekskill was located. The manor home of the Van Cortlandt family still stands today on the property of the Cortlandt Nursing Home. During the Revolution, Washington and his aides slept in the Van Cortlandt manor while making Peekskill their headquarters in 1776, 1777, and 1778.
At Van Cortlandtville, the historic St. Peter’s Church still stands today, where Washington worshipped.
There is a Van Wart personal name associated with our area: a Reverand Alexander Van Wart was the only surviving son of the man who captured Major John Andre, the British spy and traitor. Rev. Van Wart participated in the dedication of the monument in Tarrytown which celebrates this event, and also speaking at the ceremonies was Peekskill’s own Chauncey M. Depew. In 1870, when the residents of the Dobbs Ferry area were casting about for their village, it was suggested that it be named Paulding-on-Hudson in honor of another of Andre’s capturers, but that was given up favor of striking the Van off Van Wart, and calling it Wart-on-Hudson. Thankfully, the meeting broke up and the name was not adopted.
Sint Sink is the village of Sing Sing, which was named that until 1900 when the name was changed to Ossining.
The Kitchiwonks were a real Indian tribe and their village was called Sackhoes, around which the settlement of Peekskill grew.
The Weckquaesgeeks were also a real Indian tribe of the Mohicans who sold their land to Frederick Philipse and it is described in the manor grant as the Weckquaesgeek tract.
In the book, it was Peletiah Crane’s meadow where the Robeson concert took place; in actuality, the area was called “Lakeland Acres,” a picnic grounds on the west side Oregon Road near Hollowbrook Country Club golf course.
Will Connell, the singer performing at the Robeson concerts, is Pete Seeger.
The writer and novelist, Sasha Freeman, also making an appearance during the Robeson riots, is Howard Fast who wrote a reminiscence of the event, which is in the Field Library’s Local History Archives.
Is Morton Blum the real life architect and builder, Seymour Arkawy?
Kitchawank Colony is Mohegan Colony.
Is the Van Der Meulen bakery in Peekskill the Modern Bakery or another?
Where is Suycker Brodt Mountain??
The “Ghost Ships” were the actual Mothball Fleet, a collection of ships moored off Peekskill Bay on the western shore of the Hudson for many years after World War II. [See the photos on our T.C. Boyle pages.]
Could Suycker Brodt Mountain be Sugarloaf Mountain in Garrison? We live along Route 9D in that hamlet, right across from the blue-and-yellow historical marker describing Arnold’s Flight (Benedict Arnold, that is), and Boyle has said in an interview that it was this marker (although not this exact location) that inspired him to include it as a device in the novel. Sugarloaf is nearby.
Thank you for clearing up a lot of references!
Yes, the actual hill is very distinctive, and has the sharp, domed shape of a sugar cone, hence the name. Just an fyi, the Field Library is having the public discussion and conversation about “World’s End” on Saturday afternoon, October 10th 1-3 pm at the library–everyone welcome & refreshments served!
Thanks - am hoping to get there - I do have tickets for the 17th. I’m a big fan!
We’ll see you soon! It promises to be a good discussion with a large cake on Sat. afternoon 10/10, and his reading, reception and Wellville film on 10/17 will be a one-of-a-kind event!
WE was extremely frustrating to get into until I reached page 91. Lots of historical references, lots of words I don’t know, and lots of questions as to where is this story going to take me? Once I understood the flip flopping of history I thought of WE as the Old and New Testament as to make sense of it to the finish. Seems like generational curses throughout. I mean really, how weird is it for Walter to loose both of his feet? What a curse! Unlike Michner who uses historical facts for refernece, WE was a bit like a guessing game which takes up time from the flow along with trying to pronounce and understand the vocabulary.
Hello,
Interesting, did you plan to continue this article?
Thanks
Ivan
Well, there are an awful lot more local references if you hunt for them, but time doesn’t allow me to do any further sleuthing.
See if you can find the references–they’re there!
Interesting, did you plan to continue this article?
Ilias
Are you local to Peekskill?
Pianoforte…
Hello
Thanks heaps for this indeed!… if anyone else has anything, it would be much appreciated. Great website Super Piano Links http://www.fr.Grand-Pianos.org Enjoy!…
Hi,
Interesting, I`ll quote it on my site later.
Dolly
What title with link? Sorry to mislead you, Boyle is an extraordinary writer, glad you found him!