tle south of Cortlandt's, did so
with such success that the enemy retreated, and the entire command,
some one thousand strong, becoming panic stricken, betook themselves
to their shipping under cover of the night and sailed down stream.

A great oak which served the purpose of a military whipping post,
still stands just east of the Van Cortlandt house.

The old parochial church of St. Peter's stands on the summit of a
little hill near by, a simple frame building erected in 1766 by
Beverly Robinson and others as the result of a visit of Mr. Dibble, of
Stamford, Conn., in 1761. With him came St. George Talbot, who says:
"The state of religion I truly found deplorable enough. They were as
sheep without a shepherd, a prey to various sectaries, and
enthusiastic lay teachers; there are many well wishers and professors
of the church among them, who doth not hear the liturgy in several
years." In the church yard stands the monument to John Paulding, one
of the Andre captors, who was born in Peekskill.

Just east of the Van Cortlandt house the Post Road turns toward the
north, where one of the old mile-stones marks "50 m. from N. York." In
the angle stands one of the inns of stagecoach days which was standing
as long ago as 1789, as in "A Survey of the Roads of the United States
of America," published by Christopher Colles in that year, the inn is
put down as Dusenbury's Tavern. The author of this old-time road book
may have been something of a joker, or he may have had a small grudge
against the Presbyterians, as among the symbols he used, the one
indicating a church of that denomination is so noticeably like a
windmill as to call forth a gentle smile. The inn is now the dwelling
of Mr. Gardiner Hollman, himself a relic of earlier days, who carries
his eighty years with an ease that bespeaks a life of steady habits.
He is quite ready to show the building to the curious and explain its
interesting features. The front room on the right is said to have held
the prisoner Andre for a short time when he was being taken from North
Castle by way of Continental Village to the Beverly Robinson house,
Arnold's former headquarters, and used as such by Washington after the
traitor fled. Aside from one or two old pieces of furniture, and an
open Franklin stove, the only interesting relic the room contains is a
small work-box which was given by Theodosia Burr to her friend Mrs.
McDonald, of Alabama, who in turn gave it to a sister of the pr