More than 200 years ago, Sparta was transformed from a piece of farmland into a residential community with one of the nation's first subdivision plans. The neighborhood of Sparta, mapped out in November 1795 at the southern end of the Village of Ossining, celebrated its bicentennial on September 23, 1995.
Sparta is the oldest surviving settlement in the Town of Ossining, which includes the Village of Ossining (formerly Sing Sing) and part of the Village of Briarcliff Manor, along the east bank of the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York. Sparta's independent existence ended in 1906 when the Village of Ossining extended its borders southward to encompass Sparta.
For additional background on Sparta, you can read
Most of the surviving houses of old Sparta can be seen within the boundaries of the Sparta Historic and Architectural Design District (SHADD), which was created May 6, 1975. You can read or print out a Self-Guided Tour of Sparta's Historic Houses.
Guided tours of Sparta are generally led during Open House at the Jug Tavern. For a list of Open House dates at the Jug Tavern, see the Calendar.
|1685||Frederick Philipse, of Dutch descent, acquired land from the Sint Sinck tribe on August 24, completing his acquisition of all the land along the eastern bank of the Hudson River from Spuyten Duyvil Creek, in the Bronx, to the Croton River.|
|1693||Monarchs William and Mary of Great Britain issued Philipse a patent, acknowledging his land holdings as the "Lordship or Mannour of Philipsborough" and naming Philipse as Lord of the Manor.|
|1698||Carel Davids (or Charles Davis) settled with his brother David and sister Angelique on a section of Philipsburg Manor near White Point, later to be called Sparta Dock. They had been born in Canada of Huguenot refugees from France, who had lived in the West Indies before moving to Montreal.|
|1758||Peter Davis, the sixth son of Charles, married Martha on January 29. They probably built their home, later to be known as the Jug Tavern, sometime between 1758 and 1760. Peter was a tenant farmer, paying rent to the Lord of Philipsburg Manor.|
|1764||The first burial (Sarah Ledew, age 5) took place at what is now called Sparta Burying Ground, where a Presbyterian church once stood, at the junction of Revolutionary Road and Route 9 in Briarcliff Manor.|
|1784||Philipsburg Manor was confiscated by the Commissioners of Forfeitures, by authority of the Confiscation Act of May 1784, because Frederick Philipse III, Lord of the Manor, had remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolution.|
|1785||Peter Davis bought 200 acres of his tenant farm, including the Jug Tavern, from the Commissioners of Forfeitures on December 6, for 600 pounds sterling. The Commissioners divided Philipsburg Manor among 287 new owners, including 11 whose land was located near Kemeys Cove and Sparta Brook.|
|1794||Peter Davis defaulted on a mortgage of 70 of his 200 acres. He had owed money to Charles Williams of New York City since 1772, and had given Williams the mortgage in 1789 to cover the debt. Williams endorsed the mortgage over to James Drowley, an English hardware and dry-goods importer who was living in New York City.|
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|1795||April 22: The first known record of the name "Sparta" is an entry in the Record Book of the Town of Mount Pleasant, showing that William Hall was granted a license to operate a tavern in Sparta. (The Town of Ossining was not carved out of the Town of Mount Pleasant until 1845, and Ossining celebrates its 150th anniversary through October 1995.)|
|1795||September 16: James Drowley died before he could fulfill his dream of subdividing his 70-acre parcel of land into house lots for the development of the hamlet of Sparta.|
|1795||November: Drowley's wishes were realized when the executors of his Estate commissioned a survey of the land by J. Harmer, a "painter, glazier, and gilder, from London." Harmer recorded his survey in a subdivision plan, entitled "Sparta, A Town building on the East side of Hudson's River 35 Miles North of N. York." The plan shows