Editing Fort Tryon Park (section)

=== Site ===
The northern portion of Manhattan was first known to be inhabited by the [[Wecquaesgeek]] tribe of [[Lenape]] Native Americans,<ref name="NPS p. 8">{{harvnb|National Park Service|1978|ps=.|p=8}}</ref><ref name="NYCL p. 1">{{harvnb|Shockley|Baugher|1983|ps=.|p=1}}</ref><ref name="New York City Department of Parks & Recreation 1939">{{cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-tryon-park/history|title=Fort Tryon Park Highlights|publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation|access-date=September 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190830014546/https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/fort-tryon-park/history|archive-date=August 30, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Grumet p. 60">{{harvnb|ps=.|Grumet|1981|p=60}}</ref> who referred to the area around Fort Tryon Park as ''Chquaesgeck''.<ref name="encnyc" /> When [[Dutch people|Dutch]] settlers inhabited the lower [[Hudson Valley]] in the early 17th century, they attempted to force the Native Americans out, and some of the Wecquaesgeeks continued to occupy the area.<ref name="NYCL p. 1" /><ref name="Grumet p. 61">{{harvnb|ps=.|Grumet|1981|p=61}}</ref> The tribe had moved out by 1669, but continued to hold onto their land claims until 1715.<ref name="NYCL p. 1" /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkcityinin00bolt|title=New York City in Indian possession|last=Bolton|first=Reginald Pelham|date=1975|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkcityinin00bolt/page/20 20]–21|access-date=September 22, 2019|via=Internet Archive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830220125/https://archive.org/details/newyorkcityinin00bolt|archive-date=August 30, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Torrey p. 11">{{harvnb|Torrey|1936|ps=.|p=11}}</ref> The Dutch referred to the park site as ''Lange Bergh'' (Long Hill), a name first given by Dutch settler Joost van Oblienus in 1691.<ref name="encnyc" /><ref name="Torrey p. 10" /> At the time, Long Hill was a heavily wooded area that was part of the town of [[Harlem]]. As late as the 17th century, wild animals could be hunted on the northern portion of the hill, within the park's present site.<ref name="Torrey p. 11" /> In 1711, Harlem's political leaders decreed that a road be built through the area.<ref name="NYCL p. 2">{{harvnb|Shockley|Baugher|1983|ps=.|p=2}}</ref><ref name="Torrey p. 12">{{harvnb|Torrey|1936|ps=.|pp=12–13}}</ref> When Harlem was subdivided the following year, the hill was split into multiple smaller lots.<ref name="Torrey p. 12" />

[[File:FortTryonParkLindenTerrace.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|alt=Linden Terrace, a stone balcony located on the site of Fort Tryon|Linden Terrace, located on the site of Fort Tryon]]

During the [[American Revolutionary War]], the trees were cleared to make way for fortifications.<ref name="Torrey p. 10" /><ref name="NPS p. 8" /><ref name="Torrey p. 11" /> At the time, Long Hill had been known as ''Mount Washington'', while an outcropping in the center of the site was called ''Forest Hill''.<ref name="Torrey p. 11" /><ref name="NYCL p. 2" /> The latter was part of a series of fortifications that lined the steep cliff within the park site, which was known by the Americans as ''Fort Washington''.<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /> The actual site of Fort Washington is less than a mile south at [[Bennett Park (New York)|Bennett Park]].<ref name="NPS p. 8" /><ref name="NYC Parks Bennett" />  The park was an ancillary site of the [[Battle of Fort Washington]], fought on November 16, 1776, between 2,900 American soldiers and 8,000 invading [[Hessian (soldiers)|Hessian troops]] hired by [[Great Britain]].<ref name="Torrey p. 12" /><ref>{{cite web | title=History of WaHI: Battle of Fort Washington |publisher=Washington Heights & Inwood Online | date=June 4, 2012 | url=http://www.washington-heights.us/history/archives/battle_of_fort_washington_35.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604193021/http://www.washington-heights.us/history/archives/battle_of_fort_washington_35.html | archive-date=June 4, 2012 | url-status=dead | access-date=September 25, 2019}}</ref> Despite the American [[Continental Army]]'s strategic position at the top of Long Hill, they were defeated after holding out for two hours.<ref name="NPS p. 8" /> American soldier [[Margaret Corbin]] became the first woman to fight in the war and was injured during the battle; the southern entrance to the park bears her name.<ref name="NPS p. 8" /><ref name="NYCL p. 2" /><ref name="NYC Parks Bennett">{{cite web | title=Bennett Park Highlights | publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation | url=http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=6419 | access-date=September 25, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215092951/http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=6419 | archive-date=February 15, 2009 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Torrey p. 15">{{harvnb|Torrey|1936|ps=.|p=15}}</ref> After the British victory, the outpost on Forest Hill was named after [[William Tryon]], the last [[List of Colonial Governors of New York|British Governor of the Province of New York]] (1771–1777). The British made improvements to Fort Tryon, using it as Upper Manhattan's primary defensive post, before peacefully withdrawing from Manhattan in 1783.<ref name="NPS p. 8" /><ref name="NYCL p. 2" /><ref name="Torrey p. 15" /> The Tryon name persisted even after the British withdrawal, even as many other colonial place names were being expunged of their British influence.<ref name="NPS p. 8" />

As New York City expanded and prospered following the end of the Revolutionary War, the land comprising the park remained undeveloped, except for a few country estates.<ref name="NPS p. 2" /> The first of these was created by Dr. Samuel Watkins, founder of [[Watkins Glen, New York|Watkins Glen]], who took ownership of multiple plots in 1818.<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /><ref name="Torrey p. 15" /> Ownership of the Watkins estate passed to Lucius Chittenden, a merchant originally from New Orleans, in 1844.<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /><ref name="Torrey p. 16">{{harvnb|Torrey|1936|ps=.|p=16}}</ref> The Chittenden family owned the land until 1871. Part of the estate was sold in 1855 to August C. Richards, who built a [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]]-style stone castle called "Woodcliff", designed by [[Alexander Jackson Davis]].<ref name="NYCL p. 2" /> Woodcliff was subsequently used as a summer home by General [[Daniel Butterfield]], [[Boss Tweed]], [[Alexander Turney Stewart]], and [[William Libbey]], whereupon it became known as "Libby Castle".<ref name="Torrey p. 16" /><ref name="NYCL p. 3">{{harvnb|Shockley|Baugher|1983|ps=.|p=3}}</ref><ref name="NYDN-Gift-1917">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36266048/|title=Fifty-Acre Gift of John D. Rockefeller to People Scene of One of Country's First Fights for Liberty|date=June 24, 1917|work=New-York Tribune|access-date=September 23, 2019|page=10|via=newspapers.com {{open access}}|archive-date=May 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508192104/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36266048/fifty-acre-gift-of-john-d-rockefeller/|url-status=live}}</ref> Another portion of the Chittenden site was developed by William C. Muschenheim, later an operator of the [[Hotel Astor (New York City)|Hotel Astor]], who built an estate called "Fort Tryon Terrace".<ref name="NYCL p. 3" /> In contrast with the elaborate estates at the top of Fort Tryon, the plateau to the east was known as "Poverty Hollow" by 1851.<ref name="Rubinson Winter 1988"/>{{rp|23}}

Between 1901 and 1905, [[C. K. G. Billings]] combined Chittenden's, Muschenheim's, and Libbey's properties into a single estate. On the site, he built "Tryon Hall", a [[Châteauesque]]-style mansion with a swimming pool, horse stables, a formal garden, [[pergola]]s, and a winding {{Convert|2000|ft|m|-long|abbr=|adj=mid}} driveway leading from [[Riverside Drive (Manhattan)|Riverside Drive]].<ref name="Torrey p. 16" /><ref name="NYDN-Gift-1917" /><ref name="Gray 1996">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/22/realestate/monumental-remnant-from-a-1900-s-estate.html|title=Monumental Remnant From a 1900s Estate|last=Gray|first=Christopher|date=December 22, 1996|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=September 25, 2019|issn=0362-4331|author-link=Christopher Gray (architectural historian)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628073705/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/22/realestate/monumental-remnant-from-a-1900-s-estate.html|archive-date=June 28, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The mansion also contained boat docks on the Hudson River and a garage to house his collection of 13 automobiles.<ref name="Gray 1996" /> Billings lived at Tryon Hall until 1915.<ref name="Torrey p. 16" /><ref name="NYCL p. 3" /><ref name="NYDN-Gift-1917" /> Immediately to the north were Abbey Inn, a summer residence built on land that Willam Henry Hays had purchased in 1842, and another estate that Walter S. Sheafer, the state geologist of Pennsylvania, had bought in 1891.<ref name="NYCL p. 3" /><ref name="NYDN-Gift-1917" /><ref name="NYH-BiggestDeal-1917">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36265630/|title=Biggest Manhattan Land Deal in Years|date=January 5, 1917|work=New York Herald|access-date=September 23, 2019|page=11|via=newspapers.com {{open access}}|archive-date=May 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508192104/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36265630/biggest-manhattan-land-deal-in-years/|url-status=live}}</ref>