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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/reporttoexecutivOOtuxe 
 
REPORT TO THE 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 THE TUXEDO CLUB, 
 
 From the Committee Appointed to Examine into the original His- 
 torical Names of the Tuxedo Region ; Together with a 
 copy of the Manuscript Map of this portion of 
 New York and New Jersey, made for Wash- 
 ington in the years 1778-1779. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
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 THE TUXKDO CLUB, 
 
 From the Committee Appointed to Examine into the Original Historical Names of 
 
 the Tuxedo Region ; Together with a copy of the Manuscript Map 
 
 of this portion of New York and New Jersey, made 
 
 for Washington in the years 1778-1779. 
 
 The first subject of inquiry was the possible meaning or deriva- 
 tion of the name Tuxedo. 
 
 The earhest mention of the name occurs in Sargeant's survey 
 of 1754, where it is referred to as Tuxedo Pond. In Ryerson's 
 survey of 1765 it is set down as Tuxcito Pond. In Morris's tes- 
 timony upon the State hne in 1769, it is written Tuxetough, and 
 in Chesecock's patent of the same year, it is Tucksito. In Ryer- 
 son's second survey of 1774, it appears as both Tugseto and 
 Tucsedo. Erskine, in his survey of 1778-79, writes it Tuxedo, 
 Texedo and Toxedo. The Marquis de Chastellux, in 1780, writes 
 it Duck Sider. And in Eager's and Ruttenber's histories of this 
 
tract, written respectively in 1847 and 1875, the name is corrupted 
 to Duck Cedar, with the explanation that its margin is overgrown 
 with cedars, and that it is a favorite haunt of wild ducks. 
 
 The name as found in 1754 is, undoubtedly, the corruption of 
 one or more Indian words. The language of the Algonquins, who 
 occupied this region, was examined. It is found that the letter x, 
 being unknown in this dialect, is represented in the fragments that 
 remain by ks. It is also found that to or ioi/g^h mean " a place." 
 The best authorities upon the language of the Algonquins have 
 found that the name Tuxedo, no matter how spelled, contains no 
 elements that mean pond, lake, or water ; nor can the word or any 
 of its variants be made to mean anything like "beautiful view," as 
 has been stated. 
 
 It was suggested that a frequent habit of the Indians was to 
 name a place after the chief whose tribe occupied it, and this clew 
 being taken up, mention was discovered of a sachem named 
 P'tauk-Seet, "thebear," who, in the seventeenth century, ruled over 
 a tract of country including Tuxedo. Uniting his name with tough, 
 the Algonquin for place, we should infer the original spelling to 
 have been P'tauk-Seet-tough, and its meaning " The Home of the 
 Bear." 
 
 Another surmise is that, as the forest called " The Greenwood,'' 
 and lying westward of Tuxedo, was occasionally the refuge of 
 bears, the district may have received from the Indians the appella- 
 tion, " Place of Bears." 
 
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The first settlement at Tuxedo was made at the northern 
 extremity of the lake. Prior to 1765, a wood-cutter named Hasen- 
 clever inclosed a ten-acre tract lying equally on both sides of the 
 outlet. On a survey, made in 1778, is shown his inclosure and 
 the dam built by him, and also the position of the house situated 
 fifty yards northeasterly from the dam, and built by a man named 
 Howard, who was probably " the original settler." 
 
 During the Revolution, when the iron works on the Ramapo 
 were liable to interruption by the British, Hasenclever's dam was 
 raised several feet, and the overflow turned southwest to supply 
 the Ringwood furnaces in New Jersey. During this period, Tuxedo 
 Lake was the resort of a band of cow-boys, who at times found 
 shelter among some rocks which they named after their leader, 
 " Claudius Smith's Cave." 
 
 The first description of this section is written by the Marquis 
 de Chastellux, a French officer who came to America with Lafay- 
 ette, and who, on December 19th, 1780, following the Continental 
 road through the gorge south of the lake, then called -' The Clove," 
 presently came in view of Tuxedo. He mentions that at Ring- 
 wood he stopped to ask his way, and that at Erskine's house they 
 gave him full information about the roads and wood-paths, and 
 also " a glass of Madeira, in accordance with a custom of the 
 country, which will not allow you to leave a house without tak- 
 ing something." Having been thus refreshed, he says : 
 
 *' I got on horseback and penetrated afresh into the woods. 
 
mounting and descending precipitous hills until I found myself at 
 the edge of a lake so secluded that it is hardly visible from the 
 surrounding thicket. Its banks are so steep that if a deer made a 
 false step on the top, he would infallibly roll into the lake. This 
 lake, which is not marked upon the charts, and is called Duck 
 Sider, is about three miles long and two miles wide (sic !) and is in 
 the wildest and most deserted country I have yet passed through. 
 My poetic imagination was enjoying the solitude, when, at a dis- 
 tance, I perceived in an open spot a quadruped, which a nearer 
 observation showed to be not the elk or caribou, for which I at 
 first mistook him, but a horse grazing peaceably in a field belong 
 ing to a new settlement." 
 
 As regards amendments to some of the names now in use, it is 
 proposed that the original names be restored where practicable. 
 
 ist. That the gorge extending southward from the lake be 
 called " The Clove," by which it was known a century ago. 
 
 2d. That the hiding place of the Revolutionary cow-boys receive 
 again its appellation, " Claudius Cave," and that at some convenient 
 opportunity it be rendered accessible by a wood path. 
 
 2)d. That some fragment of the road traversed by Washington 
 and his army be preserved under the name of " The Continental 
 Road," as a promenade near the club-house. 
 
 ^tli. That the name of " Grub Creek" be changed to " Steinval- 
 letje," meaning " Rocky Ravine." 
 
 ^th. That a position about midway between the southern ex- 
 
tremity of the lake and Fishwarden's Point, at which locality Chas- 
 tellux must first have seen the lake, be cleared and provided with 
 rustic benches ; that several cuts radiating from it be made through 
 the trees; so as to give glimpses over the lake, and that this spot 
 be called " Chastellux." 
 
 W. W. ASTOR.