The Larchmont Historical Society’s (LHS) House Tour is always one of the biggest events of the year, offering a chance to visit some of the most special homes and architecture in our area. In this, the 30th annual house tour, LHS presents its first walking tour: “Celebrating Larchmont Park: The First Village Neighborhood,” on Sunday, May 15th, from 1-5 p.m. The tour will celebrate Larchmont Village’s first suburban development, Larchmont Park, with six homes opening their doors to the public. Additionally, this is the first year that Westchester Cottage & Gardens has partnered with LHS, …

On a Sunday morning, open the red door to Barry Avenue AME Zion Church, on North Barry Avenue on the Mamaroneck and Rye Neck border, and the singing—backed by piano, drums, tambourine, and clapping—warms the air. You could very well be entering past and future beyond the 1903 marker indicating when the church was built. The call to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Jan. 17th is particularly fitting from this church that counts among its founders Robert Purdy, a runaway slave from Louisiana who came to Scarsdale via underground railroad. Many of Purdy’s descendents continue to attend and …

St. John's Episcopal Church, at 4 Fountain Square in The Manor, is the oldest church in Larchmont. It was founded in 1891, the same year the Village of Larchmont was incorporated, and began as a little clubhouse on Horseshoe Harbor. If you want to talk about its modern history, many people will direct you to Elaine Viebranz. Viebranz, 84, has been a St. John's member since 1953, when she and late husband, Al, moved to Larchmont.  She was very active in the church, and Al wrote one of the two church histories. "The Sunday before Christmas, a man named Bill Hoffman would organize singing carols…

Sitting midway on Rockingstone Avenue is a huge boulder after which the street is named. It was so perfectly balanced that it could be gently pushed with one hand, from an easterly direction, and would rock to and fro before settling, never falling over. It is thought that its bottom tip balanced perfectly on a great boulder base. In one iconic photo, circa 1913, a man poses atop it. The boulder--eleven feet high, sixteen feet long, thirteen feet across, and weighing 150 tons—is a "glacial erratic" (meaning a boulder transported by Ice Age glaciers), and no longer rocks. It resides in the …

Gloria Poccia Pritts has been the historian for Village of Mamaroneck since 1989. She was born here, and has lived within six blocks of Palmer and Rockland most of her life. "Gloria is the Mark Twain of the Village of Mamaroneck," says Mamaroneck Mayor Norman S. Rosenblum, "because she has a sense of history, and she relates the characters of Mamaroneck in a purely historical and loving manner." It's true. On three different occasions, simply taking a short ride with Pritts, a young 86, yields storybook info. For instance, we're on Prospect Avenue, heading east. Start the clock: She drives …

In 1922, the American LaFrance Engine One was state-of-the-art, a pumper that replaced an old steam fire engine. Efforts had come together in Larchmont Village to cover its cost. It arrived painted ivory, with a cherry-red frame. Wheels were crafted from oak, with hard rubber tires.  Then, in 1947, Engine One was retired and sold away to upstate New York, and eventually ended up in Seattle. The Larchmont Historical Society is helping change that. In ongoing efforts to restore and bring home Engine One, and in recognition of October being National Fire Prevention Month, it is hosting a  "…

Eugene Warrington must be coaxed to get in the center of the long line of customers at Walter's Hot Dog Stand on a sunny Saturday. "Are you sure? You don't need a photo of me, do you?" asks the publicity shy Warrington, who owns the business that his father, Walter, started in 1919. When customers in the long line are told who he is, they call out, "We love Walter's!" "Can we take our picture with you?" In that case, if he can be of service, Gene, as he's known, takes his place in front of his stand. When customers lean shoulder to shoulder with him, Warrington, a youthful 88, relaxes, at …

Boston Post Road traffic rushes by one of the most important yet hodge-podge buildings in Mamaroneck.  Known as The DeLancey House, its legacy includes the esteemed Heathcote, DeLancey, and Munro families—and it gave birth to James Fenimore Cooper's career. At the moment, it is the home of La Piccola Casa restaurant and a restaurant supply house. A marker at the café door reads "1792 DeLancey House, 1811 J.F. Cooper Marriage." Inside the office, owner Eddie Chmelecki good-naturedly takes an old, framed photo of the building off the wall and hands it to me and Gloria Pritts. Pritts, 86, has …

On a September afternoon in 1991, in a three-story house on Magnolia Avenue in the Manor, a  fourth-grader named Jason bemoans his school assignment: in honor of the Larchmont Centennial, to write what life in Larchmont was like in 1891. He wishes to time travel to 1891 and spend the afternoon with someone from that era, and suddenly it happens. His bedroom now belongs to a fourth-grader named Tom, in 1891, and together they set off on larks throughout a neighborhood very different from how it is today. That's the opening for Larchmont Long Ago: The Great Marble Match, which is enjoying its …

When John Lozito, executive vice president of the Mamaroneck Historical Society, rings the bell at the one-room schoolhouse on the Boston Post Road, it's back to school in 1816—and today. Starting in September, the public has the opportunity to purchase a personally inscribed plaque to go on either a desk or bench.  The reproduction desks and benches are the crown jewels in this gem of a schoolhouse that's been devotedly renovated with historical accuracy by the society. "This is one of only a handful of one-room schoolhouses in the country," says president and Town of Mamaroneck historian …

Judith Doolin Spikes, the founding president of the Larchmont Historical Society, has resigned as Larchmont village historian after thirty years of service. She will receive a proclamation at the Larchmont Village board meeting on Monday, August 16th, at 7 p.m.  There is no word if a successor will be announced. Spikes is one of three local historians. Gloria Pritts has been the Village of Mamaroneck historian for 21 years. The Mamaroneck Town historian is Donald March. After 38 years in Larchmont, Spikes and her husband, James, plan to move in early September. The couple, originally from …

On a recent Saturday afternoon, I rang a doorbell, asking if anyone could tell me about the red house next door called the Skinny House, as the Narrow House at 175 Grand St. is affectionately called. This Washingtonville neighborhood attraction has local landmark status. Built in 1932, it is the slimmest house in Mamaroneck, measuring only 10 feet wide, yet is three stories high. It's 39 feet long, and rests on a 12 ½ foot wide parcel of land. Old-world generosity in 2010 A pretty redhead named Nancy Picarello answered and said, "Let me take you next door to my mother." We stepped into a …

If you drive by 18 Elm Ave. in the area of Larchmont called the Manor, you'll see a big, beautiful, yellow house with a red double door. Judith Doolin Spikes, Larchmont's village historian, sees more. "You could reconstruct American history through the Manor House," says Spikes, author of a number of Larchmont histories, including Images of America: Larchmont.  Spikes has lived in Larchmont since 1973. "Eighteen Elm was the centerpiece of what is now the Manor. It's the oldest home in Larchmont," she adds. The home is the reason the area is called Larchmont, and the neighborhood along the …

The bell clangs three times at the charming, pristine one-room schoolhouse on the Boston Post Road near Harbor Island, and it could be 1816. The water is pure blue behind the white house, and cherry trees sway gently in front of the building. Children would have been running and playing. With the final clang, it's time to go inside. The eight-panel green door opens and a smiling "teacher" greets us. She is Gloria Pritts, who has been historian for the Village of Mamaroneck for 21 years, and who not only assumes the role of teacher for visiting groups of children, but who had an instrumental …