History

A Little Rye History
What's in a Name? A Verdant, Seaside Neighborhood

– By Laura Brett –

After a well-known New York real estate developer purchased an estate on the Long Island Sound on the border of Rye and Mamaroneck as his country home, he decided to create a “residential park” to surround his home with other lovely suburban homes. The area developed by Vivian Green was bounded on one side by Amringe Mill Pond and extended as far as Barlow Lane.

Green put a great deal of time and energy into planning the neighborhood we know as Greenhaven. He not only built homes but sold acreage to buyers and had them work with his architecture and construction department to design their homes. The neighborhood was designed around its beautiful waterfront location on the Long Island Sound, with beachfront facilities for residents, and the lovely waterfront area on Van Amringe Mill Pond.

Green gave several streets nautical names because of their proximity to the Long Island Sound, including Shore Road, Sound Road, Harbor Lane, Captain's Lane, and Anchor Drive. Other streets are named for their locations as well. Greenhaven Road and Rye Road were named for the neighborhood and town, respectively.

Old Garden Lane was the lane to the garden. Lake Road runs by the pond. Woodland Drive is named for its wooded area and Overdale Road is the road that leads over the valley. Sunset Road and Sunset Place were named for their views of the setting sun. Trailsend, added later, was given its name because it is the end of the trail leading down to the Sound. It is thought that Shadow Lane was named for the shadows filtering through the trees and that Norman Place and Norman Drive are named for the Norman-style architecture favored by Green.

Other street names were named for early Rye settlers. Brevoort Lane, the only street in the neighborhood that predates the development of Greenhaven, is named for Henry Brevoort, whose farm was once where Greenhaven is now. Walden Lane is named for his granddaughter, Ann Brevoort Walden. Barlow Lane was added later, and was named for Peter Townsend Barlow, a prominent New York attorney at the turn of the last century, whose home was once at the end of the lane. John Jay Place and Peter Jay Place were also developed later and were named for members of the Jay Family, who owned a large estate on the site of these streets until 1904.

Some other streets in the neighborhood were developed later. Joseph Zibelli developed Chester Drive and named it for a friend, Chester Cronquist. Douglas Circle was named for Zibelli's son, who himself was named in honor of General Douglas MacArthur. Neil Place was also developed by Zibelli, but it is not known for whom it is named.

Hannan Place and Bixby Court, across the Boston Post Road from Greenhaven, and developed later, were named for men active in the Rye community, Joseph A. Hannan, mayor of Rye from 1950-55; and Frank E. Bixby, manager for Rye Town Park and Village trustee from 1929-1933.

This article is based on research done by Bern Fasse in 1990 for the Rye Historical Society, discussions with Richard Hourahan, archivist for the Rye Historical Society, and a review of “Memoirs of a Westchester Realtor” by George Howe, Exposition Press (1959).