Stop 5: The Bog

Directions to Stop 5 from the Side Hill House: From the oak tree, begin walking in front of the middle school and toward the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. As you are walking, take a moment to turn and look at the playing fields below. These fields were called the swamp or bog during Greeley’s day.

Looking north across Greeley’s “bog” toward downtown Chappaqua, about 1900.

The beautiful open playing fields that you are viewing today were once a major part of Greeley’s farm. Greeley spent an estimated $50,000 installing an elaborate system of subsurface drains to dry out the area, but it never succeeded in preventing periodic flooding. 

Click here for Stop 6: Church of St. Mary the Virgin