Washington's Headquarters at Fredericksburgh, by Lewis S. Patrick, of Marinette, Wis.
Historical Landmarks in the Town of Sherman, by Ruth Rogers, of Sherman, Conn.
[3] Mr. James Wood, in his Bicentennial Address in 1895, thus described the Oblong:
The eastern side of the country had been settled by Presbyterians from Connecticut, and the western side along the Hudson River by the Dutch. The feeling between them was far from friendly. Their disputes had been very bitter, and Rye and Bedford had revolted from New York's jurisdiction. Their whipping-posts stood ready for the punishment of any from the river settlements who committed even slight offenses within their limits. As the two peoples naturally repelled each other they had left a strip of land, comparatively unoccupied, between them. This continued in nearly a north and south line, parallel with the river, and a little more than midway between it and the Connecticut and Massachusetts lines, as far as they extended. Into and through the strip of land the Quaker stream flowed, like a liquid injected into a fissure in the rocks. Each Quaker home as it settled became a resting place for those who followed, for it was a cardinal principle of Quaker hospitality to keep open house for all fellow members, under all circumstances.
[4] "One First Day morning, in the mellow October days of that year, the worshipping stillness of the Friends' Meeting was broken by the tramp of horses, and the jangling of spurs, as a band of soldiers rode up, dismounted and entered the building. They remained quiet and reverent, till the handshaking of the elders closed the meeting; then the commanding officer rose, and in the name of the Continental Congress took possession of the building for a hospital for the troops, and as such it was used all that winter. After this meetings were held in the 'great room' in the house of Paul Osborn, and were often frequented by soldiers stationed in the place, who listened attentively to the speaking, and left quietly at the close of the meeting."—Richard Osborn—a Reminiscence, by Margaret B. Monahan, Quaker Hill Local History Series, No. VIII.
[5] In the garret of the Meeting House rifle-ports, cut through the original planks, were discovered by the present writer.
[6] "Bodily functions are facilitated by atmospheric conditions which make evaporation from the skin and lungs rapid. That weak persons whose variations of health furnish good tests, are worse when the air is surcharged with water, and better when the weather is fine; and that commonly such persons are enervated by residence in moist localities but invigorated by residence in dry ones, are facts generally recognized. And this relation of cause and effect, manifest in individuals, doubtless holds in races."—Herbert Spencer, Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, p. 21.
[7] Richard Osborn—A Reminiscence, by Margaret B. Monahan, Quaker Hill Local History Series, No. VIII, p. 10.
[8] See "Some Glimpses of the Past," by Alicia Hopkins Taber, 1906; Quaker Hill Series.