Events/News
We have now completed our series of presentations (5) for the first half of 2025. We hope that you enjoyed what we've offered so far.
We're now going to take a break from presentations for the next few months. We'll be starting again in September, and we hope to get a few more presentations in before the end of the year.
If you have a topic you would like to see covered in a future presentation, please let us know. Please drop by, give us a call at 914.941.4393, or send us an email to mail@briarcliffhistory.org with your ideas/suggestions. We’ll do our best to incorporate them into our schedule.
Upcoming Events
Join historian Mike Virgintino and learn about Freedomland U.S.A., an early 1960s theme park dedicated to American history that was located in the Baychester section of the northeast Bronx. Co-op City has occupied the site for more than 50 years.
After he left the Disney company, C.V. Wood began to build theme parks across the country. His New York park became known as the "Disneyland of the East." Seven themed areas presented epic moments in American history from the Chicago Fire to the San Francisco earthquake to cowboys to 1960s contemporary history focused on the space race. Unfortunately, the park was plagued from the start by city and state politics, union demands, cost overruns and financial chicanery. Unknown to the public, the park served as a placeholder for the property until the required variances were obtained to develop the marshland with modern housing.
Through a well-researched narrative, personal and newspaper accounts, interviews, and exclusive photos, the journalist and author presents the definitive history about Freedomland from creation to its razing, focusing on the people behind its creation along with the executives, entertainers and sponsors. Unlike Disneyland, the story about Freedomland does not have a happily ever after, but those who recall the park and theme park fans will not want to miss this captivating tale about America's park.
Every attendee will receive an actual entrance turnstile token from Freedomland as a keepsake provided by the Frank R. Adamo Freedomland U.S.A. Collection.
The presentation will take place on Saturday, 18 October 2025 from 2:00pm-4:00pm in the Parish Hall of the Briarcliff Congregational Church: 25 South State Road, Briarcliff Manor.
Past Events
Briarcliff History in the News
PBS Documentary Celebrates the Story of Former Briarcliff Resident Carrie Chapman Catt
Carrie Chapman Catt: Warrior for Women tells the story of Carrie Chapman Catt and her role in the fight for women’s suffrage. She devoted most of her life to the expansion of women’s rights and is recognized as one of the key leaders of the American women’s suffrage movement. Using her political and organizational skills, she was a major force behind the ratification of the nineteenth amendment to the U. S. Constitution 100 years ago on August 18, 1920.
The documentary was produced by PBS Iowa and you can view it by clicking on the play button to the left.
For nine years Catt lived in Briarcliff Manor on a 16-acre property that she named Juniper Ledge. During that time she not only celebrated the passage of the nineteenth amendment but also helped organize the League of Women Voters and founded the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War. To find out more about Carrie Chapman Catt as well as other key figures in the suffragette movement who lived in this area, see our Notebook article on "Local Suffragetes" by clicking on this link.
Writer David Propper reviews the role and activities of the Historical Society over the past 45 years through interviews with Board members and a discussion with Executive Director Karen Smith. Article also highlights some of the historic moments in village history and points to the goal of the Society to achieve permanent charter status from the State of New York.