Mrs. Eileen O’Connor Weber was an exceptional woman, but that is something the community already knows. She was a woman whose charisma, generosity, and larger-than-life personality lives in Briarcliff Manor to this day.

Driving down Scarborough Road, one might notice a long brick wall running from Philips Laboratories to one of its distant entrances on Holbrook Road.  I often wondered why this wall was there.  I eventually discovered that this wall once served as the border of the “Waldheim” estate of James and Ellin Speyer. 

The Briarcliff Library was started in 1914 by the Briarcliff Manor Community Club which was organized to conduct lectures, hold theatrical performances and meetings of literary, political and religious societies. According to the 1914 issue of “Community Notes” published by the club “The library is open for the lending of books. 

This famous and mysterious figure has a little known connection with our village.  On Sunday March 24, 1889 the Leather Man was found dead at one of his regular overnight stops in a rock shelter off Hillcrest Drive on the former Dell Farm in Briarcliff Manor not far from the intersection of the Old Chappaqua Road and the Taconic Parkway.

Yes you read it correctly. Suffragist rather than the more familiar Suffragette. It is believed that "Suffragette," which has fallen into disfavor, was originally coined by The Daily Mail in London as a derogatory term for female activists. Suffragist is now considered the correct name.

One of the many well-known people who have called Briarcliff Manor home is Flora Ettlinger Whiting. Flora was a pioneer in collecting American antique furniture and decorative arts. Much like Henry DuPont at his “Winterthur” estate in Delaware, Flora Whiting at the “Ashridge” estate in Briarcliff Manor filled it with the prized specimens of this aesthetic of American design.

Our first entry into the Briarcliff Notebook features the columns along the west side of Route 9. These columns mark the former entrance to Beechwood, the estate of Frank and Narcissa Vanderlip.