The De Lancey House Initiative
MAMARONECK HISTORICAL SOCIETY and FRIENDS OF THE DELANCEY-COOPER HOUSE
Dear Friends of Mamaroneck’s History and of James Fenimore Cooper,
The Mamaroneck Historical Society in the final stages of a fundraising effort to save the 1792 DeLancey-Cooper House, at 408 - 410 W. Boston Post Rd. at Fenimore Rd., one of the oldest buildings in Mamaroneck. The house is not only locally but nationally important: It is where James Fenimore Cooper, the first well-known truly American author,(“Last of the Mohicans” from “The Leatherstocking Tales” and many other novels) married Susan DeLancey in 1811. They lived there during two periods, during which he did some of his writing, including his first novel, “The Spy” which includes references to places in Mamaroneck.
The owners will be accepting a bid on the house -- the house will now be sold to a developer on August 17, 2015...who plans to demolish this historic home. Until then, we are working desperately to raise funds to either buy the house ($2.5 million) or move it ($500,000).
Our ultimate goal, if we purchased the house where it is, once restored, would be that it become a Mamaroneck Historical Museum and Archives -- a learning center of local history for children, for H.S. students to research, for visitors and residents - and the headquarters of our Mamaroneck Historical Society. (Our files, pictures, artifacts, etc. are all currently stored in five other places around Mamaroneck!).
However, with so little time left, we are hoping to move the house to another location to save it. There is currently a parcel of land for sale on Heathcote Hill, not far from its original location. But we will need funds immediately to purchase it.
Gratefully, the three owners of the DeLancey-Cooper House would prefer to see it saved, and not destroyed. However, they’re ready to retire and this would be their retirement.
We’ve held several fundraising events:
We had a booth at a League of Women Voters’ Community Tag Sale in 2013.
We officially launched our long-term fundraising campaign in May 2013 with a Breakfast and historical presentation at the DeLancey House, (in La Piccolo Casa restaurant). It was very successful, with a full house including State Sen. George Latimer, Rep. Steve Otis, former Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, former Town Supervisor Valerie O’Keeffe and several village and town trustees, among others. Village Historian Gloria Pritts spoke on the history of DeLanceys and James Fenimore Cooper. The video is now available on the local LMC-TV – (contact Matt Sullivan at 381-2002 to request a showing, or access it online.)
Another Historical Society Tag Sale for the DeLancey House held that June.
Our major effort was a DeLancey-Cooper Gala held October 3rd, 2013 at the Larchmont Shore Club. It included dinner, a silent auction, entertainment and a presentation on the history of the DeLancey-Cooper house, the DeLancey family and James Fenimore Cooper.
We’ve had several excellent articles about our efforts appear in the Journal News (3 columns by Phil Reisman), Mamaroneck Review, The Loop, The Patch, and in the two Cooperstown papers, The Freeman’s Journal and the Cooperstown Crier. (See Phil Reisman’s latest which ran in early June).
A representative from the State Historic Preservation Office toured the house. Since it was moved from its original footprint up above on Heathcote Hill over one hundred years ago, it thus can’t be listed on the National Registry. However, he said the basic original structure is still sound, and the house could be restored as a significant historic home.
Our ultimate goal, once restored, would be that it become a Mamaroneck Historical Museum and archives -- a learning center of local history for children, for H.S. students to research, for visitors and residents - and the headquarters of our Mamaroneck Historical Society. (Our files, pictures, artifacts, etc. are all currently stored in five other places around Mamaroneck!)
Gratefully, the three owners of the DeLancey-Cooper House would prefer to see it saved, and not destroyed. However, they’re ready to retire and this would be their retirement.
If you wish to give to this important effort, there are three ways to contribute: by check, credit card or Paypal.
Checks may be made payable to:
Mamaroneck Historical Society - DeLancey Fund
And sent to:
Friends of DeLancey-Cooper House
1226 Palmer Avenue
Larchmont, NY 10538
To contribute by credit card or Paypal, please use our website and click on the "Donate" button below.
To be put on our mailing list for updates, email akin400@gmail.com.
For more information please call: (914) 834 – 2983
Thanks so much for your interest. Let’s work together to support Mamaroneck’s (and James Fenimore Cooper’s) history!
Regards,
Carol
Mrs. Carol B. Akin
Friends of the DeLancey-Cooper House:
Carol Akin, Chairperson
Gloria Pritts, Mamaroneck Village Historian
Valerie O'Keeffe
Joan Katen
Laura Katen
Irene McConnell
Assemblyman Steve Otis
Laura Smith
John Verni
Honorary Committee:
Suzi Oppenheimer, Hon. Chairperson
Senator George Latimer
Sunny Goldberg
Mayor Anne McAndrews
Mayor Norman Rosenblum
Supervisor Nancy Seligson
Andres Bermudez-Hallstrom, Mamaroneck Village Trustee
Ilissa Miller, Mamaroneck Village Trustee
Peter Fanelli, Mamaroneck Town Councilman
Mamaroneck Historical Society:
Donald March, President
Gene Warrington, Vice President
Bill Fraser, Vice President
Donald Sutherland, Treasurer
The 1792 DELANCEY HOUSE and JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
The DeLancey House was built by John Peter DeLancey on the top of Heathcote Hill, the site of a Revolutionary War battle only a few years before. DeLancey, a wealthy landowner, raised his family there. He was a slave-holder, as were most of the well-to-do families in Mamaroneck. He had a family of slaves, including a Joseph and his wife, Harris. There were fruit trees on the property, which overlooked Mamaroneck’s lovely harbor. Locally, the house was considered “the DeLancey Mansion”, in the then-largely farming community of Mamaroneck, New York, some twenty-five miles northeast of New York City, along the shores of Long Island Sound.
DeLancey was the father of Susan DeLancey, who in an 1811 ceremony at the home, married famed early American author, James Fenimore Cooper, often considered to be the first truly American author. A large painting of the wedding adorns a wall of the Mamaroneck Free Library, painted in the mid 1800’s. Amongst those depicted are the Coopers, a minister, and two slaves behind them. However, it was noted that DeLancey gave Joseph and Harris a house in Cooperstown…implying he may have freed his slaves – according to Susan Fenimore Cooper’s recounting of her early life, in both Mamaroneck and Cooperstown, as the granddaughter of James Fenimore and Susan DeLancey Cooper. A plaque currently marks the marital event on the front of the DeLancey House.
Cooper and his wife lived in the home off and on with the DeLanceys, as well as in two other sites (in Mamaroneck, in their own home, and in Scarsdale, New York), when not living in Cooperstown. His wife was actually the one who encouraged him to become a writer. Cooper’s first successful novel, The Spy, was largely written there, and has references to local places in Mamaroneck. It was in the DeLancey House where Cooper wrote his famed Last of the Mohicans.
The DeLancey House, a lovely, historic wood-frame homestead, is the last large historic home in Mamaroneck from the Revolutionary era. It was moved down to its current site at the foot of the hill on the Boston Post Road over one hundred years ago, and sits at the corner of the Post Road (U.S. 1) and (appropriately) Fenimore Road, directly across from beautiful Mamaroneck Harbor.
James Fenimore Cooper was posthumously inducted into the New York Writers Hall of Fame at a gala dinner and induction ceremony on June 4, 2013, at the Princeton Club in New York City, -- unbelievable timing and a good omen for the Mamaroneck Historical Society’s fundraising launch to save the DeLancey House. The Fundraising Committee Chairman attended the dinner and induction, and was honored to meet three of Cooper’s descendants, who expressed deep appreciation, interest and support for the Committee’s effort to save their forbears’ home, the DeLancey House.