Watch with a Tourist’s Eyes

How many times do I visit Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y. before noticing a plaque about George Washington’s meetup with Comte de Rochambeau, a French general sent to help with the Revolutionary War? I volunteer at the hospital for years; I visit friends and relatives there over a period of decades, but it is only when I attend a talk at the Mount Kisco Library about the nearby cemetery at the corner of Route 117 and St. Mark’s Place that I learn about this little monument to a moment during the war.

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I do a little bit of research and discover that Rochambeau et al. arrived in Newport, R.I., in 1780 and “for one reason or another the French forces laid inactive at Newport for eleven months.” Otto Hufeland, Westchester County during the American Revolution: 1775–1783 at 384 (undated reprint of a book originally published in 1926). After hurrying up and waiting, their speedy arrival in North Castle was sought by Washington. One forced march later, Rochambeau had time for a “very formal dinner” in North Castle (in an area now a part of Mount Kisco) with Washington on July 5, 1781, before the French head south to Greenburgh. Id. at 388. Now that I am aware, I can only wonder what was on menu.

—Lori Tripoli

Interested in learning more about the American Revolution as it played out in New York? You might like these posts:

• North Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow: In Memory of the Revolution
• Wherever I Go, There’s Rochambeau
• History, Hucksters, and a Highway in Brewster
• 7/11/1779: Feeling Bedford Burn
• Dining Before the Revolution in Kingston