Claremont Inn, Riverside Drive and 124th Street

 Соединенные Штаты > New York > Manhattan Community Board 9

---

Rich in history, the plain of Claremont Playground has been the site of a Revolutionary War battle, a country estate, a fashionable inn, and a children’s recreation area. This was the scene of fierce combat during the Battle of Harlem Heights, fought on September 16, 1776. Michael Hogan, a former British Consul in Havana, purchased land here in 1806 and built the Federal-style Claremont Mansion (for which Claremont Avenue was named). Possible sources of the name are the elevated site’s scenic outlook Hogan’s birthplace in County Clare, Ireland and the title of his friend Prince William, Duke of Clarence, who would ascend the English throne as King William IV in 1830.<br><br>After a series of owners, the mansion came to be used as a popular roadside inn by 1860. The City acquired the property in 1873 for the development of Riverside Park and continued to operate the inn.