Save Riverside

Save Riverside is a community group dedicated to preserving the historic character our neighborhood, including the 1851 abolitionist home at 857 RSD!

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

**TOMORROW!** @SaveHarlemNow presents a virtual walking tour led by author, historian and Save Riverside board member Matthew Spady! Click the link in our bio to register for this FREE virtual event!

#saveharlemnow #nyc #nychistory #historicnyc #harlem #washingtonheights

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[TUE 22. FEB] It is here, around the turn of the last century, that the house’s link to any Harris or Newhouse descendants is lost.

https://t.co/jI8ZxZZxkS

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[SUN 20. FEB] Like the church, the neighborhood would eventually grow, forsaking its rural beginnings. https://t.co/jI8ZxZZxkS

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[FRI 18. FEB] Pennington (whose original name was Jim Pembroke) had escaped slavery in Maryland in 1827 when he was 19. The young blacksmith eventually changed his name and went on to become the first African American to take classes at Yale University. https://t.co/jI8ZxZZxkS

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[THU 17. FEB] More specifically, the church would fuel the fires of anti-slavery sentiment in what was, then, a remote community removed from the more intense political atmosphere downtown. https://t.co/jI8Zy0h8cq

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[TUE 15. FEB] The Whigs, like their rivals, the Democrats, were split on the issue of slavery, but Northern Whigs veered more toward anti-slavery, and this was clearly a political belief both Harris and Newhouse shared. https://t.co/jI8ZxZZxkS

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[FRI 11. FEB] A New Church. A New Refinery. A New Transportation Hub. https://t.co/jI8ZxZZxkS

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[THU 10. FEB] 10 Besides the buying and selling of houses and lots, Harris had bigger plans. Seeing beyond the orchards and pastureland that surrounded him, he envisioned a more urban landscape, setting in motion three major construction projects. https://t.co/jI8ZxZZxkS

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[WED 9. FEB] Here, atop a bluff that tumbled down to the Hudson, a charming Greek Revival–Italianate home rose up in the Eden of surrounding dogwoods, pines and ancient oaks. https://t.co/jI8Zy005aq

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[TUE 8. FEB] That same year, Harris returned to England on something of a public relations tour, which was covered in the ​Anti-Slavery Standard ​alongside reports of the esteemed reformer Frederick Douglass. https://t.co/jI8Zy005aq

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[MON 7. FEB] Harris spoke openly and forcefully in support of others engaged in the Underground Railroad, a position not popular with many, if not most, New Yorkers. https://t.co/jI8ZxZZxkS

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[SUN 6. FEB] Harris’ refinery was “a sort of Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad.” https://t.co/jI8ZxZZxkS

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[SAT 5. FEB] Police hauled Kirk off to the Tombs, but luck was on his side. https://t.co/jI8ZxZZxkS

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

[FRI 4. FEB] …Harris wasted no time in 1846, upon hearing of the massive chase through downtown Manhattan, and the runaway slave—a man named George Kirk—now hiding out in the American Anti-Slavery Society office on Nassau Street. https://t.co/jI8ZxZZxkS

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

In 1846, in the shadow of City Hall, onlookers reported being stunned by the sight of a “slave hunt.” @SaveRiverside.org

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

Both men were ardent abolitionists, civic-minded entrepreneurs, and pivotal figures in the growth of Washington Heights. @SaveRiverside.org

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Doris Diether, the popular Greenwich Village activist who passed away on Thursday.

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

See you tomorrow at the Dennis Harris House at 857 RSD Saturday 10 to 1 - Speakers Michael Henry Adams, State Senator Robert Jackson, Assembly member Al Taylor and others!

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

Juneteenth Countdown
The comparative isolation of Harris’s Washington Heights properties argues for their utility as a protected, easily guarded way station for fugitives who needed to be gotten quickly out of lower Manhattan

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

Dennis Harris builds a house!
Here, at what would eventually be 857 Riverside Drive, near West 159th Street, atop a bluff that tumbled down to the Hudson, a charming Greek Revival–Italianate home rose up in the Eden of surrounding dogwoods, pines and oaks....

[Save Riverside @SaveRiverside]

Abolitionist, Clergyman and sugar refiner, Dennis Harris moved north and built a new sugar refinery, house and ran a steamship from Lower Manhattan to his wharf at 158th Street and then up the Hudson River.