Welcome to Briarcliff Manor
Briarcliff Manor is a suburban village in Westchester County, New York, United States, approximately 30 miles north of New York City. It is on 5.9 square miles of land on the east bank of the Hudson River, geographically shared by the towns of Mount Pleasant and Ossining. Briarcliff Manor includes the communities of Scarborough and Chilmark, and is served by the Scarborough station of the Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line. A section of the village, including buildings and homes covering 376 acres, is part of the Scarborough Historic District and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The village motto is "A village between two rivers", reflecting Briarcliff Manor's location between the Hudson and Pocantico Rivers. Although the Pocantico is the primary boundary between Mount Pleasant and Ossining, since its incorporation the village has spread into Mount Pleasant.
History
Part of modern-day Briarcliff Manor was once known as Whitson's Corners for brothers John H., Richard, and Reuben Whitson, who owned adjoining farms in the area totaling 400 acres. Whitson's Corners was named after the corner of Pleasantville and South State Roads, where John H. Whitson's house, the Crossways, stood from 1820 until the 1940s.The Briarcliff Congregational Church's parish house currently stands at its former location. The neighboring community of Scarborough was known as Weskora until it was renamed in 1864, after resident William Kemey's ancestral hometown in Yorkshire. After the community was incorporated into Briarcliff Manor in 1906, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad put up a sign reading "Briarcliff West" at the village's Scarborough station. Soon afterward, attributed to the neighborhood's pride over their name,that sign was thrown into the Hudson River and replaced with the original Scarborough sign.
Economy
About five percent of Briarcliff Manor's land is occupied by businesses. The village has three retail business areas, a general (non-retail) business area and scattered office buildings and laboratories. The village's principal retail district is along Pleasantville and North State Roads. The central business district primarily has retailers such as restaurants, cafes, small food markets, and specialty shops. The North State Road business district has a supermarket, a bank, a gas station, and a mixture of retail stores, and the other retail areas have national and local stores.
Briarcliff Manor Recreation
Briarcliff Manor has about 180 acres of recreational facilities and parks, all of which are accessible to the public. The village's library houses its recreation department, which has four staff and a six-member advisory committee, and provides recreation programming for the village. The village's Department of Public Works maintains the village's parks and recreational facilities with one parks foreman and two groundskeeping personnel. The following are available to Briarcliff Manor residents.
Transportation
The village's transportation system includes highways, streets, and a rail line; its low population density favors automobiles. Briarcliff Manor is accessible by the controlled-access Taconic State Parkway; it can also be reached by U.S. Route 9, New York State Route 9A and New York State Route 100, which traverse the village north to south. East-west travel is more difficult; Long Hill, Pine, Elm, and Scarborough Roads are narrow, winding, and hilly. Routes 9 and 9A are the most heavily traversed roadways in the village.
Briarcliff Manor Education
The village is home to the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District, which covers 6.58 square miles of land and most of the village of Briarcliff Manor and an unincorporated portion of the town of Mount Pleasant. Parts of Briarcliff Manor not covered by the school district include Scarborough and Chilmark; these areas are part of the Ossining Union Free School District.[9] The district serves over 1,000 students and includes Todd Elementary School, Briarcliff Middle School, and Briarcliff High School. From Briarcliff Manor's settlement until 1918, students in grades 1–8 were taught within one school facility; from 1919 until the 1940s, students in grades 1–12 were as well. The district is noted for its annual high-school musicals. The elementary school (opened in 1953) is named after George A. Todd, Jr., who was the village's first teacher, first superintendent of schools, and taught for over 40 years. The middle school became a Blue Ribbon School in 2005.
