Prelude to the Revolution in a New York Border Town

On July 11, 1776, Rye resident John Thomas Jr. read the Declaration of Independence publicly from the footsteps of the White Plains Courthouse. The New York Provincial Congress had officially ratified the Declaration two days before the excited crowd heard those stirring words. The excitement, however, was not shared by all of their neighbors or even their own family members. Many in Rye and the surrounding towns remained loyal to the King and were deeply opposed to independence. Join us on February 1, 2026 at 3:00 PM at the Rye Free Reading Room to hear Rye resident Lear Beyer discuss the unique history of our area leading up to the Revolution and how it became the epicenter of America’s first Civil War.

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A Zoom option will be available. Please register for the program by clicking on this link. Please note that you need to register in order to receive the Zoom link.

Hear Jan Kelsey, Rye resident, President of the Board of Trustees of the Westchester Historical Society, and former archivist for the Rye Historical Society, discuss the Cowboys and Skinners, two notorious gangs that ravaged Rye and Westchester County during the Revolutionary War. Our communities endured 7 years of fear and lawlessness from 1776 to 1783 as they faced foraging troops, gangs of marauders, military skirmishes, economic hardship and political upheaval on a daily basis.  Families had divided loyalties and many fled to either New York or Connecticut to escape the violence of the so-called “Neutral Ground.”

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