Purchase Friends Meeting House and Cemetery, 4455 Purchase Street

There are those that say, this is where it all began. It only makes sense to start the tour here. Quakers settled here in 1724, one of them being Samuel Haight, one of the original five on the patent for Harrison. [1] This meeting house, established in 1727, was used to house wounded soldiers after the Battle of White Plains. The original house was destroyed by a fire in 1918 but rebuilt the same. Haight and John Harrison came from Flushing, New York. It is Haight, Harrison and three others who successfully received the 1696 patent for Harrison. More about the controversy surrounding this patent can be learned later.

The Quakers were the majority of Harrison for a long period of time and influenced much of history. They were the first leaders and lawmakers. Quakers were slaveowners but freed them all by 1781. [2] They remained part of their community, and often received religious or educational aid, even receiving donated land “Slavery also existed in early Harrison. An old New York newspaper advertisement dated 6th August, 1772 (sic) reads: ‘Runaway from Nathan Field of Harrison's Purchase in the Township of Rye, a negro called "Plato." Twenty shillings reward.’ The slaves were freed by the Quakers between 1773 and 1783 and were given land to farm in the Stony Hill area in West Harrison by one of the friends, Frederick Stephens. An old church and a cemetery existed there.” [3] Their commitment to promoting human rights is still evident today.

The cemetery holds 503 people with the earliest being 1714. Buried here is former Town Councilman, Mort Heineman. Also buried here is Cornelius Oakley, who served during the Battle of White Plains under General George Washington. [4]

[1] Kelly, Jean. Town of Harrison Tricentennial, 1696-1996, 1996, p.6.

[2] Kelly, Jean. Town of Harrison Tricentennial, 1696-1996, 1996, p.6.

[3] “Silver Lake.” Accessed June 14, 2024. https://www.harrison-ny.gov/historian/pages/silver-lake

[4] Baird, Charles Washington. Chronicle of a Border Town: History of Rye, Westchester County, New York, 1660-1870,... including Harrison and the White Plains till 1788. HARBOR HILL BOOKS, 1974.