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Pocantico Hills, New York
Pocantico Hills is an unincorporated hamlet in the town of Mount Pleasant, Westchester County, New York, United States, about 28 miles (45 km) north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It occupies the area of approximately 2.5 square miles (6.5 km2).
While official data and wider definitions vary, longtime residents consider only the houses immediately surrounding the historical Rockefeller family estate (anchored by Kykuit, the family seat built by John D. Rockefeller Sr.) to be the true Pocantico Hills. The district served by the Pocantico Hills Fire Department contains 270 households (as of 2025). The hamlet is almost completely surrounded by the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. It shares the postal code, 10591, with the nearby villages of Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown.
The area was originally settled by Native Americans of the Wecquaesgeek tribes; "Pocantico" means "stream between two hills", a reference to the meandering Pocantico River. The area was once rich in flint, which early Native Americans used for their stone tools and weapons.
The hamlet was once a part of Philipsburg Manor. During the American Revolutionary War, the last lord of the manor, Frederick Philipse III, who was a Loyalist, was attainted for treason. Philipsburg Manor was confiscated and sold at public auction. The Upper Mills area of the manor was purchased in 1785 by the New York merchant Gerard Garret Beekman Jr., who later expanded his property to include the Pocantico Hills area.
His son, Stephen (who spelled his last name as Beeckman), became a respected physician and married a daughter of George Clinton, the first governor of New York and later vice president of the United States. Dr. Stephen D. Beeckman settled in the inland hilltop portion of the Beekman family property, which he inherited, building his residence on the area's highest ground. In the mid-19th century, the Pocantico Hills area was known as Beeckmantown (while the waterfront portion of the Beekman family property, the core of the present-day village of Sleepy Hollow, had been known as Beekman Town since the early 19th century).
In the 1870s, this area was also known as Tarrytown Heights.
John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil, began buying land in Pocantico Hills in 1893. At the time, southwestern Westchester County was almost entirely rural, with “large areas of woodlands, lakes, fields and streams all teeming with wildlife,” as David Rockefeller wrote in his Memoirs. He continued:
Eventually the family accumulated about 3,400 acres that surrounded and included almost all of the little village of Pocantico Hills, where most of the residents worked for the family and lived in houses owned by Grandfather.
The wooden house my grandparents occupied (the Parsons-Wentworth House) burned down in 1901. Rather than rebuild, they simply moved down the hill to a smaller place, known as the Kent House, where they were perfectly content. After a great deal of prodding by Father (John D. Rockefeller Jr.) they finally built a larger and more substantial house near where the original structure had stood. Grandfather occupied Kykuit from 1912 until his death in 1937, and then Mother and Father moved into it.
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Pocantico Hills, New York
Pocantico Hills is an unincorporated hamlet in the town of Mount Pleasant, Westchester County, New York, United States, about 28 miles (45 km) north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It occupies the area of approximately 2.5 square miles (6.5 km2).
While official data and wider definitions vary, longtime residents consider only the houses immediately surrounding the historical Rockefeller family estate (anchored by Kykuit, the family seat built by John D. Rockefeller Sr.) to be the true Pocantico Hills. The district served by the Pocantico Hills Fire Department contains 270 households (as of 2025). The hamlet is almost completely surrounded by the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. It shares the postal code, 10591, with the nearby villages of Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown.
The area was originally settled by Native Americans of the Wecquaesgeek tribes; "Pocantico" means "stream between two hills", a reference to the meandering Pocantico River. The area was once rich in flint, which early Native Americans used for their stone tools and weapons.
The hamlet was once a part of Philipsburg Manor. During the American Revolutionary War, the last lord of the manor, Frederick Philipse III, who was a Loyalist, was attainted for treason. Philipsburg Manor was confiscated and sold at public auction. The Upper Mills area of the manor was purchased in 1785 by the New York merchant Gerard Garret Beekman Jr., who later expanded his property to include the Pocantico Hills area.
His son, Stephen (who spelled his last name as Beeckman), became a respected physician and married a daughter of George Clinton, the first governor of New York and later vice president of the United States. Dr. Stephen D. Beeckman settled in the inland hilltop portion of the Beekman family property, which he inherited, building his residence on the area's highest ground. In the mid-19th century, the Pocantico Hills area was known as Beeckmantown (while the waterfront portion of the Beekman family property, the core of the present-day village of Sleepy Hollow, had been known as Beekman Town since the early 19th century).
In the 1870s, this area was also known as Tarrytown Heights.
John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil, began buying land in Pocantico Hills in 1893. At the time, southwestern Westchester County was almost entirely rural, with “large areas of woodlands, lakes, fields and streams all teeming with wildlife,” as David Rockefeller wrote in his Memoirs. He continued:
Eventually the family accumulated about 3,400 acres that surrounded and included almost all of the little village of Pocantico Hills, where most of the residents worked for the family and lived in houses owned by Grandfather.
The wooden house my grandparents occupied (the Parsons-Wentworth House) burned down in 1901. Rather than rebuild, they simply moved down the hill to a smaller place, known as the Kent House, where they were perfectly content. After a great deal of prodding by Father (John D. Rockefeller Jr.) they finally built a larger and more substantial house near where the original structure had stood. Grandfather occupied Kykuit from 1912 until his death in 1937, and then Mother and Father moved into it.