Dobbs Ferry

Dobbs Ferry, New York (Enter Dobbs Ferry's Hudson River Gallery)

The Dobbs family, who settled along the Hudson River in the Dobbs Ferry area in 1698, operated a periauger ferry across the river. In 1759 the business was taken over and run from the Rockland County side, closing in 1903. The periauger was a unique sailing craft, modeled after the dugout canoe and using sails based on the early Dutch two-masters.

Until the middle of the 19th century, farming was the major economic activity in the area, and Dobbs Ferry was a center for shipping farm products to market in New York City. Several factories had been established by the 1850s, producing everything from cigars to pearl buttons, which were made from oyster shells found along the River.

From the 1890s through the 1920s many Italian immigrants settled in Dobbs Ferry. The hillside location of Dobbs Ferry reminded them of the Italian hillside towns they left behind. Today, a distinctly southern European flavor still exists in Dobbs Ferry that sets it apart from the other villages along the river.