Our Troops Marched Here: Old Army Road

In the fall of 1776, the Revolutionary War came directly through the roads and countryside of Scarsdale.

As American forces moved north through Westchester in the days surrounding the Battle of White Plains, one group of Continental troops made its way through present-day Edgemont along a route remembered today as Old Army Road. The road’s name preserves a remarkable connection to the military movements that passed through this corner of Scarsdale during the Revolution.

In late October, the countryside looked very different from the suburban landscape we know today. Scarsdale was a sparsely populated farming community crossed by dirt roads, stone walls, fields and woodland. Continental soldiers moving through the area would have encountered farms and local residents along the way as the army prepared for its confrontation with British and Hessian forces at White Plains.

On October 28, 1776, the Battle of White Plains was fought just a few miles to the north. Scarsdale and the surrounding countryside became part of a much larger military landscape as troops maneuvered throughout central Westchester.

Today, the roads have been paved and the farms largely disappeared, but traces of that earlier landscape remain. Even the name Old Army Road offers a reminder that, 250 years ago, the roads beneath our feet were part of the unfolding American Revolution.

More history coming soon as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the events of 1776.