During the Revolutionary War Major John André of the British Army was captured, disguised in civilian clothing, at the site by three Patriot militiamen. They found papers on him that implicated him in espionage with Benedict Arnold, a high-ranking officer of the Continental Army. After a military trial André was executed; Arnold defected to the British and lived his remaining years after the war in England.

A memorial was erected on the site in 1853, on land donated by some members of the local African American community. It was one of the earliest monuments to honor any event of the Revolutionary War. Later it was expanded and incorporated into Brookside Park, a late 19th-century Beaux-Arts residential development by the firm of Carrère and Hastings . Later it became the campus of two different girls’ boarding schools, one of which was attended by Lauren Bacall. It became a park and took its current name in the middle of the 20th century, and all buildings but the gatehouse were demolished.

Taken with a Sony A6000 and 18-55mm lens