YE BOWERIE OF LADY MOODY 

A SCENE OF EARLY DISSENSIONS AND INDIAN TROUBLES


	This quaint old house stands, half-hidden by hedges, shrubbery 
and cherry-trees, on Neck Road in Gravesend, midway between 
Gravesend Avenue and Van Sicklen Street. Opposite in the old 
graveyard, it is said, Lady Moody is buried, but the identity of 
the nameless stone supposed to mark her grave has never been proved, 
any more than has the fact that the beautiful old house was 
ever occupied. by the grand dame herself of the English colony. 
Lady Deborah Moody was several times an exile. Her troubles seem 
to have begun in England at the time of her husband's death, in 1632, 
when his independent widow did a number of things that did not
become a woman of her times. She went to London, and evidently 
became interested in religious matters; for she overstayed the 
time that a non-resident should remain. She was ordered to 
return to her own home, and her case was taken up by the Star Chamber,
which kept the search-light of the law on the Lady Deborah until, 
seeking for civil and religious liberty, she decided to emigrate 
with her son, Sir Henry MOODY, the second. They came to America. 
Probably this country loomed before them as a land of promise, where, 
if a woman had opinions of her own, they were hers for the thinking. 
In Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1640 Lady Deborah MOODY united with the church. 
She appears to have been respected by the community, and shortly after 
her arrival a grant of land amounting to about four hundred acres was 
given her by the General Court, and the following year she paid L1,001 
for the farm.

	Roger WILLIAMS appeared in the colony, and,whether from his teachings or 
from the reasonings of her own fertile brain, the Lady Deborah's religious 
views took a sudden turn from her neighbors trend of belief. And it was not 
long before she was excommunicated from the church because she was convinced 
that the baptism of infants was not of divine ordinance.

	With a party of English colonists the Lady Deborah came to New Amsterdam in 1643, 
and settled in Gravesend. The house was probably built in that year. The 
grant to her and her associates from Governor KIEFT comprised Coney Island 
and all of Gravesend and Sheepshead Bay. 

	There is a question on the part of authorities as to whether the old house 
on the Neck Road was really owned and occupied by this woman of royal lineage. 
Some authorities claim that the house which she built and in which she lived 
was a mile farther up Neck Road. Still, as time passed, this beautiful cottage 
came to be known as "Ye Bowerie of Lady MOODY," and it is true that it stands 
on land formerly granted to this distinguished Englishwoman and her followers. 
Contention also has arisen as to how the town got its name. Some say that 
Governor KIEFT named it S'Gravensande after a sea town on the river Maas, and 
that the name means Count's Beach, graven, signifying count, and sande,  a sandy 
beach. Still others say that the town was named for Gravesend in England. 
Lady MOODY was influential in the colony which she strove to establish, 
and her bravery when the Indian troubles arose is recorded. She was influential 
in government atfairs with both KIEFT and Peter STUYVESANT. The latter with 
his wife was entertained at the home of Lady MOODY, and Mrs. STUYVESANT was 
agreeably impressed by the charming English-woman. When Governor STUYVESANT 
was troubled by affairs of state, he went to Lady MOODY for advice, and 
matters were helped, by the lady herself nominating a magistrate for Gravesend. 

	The internal troubles in the little colony presided over by Lady Deborah 
MOODY were mostly caused by the Indians, "Who were particularly troublesome 
from the very first. Her house was the chosen point of the savages for attack. 
Every precaution was taken for defence, and, every man went to his work armed, 
and every person in the colony turned his hand to the building of 
a palisade for protection. The fiercest attack occurred in 1655, 
when the sturdy settlers held out against the enemy until help was sent 
from New Amsterdam. Records show that the English settlers tried to 
deal honestly with the redskins, and even after KIEFT's second patent 
they purchased the lands of Gravesend for "one blanket, one gun, one 
kettle."

	The nameless headstone in the old town churchyard across from the "bowerie" 
of Lady MOODY may or may not mark her resting place. Traditions say 
that she was driven from her colony by the Indian ravages, and they say 
also that her handful of followers married into the Dutch families and 
that the identity of the English colony was lost. The son, Sir Henry, 
drifted to Virginia.



The Voorhees Homestead in the Cellar of which Tradition says, A Hessian Soldier was Buried
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