New Westchester History Hunt puts historical spots on an app and lets you track visits

Some of Westchester's historical spots have been on the map for centuries. Now, they're on the app.

To mark its 150th anniversary, Westchester County Historical Society is launching a History Hunt app for smartphones or tablets that lists more than 90 sites of local note. The app allows registered users to track their visits and submit proof of their burgeoning local-history knowledge in a contest that runs from July 1 through Sept. 8.

The society bills it as a way for families to connect this summer while learning local history. (Find the app and join the contest at www.westchesterhistory.com.)

Each historical site has GPS directions, text and audio descriptions, photos, and a challenge to prove the hunter visited the site. Once proof is submitted by a registered history hunter, the site's green marker in the app turns to gray. The app was the brainchild of Ossining based developer Otocast.

For example, at Tarrytown Music Hall, hunters learn of the venue's sweet origins, and are asked to submit a photo of the Music Hall's brick facade.

At the Luigi del Bianco Memorial in Port Chester, dedicated to the Italian immigrant who was the chief carver of Mount Rushmore, hunters are asked to take a photo of their favorite Rushmore president and submit it.

The audio descriptions were crafted local historians, said Barbara Davis, the county historical society's co-director and coordinator of the History Hunt.

“Our county’s dedicated historians and historical societies have helped us assemble a fabulous array of places to see and history to be experienced,” Davis said. “We are so fortunate to have such a remarkable, diverse heritage. This is a delicious way to sample it.”

What you'll learn during the Westchester History Hunt

Among the sites and what hunters will learn there:

Untermyer Park in Yonkers: "It was a vision of John Waring, owner of America's largest hat factory." Also: "The formal gardens, which have been recently restored to their former glory, were originally designed by William Welles Bosworth, who was also responsible for the gardens at Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate."

The Balanced Rock in North Salem: "One of North Salem's most mysterious and most visited sites," it is "composed of a type of granite that does not match rock that is not normally found in this area."

The Little Red Schoolhouse (Van Cortlandtville Schoolhouse) in Cortlandt Manor: The small building has two entry doors, one was used by girls, the other by boys.

The Skinny House in Mamaroneck: Built in 1931 by Nathan Seely, a successful African American carpenter who built homes for southern Blacks who moved north in The Great Migration. This Skinny House was built with recycled and salvaged materials on a lot that was carved from Seely's land and measured just 12-and-a-half feet by 100 feet.

The historical society's planners hope families with budding historians will spend the summer crisscrossing the county and getting to know its past. Come the fall, winners will be named — for first to finish, for those who visit every site, for most creative photo submissions, et cetera — and prizes will be awarded in the form of tickets to family friendly Westchester museums, restaurants and amusements.

Reach Peter D. Kramer at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester NY History Hunt app features local spots, challenges