Plumbing in Scarborough, NY

Part of modern-day Briarcliff Manor was once known as Whitson’s Corners for brothers John H., Richard, and Reuben Whitson, who owned adjoining farms in the area totaling 400 acres (160 ha). Whitson’s Corners was named after the corner of Pleasantville and South State roads, where John H. Whitson’s house, the Crossways, stood from 1820 until the 1940s. The Briarcliff Congregational Church’s parish house currently stands at its former location. The neighboring community of Scarborough was known as Weskora until it was renamed in 1864, after resident William Kemey’s ancestral hometown in Yorkshire. After the community was incorporated into Briarcliff Manor in 1906, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad put up a sign reading “Briarcliff West” at the village’s Scarborough station. Soon afterward, attributed to the neighborhood’s pride over their name, that sign was thrown into the Hudson River and replaced with the original Scarborough sign.

Briarcliff Manor derives from “Brier Cliff”, a compound of the English words “brier” and “cliff”. The name originated in Ireland as that of the family home of John David Ogilby, a professor of ecclesiastical history at the General Theological Seminary. Ogilby had named his New York summer home Brier Cliff after his family home in Ireland. In 1890, Walter Law bought James Stillman’s 236-acre (96 ha) Briarcliff Farm and further developed it, later using the name Briarcliff for all his property. Law’s friend, Andrew Carnegie, called him “The Laird of Briarcliff Manor”; since the title appealed to all concerned, the village was named “Briarcliff Manor”. By 1897, the village post office and railroad station bore the name Briarcliff Manor. The village (and its name) were approved by its residents in a September 12, 1902 referendum; the name prevailed over other suggestions, including “Sing Sing East”. On November 21, 1902, the village of Briarcliff Manor was established.

The village is also known by several other names. It is conversationally called “Briarcliff”, and often erroneously written as “Briar Cliff Manor” (although historically there has been little distinction). The village has been called “Briarcliff on the Hudson” by Mark Twain and Aileen Riggin; it is also known as “the Village of Briarcliff Manor”. The name Briarcliff has also been applied to other municipalities, including the 470-person town of Briarcliffe Acres in South Carolina; in naming it, the town’s founder had drawn inspiration from Briarcliff Manor’s name. One of the village’s mottos, “A village between two rivers”, can also refer to the municipality; another official motto is a Walter Law quote, “Only the best is good enough”.