This is off topic, but I thought a bunch of you might like to know my home
brewed beer will be featured in a beer tasting Thursday April 19th at 7:30
pm.

Bill Wander will speak at Wayside Cottage, which was built c.1715 and became
an inn/tavern in the mid-18th century. His talk, "Got Beer? The Scarsdale
Beer Connection", will be about the historic taverns in the Westchester and New
York area. As an extra added attraction, the lecture will be followed by a
beer-tasting provided by Scarsdale home brewers Bruce Wells' VIP Brewery,
Charlie and Carol Gardner Ewen, as well as Scott Vaccaro of Captain Lawrence
Brewing Co. and Wander's own brew, "India Pale Ale". The lecture is free
and open to the public; there will be a $20 charge for those who wish to
partake of the beer-tasting.

Bill Wander is the historian for McSorley's Old Ale House in New York City.
Most Scarsdale residents will probably be surprised to learn about the
connection between the family of Col. Alexander B. Crane and McSorley's: the
Cranes of Scarsdale and their predecessors had a four-generation link to the
Saloon, and a part in its survival and re-emergence after prohibition.

Wander's history of McSorley's, the oldest continuously operating saloon
in New York City (it opened in 1854), "Sawdust on the Floor", will be
published by Greekworks. Bill has traveled the world for more than 20 years
as a documentary film-maker for National Geographic, The Discovery and
History Channels, the three major networks, and Public Television. A
contributor to three Emmy award-winning films, he has been awarded the
American Psychological Association's best media production of the year
prize. He has also been a judge for the Museum of the City of New York's
annual History Day program, and has contributed to exhibitions for the
Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian, "Booming Out, Mohawk
Ironworkers", and the Brooklyn Historical Society's "One-Hundred Bottles of
Beer on the Wall".
The Wayside Cottage is located at 1039 Post Rd in Scarsdale. See the
following link for the exact location.

http://tinyurl.com/33mn6r

Some history of the Wayside Cottage:

Historians believe that it dates back to about 1715. This makes it one of
the oldest preserved residences in the United States. Colonel Rufus Putnam,
the chief engineer of Washington's Army, in his account of a scouting trip
made before the Battle of White Plains speaks of "riding as far as three or
four miles south of White Plains to a tavern and listening to a conversation
of Whig farmers". He could very well have been speaking of Wayside.

Wayside was originally built by the Tompkins family. In 1761, the Varian
family moved to the cottage when Mr. Varian, a staunch patriot, decided to
move his family out of New York City as it was occupied by British soldiers,
to neutral territory, as Wayside's location was then considered . The Varian
family's tenure straddled both colonial and post-colonial life with Wayside
Cottage serving as an Inn and personal residence up until 1841. In 1853
Wayside was purchased by the Butler family as part of their vast country
estate. Legend has it that Wayside may have been part of the "underground
railway" and this could very well be true. In 1917, then owner Emily
Butler, gave Wayside along with 30 acres of land to the Scarsdale Community
Farm, a plan designed to take Scarsdale off the food market and make it
self-supporting as far as winter vegetables were concerned. People
subscribed to the Community Farm and were paid wages when they worked
there. Noting the success of the Community Farm, Miss Butler deeded Wayside
to the Village of Scarsdale in 1919 "for the purpose of creating an
historical park and for the preservation and maintenance of the ancient
building for the use of educational and historical purpose; for fostering a
public and democratic spirit in the community and providing a center for
civic welfare, club rooms or lyceum for the use of the people of Scarsdale."


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