Larchmont, a village with a population of 5,864 people, is located within the town of Mamaroneck. The area is named for the Larch trees that encompassed the former property of John Jay’s nephew Peter Jay Munrow. Over the years, the village has gained the name “Tree City USA” which came into place over 30 years ago. Larchmont has been popular among visitors along with the residents who call the village home due to its small-town charm, quaint feel, and overall natural beauty that is due in part to the many parks and shorelines that surround the city center.
THE HISTORY OF LARCHMONT
This area was originally home to the Siwanoy, an Algonquin Native American tribe that resided in the region. The land was purchased by a merchant from England who ended up getting in a dispute with another settler from Europe over who actually had the rights to the land. Eventually, one of the town’s supervisors, Samuel Palmer, gained ownership of the land and began to establish the village.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Larchmont became popular as a summer resort where wealthy New Yorkers would vacation during the hotter months before the resort was established as a legitimate village in the 1890s. Soon after officially becoming a village, Larchmont made a quick transition from a summer resort to one of the state’s first suburbs because of the introduction of the automobile. Many of the original homes built during this time period along with some of the hotels and businesses that were part of Larchmont’s prime as a summer destination still stand today and provide a direct link for modern tourists to the stories that accompany the village’s extensive past.
