The Dingle Ridge Fox. A few months ago I was doing some research for the Town of Southeast’s Historic Sites Committee on the area known as “Dingle Ridge”. Dingle Ridge Road leads from Route 6 near the Connecticut border down into North Salem and Westchester.
My research involved a few of the old houses on the historic road, which was once the main through-fare from NYC to Vermont. There
were a number of taverns or inns along the route (with the 1795 map boasting of the number the town had).
During my research, I came across the obituary for Sam Savitt, who happened to be an author and illustrator who lived on Dingle Ridge, and had written a short story called The Dingle Ridge Fox. Mr. Savitt had quite a resume, his work found on Kentucky Derby posters and in Sports Illustrated magazine. He wrote 15 books and illustrated 150 books by other authors.
So, as way leads on to way, I eventually picked up a copy of the book at the Patterson Library. At about 16 pages, it is not a long read. (The story is one of six in the book, and the author has written a number of books, mostly involving horses.) And as a local resident, I enjoyed it as the author mentioned local landmarks, such as Dingle Ridge. He also mentions Starr Ridge (another nearby community), and one of the animal-characters is named Brewster. As I read the book, I found myself trying to picture exactly where the story occurred. Is the unnamed highway he mentioned Route 684 or Route 84? Is the golf course he mentions perhaps Vails Grove or Morefar Country Club? And at one point he mentions how most of the other foxes have moved north – perhaps springing from the author’s observation of encroaching development in the area at the time of his writing?
Sources:
-The Dingle Ridge Fox and Other Stories by Sam Savitt. Dodd, Mead & Company. New York. 1978.
-“Zalmon Sanford” map of the town of Southeast. 1795. On file at Putnam County Historian Office.
-http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/30/arts/sam-savitt-83-artist-and-author-who-specialized-in-horses-dies.html