NewRoc Now

Two curiosities of downtown New Rochelle, or SoNo as it seems to be called, caught my eye this week, both on the same run to Glen Island on Sunday morning.   First thing is the new shop, Glass House, that opened at 5 Church Street that sells bongs, glass pipes, hookas and other assorted glass things.  To the best of my knowledge it is the only such store in all of the shore towns so I expect that it will do amazingly well if anyone actually finds it.

Second curiousity is a small monument where Main and Huguenot  divide near the Exxon station. There are two monuments, but I always stop and look at the monumen to Eliza Moulton. Eliza Moulton died at 87 years old on Oct 9, 1914 and is memorialized as a ‘friend to dumb animals.’  Considering my friends I may be remembered the same way, but unlike me, Ms. Moulton turns to be an interesting woman based on sixty seconds of Internet research.

Ms. Moulton lived at 237 Hugueont Street and was a small heiress who gave away all of her money to charities and started awareness about cruelty to animals in Westchester.  According to her obituary, Ms. Moulton was not only a friend to dumb animals but also was quite a patriot and an amazing woman.  She and two other women would take a rowboat for daily trips to Fort Slocum, a Civil War hospital off the coast of Glen Islan - even in the dead of winter - to bring fresh baked bread ‘of their own baking’ and clean under garments to wounded soldiers.   She was also known to take in troubled young women to live with her and help them get back on their feet.   She was an outspoken member of the Christian Women’s Temprance Union of New Rochelle and succeeded in getting a New Rochelle hotel’s liquor license revoked in 1900. She donated $30,000 to build Moulton Hall, their local headquarters.  I have no idea what became of that structure, if anyone knows drop a line.