“It Happened Here: Life in New Rochelle During the American Revolution”

In October, 1776 British General William Howe amassed nearly 10,000 troops in New Rochelle, in preparation for the critical Battle of White Plains. New Rochelle's population of less than a thousand people would soon experience seven long years as part of the so-called "Neutral Ground" that was Westchester, north of British-occupied New York and south of Patriot-held land. During this period of instability families and friends were pitted against one another, many taking up arms to fight for independence, while many others fought with the British as loyalists. These were tumultuous, lawless times, when marauders of Skinners (loyalists) and Cowboys (patriots) roamed the county, looting, threatening, and even killing fellow civilians, with no legal repercussions.

NRCA’s exhibit “It Happened Here” examines the impact of this period on New Rochelle through early records, maps, and eyewitness accounts culled from the Westchester County Historical Society’s McDonald Interviews juxtaposed with a series of modern images by noted photographer Adam Pape. The public can view the exhibit through Friday, March 27th at the Lumen Winter Gallery in the lobby of the New Rochelle Public Library; a free reception and gallery talk with City Historian Barbara Davis will be held on Sunday, March 15th at 3 pm.

"It Happened Here" is an original exhibit presented by the New Rochelle Council on the Arts; the exhibit is being curated by NRCA Board members Barbara Davis, New Rochelle’s City Historian and Director of the Westchester County Historical Society; Christine Ramage, VP/Head of Photography for Paramount+ and Showtime; with editing help from Theresa Kump Leghorn. The exhibit was designed by Susan Nagib of SUSA Designs.

The exhibit covers two parts of the American Revolution War years in New Rochelle, before the Battle of White Plains – in October 1776, when the British and Hessians landed and encamped here and martial law was in effect – and afterward, up to the end of the war in 1783. “During this period New Rochelle was part of the so-called “Neutral Ground”, which to modern ears sounds safe, like Switzerland during World War II,” observes curator Barbara Davis. “But in fact it was more like a “no-man’s land of pillaging, plundering and strife.”

The mission of NRCA (founded in 1975) is to encourage the study and presentation of the performing and fine arts, and over the years NRCA has sponsored art exhibitions, theatrical productions, dance recitals, film screenings, lectures, spoken word events, concert series and public art. Find out more about NRCA at www.newrochellearts.org.

The New Rochelle Council on the Arts is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive Ken Jenkins.

About the Photographer: Adam Pape

Adam Pape is a photographer based in New York City. He is also a Lecturer in Photography at SUNY Purchase.

Born in Smithfield Virginia, Pape earned his MFA from Yale University in 2016. After moving to New York City in 2011 he began making pictures in the neighborhoods of Washington Heights and Inwood that became his first monograph Dyckman Haze, which was published by MACK Books and featured in Le Monde Magazine, Photo District News, Musée Magazine, Dazed, Paper Journal, GUP Magazine, and Bookforum. Dyckman Haze went on to be selected a shortlist winner for the Paris Photo -Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards 2019. Photographs from Dyckman Haze were also included in Aperture Gallery's exhibition Delirious Cities.
He continues to work as an editorial photographer with commissions from The New Yorker Magazine, The Fader, Art in America, and Harper’s Magazine.