This river of romance
Along whose banks on moonlight nights
The Highland fairies dance.

_E. A. Lente._

* * *

Just opposite Old Cro' Nest is the village of Cold Spring, on the east
bank, which receives its name naturally from a cold spring in the
vicinity; and it is interesting to remember that the famous Parrott
guns were made at this place, and many implements of warfare during
our civil strife. The foundry was started by Gouverneur Kemble in
1828, and brought into wide renown by the inventive genius of Major
Parrott. Cold Spring has a further distinction in having the first
ground broken, about three miles from the river, for the greatest
engineering enterprise of the age--"The Water Supply of the
Catskills," when Mayor McClellan, in June, 1907, began the work with
his silver shovel. A short distance north of the village is

=Undercliff= (built by John C. Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton,
but more particularly associated with the memory of the poet, Col.
George P. Morris), lies, in fact, _under the cliff_ and shadow of
Mount Taurus, and has a fine outlook upon the river and surrounding
mountains. Standing on the piazza, we see directly in front of us Old
Cro' Nest, and it was here that the poet wrote:

"Where Hudson's wave o'er silvery sands
Winds through the hills afar,
_Old Cro' Nest like a monarch stands