Mill and Dam at Scarsdale

This scene depicts a mill and dam at Scarsdale. Apparently, the artist created the painting before the railroad was constructed in the town.

Decades before stewardship and conservation of the environment were set into place, this twilight scene of a dam, mill, and fisherman signals the real changes that would transform this once-pastoral landscape. The activity of fishing, though perhaps now seen as a nostalgic outdoor pastime, was looked at with suspicion and anxiety in the 19th century.

Fishermen often played the paradoxical role of nature’s closest observer and the one most directly responsible for its alteration. Although the soft, limpid evening light of this view of the Bronx River evokes placidity and calm, both the presence of the mill and the fisherman allude to the changes occurring in the landscape near Scarsdale.