Sun shines again on golf club's long-lost Black history

OSSINING, New York -- Hudson Hills Golf Course in Westchester Country has a reputation for punishing links and scenic views of the Hudson Valley. Back in the 1930's, the club was known for something different.

Ossining village historian Joyce Sharrock-Cole was researching her own family history when she discovered a piece of lost history. Sharrock-Cole was researching her uncle Warren Sharrock, one of the early Black professional golfers, when she discovered that the county-owned Hudson Hills Golf Course had once been known as The Rising Sun Golf and Country Club. Even more, it was entirely owned and operated by Black businessmen from the area. In 1936, it was the first of its kind in Westchester County and one of the first in the tri-state area.

"During the Great Migration, we're talking the late '30s, a Black group of investors banded together to create a golf and country club," Sharrock-Cole said. She explains the irony that, "Black people at the time weren't welcome into the banks. So, they weren't losing their money during the Great Depression. Their money was still with them."

The club became renowned for its lavish facilities and amenities before it even opened. Eventually local newspapers caught wind, and parts of the greater community began to rally against the club and its owners.

"They called for the KKK, they had meetings at the local firehouse," Sharrock-Cole said. She says the club and its members were undeterred. "These people came from the South during enslavement, Jim Crowe. So you calling the KKK on them is not scaring them, that you're having a meeting."

Locals eventually sued the club. The resulting red tape and legal fees were enough to bankrupt the club, ultimately sending it on the auction block. The course has had a handful of owners since. Today it is publicly owned by Westchester County.

Cole didn't take her discovery for granted. She knows that, "if you stop telling these stories they don't get passed on. They get lost to time or they're erased. So I had to figure out a way to permanently honor the contributions of these people."

Sharrock-Cole and local leaders set out to share the club's lost history, working to create a permanent Rising Sun Golf and Country Club memorial near the course's scenic first tee.