RYE

city and town (township), on Long Island Sound, in Westchester county, southeastern New York, U.S. The original townsite, at Pendingo Neck, was first settled (1660) by a company of men from Greenwich, Connecticut, who had purchased the land from the Siwanoy Indians; they named it (1665) for Rye in Sussex, England. The Village of Rye, which was separately incorporated in 1904 and already a popular beach resort, developed rapidly as a residential suburb of New York City (24 miles southwest) with the advent of trolley cars and commuter trains; it was chartered as a city in 1942. Its Square House (once the Haviland Inn, c. 1731) was a stopping place on the old Boston Post Road. The town of Rye, which surrounds but does not include the city, also encompasses the village of Port Chester (incorporated 1868) and part of the village of Mamaroneck (1895). Playland, an amusement park (opened 1928), has original Art Deco style buildings. Area town, 7 square miles (18 square km). Pop. (1990) city, 15,071; town, 39,524; (1998 est.) city, 15,326; town, 40,063. town (parish), Rother district, administrative county of East Sussex, historic county of Sussex, England, on a hill by the River Rother. The community's cobbled streets and timber-framed and Georgian houses attract many tourists. Originally a seaport, Rye was incorporated in 1289 and became a full member of the Cinque Ports (a confederation of English Channel ports) in about 1350. Edward III walled the town, but of the three original 14th-century entrance gates, only Land Gate remains, together with the earlier Ypres Tower (12th century). Buildings of special interest include the Mermaid Inn (1420) and the 18th-century house in which the novelist Henry James spent his later years. From the 15th century the port declined as silting proceeded (the sea is now 2 miles away), and the town has grown little outside its medieval perimeter. Pop. (1991) 3,708.