The history of Briarcliff Manor can be traced back to the founding of a settlement between the Hudson and Pocantico Rivers in the 19th century. The area now known as Briarcliff Manor had seen human occupation since at least the Archaic period, but significant growth in the settlements that are now incorporated into the village did not occur until the Industrial Revolution.[5](p5)
In the precolonial era, the area of present-day Briarcliff Manor was inhabited by a band of the Wappinger tribes of Native Americans, known as Sint Sincks (or "Sing Sings"). They owned territory as far north as the Croton River.[14][15][16] In the 1860s, Frederick Philipse purchased about 156,000 acres (631 km2) from the Sint Sincks, and named it Philipsburg Manor.[1] The Philipses lost their claim to the land because of the American Revolutionary War; the family, which was Loyalist, had its property confiscated in 1779.[4](pp2–3)[7] The area remained largely unsettled until after the war; in 1693, fewer than twenty families lived in the 50,000-acre (202 km2) area of Westchester which included Briarcliff Manor.[5](p11)
