In 1824, New York State legislated that each county had to establish an institution for the care of the poor. So Westchester County purchased 110 acres of farmland in East Tarrytown / Knapp's Corners, and built what is now known as the Westchester County Alms House. The Alms House opened up in 1828. Knapp's Corners later became known as 'East View', the name of a 350-acre estate purchased by James Butler in 1893. East View (or Eastview) is considered to be a hamlet in the town of Mount Pleasant, NY.

The County Alms House was actually a complex of buildings. It included a main building to accomodate the 'inmates', a laundry house, a tramp house, stables, & outhouses. It also had a small plot of land set aside for a cemetery (the 'County Alms House Cemetery'). I believe in 1914 the Alms House in Eastview was closed for use as the 'poor house', & that it was converted into a hospital for a short period of time (the 'Westchester County Hospital').

The County Alms House Cemetery was used to bury the poor of the county. It also included persons whose identities were unknown. Many of the cemetery burials were for people from the Alms House, local hospitals, nursing homes, & penitentiary.

The Westchester County Historical Society has old maps of the Alms House complex. On a 1901 map of Eastview, NY you can see the cemetery listed as the 'County House Cemetery.' It was also referred to as the 'County Alms House Cemetery'. This cemetery was used for close to 100 years (c.1827-c.1920).

After 1920, a new cemetery was built for the poor of Westchester County. This cemetery was called 'Potter's Field' and it was built on the 'Grasslands' complex in Valhalla, NY. The burials for this cemetery can be found on the FindAGrave website. There is a cemetery map which was created with all the occupants of the Potter's Field cemetery - it is available at the Westchester County Archives.

In 1935, the land where the County Alms House Cemetery was located was given over to make way for the construction of the Saw Mill River Parkway. Instead of disturbing any of the existing graves, the cemetery in Eastview was covered over with 20 feet of dirt and the Parkway was then built over it. This old cemetery would've been located somewhere around the present-day vicinity of Exit 23 off of the Saw Mill River Parkway.