The Jay Heritage Center (JHC), is proud to present this documentary short If These Stone Walls Could Talk: The Untold Story of the Charles Purdy Family of Harrison by inaugural Purdy – Bell Fellow, Chase Aidan Randolph Gray. In 2025, Chase conducted original historical research about African American history in the Harrison – Rye – Mamaroneck area including the Jay Estate. His focus was the legacy of Charles Purdy and his family who were highly respected, free, Black landowners, farmers and contractors who lived and worked in Westchester during the 19th century.
Among the original source materials that Gray helped contextualize are handwritten accounting ledgers and associated receipts kept by the Charles Purdy and Bell families that mention historic events and people. Some of these items were generously donated to JHC by Carol Ubosi and her family for ongoing study and interpretation.
Chase studied one of the ledgers “like a book with different chapters, chapters of different people’s lives that are somewhat intertwined.” Dated entries confirmed that the members of the Charles Purdy family were contracted and paid to build dry-laid stone walls at the Jay Estate, many of which still exist today. Chase also viewed items from JHC’s archives including drawings and maps donated by Jay descendants along with deeds from the Westchester County Archives for reference.
As part of his fellowship, Chase interviewed Purdy family descendants on-site at the National Historic Landmark Jay Estate in Rye. He recorded conversations with Ms. Carol Ubosi (a descendant of Charles Purdy of Harrison) and Ms. Robinette Robinson (a descendant of Robert Purdy of Scarsdale). Both women shared their personal recollections of learning about their own family histories which are interconnected through the African American Cemetery in Rye.
Over a span of six weeks in 2025, Chase consulted with historians David Thomas, Dr. Larry Spruill, Patrick Raftery, Joseph McGill Jr., Teresa Vega and Suzanne Clary to help him explore the untold stories of resilience and creation of real businesses that followed emancipation in New York State. From Sidley & Austin partner Nicholas Cassin and his team of associates, Chase also learned about present day laws that protect African American heritage sites from destruction and the erasure of their associated narratives.
JHC is enormously grateful to Chase and all the individuals who supported this new initiative to bring Westchester’s Black history to life including. We would also like to acknowledge longtime corporate supporter Alger for funding the Purdy-Bell Fellowship. Together, we are committed to sharing our nation’s whole history at our site.
About the filmmaker:
Chase Gray is a freshman at American University in Washington, DC, where he plans to declare an interdisciplinary major in Communications, Law, Economics, and Government. He hopes to pursue a career as an attorney. He graduated from Harrison High School in Harrison, NY, where he was a member of the school’s Model Congress and participated as a Student Senator at Yale, University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard Model Congress Conferences. He also served as the President of the New Rochelle – White Plains Alumni chapter of the National Kappa League Leadership Development Program through Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., while balancing his responsibilities of academics, extracurricular activities and maintaining scholastic achievement.
Chase’s passion is filmmaking and photography and during the summer of 2021, he started his own business, Chase A. Photography. In just three short years, he has worked over 35 events for groups and organizations. He has created short films, including “Journey to Justice,” which led to him being the 2025 recipient of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Legacy Award for Social Justice, awarded by the African American Men of Westchester (AAMW).
He’s always looking to grow and improve his craft and is grateful for the opportunity to capture art in its various forms. Chase’s involvement in Model Congress and community service led to his interest in law.