The town of Somers in Westchester County, New York, was, at one time, known to its Kitchawank Indian inhabitants (part of the Mohegan tribe) as Amapaugh, which meant “fresh water fish”.  The land was later granted to Stephanus Van Cortlandt in 1697.  At the time, the land that would become Somers and Yorktown was known as Hanover.  After Van Cortlandt’s death in 1700, settlers began to drift into the area, and the final partition of his estate occurred in 1734.

In 1788, the town was established in a meeting and given the name Stephentown.  However, another town of the same name existed in Renssealaer County, causing postal issues.  The name was changed to Somerstown, and in 1808, the town of Somers was settled upon as a final nomenclature.  It was named for Captain Richard Somers, who was a young naval officer from New Jersey that gave his life in the Tripolitan War.

One of the sites visitors flock to in Somers is the Elephant Hotel.  In 1804, a farmer named Bailey acquired one of the first elephants to come to America, an African elephant he named Old Bet.  He’d planned to use it for work, but the attraction she became led to the idea of showmanship.  Due to his success, many neighbors began importing exotic animals, and this menagerie led the town of Somers to be referred to as The Cradle of the American Circus.