F.W. Beers' 1867 atlas shows that the Hills community included both a school and a church; the church was the Methodist-Episcopal Zion Church of Colored People (later Mount Hope AME Zion Church of White Plains). The existence of the school calls into question census records in Harrison marking most African Americans as illiterate. The 1860 census for the town of Harrison lists a total of 1413 persons. While only 11% of this population is marked illiterate, 42% of the black population is marked illiterate. Of the non-blacks marked illiterate, all are recent Irish immigrants.

The Hills community existed into the 1930's. Many of its former residents are buried in Stony Hill Cemetery.

Read on: In the Service of the Union