Outside the Cortlandt Station, Robert Taplin's “Three Statues (A Short History of the Lower Hudson Valley)” might be taken for apparitions from the area's storied past. The bronze sculptures are of a Native American rendered in earth tones; is a prosperous Dutch landowner of the seventeenth or eighteenth century in gray, and is a laborer, perhaps from the nineteenth century in dull reddish hues. Taplin says, "Each figure presents a moment in the history of this place." Collectively, they symbolize the sweeping changes the surrounding area has experienced over the past three centuries. The artist designed Three Statues, each seven feet tall, to be cast in bronze and then patinated to give the effect of varied surfaces and colors. They stand on a knoll, atop a platform, gazing at a representation of the Hudson River in front of them.

Robert Taplin is a sculptor working in New Haven CT. He has a background in medieval studies and theater design. Consequently, his artwork brings the familiar and the strange into somewhat startling proximity. He has received numerous grants and awards for his work, including the National Endowment for the Arts in and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He has written on sculpture for Art in America among other publications and taught graduate and undergraduate programs, most recently at Yale University and the Rhode Island School of Design. Taplin has had solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States.