Bayport Blue Point Heritage Association: March 2019 Newsletter

Saturday, March 2, 2019

March 2019 Newsletter

General Membership meeting

Historic Crimes of Long Island

Sunday, March 3, 2019 2:00 at the BBP Library

Beyond the idyllic countryside and suburban communities of Long Island lies a murky history of murder and mayhem. A Victorian romance went awry in Huntington when wealthy farmer Charles Kelsey was tarred, feathered and murdered in 1872. Thirty-five years before the famous witch trials of Salem, East Hampton had its own Puritan hysteria among charges of witchcraft. The 1937 kidnapping of wealthy heiress Alice Parsons shook the quiet town of Stony Brook and remains a mystery to this day.

Please join us at the next general membership meeting as we welcome award-winning author and historian Kerriann Flanagan Brosky who will uncover some of the most ghastly and fascinating historical crimes committed on Long Island.

St. Patrick's Day parade

On Sunday March 10th at 11:00, Bayport and Blue Point will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day with our annual parade. This is the 29th year for this festive outing. This year the Grand Marshal will be Lenore Ringer-Prezioso. If you would like to march with the BBPHA, please contact us! Information can be found below. We look forward to celebrating our wonderful communities and thank the Bayport-Blue Point Chamber of Commerce for their dedication to this annual event!

Help wanted....

House Tour: It is never too early to start planning our Annual House Tour. If you have a historic house in the Bayport or Blue Point community or a home that has architectural significance or charm, please contact us! We would love to showcase your home in our tour to share the history of our communities. We also need help with planning and promotion. If you have some time to give back to your community, in any way, shape or form, WE NEED YOU!

Docents: From June through October tours of the historic Meadow Croft home are given every weekend by our small group of dedicated docents. We are always looking for new names and faces to led our tours. If you are interested, contact us below. Training provided.

Heirloom Garden: Who has a green thumb? Ok, not necessary but volunteering to help with Meadow Croft's Heirloom Garden will make your heart full and maybe turn your brown thumb green! All levels of experience needed. Join the fun!

Did you know.....

In 1873, The South Side Rail Road of Long Island was trying to lure business men to purchase homes along the Bayport and Blue Point branch of the railroad. In a piece published by the South Side Railroad company and written by George L. Catlin, the virtues of our two hamlets are written about:

Bayport

(50 1/2 miles; 2 hours 41 minutes 4 trains each way daily)

We reach a village that is justly proud of the fact that there is not a pauper of a destitute family within it's borders. At this point there are several quite elegant dwellings (among which may be mentioned that of Walter Homans, late Superintendent of the South Side R.R. Co.) , and Episcopal church, with a Union church about to be erected, a well-conducted District school, a post office, and several well-stocked stores. The oyster and fish business of Bayport is also considerable, the Bay at this point being navigable up to the village front, with no intermediate marsh or meadow land. The population of Bayport is about 500. Stages connect at this point with all trains. Three quarters of a mile further we stop for a moment at the pleasant little village of...

Blue Point

(51 1/4 miles; 2 hours 44 min. 4 trains each way daily)

With a population of two hundred, and a large oyster business, which has given the bivalves from this locality a distinctive name in the market. "Blue Point" oysters are famous for the excellence the country over.

There are two churches - Baptist and Methodist - a post office and school at Blue Point. The price of land here, and indeed at all points hence from Bablyon, may be quoted the same as at Bayshore.