February 2024 Newsletter

 General Membership Meeting

Award-winning photographer and author John Lazzaro will present a slideshow on the history of Kings Park Psychiatric Center. Combining rare, archival images as well as his own photography, Lazzaro will discuss his work and the approach to his creative process behind his 2019 book, The Walls Still Talk: A Photographic Journey Through Kings Park Psychiatric Center.

The author made dozens of trips to Nissequogue River State Park to photograph the remaining buildings of the Kings Park Psychiatric Center which has been sitting idle and abandoned since 1996. Vast, melancholy, and aesthetically overwhelming, Kings Park Psychiatric Center was once the pride of the local community of Kings Park, NY and treated 10,000 patients at its peak operation in the 1950's. This project stemmed from the author's interest in and his emotional obligation to document this historic relic of Long Island. In turn, these images show the result of decades of neglect and decay after deinstitutionalization.

Date: February 18, 2024
Time: 2:00
Place: BBP Library
No fee or registration required. Open to all!

Save the dates for our next two monthly meetings held at the BBP Library. The next meeting will be on March 24th and in April the meeting will be held on the 14th. 

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Join your friends, neighbors and the BBPHA for Bayport Blue Point's 32nd Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade!

On March 10th, beginning at 11:00, starting from Snedecor Avenue and continuing down Montauk Hwy, our communities will be honoring the Grand Marshal for this year's parade... Ronald F. Devine Jr.

Ronnie serves our communities in many capacities and always with a smile. HIs passion and dedication makes him the perfect Grand Marshal to represent our communities for this honor. He currently serves as president of the Board of Trustees of the BBP Library and was a board member for over 10 years. He also serves as a board member on the Chamber of Commerce. Ronnie has served Bayport and Blue Point in various other roles including a Budget Advisory Committee for the school district, committee member for raising funds for Our Lady of Snow, and current board member for over 25 years of the Town of Islip housing authority and many more.

Wear your green and come join in the merriment of our community's annual parade to celebrate the Irish and of course our Grand Marshal, Ronnie Devine.

In memoriam: Sylvia Harenberg

zoom_out_map We recently lost a long time member of the BBPHA; Sylvia Harenberg. Sylvia was a kind and generous woman who believed in supporting the community that she raised her family in. For 38 years she worked at the BBP Library. She always had a kind word to share and a smile on her face. The Harenberg family was very involved in the Heritage Association. Sylvia's husband, Assemblyman Paul Harenberg helped secure funding back in the 1980s to help save and restore Meadow Croft, the summer home of John Ellis Roosevelt. Sylvia's daughter Jenny, developed and maintains our webpage and son Dave, a former board member of the BBPHA, organizes our free summer concerts. Sylvia requested that donations in her name be made to our organization. We would like to thank and acknowledge those generous individuals who made a donation in Sylvia's memory. The current BBPHA board is dedicated to using the funds to reflect the essence of Sylvia Harenberg as ideas have been shared and discussed. Sylvia will be missed by all who knew and loved her.

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 this October, 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 estate are given every weekend by our small group of dedicated docents. We are always looking for new names and faces to lead our tours. If you are interested, contact us below. Training provided.

Positions available: The BBPHA is looking to fill positions on our board. If you are interested, please contact us. You can reach us at bbphistorical@gmail.com

Lawn Art in Blue Point: The Manta Ray on Blue Point Avenue

 

These articles first appeared in the Bayport Blue Point Gazette and were written by Gene Horton. They are reprinted here with permission.

February 2009

Located on the southwest corner of Atlantic Ave. and Weeks Street in Blue Point (at house number 84 Atlantic Ave.) stands a remarkable large lawn sculpture featuring two manta rays (or sting rays). A manta ray is a member of the ray family of fish. Rays have long flexible tails and are armed with a strong bony spine.
Dan and Joan Yerk have lived at 84 Atlantic Ave. for a number of years and Dan is a professional welder. He taught welding for over twenty years at Nassau BOCES and is currently employed by the General Welding Supply Corp. in Westbury.
The lawn sculpture on the front lawn was created by Dan Yerk about 13 years ago. It's an on-going work of art which has consumed thousands of work hours. The sculpture itself stands about 10 to 12 feet in height and about 6 to 8 feet across. The two mantra rays are made of aluminum and they have a greyish appearance. The sea grass in the sculptured piece is made of steel and the coral pieces at the base are also steel with a brass overlay. The entire statuary work is offset from the lawn area by an oval of beach sand which, of course, represents the ocean floor. Viewed from any angle, the sculptured piece has a "three-dimensional" appearance. Blue Point, which has a long history associated with the sea, is a fitting location for such a nautical themed piece of art.

BBPHA
www.bayportbluepointheritge.org

Join us at our monthly membership meetings!