Monday, November 23, 2020
Saturday, November 21, 2020
Sunday, November 1, 2020
November 2020 Newsletter
Thank you!
We would like to take a moment to thank all of our many
guests, visitors and members who supported the Bayport Blue Point
Heritage Association throughout this season. We had many new and
returning guests that toured Meadow Croft during the past 4 months.
Folks also enjoyed the wonderful trails and property as well. We
appreciate your interest in local history and are hoping that next year,
we can return with more great events for our community. In the
meantime, please stay safe and healthy this fall and winter season.
Thank you!
Finding St. Nick
A family fun event for all! Starting at the end of
November, be on the lookout for posters from the BBPHA with pictures of
St. Nick at Meadow Croft on them. Each poster will have a QR code on
them to scan that will bring you to a page on our website with Christmas
Trivia on it. From there, you can check out the rest of our webpage. We
encourage you to take a selfie with the poster and tag us on Social
Media. #BBPHA Hope you can play along! Keep your eyes out for those
posters all around our towns! Find St. NIck!
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The Blue Point Bible Church's connection to Bayport Avenue
No doubt, you have passed the Blue Point Bible Church on
Blue Point Avenue many times either going to the dock, getting a bagel
and a coffee at the deli or leaving the library heading west on Madison
street. This stately brick church replaced the original wooden church
which was located immediately south of the present-day Blue Point Ave.
Elementary School building. It was built between 1930 and 1931. The
cornerstone was laid on October 25, 1930 and was finally dedicated on
June 28, 1931. The steeple rises to a height of 75 feet. The building is
made entirely of brick. This is how the church is interestingly
connected to a small brick cape on Bayport Avenue- the bricks.
* Facts about the church taken from Gene Horton's book, "Blue Point Then and Now."
Among the crew of engineers and masons who built the church was a gentleman by the name of Hiram Darrow. When Mr. Darrow and his crew were hired to build the brick church in 1930, he purchased a home at #82 Bayport Avenue (my house currently). At that time, the house sat on two parcels of land each approximately half an acre. The vacant parcel to the south was a small farmed lot in earlier days owned by Francis and Charlotte Edwards. Mr. Darrow moved into the home with his wife and young daughter Virginia, a BBP High School graduate. At some time after the brick church was completed in 1930, Mr. Darrow had a notion to build a small brick Cape Cod style house on the vacant lot next to his house. He did, in fact, build that brick Cape currently #76 Bayport Ave. He dismantled a barn in the yard behind the house at #82 next door and used the studs and rafters to build the shell of his new brick Cape home next door. Darrow completed the brick Cape home sometime in the 1940's. He moved his family into the new brick home and rented his home next door, later selling that home in 1954. Mr. Darrow, a mason and builder, built the church and his own home at #76 Bayport Avenue both made of bricks.
I have created an amusing fictional tale that while working on the Blue Point Bible Church Darrow took a few bricks home each day in his lunch pail until he had enough bricks to build himself a house on his vacant land. So, that is the connection between the Blue Point Bible Church and #76 Bayport Avenue (pictured below), both built by Hiram Darrow.
~ Written by John Amato
Thursday, October 1, 2020
October 2020 Newsletter
Last month for historical Meadow Croft tours
This will be the last month for weekend tours of the
historic John Ellis Roosevelt summer home; Meadow Croft. We thank the
many visitors and friends who have visited, supported and have learned a
little bit about what summer life was like in the early 1900's in our
community.
This has been an unusual summer season for the BBPHA. The ongoing pandemic has either cancelled or minimized many of the events that we plan and look forward to; no summer concerts, no boat tour, no general membership meetings. We continue to plan and organize hopeful that things will get back to some type of normalcy soon. We have conducted tours at Meadow Croft and the visitors smiles make it all worthwhile!
Please be patient, wear your mask and wash those hands! We hope to see everyone soon!
Christmas at Meadow Croft
While a little more than two months away, The BBPHA is
planning our annual Christmas at Meadow Croft. Like many other things
this year, this event will look much different than in years' past. With
restrictions on attendance and social gatherings, we are working hard
to adhere to these new regulations while still providing a family, fun
festive holiday weekend!
Please stay tuned for more details as we get approval for our plans. In the meantime, if you would like to help or volunteer, please give Leanne Berg a call at 631-235-1702.
Digital Archiving Project Underway
The BBP Heritage Association works under a
charter from the NYS Education Dept. to educate its community members
about the local history, culture, people and geography of Bayport and
Blue Point. Since its inception in 1984, the Association has amassed a
sizable collection of photos, maps, written documents, deeds, and
details about many of the homes and buildings in town. The founders and
volunteers worked very hard over the years to procure, secure and
catalog most of these items. They are an interesting and cherished
record of our local history.
These items are housed in our office and museum at the Meadow Croft Estate. In an effort to allow more of our members and residents to view these items of local history, we have begun to create a digital archive of them. We have partnered with the BBP Library and the Long Island Library Resource Council to properly organize and save these documents electronically. We envision that we will have some items ready for viewing some time in early 2021. As you might imagine, this is quite a process and will take some time to complete. We will keep you informed as to the progress and when complete, you will be directed to the proper sites.
Wanted....
The BBPHA is looking for a small desk for our office
space, approximately 30" in length. If you have one that you no longer
need and would like to donate, give us a call. 631-472-4625. Thanks!
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Saturday, August 1, 2020
August 2020 Newsletter
8AM Club Historic Bike Tour
On
Friday, July 17, BBPHA Board member Frank Giebfried guided the 8am Club
on a historic tour of our twin communities of Bayport and Blue Point.
The 8am Club is a friendly group of local cyclists who meet every
morning on the corner of Gillette Avenue and Middle Road to go for a
ride. They were recently featured on the cover of the Suffolk County
News. For more information and to get involved with this very open and
welcoming group, check out their Facebook page.
During the tour,
we visited the homes and former estates of some of our local residents
from the past: artist Roselle Osk, stage actress Effie Shannon, Nobel
prize winner Raymond Davis, Rheingold president Julius Liebmann, and
many others. We also stopped by the locations of a few entertainment
hotspots of days of yore: the Moon Rise Restaurant, the South Bay House,
Avery’s Five Mile Look Hotel, and, of course, Flo’s Famous
Luncheonette. Despite the rain, a good time was had by all!
A
special thanks to Bill Bailey for helping to coordinate the tour,
planning our route, and ensuring everyone’s safety. Also, thank you to
Jennifer Economos for helping guide everyone to our many stops. Finally,
the Heritage would like to thank the members of the 8am Club for their
enthusiasm, generous donations, and interest in our local history. See
you on the road!
Stay posted for a future Heritage sponsored bike tour!
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St. Ann's Cemetery Walking Tour and Picnic
A St. Ann's Cemetery walking tour is being planned for October 4th followed by a picnic at Meadow Croft. (Plans are subject to change based on current regulations due to COVID-19 restrictions)
We are in need of volunteers to ensure a successful BBP Heritage event. If you are interested in helping and wish further details, please contact Sandra Iden at 631 472-1528. More information about St. Ann's Cemetery can be found below. Save the date!
St. Ann's
Cemetery was organized at the suggestion of John Suydam. At that time, a
portion of the church property was set aside for the burial of the
dead. The Suydams and other original communicants reserved plots along
the main road through the cemetery. The year 1877 is marked on the posts
of the Suydam plot.
The Smiths, who lived on North Main Street,
owned several large parcels of land in Sayville at the time St. Ann's
was organized. They owned the land from their home to the western border
of what is now St. Ann's Cemetery. Foster Avenue was later extended
through their property. Two burials - L. Smith, 3/5/1852, and M. Smith,
3/5/1868 - are probably theirs. The 1852 burial is the only pre-Civil
War interment.
In September, 1895, the grounds between St. Ann's
Cemetery and the older Union Cemetery were purchased by the Vestry, and
the two cemeteries virtually became one. It was the Reverend John H.
Prescott's plan to create a lake as part of the creek area.
The
creek area of the cemetery grounds and the church land that borders
Brown's River are now a Suffolk County Nature Preserve and Watershed.
The county park, Meadowcroft, previously the John Ellis Roosevelt
estate, forms the eastern border of Brown's River. This assures the
integrity of the wetlands in this particular area.
By January,
1932, the Vestry of St. Ann's had awarded contracts to open up all the
roads from the Suydam Memorial Gateway, to the exit road on the east
side of the cemetery. The road at the entrance was to have a bead of
oystershells overlaid with cinders, and the trees south of the south
avenue were to be thinned out sufficiently to make lots salable in that
section.
St. Ann's Cemetery is the final resting place of many
denominations. Episcopalians account for a good percentage of the
burials, particularly the earliest. There are wealthy and poor alike. A
Civil War general, a United States diplomat, and a noted East Coast
architect lie next to physicians, lawyers, musicians, sea folk, clergy,
and just plain people.
SPOTLIGHT: Historic homes in our community
A
new feature! A spotlight on historic homes in our community. This month
the BBPHA will feature 282 Snedecor Avenue in Bayport. Gladly
researched and written by John Amato.
You've past it a thousand times. Two-eighty-two Snedecor is located on the north-west side of the railroad tracks across from Furci's and the firehouse-see picture below. Well, this little farmhouse started its life down on Middle Road. Sadly, though, the house will be lost forever when they begin building the Quick-check station on that location - disappointing.
Isaac Snedecor, a retired sea captain, came to Bayport from Oakdale in 1849 and bought a farm on Middle Road from John and Jennie Hawkins and decided it was time to settle on the land and raise a family. The little red house on the property was located at 515 Middle Road.
Snedecor and his wife raised their family at this location in that little red house for over 20 years.
In 1867, Isaac Snedecor bought the general store from Warren Hawkins located at the north-west corner of Middle Road and Bayport Ave. In 1879, life was good and Snedecor made plans to build his family a new home at 515 Middle Road. It was a big, beautiful colonial with tall columns and a big front porch, which is still there today, thankfully. The little red farmhouse was cut it two pieces and moved. The back part was moved south of Middle Road to East Lane as a rental home. The front part was moved to its current location, 282 Snedecor Ave north of the tracks. The exact date it was built originally is not in our records, but it is likely one of the oldest farmhouses in Bayport. By 1902 Edward Gillette and family lived there- see picture from the Bayport History book page 23. The other families who lived there were the Stolls and the Josts, according to our records.
BBPHA
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Sunday, July 5, 2020
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