Fort Franklin

 The British presence in Suffolk County during the Revolutionary War was anchored by Fort Franklin, located in Lloyd’s Neck. Named for Benjamin Franklin’s son, William Franklin, the fort controlled access from Long Island Sound into the waters of Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor. Additionally, the fort’s garrison and guns, along with satellite encampments, provided protection for Tory raiders.

When it was established in 1778, the post was garrisoned by the third battalion of General Oliver DeLancey’s Tory regiment who remained there until 1780. In 1781, the Associated Loyalists, made it their base of operations.

The stronghold became an important element in General William Tryon’s raids on Connecticut coastal town in July 1779. On the evening of September 5, 1779, Major Benjamin Tallmadge embarked with a force of 130 dragoons, boatmen, and rebel refugees across the Sound to Lloyd’s Neck. The raiders quickly captured two of the houses being used as quarters by the Loyalists, and then turned their attention to a number of huts which sheltered other enemy whaleboat men. Although some of the Loyalists resisted, Tallmadge’s men soon secured the entire encampment, scooping up prisoners, documents, and supplies. But whatever hopes Tallmadge held for capturing the fort were dashed by a shooting which destroyed all hopes of surprise.

In April 1781, Tallmadge pushed Washington for permission to launch another raid against Fort Franklin. On April 19, Tallmadge sailed across the Sound and met with his agents who provided him with fresh maps of Fort Franklin. Once again, Tallmadge found himself thwarted by the stronghold on Lloyd’s Neck.

On the morning of July 10, a small French fleet of eight ships entered Huntington Harbor carrying a 450 man expeditionary force. The attack was quickly called off.

Fort Franklin was abandoned by the end of 1782 due to the end of the war.  The grounds became the site of a large and opulent home known as Fort Hill House and there is no trace of the fort.

 

Source:

Welch, Richard F. “Fort Franklin: Tory Bastion on Long Island Sound.” Journal of the American Revolution, 24 Feb. 2015, allthingsliberty.com/2015/03/fort-franklin-tory-bastion-on-long-island-sound

 

 

Bethpage State Parkway

 

This was the headline for the November 19, 1936 Farmingdale Post. Bethpage State Parkway cost $1.1 million to construct. The Bethpage State Parkway was constructed with a 22-foot-wide undivided pavement, providing one northbound and one southbound lane. When the Bethpage State Parkway opened in 1936, LISPC commissioner Robert Moses was considering extensions of the parkway south to Merrick Road in Massapequa, and north to the Northern State Parkway in Plainview. Beginning in the early 1960s, Moses purchased rights-of-way for the northern extension. Residents in the wealthy enclaves of Lloyd Harbor and Cold Spring Harbor thwarted plans for both the "active use" state park and the parkway. In1977, Caumsett State Park opened as a "passive use" facility for hiking, biking and horseback riding.

In 1990, the Long Island Regional Planning Board resurrected plans for extending the Bethpage State Parkway to NY 25A in Cold Spring Harbor as part of its 20-year highway improvement program. The plan did not cite potential sources for funding the extension. By 1994, this proposal appeared to be dead.  A decade later, the NYSDOT proposed a short extension of the Bethpage State Parkway north to the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway as part of the "LITP 2000" long-range plan. The proposed extension, which would be constructed through the southwest corner of Bethpage State Park, awaits environmental study and public review.

In 1977, maintenance of the Bethpage State Parkway was transferred from the Long Island State Park Commission to the New York State Department of Transportation although ownership remained under the jurisdiction of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. To accommodate the increase in traffic volume and speed, and to address the accident history, the NYSDOT began to modify the parkway in accordance with federal and state traffic safety guidelines. Among the improvements wider 12-foot travel lanes, 10-foot-wide shoulders, improved reflective signs and sand-filled impact attenuators.

In the late 1970s, there was a rehabilitation project. A pedestrian and cycling trail running parallel along the east side of the parkway was part of this project. Unlike the original trail, which ran along the west side of the parkway and only goes as far north as the Route 24 / Hempstead Turnpike exit, the new trail runs along the entire length of the parkway.

According to the NYSDOT, the Bethpage State Parkway handles approximately 15,000 vehicles per day.

Source:

“Bethpage State Parkway.” NYCRoads, www.nycroads.com/roads/bethpage/. Accessed 22 Nov. 2025

Harry deLeyer and Snowman

Harry deLeyer grew up on a farm in Sint Oedenrode, Netherlands. His family ran a brewery and delivered the beer by horse and cart. Harry began riding at age two and by the age of eight, he was competing in local shows. During World War II, the deLeyer family became members of the underground Dutch Resistance, hiding Jews on their farm, then helping get them out of Holland to safety.

In 1950, Harry moved to the United States, where he had a job on a tobacco farm in Greensborough, North Carolina waiting for him. Although he liked working on a farm, he missed riding so after work, he would ride one of the work horses. He entered a competition that offered $10 to the top rider and won first prize. 

Harry was eventually hired as a riding instructor in 1954 at the Knox School, a private girls’ school on Long Island. In winter 1956, Harry was on his way to a horse auction to see if he could find a gentle school horse. Unfortunately, a flat tire caused him to be delayed. He arrived in time to see the horses who had not been sold as they were being loaded on a truck headed for slaughter. Harry asked if he could have a look at the remaining horses. A skinny gray plow horse caught his eye. He paid $80 for the horse.

Harry let his four-year-old daughter, Harriet, name the horse. When the big gray arrived at their home and was led off the truck, snow was falling and the horse was soon covered in white, fluffy powder. Little Harriet thought he looked like a Snowman, and the name stuck. 

Each summer when the school closed, money was tight for Harry and his family. When a doctor who had a farm six miles away came looking for a quiet trail horse, Harry reluctantly sold Snowman to him for $160. Snowman returned to Harry’s farm numerous times, having jumped out of the doctor’s paddock, no matter how tall the fences were raised. 

In 1958, Snowman was champion at several shows, including at Madison Square Garden. He also was champion at the prestigious Southhampton Horse Show, now known as the Hampton Classic.

Instantly famous in the world of showjumping, Snowman and Harry were featured in a 1959 issue of Life Magazine. Harry officially retired Snowman from competition in 1969. Several books were released detailing Snowman’s life, including a children’s book titled The Story of Snowman: The Cinderella Horse, by Tony Palazzo and a biography, simply titled Snowman, by Rutherford Montgomery. The beloved horse lived with Harry for the rest of his life until he died in 1974.

Snowman was inducted into Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1992 and released as a Breyer horse in 2005. The story of Harry and Snowman was also told in the 2011 book The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, the Horse That Inspired a Nation by Elizabeth Letts. In 2016, the documentary film “Harry and Snowman” was released by Docutainment Films.

Source:

Heilbron, Alexandra. “The True Story of Harry Deleyer and Snowman.” Alexandra Heilbron, 15 June 2017, alexandraheilbron.wordpress.com/published-online-articles/the-true-story-of-harry-de-leyer-and-snowman

The Phillip House - Rockville Centre

The original owner of the Victorian-era home, which is now, The Phillips House Museum, was Captain Samuel F. Phillips, a prominent sea captain who settled in the countryside town of Rockville Centre, along with his wife and two children in the 1880’s.

With the passage of time, different homeowners, as well as changes and expansions in the town through the greater part of the 20th Century, The Phillips House grew into disrepair and was also situated in the wrong location, when in 1977, plans were being implemented to demolish it to make way for a parking lot.

Thankfully, for the efforts of a handful of dedicated town residents, it was instead moved to its current location in 1977.  While the interior and built-in structures are original and remain intact, the furnishings and accessories are all donations of items from the Victorian-era in which the house was inhabited by Captain Phillips’ family. The house was renovated and rededicated in October of 1995 by the Historical Society of Rockville Centre to the people of the town.

The kitchen contains an old “ice box”, the predecessor of our modern day refrigerator, as well as a l stove that has the option for both coal burning and electric but a huge collection of kitchen gadgets for almost every use possible for cooking.

Many of these items had the patent number engraved on them. All of these items have been cataloged for the museum. This tedious job was the work of a local boy scout working on his Eagle Scout badge. 

The collection, which has been called the "finest collection of kitchen gadgets" originally belonged to Lillian Blumberg. In fact, so extensive is this collection, that Lillian was offered a great sum from Sotheby’s, but she decided instead to donate it to the museum. The third floor attic houses an old fashioned "twisted chimney." When building chimney's during this period, the superstition was that a twisted chimney would prevent the evil spirits from entering the home. Builders would make the chimney straight on the exterior and "twisted" on the interior. 

Source:

“Rockville Centre’s Phillips House Museum: A Small Museum with a Tremendous History.” Travelin’ Cousins, www.travelincousins.com/travelin-the-nyc-outer-boroughs-with-elisa/rockville-centres-phillips-house-museum-a-small-museum-with-a-tremendous-history. Accessed 16 Oct. 2025

Dodge House - Port Washington

The Dodge House in Port Washington, built by Thomas Dodge in 1721, is one of the oldest homes in the town of North Hempstead. The house's architecture maintains much of its original Colonial and 19th-century flavor and family relics, including farm tools and original furnishings.

The Dodge homestead was part of a working farm for more than 200 years, acquired by the first Thomas Dodge on 350 acres that originally extended to Hempstead Harbor. William Dodge, Thomas Dodge’s son and the coroner for Queens County, began selling most of the property as a legacy for his children. When William's son Henry Onderdonk Dodge, died in 1898, his children sold the farm to developers.

In 1721, the interior included an entrance hall, a living room with a fireplace for cooking and heat and an upstairs with two bedrooms. Thomas Dodge added a dining room with a larger fireplace, a kitchen, and a weaving room. The original low ceilings with exposed hand-hewn beams still exist and all of the first floor rooms have 18th-century tongue-and-groove flooring and walls. In the late 1900s, the house was expanded and modernized; porches were added and dormers were built on the second story.

The original kitchen, which included a Dutch oven was also replaced with more modern, Victorian decor. A cast-iron stove for cooking, a galvanized sink with a water pump, soapstone tubs closets and a pantry were added. Heat was supplied with potbelly and Franklin stoves until 1910, when central heating was installed.

The Dodge House was leased to the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society by the Water Pollution Control District in 1993 to be restored and operated as a public museum. The museum includes the 19th-century outbuildings -- a chicken coop, a privy with a child's footrest, a wood shed and a two-door horse barn.

The Dodge house and its outbuildings have been listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places since 1986. The home is also a designated landmark of the Town of North Hempstead's Historic Landmark Preservation Commission.

 

Source:

Hochman, Nancy S. "270-Year-Old Dodge House Now a Museum." New York Times, 26 May, 1996, pp. 6-15. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/270-year-old-dodge-house-now-museum/docview/430567054/se-

Pepperidge Hall - Oakdale

Pepperidge Hall was the estate of Christopher Robert in Oakdale. The house was built in 1889 for his bride at the cost of $1,500,000. The Robert home was one of the three most famous residences on the South Shore.  A large inner courtyard with a 30′ by 50′ pool and fountain dominated the plan, and a 109-foot glass conversancy stood on the west side of the rectangle. Stepped gables, turrets, bay windows, numerous chimneys, stables, a dairy and carriage house were showcased. The house itself consisted of four wings with 67 rooms and accommodations for 20 servants. A conservatory was built to the west of the house. The Roberts lived at the estate for seven years before selling it.

The Roberts were the first and last to live at the house, It passed through the hands of numerous caretakers through the years. The house was used for a time as a hunting lodge and for an experiment in the raising of silk worms indoors directed by Dr. Ludwig Harpootlian.. Several silent films utilized the mansion as a backdrop, including “Lady Slippers”, “To Hell with the Kaiser”, and “Dead Men Tell No Tales.”

In 1939, it was supposed to be acquired by the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians as a rest and study retreat for its members., but that fell through. The house and property were finally sold in 1941. The house was razed and the property was cut up into building lots.

Sources: 

"METAPHYSICIANS BAR DEAL: PURCHASE OF PEPPERIDGE HALL IS DROPPED IN CONTRACT DISPUTE." New York Times. December 10, 1939

“Proud Suffolk Chateau Doomed by Progress.” Brooklyn Eagle. January 19, 1941

"To Raze Old Long Island Home." New York Times. January 11, 1941 

“2D Estate Bought by Metaphysicians; Pepperidge Hall, Once Famous Long Island Residence, Is Purchased for $15,000 to be a New Haven. The 65-Acre Tract Is Near the Vanderbilt Property Acquired by Society Last Year.”  New York Times. August 4, 1939

“A Vanished Gilded Age Mansion - The Saga of Pepperidge Hall.” The Abandoned Places, 23 Mar. 2021,   theabandonedplaces.com/a-vanished-gilded-age-mansion-the-saga-of-pepperidge-hall/

The Cuban Giants Baseball Team

The Cuban Giants were the first African American professional baseball club. The Giants were formed in 1885 at the Argyle Hotel in Babylon. The team took its name because it played in Cuba during the winter of 1885-1886 and the winter of 1886-1887. The team featured many players who would go on to play in the Negro Baseball Leagues including Ben Boyd, Sol White, Abe Harrison, Clarence Williams, and George Williams among others. During the spring of 1886, the Cuban Giants were bought by Walter E. Simpson who played at the Chambersburg Grounds in Trenton, New Jersey.

During the summer 1886, the team was sold to Walter L. Cook. During that time, the Giants signed legendary pitcher George Washington Stovey but he played only one game with the Giants. Like many owner-managers of this era, Cook took over the job of booking games for the team. The average pay for pitchers and catchers on the team was $18.00 per week. Outfielders and infielders made around $12.00 per week. During the winter of 1886, Cook arranged for the Giants to play in Cuba.

In June 1887, J.M Bright bought the team from Walter Cook. During the same year, the team would become colored champions for 1887. A year later, they would win the colored championship again when they defeated rival teams including the Pittsburgh Keystones, New York Gorhams, and Norfolk Red Sox. In 1889, the Cuban Giants joined the Middle States League, an independent minor baseball league. In 1890, the team name changed to the Colored Monarchs of York, Pennsylvania because they moved there. A year later, a portion of the Cuban Giants went to a rival team called the Gorhams who was managed by S.K. Govern. In 1896, the team was bought by E.B. Lamar Jr. and became the Cuban X-Giants. 

The Cuban X Giants became a dominating force at the turn of the century. Led by a young pitcher named Rube Foster, they won the Colored World Championship in 1903, defeating the Philadelphia Giants, five games to two. Foster pitched in four of those victories, and he would later become more widely known for his executive contributions to the sport, eventually earning the moniker, “Father of Black Baseball.”

In the winter of 1903, the club became the first African-American professional baseball team to play in Cuba, and two years later it became the first black baseball team to defeat a Major League team. While they ended up splitting a two-game series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Cuban X Giants sent a message by outscoring their MLB counterparts, 8-3. The team became a founding member of the National Association of Colored Baseball Clubs of the United States and Cuba, established in 1906. The team continued to exist until it was disbanded in 1915.

Sources:

Cuban Giants (1885-1915) | Blackpast.Org, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/the-cuban-giants-1885-1915/. Accessed 1 Aug. 2025

“The Cuban X Giants of the Negro Leagues.” MLB.Com, www.mlb.com/history/negro-leagues/teams/cuban-x-giants. Accessed 1 Aug. 2025