Inisfada

Inisfada was the estate of Nicholas Frederic Brady and his wife, Genevieve Brady. Inisfada was located in North Hills, Long Island. The name of the estate, Inisfada, is Gaelic for Long Island.

The estate was completed in 1920 and was considered to be one of the largest of the Gold Coast Mansions on the North Shore and was once the fourth largest mansion in the United States. After the completion of building in 1920, it was estimated that the four years of work cost approximately three million dollars.

Inisfada consisted of 87 rooms and was on 300 acres of property. The mansion covered 90,000 square feet and was a Tudor-Elizabethan style home. It was created by architect John Torrey Windrim from Philadelphia, PA. Windrim was best known for working on large buildings, such as hospitals and museums. Inisfada was his only work done in New York.

The mansion was faced with brick and limestone. It was decorated with carvings, gargoyles, figurines crenellations, and 37 chimneys. The front of the home had a carriage porch with a carving above it of St. Genevieve, whom Mrs. Brady was named after. Also, the brickwork had carvings interspersed around the mansion of characters of nursery rhymes and fairytales. It is believed that the Brady’s childlessness and longing to help children is the reason they had carvings of fairytales and rhymes on the exterior of their home, but there is no documented proof as to why those were carved there.

In 1937, Genevieve Brady decided to sell their home, after 7 years of being in such a large home alone after her husband’s death in 1930. She sold the house for a deflated price of $471,761 to the New York Province of the Society of Jesus. After this sale, their home became known as the St. Ignatius Retreat House and was used as a retreat house for the Jesuits.

The Jesuits never had Inisfada added to the National Register of Historic Places or have it designated as a National Historic Landmark. Eventually in 2012, the Jesuits put the house up for sale, along with its 33-acres, for $49 million and advertised it as a prime development site. After seeing this, many residents and civic associations tried to save the estate, but despite their efforts, it was sold to a Hong Kong-based development company for $36.5 million. After the sale, Inisfada was sadly demolished on December 5, 2013.

Foreman, John. “In Memoriam.” In Memoriam, 8 Aug. 2013 http://bigoldhouses.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-irish-channel.html

“Inisfada.” House Histree, https://househistree.com/houses/inisfada.

“Inisfada.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inisfada

Mather of Port Jefferson

John Richard Mather was born in Port Jefferson on November 20, 1814. He was undoubtedly the oldest shipbuilder on Long Island. With but two exceptions, the vessels were all two and three masted schooners. Mr. Mather was born in Port Jefferson at a time when it was known as Drowned Meadow. He was known by the locals as “Boss Mather.”

After learning the trade in Bridgeport, his step-father, William Jones gave him an opening in a shipyard. This continued for seven years, when Boss Mather become his own boss, continuing the building of vessels inside the millbridge until the seventies, when he moved to the location now occupied by the Mather marine railway plant.

Mr. Mather retired in 1885 and the business was carried on by his only son, John T. Mather. He died in 1899 at the age of 84. Mr. Mather was postmaster in 1840.  He also was involved in the lumber business with William Jones under the style of Mather & Jones. The Boss was instrumental in creating Jones street, and built the old wharf that had an L at the outer end many years ago. After his death, the firm built the Martha E. Wallace, the last large sailing vessel built in Port Jefferson.

John Titus Mather was born on June 27, 1854. His family was well known for its shipbuilding, which dated back to 1797. John T. Mather had other large businesses related to shipping. During World War I, Mather retired from active business life. For many years, he made careful study of how best to use the proceeds of his success to the benefit of those less fortunate. As early as 1916, Mather had made provisions in his will for setting aside a substantial sum to erect and maintain a non-sectarian charitable hospital to give people the advantage of the best in hospital facilities at a reasonable cost. A year after his death, the Mather Hospital opened its doors.

The Mather house is now part of the home of the Port Jefferson Historical Society.

Sources:

Cohen, Lon. “This Day in History: John T. Mather Is Born in 1854.” Port Jefferson, NY Patch, Patch, 27 June 2011, https://patch.com/new-york/portjefferson/this-day-in-history-john-t-mather-is-born-in-1854

Genealogy, Long Island. The Mather Family of Long Island, http://longislandgenealogy.com/Surname_Pages/mather.htm

“John Richard Mather (1814-1899) - Find A Grave...” Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/38235254/john-r-mather

“John T. Mather.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Dec. 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_T._Mather

Cedarmere

Cedarmere was the country home of poet, newspaper editor, and civic leader William Cullen Bryant. In addition to the main house, the property has a pond, a boathouse, a mill, gardens, and a landscape designed by Bryant himself.

Originally used as a settlement, Richard Kirk originally owned the property, and in 1878, built the house. The property was purchased by Bryant in 1843. He named is Cedarmere after the cedar trees that wrapped around the pond. Through the 1840s-1860s, Bryant purchased additional land and expanded the main house. These renovations enlarged the house to 3 ½ stories with an extensive kitchen wing.

After Bryant’s death, the property passed on to his daughter Julia, who subsequently sold it to her nephew Harold Godwin. In 1902, the house had a serious fire which destroyed the kitchen and everything above the first floor. Godwin re-built the house in 1903.

When he died, Cedarmere passed first to his wife, and then his daughter Elizabeth Love Godwin. Elizabeth bequeathed the entire property to Nassau County in 1976. In 2013, the house underwent major renovations. In 2014, the interior was refurbished and refreshed. In 2016, the Friends of Cedarmere inventoried the 1200 volumes of books. A conservatory gave them guidance and a cost estimate to restore, repair, and conserve the collection.

From 1994 until 2009, Cedarmere was open to the public as a museum with exhibits about Bryant, tours of the house and grounds, as well as a variety of popular programs. After Nassau County closed the museum in 2009 due to financial concerns, the main house and gardens entered a cycle of deferred maintenance and deterioration. In 2014, the County leased the main house through the end of 2017 in exchange for maintenance and renovations to stabilize the structure.

Sources:

“CEDARMERE - History of William Cullen Bryant's 7-Acre Estate, Cedarmere, Located in Roslyn Harbor, N.Y., Including House Architecture, Gothic Mill.” The Friends of Cedarmere, Inc., http://www.friendsofcedarmere.org/history-of-cedarmere.html

“Cedarmere, Village of Roslyn Harbor, Nassau County IMPROVED.” Preservation Long Island, 20 Nov. 2018, https://preservationlongisland.org/cedarmere-village-of-roslyn-harbor-nassau-county

Brunswick Home

Brunswick Home was located in Amityville. It opened February 25, 1887 by founder Stephen R. Williams. Williams was also the Suffolk County Superintendent of the Poor from 1872-1880. It was called a private asylum for idiots, epileptics and feeble-minded children. Adults were added later on.

In 1931, President Benjamin Stein turned it into Brunswick Hospital which had general hospital functions, nursing home, rehab, and psychiatric facility. In 1948, the home and hospital were purchased by a group of physicians. They then purchased the Louden-Knickerbocker Hall, which was established in 1958.  The Louden Family opened Louden Hall in 1886 and Louden-Knickerbocker Hall in 1913. It was a facility for those with nervous & mental disorders, drug addicts, and alcoholics. John Louden also opened the Long Island Home in 1881, which later became part of South Oaks Hospital.

In 1940, the home burned to the ground and several patients lost their lives in the fire. The home was re-built and re-named Brunswick Hospital Center in 1960. By 2003, the campus covered 31 acres. The hospital closed in 2005 and the building was razed in 2012. It was given a New York State Historic Marker in 2017.

Sources:

“Brunswick Home.” William G. Pomeroy Foundation, 28 Mar. 2019, https://www.wgpfoundation.org/historic-markers/brunswick-home

“L. I. Hospital Merger.” New York Times, 10 Aug. 1958

Michael J. Cullen and the King Kullen Grocery Company

Michael J. Cullen was born to Irish immigrant parents in 1884. Once Cullen turned 18, he began working for the Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company where he remained for 17 years. After leaving that firm, he joined the team at Kroger Stores where he worked from 1919 to 1930. While working for the Kroger Stores, Cullen developed his concept for a supermarket which he tried to pitch to the president, but when his letter went unanswered, Cullen decided to quit and start his journey with his family.

After quitting Kroger Stores, Cullen moved to Long Island with his family where he leased a vacant garage in Queens. This vacant garage was opened on August 4, 1930 and named King Kullen Grocery Company, which was the world’s first supermarket. This supermarket was the first to focus on low prices, larger square footage of buildings, cash sales, no delivery services, and low rent locations with ample parking. King Kullen Grocery Company carried approximately one thousand items which ranged anywhere from grocery items to automotive accessories, and it was the first to do so. Newspapers were describing the store as the “World’s Greatest Price Wrecker” due to its immediate success.

King Kullen Grocery Company’s success was able to lead to eight stores being operated within two years, and 15 additional locations within 6 years and annual sales of approximately $6,000,000. By 1952, King Kullen Grocery Company has 30 stores with the stores sizes ranging from 10,000 to 15,000 square feet compared to the earlier stores ranging from 5,200 to 6,400 square feet.

Although the company was growing and extremely successful, Michael J. Cullen did not live to see it. Cullen passed away in April of 1936 at the young age of 52. After his death, his widow, Nan, took over the King Kullen Grocery Company and became the Chairman of the Board. She was also joined by her sons James A. and John B. Cullen, who followed in their father’s successful footsteps.

The family’s continued success was also due to their innovations in the field. In 1937, King Kullen stores began supplying shopping carts to ease shopping experiences for their customers. In the 1950s, they introduced conveyor belts, air conditioning, automatic doors, and in-store music. In 1982, King Kullen introduced in-store bakeries.

King Kullen currently operates 32 locations within Nassau County and Suffolk County.  King Kullen Company opened Wild by Nature, which is a grocery store selling natural products. Wild by Nature currently has five locations across Long Island.

Sources:

“King Kullen.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Sept. 2019,

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Kullen

“King Kullen Supermarkets, Pharmacies, Grocery and Catering.” King Kullen,

                https://www.kingkullen.com/about-us/

“Michael J. Cullen.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 June 2019,

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Cullen

August Belmont

August Belmont, originally named August Schönberg, was born December 8, 1816, in Alzey, Rhenish Prussia

At age 14, Belmont entered the banking house of the Rothschilds at Frankfurt am Main, and he later transferred to the Naples office. In 1837, he moved to New York and opened a small office on Wall Street, where he served as the American agent for the Rothschilds and laid the foundations for his own banking house.

From 1853 to 1855 he was chargé d’affaires for the United States at The Hague, and from 1855 to 1857, he served as resident minister there. After the American Civil War began, Belmont became a loyal supporter of President Abraham Lincoln and exerted strong influence upon merchants and financiers in England and France in favor of the Union. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1860 to 1872.

Belmont was a fixture of New York’s high society. He was also a prominent figure in the establishment of Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States as a major financer of the first Belmont Stakes, part of the trio of races that compose the American Triple Crown. The event was subsequently named in his honor.

His son, August Belmont, Jr. took a prominent part in financing and building the New York subway, was a major owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses. Belmont Jr. organized the Westchester Racing Association in 1895. In 1905, he built Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, on Long Island which operates to this day as the largest thoroughbred racing facility in the state.

Belmont Jr. spent his last years on his 1,100-acre estate in North Babylon, New York. His widow, Eleanor, then sold most of the estate to a property developer. The remaining 158 acres including the family mansion, lake, and main farm buildings, were taken over by New York State. Under the control of planner Robert Moses, the estate was later expanded to 459 acres and turned into Belmont Lake State Park. The mansion served as headquarters for the Long Island State Park Commission until 1935, when it was demolished to make way for the current building.

Sources:

“August Belmont Jr.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 May 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Belmont_Jr.

Drager, Marvin. “August Belmont.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/biography/August-Belmont

Sands Point Preserve

Financier Howard Gould, son of railroad robber baron Jay Gould, created the estate by purchasing the undeveloped land in 1900 and 1901. Castle Gould, a massive 100,000-square-foot medieval castle, modeled after Ireland’s Kilkenny Castle, was completed in 1902. It was an attempt to please his wife, actress Katherine Clemmons. Sadly, their marriage ended in a divorce.

After the divorce, Gould sold the estate in 1917 to mining tycoon Daniel Guggenheim. In 1923, Daniel gave 90 acres of the estate to his son, Harry F. Guggenheim, on his marriage to Caroline Morton. Harry built his home in the style of a French-Norman manor house, atop the bluffs overlooking the Long Island Sound, and named it Falaise, meaning “cliff” in French.

Daniel, and his wife, Florence, lived there until Daniel’s death in 1930. Florence Guggenheim then built and relocated to Mille Fleurs, a smaller mansion on the property. After auctioning off the furnishings of the Hempstead House in 1940, Florence reopened the house for 75 British refugee children who resided there during World War II. Florence also donated 162 acres of the estate, including Hempstead House and Castle Gould to the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences in 1942.

The Institute leased, and then sold the property to the United States Navy in 1946. The Navy operated the Naval Training Device Center on the property and renovated Hempstead House and Castle Gould for their offices and laboratories. In 1967, the Naval Training Devices Center was moved to Florida, and the 162-acre site was declared government surplus.

In 1971, Nassau County acquired 127 acres for public recreational use. That same year, Harry Guggenheim died, and, in accordance with his will, his 90-acre estate, including the fully furnished Falaise mansion, was deeded to Nassau County for use as a museum site. These two acquisitions restored most of the former Gould/Guggenheim estate as the Sands Point Preserve.

Friends of the Sands Point Preserve, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, was formed in 2003 to help ensure the future of this ‘jewel in the crown’ of Nassau County, New York’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Museums. Five years later, the Nassau County legislature granted the Friends of the Sands Point Preserve the authority to exclusively manage and plan the future uses of this beautiful 216-acre park and preserve. In 2016, the organization was renamed the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy, Inc.

Sands Point derives its name from the historic Sands Family, whose lineage can be traced back to Robert de Sandys, born in Rottenby Castle, England in 1379. In 1691, Captain John Sands and his family arrived in Cow Neck, where they built their home on 500 acres. The house still stands today on Sands Point Road.

Source:

“Mission & History.” Sands Point Preserve, sandspointpreserveconservancy.org/about/mission-history/