John Allen - Civil War Soldier

John Allen was born in Cheltingham, England in 1836. His family moved to America in 1840. They lived in Pennsylvania and then Brooklyn before settling in Farmingdale in 1858. He married Mary Pilkington in 1860.

He enlisted August 19, 1862 and went to fight in the Civil War as a member of Company “E”, 127th Regiment. He was mustered in on September 8, 1862 with the 127th Regiment of the New York Volunteer Infantry. He served as a private in Company E. He was attached to the 7th Corps, Division of Virginia and was part of the siege of Suffolk and the Six Peninsula Campaign. His outfit moved to Maryland and followed General Lee into South Carolina where they took part in the siege of Charleston and the taking of Fort Sumpter.  He mustered out with his company on June 30, 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina.
 

While he was fighting, his wife saved up and bought them their home in Farmingdale as a surprise upon his return. John Allen was involved in the bakery business for 50 years. The first shop was in his home on Front Street before he moved the shop to Main Street around where 246 Main Street is now.
He was appointed postmaster in 1897. 

His son, Ellsworth Allen, also was postmaster. He laid the cornerstone in the first Episcopal Church in Farmingdale and was one of the organizers of the Farmingdale Fire Department. He was also a member of the Board of Education. He was a member of the H. B. Knickerbocker Post #743.
 

John Allen died in 1925.

 

Sources:

Allen, John. “Minute of History: Life of an Early Resident of Farmingdale.” Farmingdale Observer. July 27, 2001

"John Allen 1836-1925." Farmingdale Post. July 31, 1925

Junior Historical Society of Farmingdale. Farmingdale's Story: Farms to Flight. The Society, 1956

New York State Military Museum

Bayberry Land - Southampton

 Bayberry Land in Southampton was owned by Charles Hamilton and Pauline Sabin. It was designed by Cross & Cross in conjunction with the landscape architect Marian Cruger Coffin. Sabin was at one time president and later chairman of the Guaranty Trust Company.

The 314-acre country estate eventually included eight buildings: the manor house, the main garage with chauffeur’s apartment, a gate house, the caretaker’s cottage, a greenhouse, the hunting lodge, a stable, and a two-car garage with pump house. Cross & Cross designed the buildings in a style meant to emulate an English country manor. The interior of the Manor House included 28 rooms, 11 baths, and 11 bedrooms. The house was completed in 1919, and to celebrate, the Sabins held a housewarming dinner and dance.

Mr. Sabin had a private drive connecting the Manor with the National Golf Links. Other sports included hunting, polo, and walking over Bayberry Land’s extensive grounds. Closer to the Manor, the great lawn itself provided level ground for croquet, and there were tennis courts on its eastern edge. Marian Cruger Coffin Coffin surrounded the Manor with a great lawn and four distinct gardens: the Italianate garden, the rose garden, the tritoma walk, and the sundial garden. On the bay side of the house, Coffin laid out the great lawn enclosed by waist-high walls. The great lawn provided an unbroken line of sight to the bay from within the house.  Coffin designed a “wild” seaside garden to the east of the great lawn.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local No.3 purchased Bayberry Land in 1949 to serve as a convalescent home for electrical workers. Motivated by the growing emphasis on education in the American labor movement, the IBEW added an Educational Center for workers in 1957 and a summer camp for children in 1971. Between 1969 and 1994, the Union built numerous buildings on the estate, including five buildings containing 65 motel-style rooms, an administrative building, a camp latrine, a camp kitchen, an arts and crafts building, three swimming pools (with decks, patios and storage structures), numerous camp dwellings, a camp administration building and infirmary, a basketball court, an archery range, two tennis courts, a volleyball court, a large group picnic area, two changing rooms, and an outdoor shower.

In 2001, the IBEW sold Bayberry Land to Michael C. Pascucci of Sebonac Neck Holdings, LLC, to be developed into an 18-hole golf course. Pascucci engaged Hall of Fame golfer and noted designer Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak, one of the most sought-after young architects in the world, to collaborate on the project. The course opened in 2006.

 

Sources:

“Bayberry Land.” Southampton Government, www.southamptontownny.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1213/Bayberry-Land-Brochure-PDF. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025

L., Zach. “Bayberry Land.” Old Long Island, www.oldlongisland.com/2010/04/bayberry-land.html. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025

Artist Edward Lange

Artist Edward Lange was born in Darmstadt, Germany in 1846.,Edward’s father, Gustav Georg, owned a print shop and published a number of popular volumes on German history and scenic landscapes.

He emigrated with his family from Germany to New York in the 1860s. He headed towards Commack, where his father held title to one hundred forty-eight acres of land along Cedar Road. Within ten months, Lange married Sarah Cornelia (Nellie) Denton. Following the birth of their first child in 1872, Edward acquired the title to the Commack property from his father. He spent the next seventeen years in Elwood, raising a family with Nellie and painting the surrounding landscape.

During the early 1870s, Lange focused primarily on painting house portraits. Over the course of the 1870s, Lange increasingly incorporated gouache onto his palette. Between 1880 and 1881, Lange flourished as an artist. He created some of his most recognizable artworks today during this time, including Brown Brothers Huntington Pottery, Lower Main Street, Northport, and Panorama View of Huntington from Woolsey Avenue. After nearly twenty years living and working on Long Island, Lange moved to Olympia, Washington with his family. Two large panoramas of Roslyn were likely two of the last major works the artist completed before leaving New York. 

Edward Lange died in 1912.

Sources:

Fedoryk, Peter. “About the Artist.” The Art of Edward Lange, edwardlange.omeka.net/about-the-artist. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025 

“Land by Hand: Edward Lange’s Long Island.” The Long Island Museum, longislandmuseum.org/exhibition/land-by-hand-edward-langes-long-island/. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025

La Grange Inn - West Islip

 The exact date of the building of La Grange Inn is unknown, but it was established around 1750.  It was named in honor of General Lafayette's home in France. The property on which the Inn is located was owned by the Higbie family from the time the original inn was built until about 1918.  Clinton Higbie was the first proprietor of the Inn.  The next proprietor of La Grange was Richard Terry Higbie, who conducted it until his retirement in 1871. It was then leased for many years by the family until sold. During early prohibition days it was sold to the late Eugene Freund who operated it until his death.  

Samuel Higbie operated a stagecoach line between Brooklyn and Patchogue and made La Grange a stopover point.  When Richard Terry Higbie was conducting the inn and the railroad had been built on the main line as far as Deer Park, he ran a stagecoach to the Deer Park station. 

The structure was threatened by steady deterioration in the early 2010s, after CVS leased the property for a new retail store. It stood vacant and neglected. In 2012, the drugstore chain CVS created a plan accepted by the town to rehabilitate the inn while moving it away from Montauk Highway and turning it toward Higbie Lane.

The West Islip Historical Society opened the West Islip History Center in the restored LaGrange building on September 8, 2018. 

Sources:

Catalano, Chris. “La Grange Inn.” West Islip Historical Society, westisliphistoricalsociety.org/index.php/la-grange-inn. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024

Esposito, Nick. “West Islip Historical Society Celebrates Its New Home in the La Grange Inn.” Greater Long Island, 10 Sept. 2019, greaterlongisland.com/west-islip-historical-society-celebrates-its-new-home-in-the-legrange-inn

“La Grange Inn, Town of Islip, Suffolk County Saved!” Preservation Long Island, 22 Mar. 2018, preservationlongisland.org/la-grange-inn-town-of-islip-suffolk-county

Beacon Towers

 Beacon Towers was completed in 1918, for Alva Erskine Smith, the widow of Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont and ex-wife of William Kissam Vanderbilt. It was located on the Gold Coast it was one of the most fantastical of all the Gilded Age castles. In the 1920s, it gained a reputation for progressive thinking concerning feminism and women's rights in America. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Beacon Towers was the inspiration for "East Egg" in Baz Luhrman's film adaptation of “The Great Gatsby”. It is also said to have influenced the fairytale castle in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Alva almost singlehandedly led the women's suffrage movement in the United States. She established the Political Equality League, organized the first picketing event in front of the White House, and was elected President of the National Woman's Party, a position she held until her death.

Alva paid $84,000 for 7-acres of prime beachfront real estate at the northern tip of Sands Point. In 1917, she called architectural firm Hunt & Hunt to build her a Gothic castle, loosely modelled on a Norman château associated with Joan of Arc. Rumors abound as to how many rooms it contained, but a conservative estimate would be in the region of 100. 

In 1924, to obtain more privacy Alva spent a further $100,000 acquiring an additional 5.5 acres of land that included the old lighthouse and Keeper's House. After only seven years in residence, Alva conceded that the castle was too expensive to maintain - the household staff alone cost her $25,000 a year. In 1925, she closed up the castle and moved to France. In 1927, Beacon Towers was purchased for $400,000 by William Randolph Hearst. He and his wife immediately set about making structural improvements to the castle: The roof was raised, dormer windows were added to break the roofline, and all the windows throughout were enlarged; and, as huge fans of Hollywood, they added a movie theater.

In 1942, Hearst was forced to handover over the estate to the bank for tax purposes. In 1945, the castle was unceremoniously demolished and 8 houses were built in its place. Found among the woods today are various structural remnants, including old towers, the gatehouse, garage and the ruins of the garden walls.

Source:

“Beacon Towers.” American Aristocracy, americanaristocracy.com/houses/beacon-towers. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024

John & Alice Coltrane Home

 John Coltrane was born in 1926. During the summer of 1943 he moved to Philadelphia and by early 1945 was working locally as a clarinet and alto saxophone player. Coltrane enlisted in the Navy that same summer. Returning home after a short service, he took advantage of the G.I. Bill’s education opportunities to pursue training at Ornstein School of Music. Philly’s jazz clubs were John’s oyster as he played almost every room in town.

By the end of the 50s, having put in years with Monk and Davis, Coltrane was more than ready to breakout as a bandleader and composer. 1959’s “Giant Steps”, his first album of all original compositions, was an astounding breakout work.

In 1961, he moved to Dix hills with his second wife Alice. It was in the attic of this home that John composed the American masterpiece “A Love Supreme.” Beyond the traditional family rooms, where their four children were raised, there were spaces for meditation, practicing, and a fully equipped recording studio where Alice made her landmark Impulse! Records albums. The Coltrane family lived at this home until 1973.

The mid-century ranch style house was constructed in 1952 on a 3.4-acre lot. In 2004, facing demolition, the structure was saved by a group of volunteers that became the Friends of the John and Alice Coltrane Home of Dix Hills, Inc. By 2005, The Town of Huntington purchased the property and transferred the deed to the Friends. The Home was listed on the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places in 2007. In 2011, it was listed as one of eleven “Most Endangered” places and in 2018 was deemed a “National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.”

The future plans for the John and Alice Coltrane Home are to make it a multifaceted space for immersion in history, education, creativity, and entertainment.

 

Source:

The John and Alice Coltrane Home, thecoltranehome.org/. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024

 

Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway

 In 1954, the New York State Department of Public Works proposed a six-lane, north-south expressway between the Wantagh State Parkway in Wantagh and NY 106 in Oyster Bay. 

The route of the expressway was defined by the department, and later amended by the New York State Department of Transportation as follows: Beginning at a point on the Wantagh State Parkway in the vicinity of the hamlet of Wantagh, thence running generally through or near the hamlets of Seaford, Bethpage and Plainview to a point on state highway nine thousand twenty-one (NY 106) south of the village of Oyster Bay.

The expressway was so divisive that it was met with protest in each of the communities it was to pass. Right-of-way acquisition began in 1958, and construction began one year later. The section between exit 14 (NY 25 / Jericho Turnpike) and exit 10 (Old Country Road) was completed in 1962. The next section, between exit 10 and exit 4 (Southern State Parkway) was completed in 1963. With the opening of the section between exit 4 and exit 1 (Merrick Road) in the fall of 1969, the entire 10.8-mile route of the expressway was completed at a cost of $49 million.

The southbound lanes are higher than the northbound lanes between exits 8 and 9. This was to be where the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway and the unbuilt portion of the Bethpage State Parkway were to connect. The southbound lanes of the Bethpage State Parkway were to have been in the median of NY 135 for about one-half mile before heading back southeast, while the northbound lanes of the parkway followed the northbound lanes of NY 135 along the right shoulder. This assumed that the Bethpage State Parkway would be upgraded to a four-lane divided parkway, which never happened.

There haven’t been many changes to the expressway since it was originally built. One big change was made to one of its major interchanges. The interchange between the Seaford-Oyster Bay and Long Island expressways, which was originally built between 1959 and 1961, was reconstructed with new flyover ramps and overpasses in 1997. 

When it was first built, NY 135 was known as the "Wantagh-Oyster Bay Expressway." In 1967, its name was changed to the "Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway" to avoid confusion with the parallel Wantagh State Parkway. On March 21, 2002, the highway was ceremonially named the "Ralph Marino Expressway" in honor of the longtime state senator.

Source:

“Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway.” Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135), www.nycroads.com/roads/NY-135/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2024.