Jupiter Hammon

 Jupiter Hammon was born enslaved on October 17, 1711, at Henry Lloyd Manor House. The Lloyd family encouraged Hammon to attend school, where he learned to read and write. He became a bookkeeper and negotiator for Henry Lloyd and the family’s business. After Henry Lloyd died in 1763, Hammon remained enslaved by Lloyd’s son, Joseph, with whom he moved to Connecticut. There, he became a leader in the African American community and attended abolitionist and Revolutionary War societies.

He published his first poem, An Evening Thought, in 1761, he was nearly 50 years old. Hammon spent years in bondage, apparently working as a servant, clerk, and courier for the Lloyds while composing revolutionary poetry and essays. In addition to authoring two unpublished poems, he published at least six poems and three essays. He was the first African American poet to be published in the United States. In 1784, he was the featured speaker at the first recorded meeting of the African Society of New York City.

Jupiter Hammon’s death was unrecorded, but historians place it somewhere around 1806. He spent his final years living with John Nelson Lloyd, a great-grandson of Henry. He was buried on Lloyd land, in an unmarked grave. In 2020, United for Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, designated Lloyd Manor a Literary Landmark.

Sources:

Fink, Lisa. “Honoring Jupiter Hammon, the First Published African American Poet.” National Council of Teachers of English, 1 Oct. 2020, ncte.org/blog/2020/10/celebrating-black-poetry 

“Jupiter Hammon.” Lloyd Harbor Historical Society, 14 Oct. 2023, lloydharborhistoricalsociety.org/jupiter-hammon

“Jupiter Hammon.” Poets.Org, Academy of American Poets, 16 Oct. 2019, poets.org/poet/jupiter-hammon 

 “The Life and Works of Jupiter Hammon.” Preservation Long Island, 14 Oct. 2022, preservationlongisland.org/the-life-and-works-of-jupiter-hammon-1711-before-1806

Pembroke Mansion

 The Pembroke Mansion was built in 1916 by architect C.P.H. Gilbert for Captain Joseph R. De Lemar. 

The Pembroke Mansion had a palm court, cave, 70 foot water tower with an elevator leading to a tea house, indoor tennis court, and stained glass windows designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

This 60,000 square foot Gold Coast Mansion included 12 bedrooms, 12 baths, a billiard room, den, dining room, mirrored breakfast room, long party rooms to entertain hundreds of guests. It was situated on 46 acres of land. De Lamar enjoyed playing an intricate pipe organ at the base of his stairway. Large windows overlooked gardens, the private bathing casino and boat landing on the Long Island Sound.

There was also a bowling alley, squash courts, shooting ranges, a gymnasium, a private movie theater with murals from then popular silent movies such as "The Sheik." Gilbert gave the house two distinct faces, one on its public side and a much more subdued one on its garden side. DeLamar was an incredibly wealthy man, and built Pembroke towards the end of his life as his country retreat. One side of the house contained the winter garden. Encased in glass, this building featured an abundance of wildlife, rare birds that flew freely around the interior.

It was sold Marcus Loew of Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Loew's Theaters in 1920.

The mansion was demolished  in 1968 and eventually became the Legend Yacht and Beach Club. The water tower and stables remain.

Sources:

“Gold Coast Mansions.” Pembroke Mansion - Gary DeLemar, www.goldcoastmansions.com/PembrokeMansion/PembrokeMansion.htm. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023

L., Zach. “Pembroke.” “Pembroke,” www.oldlongisland.com/2008/02/pembroke.html. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023

Fort Massapeag

 For Massapeag, the only Indian fort ever found on western Long Island and a National Historic Landmark since 1993, does not appear on most maps.

Archaeologists are not sure who built it -- whether the Massapeag Indians, the Dutch, the two together or perhaps even the English. It is believed to be the site of a New Netherland trading post built in the mid-17th century to facilitate trade with local Native Americans, and possibly serve as a wampum factory. A shell dump heap along its southern wall yielded Indian and European artifacts, including white clay smoking pipes made in Amsterdam. 

Fort Massapeag was surrounded by a protective ditch and perched on the edge of a broad salt marsh. It was near a creek leading to Great South Bay, the Long Island Expressway of its time and an abundant source of food and shells. The marsh was filled beginning in the 1930's and is now covered by streets and houses.

The area came to the attention of archaeologists in the 1930s, when the Harbor Green development began, uncovering graves of Native Americans and the site of a village, which was destroyed in the process.

The site of the fort, in the Harbor Green neighborhood on Fort Neck, is almost entirely unknown to the public and is hard to find. And it is unclear what artifacts may remain buried there. The National Park Service intentionally withholds directions. Because of its archaeological sensitivity, its location is protected.

It was first excavated in the 1930s. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993. The Town of Oyster Bay, which acquired the fort site in 1958, maintains it as a park. A sign posted by Oyster Bay identifies the property as a Massapequa Indian fort, circa 1640, but does not mention that it is a National Historic Landmark.

Sources:

“Fort Massapeag Archeological Site.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Aug. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Massapeag_Archeological_Site. 

Rather, John. “A National Landmark Nobody Knows About.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 May 2005, www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/nyregion/a-national-landmark-nobody-knows-about.html. 

Westbury Music Fair

The origin of Westbury Music Fair can be traced back to the mid-1950s. A radio broadcaster by the name Frank Ford after attending a music presentation under a small tent saw the potential to come up with something more accommodating for the performances. He teamed up with a Lee Guber and Shelly Gross. The three embarked on a plan to raise money to lease the venue with big accommodation. Over 100,000 dollars was raised and what followed was the creation of Valley Forge Music Fair. A brilliant, multicolored striped tent and 1,700 chairs were set up for the venue’s first production, The King and I, starring Charles Korvin and Constance Carpenter. The locale was beneath the path of planes flying in and out of Idlewild Airport which sometimes resulted in difficulties hearing the performance.

In 1966, the tent gave way to a state-of-the-art, fully enclosed theatre-in-the-round, enabling the Westbury Music Fair to provide entertainment year-round.  It was constructed with a focus of creating room for 3000 attendees. The first entertainer to perform in the new facility in 1966 was Jack Benny with special guest Wayne Newton.

The brand new facility boasted heat and air conditioning, folding metal chairs, carpet and tickets priced as little as $2.50. Not long after, permanent seats were installed and ticket prices were raised slightly. In 1998, the venue, and its trademark rotating stage, was sold to SFX Entertainment, now owned and operated by Live Nation. New York Community Bank acquired naming rights in 2010. It’s now known as the NYCB Theatre at Westbury.

Sources:

“NYCB Theatre at Westbury Information.” NYCB Theatre at Westbury | Latest Events, Information & Tickets. Independent Guide Not Sponsored by Live Nation!, 5 Mar. 2021, www.westburymusicfair.org/westbury-music-fair-information/#:~:text=The%20origin%20of%20Westbury%20Music,and%20exquisite%20for%20the%20performances

Schlichenmeyer, Terri. “A Look Back at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury History.” Long Island Pulse Magazine, Long Island Pulse Magazine, 24 Mar. 2017, lipulse.com/2017/03/27/nycb-theatre-at-westbury

“Westbury Music Fair.” Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, 10 Apr. 2023, www.limusichalloffame.org/inductees/westbury-music-fair

The Battle of Long Island

 The Battle of Long Island took place in August 1776 and was a victory for the British. In terms of troop deployment and fighting, it was the largest battle of the entire war.

General George Washington brought the Continental Army to defend the port city of New York, which was the southern end of Manhattan Island at the time.

In July, the British landed on Staten Island. They began to reinforce their troops with by ships in Lower New York Bay, bringing their total force to 32,000 troops. Washington moved the bulk of his forces to Manhattan, believing that it would be the first target.

On August 27, the British attacked American defenses on the Guan Heights. Unknown to the Patriots, however, Howe had brought his main army around their rear and attacked their flank soon after. The Patriots panicked, resulting in 20% losses through casualties and captures. The remainder of the army retreated to the main defenses on Brooklyn Heights.

Shortly after fighting began, the British cornered Washington and his men in Brooklyn Heights. He was surrounded on all sides with the East River to his back and no feasible means of winning the battle. Instead of surrendering, Washington evacuated the army and retreated to Manhattan. Washington’s failure there left New York firmly in British hands until the end of the war.

 

 

Sources Cited:

 “Battle of Long Island.” American Revolutionary War, American Revolutionary War, 13 Jan. 2018, revolutionarywar.us/year-1776/battle-long-island/

“Brooklyn Battle Facts and Summary.” American Battlefield Trust, www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/brooklyn

Milleridge Inn

 In 1672, a house consisting of two rooms and a central fireplace was built by Mary Willets in Jericho.  The house was used to quarter British & Hessian troops. The house was expanded, adding an upstairs, a scullery, and barns and stables. In 1770, Elias Hicks married Jemima Seaman, great-granddaughter to Mary Willets. In 1783, Elias opened his home to travelers. The food served was very simple: stews, fish, meat, and bread. After dinner, the travelers were invited to spread their bedrolls around the heart and spend the night.

A fire struck the house, with it being badly damaged and several members of the resident family perished. The original section of the house was relatively unscathed, but the top floor with the bedrooms needed to be completely rebuilt. The structure continued to be used as a family home as well as an inn until the 1900’s. The Milleridge Inn opened in what was once the historic wayfarer’s inn over 50 years ago. In 2016, Butch Yamali, owner of the Dover Group and attorney Anthony Capetola, who owns Carltun on the Park in East Meadow, bought the Inn and formed Milleridge Ventures.

The original rooms and fireplace still stands and can be seen ahead and to the left of the present main entrance. Over the course of decades, guests and staff have witnessed unexplained phenomena like doors closing, baby cradles swaying, chairs rocking, full apparitions manifesting, phantom touches and many other paranormal activity. There is a child’s footprint permanently marked in the hardwood flooring on the second floor, which staff claims it continuously reappears, even after the floor has been stripped, sanded and buffed, for many years.

 

Sources:

“Haunted Long Island: The Milleridge Inn.” The Witching Hour, 18 Oct. 2011, 4girlsandaghost.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/haunted-long-island-the-milleridge-inn

Hinko, Christy. “Conjuring Milleridge Inn Spirits.” Long Island Weekly, 20 Oct. 2021, longislandweekly.com/schellshock/. 

“History of Milleridge.” Milleridge, milleridgeinn.com/wp-content/themes/milleridge-child/History_of_Milleridge.pdf. Accessed 7 Aug. 2023

Winzelberg, David. “New Owners Take Over Milleridge Inn.” Long Island Business News, 4 Jan. 2016, libn.com/2016/01/04/new-owners-take-over-milleridge-inn

Halsey House

Thomas Halsey Sr., one of Southampton’s founders, and his family built the first farmhouse after arriving in 1640. The current house was built c. 1683 by Thomas Halsey Jr. who inherited his father’s property and used wood frame timbers from his father’s house to build his own. The house remained in the Halsey family for several generations. Visitors who pass through the weathered front door find the wide-planked floors, hand-hewn beams, furnishings, textiles and objects that were the backdrop for domestic farm life in colonial times. Outside, the culinary and medicinal plants that were once household necessities flourish in a replication of a colonial herb garden.

The 1677 will of Thomas Halsey Sr. describes his house as having a "porch chamber," which would have been the upper room of a two-story enclosed porch projecting from the chimney bay and containing the front entrance on the first floor. 

Isaac Halsey reconstituted his father's nine acre home lot when he acquired his brother's five-acre share in 1691. The house changed hands many times over the years.  In 1695, Isaac sold the southerly 2 1/2 acres of his home lot to Richard Howell. In 1697, Josiah Howell sold to Jonathan Raynor half of the 2 1/2 acres he had purchased from Isaac Halsey. Jonathan left all the land to his son Hugh. By 1800, Hugh’s son, James, owned the Halsey House. In 1812, James Raynor sold this twenty-acre parcel with the Halsey House to Elias Pelletreau. Maltby Pelletreau, who had inherited the parcel from his father, transferred the twenty acres in 1833 to a group of four men (Daniel Fordham, James Scott, Isaac Sayre, Jr. and Henry Reeves). In 1839 this group (now consisting of Henry and Emily Reeve, Isaac and Eliza Sayre, Jesse Reeves and Gilbert and Fanny Carll) sold the twenty-acre parcel to Oliver White. Thomas Nicholas White inherited the land when his father, Oliver, died in 1842. Thomas N. White and Nancy R. White sold a 2 1/4 acre parcel containing the Halsey House to Arthur J. Peabody on August 3, 1886. In 1958, John Tillotson Wainwright III, Arthur Peabody's great- grandson, sold the Halsey House on a .7 acre parcel to the Southampton Colonial Society.

During the late eighteenth-century, the Halsey House was remodeled. Casement windows were replaced with plank-frame windows having up-and-down sash and the interior was modernized with plaster ceilings and fielded paneling on the walls. The Southampton Colonial Society undertook a project to install new three-foot shingles on the Halsey House in 1999. By the fall of 2000, the frame was repaired and the new shingles installed.

The grounds are always open to the public from dawn to dusk but tours of the home are by appointment only. 

Sources:

Flanagan, Connor. “Halsey House - Historic Structure Report, 2014.” Southampton, 8 Sept. 2020, www.southamptonhistory.org/post/halsey-house-historic-structure-report-2014

“Halsey House & Garden: Southampton History.” Southampton, www.southamptonhistory.org/hhgarden. Accessed 28 July 2023