Join Us for Tea! Saturday, April 26 th, :00pm At The Hawkins House

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Donation is $25 per person. Please call Kay Donaldson to make your reservations at (631)395-9870. We hope to see you there! Swezey-Avey House Progress Report.. 5-6 Upcoming Events.

1 Yaphank Historical Society Newsletter Historic Yaphank - Where the Past Greets the Present March - April, 2014 Best Wishes for a Happy, Healthy New Year Robert Hawkins House P.O. Box 111 Yaphank, NY Meetings: Third Thursday of the Month; 7:30PM, Hawkins House. Newsletter Editor: Peggy Judd Inside this issue: President s Message... 2 A Special Thank You... 3 Two Inspirational Women 4 Join Us for Tea! Saturday, April 26 th, :00pm At The Hawkins House There will be a delicious array of assorted tea sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, assorted pastries for dessert, and Lady Grey tea. Donation is $25 per person. Please call Kay Donaldson to make your reservations at (631) We hope to see you there! Swezey-Avey House Progress Report Upcoming Events... 7 Special Society Field Trip to the Long Island Maritime Museum Board of Directors President - Robert Kessler Vice President - Peggy Judd Treasurer - Audrey Kessler Recording Secretary - Kay Donaldson Corresponding Secretary - Marie Desch Librarian - Olive Archer Historian - Karen Mouzakes Curator - Helen Kalbach 3-Yr. Trustee - Tricia Foley 2-Yr. Trustee Kathleen Schmidt & Liz Horan 1-Yr Trustee - Jim Vavrina & Mindy Hausman Honorary Lifetime Board Membership - Lucille Stroud On Saturday, May 3 rd, the Yaphank Historical Society will sponsor a field trip to the Long Island Maritime Museum starting at 10:30am. Participants will gather at the Museum at 10:15, where we will meet our guide for the tour. The Long Island Maritime Museum was founded in 1966 and is located on the historic West Sayville waterfront (88 West Avenue, West Sayville, NY). The Museum grounds, once part of the Meadow Edge Estate (former home of the Hard family) are comprised of 14 acres and several historic buildings. The Museum has a rich archive of Long Island s maritime history, including over 10,000 maritime-related objects and many documents and photographs. Some exhibits also show how weather, chance, and human error conspired to make the waters around Long Island a valley of shipwrecks. For those interested, we will meet for lunch following the tour at Butera s Restaurant, located at 100 South Main St., Sayville, NY. This is always a fun part of the trip and everyone gets a chance to discuss the tour, as well as enjoy a nice lunch. For information and to sign up, please call Marie Desch at

2 Yaphank Historical Society Newsletter Page 2 Letter from the President The Yaphank Historical Society has been quickly addressing improvements to our Historic District over the last few years. We have finished the Booth House, we are working on the Homan House, and we have acquired and are renovating the Swezey-Avey House. We have also put up fencing throughout our district. Two of our houses, the Hawkins House and the Homan House are on the National Register and we are in the process of applying for National Register status for the Booth House. Over the next few years as we move our day-to-day operations into the Swezey-Avey house, we will be turning the Hawkins House into a museum; we will then have the Booth House Museum(1829), the Hawkins House Museum (1850) and when completed, the Homan House Museum(1790). When completed, the Swezey-Avey House will have four display rooms as well as our offices and archive room. We will also have a large meeting room for our general membership meetings. Our meetings are well attended and we always have interesting guest speakers. Our general meetings are open to the public and you need not be a member to attend. I want to thank Brookhaven Parks Department and Rob Maag for all of their help on the Swezey-Avey project. I also want to thank Connie Kepert for her continuing support. We have met with Kate Browning and asked her to help us get money appropriated for the Homan House. We have also asked her to help us get DPW to assign an architect for this project; and we have asked her to get crosswalks installed at the intersection of Main Street and Yaphank Avenue. She has been a great friend to us over the years helping us with all of our projects. We have asked the County to put a new heating system into the Hawkins House. We now have old electric heaters which are not very efficient and have a hard time just keeping the pipes from freezing. The County has agreed to put in a new gas-powered hot air system. This will be much more efficient and maybe we can finally get the house warm in the winter. We hope to have this project finished this year. We also want to get started on rebuilding the Carriage House that was originally located behind the Hawkins House. We met with an architect who will begin drawing up plans for the carriage house. We expect to have a set of plans by the end of the year and depending on grant money, to begin construction sometime next year. We do have some pictures of the house and we have a Historical Survey that shows all of the windows, doors, trim and finishes, so we will be able to replicate the original as closely as possible. This project will be a great addition to the Hawkins House property. In closing, I want to again thank Richard Martin and Eric Crater of Suffolk County Parks Historical Services for all of their help on all of these projects. Robert Kessler Welcome New Members Peter Robinson, Lindenhurst, NY Sharon and Bill Brown, Yaphank, NY Funds for this newsletter were provided by the Suffolk County Legislature, Kate Browning, 3rd Legislative District. Thank You! Furniture Donation from the Longwood Public Library Suzanne Johnson, Director of the Longwood Public Library, contacted the Society and offered to donate some excess library furniture for our use. The furniture is perfect for the Swezey-Avey House. We met with her and are the happy recipients of a number of wooden library chairs which will be used in our Reading Room as well as in our office meeting area. In addition, the Library has donated a large display case for use in one of our Display Rooms. The Society has a substantial archival collection and having adequate display cases will give the public a chance to view some of these items from Yaphank s early history. We sincerely thank Suzanne and the Library for their generous donations and support.

3 Yaphank Historical Society Newsletter Page 3 A SPECIAL THANK YOU Karen Mouzakes, a founding member of the Yaphank Historical Society in 1974 and current Society Historian, has resigned her position with the Society effective this Spring. She and her husband, John, are moving to New Jersey to be closer to her family and her grandchildren who live there. Karen s co-author, Tricia Foley, of our book Images of America Yaphank, has agreed to fill out Karen s remaining term. They will work closely together during this transition time and Karen will continue to consult with us on historical matters. Society Board Members treated Karen to a special Thank You Luncheon recently. She received our heartfelt thanks for her 40 years of service and dedication to the Society and to the Yaphank community. There were, of course, tears exchanged along with gifts and good wishes for all the best in her new home. Our President, Robert Kessler, made the following comments: I can t say enough about what you have done for the Historical Society. There is no one who can replace you. When we had all of our archives spread around the homes of various Society board members, we didn t know all that we had. Now that we have our archives in one place we realize the extent of what you have done. It is truly amazing. Looking Back. Because Karen has been such an important part of all Society projects and activities, it is difficult to choose which ones are most noteworthy. However, we take this opportunity to reflect on just a few of her many accomplishments and special contributions to the Society during her 40 years of service: Perhaps her most significant contribution of all: Keeping the history of Yaphank alive by doing what she loves the most Historical Research. Yaphank Historic Society Archive built and managed our extensive archive repository which consists of thousands of files, documents, pictures, artifacts, tapes, discs, paintings, etc. Finding Aid (an online research resource) co-author of the YHS Finding Aid, a user friendly online application residing on our website that identifies our archival items. Images of America, Yaphank Co-author of the Yaphank book for the Arcadia historical series. Society Brochures created a family of brochures and/ or documents identifying the Society, our projects, and our historical structures. The Resident Interview Program discussion and videotaping of residents to preserve our history and ensure that the tape becomes part of our archives. Booth House Museum helped with the restoration of the Mary Louise Booth Birthplace and wrote the docent literature. Henry P. Kovarik Room & Kovarik Foundation for Poetry based on funding from the Foundation, creation of the Kovarik Room in 1986 in the Hawkins House. Served as Secretary of the Foundation. Special Historical Programs presented a series of programs about Yaphank s history at our General Meetings every year. Outreach to other Historical Societies, Organizations, and County and Town Representatives. Member of the Town of Brookhaven Historic Advisory Committee served for several years in this position, helping to maintain the historical integrity of the Yaphank hamlet. Communication and Correspondence with people who have an interest in Yaphank, (whether it be a resident, someone with an historical connection, just questions, or wishing to donate, etc.) requiring research and follow up via many letters, phone calls, or meetings. While Karen is not going to be residing here in Yaphank and will not attend all of our meetings, she is, as she tells us ONLY A CLICK AWAY ON . And we intend to CLICK regularly, probably more than she anticipates. We sincerely thank Karen for all she has done for the Historical Society. We will miss her dearly, both as our Historian, but also as our friend. And we hope that she will visit us often.

Artist Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was invited to the next dinner to brainstorm with the committee and he went on to create the sculpture that would become the symbol of America and the landmark in

4 Yaphank Historical Society Newsletter Page 4 Two Inspirational Women: Mary Louise Booth and the Statue of Liberty by Tricia Foley One evening in a small town near Versailles in the fall of 1865, a group of French intellectuals and statesmen gathered at dinner to discuss strengthening France s relationship with America and presenting a gift from France as a gesture of friendship. Artist Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was invited to the next dinner to brainstorm with the committee and he went on to create the sculpture that would become the symbol of America and the landmark in New York Harbor that has welcomed millions of people from all over the world for over a hundred years. And one evening in the fall of 2013, Richard Martin, Director of Historic Services for Suffolk County, sat in a restaurant on the Brooklyn waterfront looking out at the Statue of Liberty thinking about his own newly-discovered French heritage and wondering about Mary Louise Booth s French connection. There were rumors of French ancestry, but it had just been established that her family on both sides had English roots and had been among the earliest American settlers, serving proudly as patriots in the American Revolution. On his way home, Richard stopped at his local library and took out a stack of books on the history of the Statue of Liberty and started reading. He found to his surprise that Mary Louise Booth was the first person Bartholdi came to see when he arrived by ship in New York in We then realized that hosting this early dinner were writer Edouard de Laboulaye and historian Henri Martin, who wrote The History of France. We have a list of 28 books that Booth translated and almost all of her French authors were at this early dinner involved in making the Statue of Liberty, Enlightening the World, a reality. I discovered that Booth attended the French and English School in Brooklyn in her early twenties, and her passion for French history and culture were an important part of her life as a writer, translator and editor. Richard and I went to the New York Public Library where we read Bartholdi s diaries from his trip to America and saw firsthand how important Mary Louise Booth, born in Yaphank in 1831, was on the world stage and what an important role she played in bringing the goddess of freedom to our country. In October 1886, the Statue of Liberty was opened to great fanfare with fireworks and speeches by President Grover Cleveland, Senator William Evarts and Mayor William Grace. But only men were allowed, as they thought it was dangerous for women in skirts getting on and off the launches. There was a boat hired by the suffragists that sailed as close to the statue as possible, and we like to think that Mary Louise Booth was with them. Mary Louise Booth Bartholdi Statue

In that capacity, the Society has been managing the Swezey-Avey House Renovation/Restoration Project working jointly with the Town.

We have scheduled a Grand Opening Celebration for Saturday, August 23, and will welcome the public to come and visit this historic structure and see our displays.

5 Yaphank Historical Society Newsletter Page 5 Swezey-Avey House Progress Report By Peggy Judd Introduction. The Yaphank Historical Society has signed a contract with the Town, effective January 2012, assuming custodianship of the Swezey-Avey House. In that capacity, the Society has been managing the Swezey-Avey House Renovation/Restoration Project working jointly with the Town. The Swezey-Avey House is an important part of Yaphank s history and the Society s plans for the future. We have scheduled a Grand Opening Celebration for Saturday, August 23, and will welcome the public to come and visit this historic structure and see our displays. Docents will be available to assist with a tour and answer questions, and since a celebration calls for refreshments, they will be offered. Renovation A Work in Progress Exterior work: A new porch, porch railing, and gingerbread trim was installed at the Swezey-Avey House and exterior painting work has been completed. Custom shutters have been painted and will be installed in the spring. Landscaping, including shrubs, bulbs, small trees, and sod, has been completed. Exterior work will continue and be addressed as necessary, including replacing the chain link fencing and making improvements to the garden areas and back porch. Interior work: Considerable progress has been made on both floors of the building. Some not so obvious improvements have been made to the House in general, including a new fire alarm setup, repairing a water leak in the basement, repairing ceilings, demolishing walls in the central hallway, repairing and plastering walls throughout, window repairs, and shoring up and adding temporary railings to the staircases, making them safe for access to the upper floors. Typical Renovation Challenges: New walls for main hallway Damaged flooring Second Floor: Emphasis was put on the upper floor in order to establish our administrative office, storage file room, and archive repository. A new lighting system has been installed, closets have been built, library shelves installed, walls and ceilings repaired, and all the upstairs rooms have been cleaned and painted. The upstairs bathroom and kitchen have been remodeled. The bathroom will be accessible to those working or visiting the upstairs and the kitchen will provide only light refreshment (coffee, tea, sodas, etc.) facilities. The upstairs will also feature three display rooms including the Henry P. Kovarik Room. Two of these rooms will be permanent displays; one room will feature special changing displays. The original wood floors upstairs have been repaired and refinished. The archive room is close to being completed. All files and cabinets have been moved from the Hawkins House and are being organized; a safe has been purchased and will store special archival items. Installation of a dehumidifier and other climate-control devices for the archive room will be addressed shortly. Preparations (framing, documentation, etc.) for our various display rooms have begun and we will have some displays ready for our August Open House Celebration. First floor: The downstairs rooms have not been ignored, although we are saving major demolition efforts until the upstairs is completed. The kitchen has been cleaned and painted. Cabinets have been installed along one side of the kitchen, and a large meeting area was configured in the remaining space. A new lighting system has been installed throughout the downstairs. A large closet is being built in the main meeting room to serve as a coat closet and extra storage. The downstairs bathrooms will be refurbished, painted, and the fixtures will be replaced as necessary. We have discovered the original wood floors under the current linoleum in the large meeting room. Plans include removing the current linoleum floor in the meeting room and if the wood is in adequate condition, we will repair/refinish those floors. Kitchen renovations will include repairing the current under flooring and installing appropriate kitchen flooring material. Kitchen appliances will be added as necessary; starting with new sink fixtures.

Our restoration schedule states that the front formal parlor restoration and fireplace will be the last areas to be addressed.

Although much remains to be done in the kitchen and the meeting room, adequate work has been completed so that a crowd of approximately 40 people attended, enjoying the Carmans River program

Hidden behind the walls of the house are many remnants of the original structure.

6 Yaphank Historical Society Newsletter Page 6 On our way: Bay window & sanded floor Swezey-Avey House (continued) Walls, trim, & finished floor When renovating, we have taken care to restore areas of the House whenever possible. For example, using the original baseboards discovered in the upper hallway as a guide, we have replicated the style and matched the color for trim throughout the house. Our restoration schedule states that the front formal parlor restoration and fireplace will be the last areas to be addressed. Future Restoration Challenges: We held our February General Meeting at the Swezey-Avey House because snow prevented adequate parking at the Hawkins House. Although much remains to be done in the kitchen and the meeting room, adequate work has been completed so that a crowd of approximately 40 people attended, enjoying the Carmans River program presented by Tom Williams and refreshments afterwards. Restoration. Some areas of the House are candidates for restoration. Hidden behind the walls of the house are many remnants of the original structure. We have uncovered beautiful wooden floors, original moldings, a fireplace in the main parlor, parts of the original walls, and the original staircases. The front entry door and foyer are also part of the vintage structure. These areas will be part of our restoration efforts. Substantial cost to complete restoration areas dictate that these areas will be addressed after the renovation phase is completed and will be addressed as funds become available. However, the staircase will be addressed as part of the renovation schedule. We have acquired an antique stair rail and balusters and those elements will be installed before our Grand Opening Celebration. Fireplace, first floor Main staircase and railing Our Supporters. We take this opportunity to thank the following for their generous donations and support: Knapp-Swezey Foundation ($25,000) Coalition to Save the Yaphank Lakes ($41,000) Henry P. Kovarik Foundation ($37,000) Brookhaven Rail Terminal, Yaphank, NY ($1500) Precision International Automotive Products Inc., Yaphank, NY ($3,000) HB Millwork Inc., Medford, NY (labor services to install antique stair rail and balusters) Hunter Kaucky, Eagle Scout, Troop 433, Mastic, NY (labor and supplies to replace the chain link fence) YHS member volunteers (labor and supplies, including painting, cleaning, setup) Bank of the River Gift Shop Opening for the 2014 Season Message from Kathy Schmidt Believe it or not, Spring is just around the corner. I just can t wait until it s time to sweep off the steps, polish up the inventory, and hang out the OPEN sign. Our team (Lucille Stroud, Fran Goldhorn, and Kathy Schmidt) is looking forward to seeing our regulars on a Thursday afternoon. Remember to bring a friend with you this season; it s always nice to meet new friends. Our target opening date is April 3, Hours will be the same as past years: 12:00 4:00pm, every Thursday afternoon. Also, we are always grateful for your donations. You can call the Society at and leave a message. I ll be happy to return your call. Hope to see you soon.

7 Yaphank Historical Society Newsletter Page 7 YAPHANK HISTORICAL SOCIETY MARCH, APRIL, MAY 2014 UPCOMING EVENTS March General Meeting Thursday, March 20 th, 7:30pm, Hawkins House Guest speaker will be Bruce Kagan Program: Women s Rights The Struggle for the Vote Refreshments will follow the meeting. Spring Cleaning and Dusting Saturday, March 22 nd, 10:00am, Hawkins House Volunteers needed to help clean the House before our Spring events. April General Meeting Thursday, April 17th, 7:30pm, Hawkins House Guest speaker will be Dave Morrison, Long Island Railroad Museum Program: Railroad History Lecture Refreshments will follow the meeting. Spring Victorian Tea Saturday, April 26 th, Hawkins House, 2:00 5:00pm Donation is $25 per person Reservations: call Kayann Donaldson, Always a popular event. Special Historical Society Field Trip Saturday, May 3 rd, 10:30am Long Island Maritime Museum 88 West Avenue, West Sayville, NY To sign up or question: Call Marie Desch, Plan to meet at the Museum at 10:15am. Optional Lunch following the tour at Butera s Restaurant, Sayville, NY. May General Meeting Thursday, May 15 th, 7:30, Swezey-Avey House Guest speaker will be Karen Mouzakes, Society Historian Emeritus Program: Camp Siegfried at Yaphank Refreshments will follow the meeting. Spring Community Yard Sale Saturday, May 17 th, 9:00am 4:00pm (no rain date) Donation: $5 per vendor Set up on the Hawkins House Lawns. Call with questions. Advance Notice Grand Opening Celebration for the Swezey-Avey House Yaphank Historical Society Offices, Archives, and Historical Displays August 23 rd, 3:00pm 6:00pm, Swezey-Avey House Refreshments Donations welcome Docents will be available for tours and to answer questions. Keep current with all our events and projects by visiting our website

Please leave a phone number message at the Hawkins House,

Our members support our local businesses. St.

Main Street Yaphank, NY 11980 631-924-5083 Sunday Services: 8:30 &

8 Yaphank Historical Society Newsletter Page 8 Thank You To Our Supporters If you are interested in having your business card printed in the Yaphank Historical Society newsletter, you may do so for a $50 donation per year. Please leave a phone number message at the Hawkins House, (631) OR (631) Our members support our local businesses. St. Andrew s Episcopal Church 244 E. Main Street Yaphank, NY Sunday Services: 8:30 & 10 A.M. Sunday School at 10 A.M. Service 494 Long Island Ave., Medford, NY Showroom: Millwork Factory: Automotive Products, Inc. 14 Todd Court Extension Yaphank, NY

An 1855 Christmas at the Hawkins House

An 1855 Christmas at the Hawkins House Yaphank Historical Society Newsletter Historic Yaphank - Where the Past Greets the Present September October, 2018 Robert Hawkins House P.O. Box 111 Yaphank, NY 11980-0111 www.yaphankhistorical.org Save