A History of Remsenburg, Marsha Kenny et.al,
The Remsenberg Association, Inc., 2003
In 1976 Charles J. McDermitt, a former Director of SPLIA, published A History of Remsenberg. With an influx of new residents and many changes in the community, an updated and expanded history was needed to both inform and to generate appreciation. The new version contains over 175 photographs of historic subjects and local homes. Its text covers Remsenburg’s history from its 18th century origins to the present, offering first person accounts and anecdotes of events and life in the eastern Long Island hamlet. A few of the special features are the 21 photographs of local barns identified by their locations, and a section with photographs and brief histories of over 60 locally significant residences, and a list of burials in two historic cemeteries, some of whose markers are no longer legible. A handsome drawing of the recently restored Academy is the cover illustration.
Available from The Open Book, Main Street, Westhampton Beach, or by calling Marsha Kenny at (631) 3 25 - 8154. Price is $25.

Planning Commissioners Journal, Planning for Historic Preservation, Champlain Planning Press, Inc., Burlington, Vermont, Fall 2003.
This publication informs “citizen planners” who are interested in preserving the historic buildings and streetscapes in their own communities. It has an introductory section on the history of the historic preservation movement in the United States, and coverage of current historic preservation issues and tools. It gives interesting national examples of where preservation strategies have been used not only to protect individual landmarks but also to revitalize downtowns, adaptively reuse buildings such as theaters and schools for such uses as affordable housing,finance and economic development schemes to enable the continued life of a cherished building. It describes the reasons that a community’s historic preservation plan is so important and what can be accomplished with such a plan, including as a legal underpinning for a landmark ordinance. An article on Historic Preservation and Smart Growth is particularly helpful in laying out all the reasons historic preservation is the essence of Smart Growth. This section is important in telling the other side of the story in communities where Smart Growth has focused on open space preservation, with only minimal acknowledgement of the importance of the historic environment. There is a section on Frequently Asked Questions regarding preservation ordinances w h i ch could be prepared as a handout for every potentially rancorous historic district designation hearing. In nineteen pages most citizens with an interest in local historic preservation will be given the tools they need to pursue this dream in their own communities.
Copies can be ordered through e-mail at info@plannersweb.com or by calling 1-888-475-3328.

Boats by Purdy, Alan E. Dinn , Tiller Publishing, (St. Michaels, Maryland, 2003)
This is a fascinating and extraordinarily well documented history of the Purdy Boat Company which operated in Port Washington on Manhasset Bay between the years 1925 and 1954, when it built its last boat. Carl Fisher, who built Port Wa s hington’s Bayview Colony, relocated the company from Trenton, Michigan, in order to build Fisher’s 1925 American Power Boat Association’s Gold Cup entry “Baby Shadow. “ Prior to World War II the company built boats for recreational sailors. During World War II, like other Long Island shipbuilding concerns, it built boats for the war effort, in this case 88 boats for the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships, among them 45 foot picket boats. Built for speed, they rescued downed airmen off the Pacific Islands. The author, a Port Washington native, is a grandson of Purdy Boat Company founder, Ned Purdy. Among the many photographs and boat plans, three appendices, detailing respectively, every boat built, engines used, and owners of each boat, stands out.
Available at the SPLIA Gallery, 1 Shore Road, Cold Spring Harbor for $39.50.

Barns, John Michael Vlach, Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks in Architecture, Design and Engineering, W.W. Norton & Company, New York and London and Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 2003.
A barn is not just a barn as anyone who even casually glances at this book can appreciate. With over 800 art-quality, black and white photographs of barns all over the United States, the book is a feast for the eyes. Among the photographs are many taken by HABS during the 30’s and 40’s. However, much more than a picture book, it provides academic level historical, architectural and cultural analyses of the barn as a vernacular building type, organized by geographic area. The author is Professor of American Studies and Anthropology, and director of the Folklife program at George Washington University; he uses his discerning eye to identify the many distinctly regional stylistic characteristics of barns and to place them in their historical and cultural context. The introductory chapter, called “The Barn in American History” is pioneering. The essay, linking the barn to America’s founding and vast settlement, ends with the delightful old farmer’s proverb “A barn will build a house sooner than a house will build a barn.”
Available at the SPLIA Gallery, 1 Shore Road, Cold Spring Harbor, for $75.00.