Petty House
Efforts to preserve a small mid 18th Century house located on the north side of Montauk Highway in Mastic are meeting with success. With strong community interest, the Town of Brookhaven has agreed to hold the Certificate of Occupancy for the expansion of the adjacent Southport shopping center pending the developer’s restoration of the Petty House, the only remaining 18th Century structure in a 3-mile stretch of Montauk Highway between Carmans River on the east and Barnes Road on the west. A photograph of the house was found in SPLIA’s collection and will be used to restore the exterior as it existed prior to significant alterations. While no specific occupant has been determined as yet, several local organizations including the Mastic Peninsula Historical Society, are considering it. The project is expected to serve as a keystone for the Town of Brookhaven’s revitalization plan for Montauk Highway from William Floyd Parkway to Neighborhood Road.

Stephen Hewlett Townsend Property
The Stephen Hewlett Townsend Property on the northwest corner of Glenwood Road and Kissam Lane, Glenwood Landing, contains both a small mid 19th century double house noted in the 1975 Nassau County Inventory of Historic Sites, and a prehistoric Native American occupation site recently documented by systematic investigation. The site, adjacent to a large pond before it was filled in,contains a large shell midden, diagnostic Windsor Tradition ceramics from theWoodland Period, and projectile points from both the Woodland and Late Archaic periods. Study authors consider the archaeological site National Register eligible. Stephen Townsend was a progressive farmer, with interests in shipping, who built seven vessels during his lifetime. The double house is said to have been moved a short distance on the property about 1912, and may have once been used as a carriage house or a school house. In spite of a dedicated effort to save these resources by the local Glen Head - Glenwood Landing Civic Association, the 2.03 acre property may be subdivided and developed with seven homes, after rezoning.

Ketcham-Underhill Farm
The loss of the Ketcham-Underhill House in May, 2003, saddened many. One of the last visual links to rural Nassau County along a highly commercialized stretch of Jericho Turnpike in Syosset, the 9.5 acre property is scheduled to be the site of a new housing development. First the barns were removed with permission of the Town of Oyster Bay. Shortly thereafter, a fire destroyed the entire main block, built in the last quarter of the 18th Century and damaged the east kitchen wing, a separate structure built about 1850and probably moved to the site about 1860. The shed wing, which survives, may have been built as a pre-fabricated structure by the American Patent Portable House Mfg. Co. for shipment to California during the height of the Gold Rush. In spite of the fire, all may not be lost. John Collins, member of the Oyster Bay Landmark Commission and an architectural historian, has measured and drawn the surviving frame to preserve a record of the house. There are plans to move the pre-fab section off-site for restoration and re-use.