Fort Salonga
A simple shingled wood frame house, perched on a cliff overlooking Long Island Sound in Fort Salonga, was the summer home of Booker T. Washington, the noted African American educator, advisor to several presidents including Theodore Roosevelt, who may have induced him to the North Shore of Long Island. Purchased in 1911, it was occupied by him until his death in 1915. Although of national importance, he involved himself in community life locally, teaching Sunday school at the historic National Register-listed Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), in Huntington, and preaching before a Methodist congregation in Northport. It is quite possible that he inspired the founding of the Allen AME church in Northport, which was established the same year he took up residence.

In the Spring of 2003, as one of the events celebrating the Town of Huntington’s 350th Anniversary, dedication ceremonies were held at the site and a new Town of Huntington historic marker was unveiled. Speakers came from as far away as Hampton, Virginia which sent a representative from Hampton University, formerly Hampton Institute, his alma mater. The house is a private residence and efforts are being made to landmark it to protect it from demolition.
Source: Robert C.Hughes, Town of Huntington Town Historian

Islip
Suffolk County has taken the first steps toward the purchase of the former Harold H. Weekes estate ‘Wereholme’, which includes a Grosvenor Atterbury designed country house built in 1917. The 27 room house was built after Atterbury’s experience with Forest Hills Gardens and thus incorporates concrete blocks, finished to resemble stone with colored aggregate, part of his experiment at Forest Hills Gardens with more affordable building materials.

Consisting of seventy acres of saltwater marsh, a freshwater stream and pond, and mature upland forest habitat, located on the west side of South Bay Avenue, the property has been owned by the Audubon Society, since 1968, deeded to it by Weekes’ daughter, Hathaway Weekes Scully. The Audubon Society intends to sell the property and through the efforts of two local Legislators, Ginny Fields and Cameron Alden, and the Islip-based Seatuck Environmental Association, with widespread community support, the Suffolk County Legislature approved planning steps last April 29, initially authorizing the reparation of appraisals. These were received in September and are now being reviewed by Suffolk Count.

SEA is interested in managing the property, using the house as its headquarters and running environmental education programs on and from the site. Seatuck estimates that its programs will reach in excess of 2000 children and adults in 2 03. Seatuck lost its home when “ Twyford,” on the site of the Seatuck National Refuge, was demolished last year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in a misguided attempt to return the land, occupied by the house and outbuildings, to its natural state. SEA has posted photographs of the Weekes’ property on its website at www.Seatuck.org.

Manorville
First identified in 1979 by Cultural Resources Survey, the Manorville Depot Historic District is finding new advocates. A local committee led by Dorothy K. Magnani, Chair of the Manorville Depot Historic District Committee, is seeking community support to obtain Town of Brookhaven historic district designation for an area of Manorville bounded north by the Peconic River, south by the LIE, east by Suffolk County lands and west by Hallock Road. Within these boundaries is found a cluster of 19th century village residences, churches, a tavern and general store.Contributing structures are centered around the Long Island Railroad tracks and the Pine Trail Nature Preserve. The impetus for the district is the growing development pressure in the area, for both year-round and vacation homes, w h i ch residents perceive as a threat to their rural way of life. A community meeting, to present the proposal and hear resident’s interest and concerns, was held during the summer and another will be held later in the fall.

Oakdale
Oakdale’s St John’s Episcopal Church is seeking to have an Historic Structures Report prepared in order to apply for funding from the New York Landmarks Conservancy Sacred Sites Program to undertake historically accurate repairs.

Located on the northeast side of Montauk Highway, near Berard Boulevard, the church was reportedly built in 1765 and is the second oldest ch u r ch still standing in Suffolk County. It was listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places in 1993. Built originally as a private family chapel for the William Nicoll manor, it also served slaves of the family, free Indians and the community. In 1787 the church was admitted to the Diocese, the parish was formally incorporated in 1806 and the church consecrated in 1843. Alterations attributed to the 1843 date—the addition of a third bay and Greek Revival trim, window replacement, and updating of the interior—may have been connected to the consecration.

During a 1962 restoration a new brick foundation was added replacing the original stone, the barrel-vaulted ceiling was restored to its 1840’s appearance, shingles and shutters were replaced, and a small sacristy was added. Surviving from the 18th century, are the heavy timber framing, rectangular massing, central tower/narthex, and the simple benches lining the exterior walls of the balcony. Except during the years between 1875 and 1928, the ch u r ch has been in continuous use. A graveyard on the church grounds contains about 100 graves, mostly dating to the 19th century. The last burial was in 1916.
Source: National Register nomination form and material supplied by Town of Islip Planning Department

Southampton Village
A building known as the Rhodes House, after its original owner who is said to have constructed it about 1755, has recently been discovered to contain one of the most intact mid-18th century interiors still remaining in Southampton Village. Moved from Main Street to its present site on Windmill lane in the 1920s and used thereafter for a series of unsympathetic commercial uses, it has recently been condemned by the village and is slated for demolition. However, following the discovery of the remarkably intact, finely retailed interiors, several community leaders have stepped forward to lead the effort to save the building from demolition. Thus far the campaign has succeeded in convincing the Village to stay the demolition while a preservation solution is found.

2003 NATIONAL REGISTER LISTINGS

Church of the Resurrection, 85-09 118th Street, Kew Gardens, Borough of Queens , 3/07/03
Cedar Island Lighthouse, Cedar Point Road, Sag Harbor Vicinity, 4/18/03 Hallock-Bilunas Farmstead, 733 Herricks Ln., Jamesport, 4/18/03
Joseph Wood House, 384 Greene Ave., Sayville, 5/18/03
Sea Cliff Firehouse, Roslyn Ave., Sea Cliff, 5/18/03
George Underhill House, 28 factory Pond Rd., Locust Valley, 7/5/03
Public School 66, 85-11 102nd St., Richmond Hill, Borough of Queens, 8/28/03
Cold Spring Fire District Hook and Ladder Company Building, Main Street at Elm Place, Cold Spring Harbor, 11/15/03
A. Conger Goodyear House, 14 Orchard Ln., Old Westbury, 12/04/03