CNPHS 2021 - 2022 Journal : simplebooklet.com

Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 1About the Cover: Son of ﬁnancier and stockbroker Jay Gould (1836-1892), Howard Gould (1871-1959) purchased this forested and unspoiled 216-acre property in about 1900 from the Fay family. Castle Gould, shown on the cover of this 2021-2022 Journal, was designed by noted architect Augustus N. Allen and was intended to be the main residence of Mr. Gould and his wife, Katherine Clemmons. However, the 100,000 square foot limestone building didn’t suit them, and neither apparently did marital life, since divorce proceedings were commenced in 1907. You can read some of the lurid accusations via the newspaper headlines in Jennifer Wiggins’ article, “She Took the Cows” The Headlines Tell the Story! on page 16.Gould went on to build his grand residence, later renamed Hempstead House, designed by architects Hunt & Hunt, though he rarely visited the property. In 1917 the entire estate was sold to Daniel Guggenheim, who lived there with his wife Florence Schloss Guggenheim until his death in 1930. Their son Harry took over the property, having received 90 acres from his father in 1923. Most of the property was donated to the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences in 1942 who then sold it in 1946 to the U.S. Navy for use as the Naval Training Device Center. Nassau County acquired the bulk of the land and the magniﬁcent buildings in 1971 after it was declared to be surplus by the U.S. Government. The 216-acre property is now overseen by the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy, a 501(c)3 non-proﬁt organization.Journal of the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society2021/22Printed in the USA. Copyright © 2021 by Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society,336 Port Washington Boulevard, Port Washington, NY 11050. All rights reserved.Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is forbidden. All photos and images courtesy of Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society unless otherwise noted.

Page 3

Page 4

2 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 3CNPHS Officers Chris Bain, PresidentMarla Freeman, 1st Vice President, Art DirectorKatherine Crean, 2nd Vice PresidentKenneth J. Buettner, TreasurerBetty Mintz, Recording SecretaryTrusteesLee AitkenFred BlumleinLinn JohnsonTessa JordanRobert Lager Ross Lumpkin Jon RuvioJay Stone Colin WigginsJennifer WigginsPublication CommitteeChris Bain, Project Coordinator Joan DeMeo Lager, Editor Smallkaps Associates, Inc., Graphic DesignStaffJoan DeMeo Lager, Curatorial DirectorAnn Latner, Education DirectorVolunteersA huge “thank you” to all of our dedicated volunteers.Cow Neck Peninsula Historical SocietyTable of ContentsA Note from Our President ...........................4Sands-Willets House 2021 Porch Access & Stabilization Project ....................5 “To Grandmother’s House We Go…”. ..................8My Trench Art Ring ................................13WWI: The Home Front Our Community Takes Action ........................15“She Took the Cows” The Headlines Tell the Story! ........................16The Socialite’s Lunchroom ...........................18The First Sands Point Golf Club ......................21What’s in a Name? .................................23Vaccination in 1799 ................................31Port in Pictures: A Walk through History ...............34The Dodge House: A Monument to the Past ............36Remembering Fred Hehn ............................40New! Dodge Informational Panel ......... Inside Back CoverOur MissionThe mission of the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society is to engage people of all ages in programs that highlight the lifestyles of the people and families that lived and worked on our peninsula throughout the years. Central to this mission is the preservation of the Sands-Willets House (circa 1735) and the Thomas Dodge Homestead (circa 1721), which the Society operates as house-museums, serving as resources for the community.

Page 5

Page 6

4 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 5A Note from Our PresidentTo say that 2020 and 2021 have been challenging years would be the understatement of understatements. Like most historical societies, museums, and other businesses, the Society cancelled all in-person programming and tour plans for 2020. Our popular Fall Country Fair had to take a two-year hiatus. We are only now tiptoeing back into our outdoor historic walking tours in the summer of 2021. A huge piece of good news did arrive in late 2020, however. The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation awarded our Society a generous matching grant of $125,525 for an ADA compliant access ramp following the stabilization of the front porch of the Sands-Willets House. This will allow entry to all, including those with wheelchairs and strollers. Historic house tours, exhibitions, lectures, and other activities will soon be able to be enjoyed by everyone. You can see the 8 months of progress from beginning to end on our website at www.cowneck.org.Besides the enormous thanks due the Gardiner Foundation for the porch project grant, the Society would like to acknowledge and thank the sources of matching funds for this and other related projects, including the Peter & Jeri Dejana Foundation, the Ferriday Fund Charitable Trust, Bank of America, the Ullman Family, Robert Chase, and other supportive members and friends. Additionally, the Hagedorn family deserves special recognition and thanks for their generous support of our many activities including our educational programming. Meanwhile, research and design continued all year, masked and socially distanced, for our next exhibition, WWI: The Home Front – Our Community Takes Action. We hope that the collective health of our fellow citizens around the globe allows for an opening in the Spring of 2022.We’ve also been able to continue our Historic Plaque Recognition Program, with new plaques placed at several historic churches in town, as well as at the Port Washington Railroad Station. Additional plaques are planned marking individual homes of merit and businesses alike.We hope you enjoy this edition of our biannual Journal with articles written by our trustees and staff. We also send our sincere wishes for good health to all our friends and their families, near and far. Hopefully, by the time we start our next Journal in 2023, the entire chapter of this global pandemic will be behind us.Take care of each other and stay healthy, Chris Bain, PresidentSands-Willets House 2021 Porch Access & Stabilization Projectby Chris Bain, CNPHS PresidentIn December of 2020 the Cow Neck Historical Society was awarded a generous matching grant of $125,525 from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation toward the restoration and accessibility of the front porch of the Sands-Willets House and the interior of the house. This historically correct renovation will include the addition of an access ramp to allow entry to all, including those with wheelchairs, walkers, and strollers.The Sands-Willets House, whose western side was built in 1735 by John Sands III, had a front porch added in the 1850s when its new owner, Edmund Willets, enlarged the home in Greek-Revival style. That porch was replaced about 1910 with the striking 65’ long front porch with porte cochère that you see today. This structure will now be thoroughly stabilized and restored in the same architectural manner, with the addition of an accessibility ramp.The Historical Society is eternally grateful to the Robert D. L. Gardiner Foundation for this grant as well as for the additional funding for this project from the Peter & Jeri Dejana Foundation, the Ferriday Fund Charitable Trust, Bank of America, and the Ullman family as well as from other members and contributors.

Page 7

Page 8

6 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 7The Sands-Willets House is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and is featured as a historical site on the New York State Revolutionary War Heritage Trail.The following photographs show just a few aspects of this massive project which will be completed in the fall of 2021.After most of the decking was removed, we got our ﬁrst good look at the condition and substructure of the entire porch.The brick pathway, shown here nearly complete, leads from the driveway to the wooden ramp, which will have historically accurate railings fabricated here on Long Island.Five of the original columns were rotted and had to be fabricated from a mahogany-type wood, as did all the railings.Here the carpenters are carefully reinstalling one of the new columns and its capital, replacing the 4x4s that had been holding up the roof for many months.Many of the original timbers were left in place, with additional joists attached alongside using a technique sometimes called “sistering.”Tongue and groove Douglas ﬁr of the same dimension as the original is installed over the entire length of the 65’ wraparound porch.Proper drainage via a new Yankee Gutter and copper downspouts, which had to be custom fabricated, is the best deterrent to future damage and insures a long life for our newly refurbished porch.

Page 9

Page 10

8 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 9“To Grandmother’s House We Go…”by Joan DeMeo Lager, CNPHS Curatorial DirectorOver the past few years, we were contacted by some of the Willets’ descendants whose grandmother was one of the last family members living at “Homewood,” our Sands-Willets House. These cousins were all hoping to donate some of the pieces handed down to them back to their original home. It’s been delightful to reintroduce the pieces into the house, enriching its history. We want to share a sampling of these special artifacts interspersed with a few of the highlights in the Willets family’s history at “Homewood.”EDMUNDEdmund Willets purchased “Homewood,” our Sands-Willets House, in 1846 from the estate of the Sands family. The farming land extended from the property on Middle Neck Road (now Port Washington Boulevard) east all the way to the waters of Hempstead Harbor.Right: Edmund Willets and Martha Whitson Willets, photographs of paintings at the Sands-Willets HouseEdmund married Martha Whitson in 1822 and they had a large family of ten children, ﬁve boys and ﬁve girls: Joseph, b. 1823 Martha, b. 1841 Anna, b. 1833 Thomas, b. 1843 Mary, b. 1836 Daniel, b. 1846 Sarah, b. 1838 Edmund, b. 1852 Edward, b. 1840 Ida, b. 1857Edmund was very successful throughout the years. In addition to his farming and other business pursuits, Edmund was a crockery importer and wholesaler. His business, E. & J. Willets & Co. at 44 Barclay Street, was the oldest of its type in the trade, established for 50 years. When it failed in 1878 after Edmund’s death three years earlier, it was a disappointment to the industry. EDMUND’S SONSThree of Edmund’s sons, Joseph, Daniel, and Edmund, Jr., founded The Willets Manufacturing Company a year later in 1879 and purchased the Excelsior Pottery Works in Trenton, NJ. The Trenton area was the site of all major porcelain production in America at the time. The Willets Manufacturing Company mastheadA Willets Manufacturing Company advertisement, 1882The Willets brothers set up sales ofﬁces at 50 Barclay Street in New York City. Their Trenton production site began with four kilns. By 1882 they had 14 kilns and had hired 300 additional workers. They became known for their white ironstone, art pottery, dinner and dessert ware, majolica, and their Willets Belleek. In addition to their fragile ware they also produced sanitary earthenware which they sold to hotels along with dinnerware. WILLETS BELLEEKWhat is Willets Belleek? you may ask. Belleek is the name of an Irish village where porcelain was developed on an estate during Ireland’s Great Famine. Out of necessity, one of the landowners turned to mineralogy from agriculture. He found the proper minerals and clay on his property to make china, set up a mill on the river, had a rail line built to deliver coal for the kilns, and began to produce porcelain. About 15 years later, he created Belleek, white porcelain with an iridescent glaze. After it was displayed at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876, where it eclipsed all American products, a couple of American ﬁrms sought to get in the game. That’s when Willets Belleek was born. Willets Manufacturing began to make Belleek wares in 1884 after hiring from their rival an experienced Belleek craftsman, William Bromley, Jr., whose father had worked on the porcelain in the village of Belleek. They then hired many highly regarded artists, including Walter Scott Lenox, the father of Lenox China, who came from the same rival company. Willets Belleek was decorated in-house and was also sold undecorated to china painters, popular as a hobby at the time. Left top: Willets Belleek vases and pitcherLeft bottom: Willets Belleek maker’s mark

Page 11

Page 12

10 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 11The ﬁrm joined the leaders of the industry in both America and Europe after less than ten years and had a well-deserved reputation for honorable business dealings. Production ceased in 1909 when the industry itself began to decline for a variety of reasons.ANOTHER OF EDMUND’S SONSAnother of Edmund, Sr.’s sons, Thomas Whitson Willets (1843-1912), was listed as the head of the household in the 1880 census, following Edmund, Sr.’s death. He married Hannah Keese Willets and they had ﬁve children: Edmund, b. 1872 Anna Keese, b. 1878 Eliza (Lila) Keese, b. 1873 Hannah Keese, b. 1881 Amie C., b. 1876Sadly, Thomas’ wife Hannah died shortly after giving birth to their youngest child, her namesake, at the age of 34, and the child Hannah died in her second year. Two of the other children also died before their time, and before their father; Edmund dying at 32 and Amie at 15. The two remaining issue, Eliza and Anna, continued to live in the house along with their father and his sister, their aunt, Anna Willets.CHOCOLATE SETSChocolate cups were given to the children at Christmastime 1881. Coffee, tea, and chocolate were luxury drinks. People drank it at breakfast and in the evening, and often met at chocolate shops, as one would go to a coffee shop. Advances in processing chocolate made it more affordable and easier to prepare. There were specialized chocolate sets just as there were tea sets and coffee services. Chocolate pots were tall and slender, much like coffee pots, but with a few differences. The spouts were wide and high to facilitate the pouring of the chocolate, leaving the sediment on the bottom and more easily serving the froth ﬂoating on the top. The chocolate cups were taller than coffee and tea cups. Tea cups were wide and coffee cups were more upright.Chocolate cups: Eddie Xmas 1881 and Amie Xmas 1881Cups for tea, chocolate, and coffeeELIZA AND ANNAEliza and Anna grew up at Homewood with their aunt, Anna. They were all active members of the Westbury Monthly Meeting, the Port Washington Village Welfare Society, and the Brooklyn Woman Suffrage Association. In 1901, Eliza and Aunt Anna attended the National Woman’s Suffrage Association convention in Minneapolis as delegates where Susan B. Anthony spoke. They followed this up by joining other suffragists on a trip to Yellowstone Park. You can read about their eventful trip with details from Eliza’s diary on our website at www.cowneck.org/suffragists.Eliza (Lila) attended Swarthmore College and graduated in 1893. She was teaching as a kindergarten teacher by the turn of the century in Trenton, NJ. She then became director of the Froebel kindergarten on Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn. Eliza, known affectionately to all as Aunt Lila, was the last surviving family member to live in the house. Our historical society purchased the home from her estate in 1967.Eliza’s sister, Anna, married Edward Morgan Lapham of Chicago at 1:00 on February 22, 1908 at the bride’s residence, Homewood. Edward, a broker of hides and leather, moved into the house with Anna and her family, and they began their own family.Anna with child and Aunt Anna having tea on the Homewood porch.A Willets’ samovar Aunt Anna Eliza “Lila” Anna “Nan”

Page 13

Page 14

12 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 13THE LAST CHILDREN OF HOMEWOODAnna Willets Lapham and Edward Morgan Lapham had three children: Edward Morgan Lapham, Jr., b. 1909 Thomas Willets Lapham, b. 1911 Ann Willets Lapham, b. 1916The three children grew up. Ann married E. Wayne Frazer and moved to Pennsylvania where she and her husband raised four children. Edward (Ted) married Ruth Pollack followed by Eleanor Weingart and lived with his family in Pennsylvania, Port Washington, and Sands Point. Thomas married the daughter of A. Wright Chapman at her parents’ home that neighbored Homewood, which coincidentally had been built by his great-great-uncle Joseph in 1874. Thomas and his wife moved into the home in 1920, putting a Willets descendant back on site, and had three children. The last children to live in the house, Edward, Thomas, and Ann, all raised their own families, and their children are now the donors of some of the artifacts that they inherited from Homewood. We thank them for restoring these items to their grandmother’s house.Anna with sons Thomas and EdwardWillets Manufacturing Company pottery; one of three identical pieces donated by each branch of the last children to live at the Sands-Willets HouseMy Trench Art Ringby Kenneth J. Buettner, CNPHS TreasurerThere it was - sitting in a tray alongside other rings, in a booth at a ﬂea market, in a church basement in Hicksville. The others were shiny silver or gold, but this one was a dull grey. Some of the others had stones or ﬁne engravings, but this one had neither. This one had a pair of crossed ﬂags, some numbers, and a bit of tool work that reminded me of the stamped leather bookmarks I had made in summer camp many years before.In all its oddness, it called out to me, and I had to have it. It was 1973 and I was in college and working and didn’t have much to spend on a ring, but the dealer was only asking for $5. I counted out ﬁve singles and traded them for the ring. It was now MY ring, but what was it?In those days before the Internet, research was different. We had encyclopedias and almanacs and the shared opinions and memories of everybody who wanted to volunteer them.I started with a jeweler. His was a small local shop where we went to replace broken watchbands or repair something that had broken. The ring was slightly too big, and I wanted him to size it a bit smaller. He looked at it and said he couldn’t. It wasn’t gold or silver, he explained, and he didn’t know how to work the unknown metal. He solved my immediate problem by attaching a small band on the inside of the ring to make it ﬁt a smaller ﬁnger. That guard still remains on the ring, which I wear on my right pinky.

Page 15

Page 16

14 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 15Now I could wear my ring, but still didn’t know what it was. The numbers were the next clue. On the bottom, in between the crossed ﬂagstaffs, was the number “17”. That was clear. Above the two ﬂags was something else, but it was not as clear. After a while, I became convinced it was the number “14,” and that combination brought me to look at the ﬂags with a new direction.The ﬂags and their staffs were inlaid. The one on the left was deﬁnitely the French tri-color, and the one on the right was the colors of the German ﬂag. World War I began in 1914 and ended in 1918. It seemed that I had some type of keepsake or a piece in memoriam from that conﬂict, but what was it telling me? Where did it come from? Why did it have the ﬂags of the opposing forces? Why did the ring mark 1917 when the war ended in 1918?Digging deeper, I found I was in error about the ﬂag on the right. While it had the colors of the modern German ﬂag, the bars on my ﬂag were vertical, and those on the modern German ﬂag are horizontal. Going back to the books, I discovered that the German Empire ﬂag of World War I was horizontal bars of black, white and red. After the War it was abandoned in favor of the horizontal bars of black, gold and red (taken from the colors of the Holy Roman Empire) that is in use today. So whose ﬂag was on my ring? Further research told me that it was the ﬂag of Belgium, a neighbor, and ally, of France’s during the Great War.I also learned that my ring was most likely a piece of “Trench Art.” Scraps of lead, brass, and copper were readily available around the battleﬁelds of Europe from spent bullets, shells, and cartridge cases. Some soldiers in the trenches passed the time between engagements by working with those scraps to fashion rings and knives and other small objects.Larger pieces of Trench Art, such as lamps, vases, umbrella stands, and many other unique items were also created, but more likely not in the actual trenches. These were often made in hospitals and rehabilitation facilities as therapy or simply to pass the time. Even more were actually manufactured after the War and sold as mementos to the civilian public.My ring is a piece of history which I wear proudly. But it has left me with many unanswered questions. Why does it mark the years 1914-1917, while the War ran from 1914-1918? Was the wearer a prisoner during those times? Were those dates to mark the service of someone who died in 1917? Were the maker and wearer the same man? Was it made in an actual front line trench, or elsewhere? And lastly, how did it wind up in a church basement in Hicksville in 1973?History is all around us and is easy to see if we just make ourselves open to it.My ring will be on display at the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society’s World War I home front exhibit in the spring of 2022. I welcome you to enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoy wearing it. And I welcome any answers to those open questions.WWI: The Home FrontFarmerette, Regiment, SuffragetteOur Community Takes ActionQUESTION: What was life like for the residents of our community and other communities on Long Island during the World War I era?In this exhibition we’ll explore our home front, from our entry into the war until our men came home and women were granted the right to vote. For further information, visit: www.cowneck.org/wwi-the-home-frontThe Port Washington Home Guard training next to Locust Grove Pavilion in Manorhaven

Page 17

Page 18

16 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 17“She Took the Cows”The Headlines Tell the Story!by Jennifer Wiggins, CNPHS TrusteeHoward Gould, born in 1871, was the third son of Jay Gould. In 1898 he married Viola Katherine Clemmons, an actress whose career had been backed by Buffalo Bill. Gould purchased land in Sands Point in 1901 and husband and wife planned a mansion similar to Kilkenny Castle in Ireland to be called Castle Gould (see front cover). Katherine became dissatisﬁed with the plans and the building became the stables. After several lawsuits involving the architect and contractors, a larger mansion was built, now known as Hempstead House. In 1907, while much of this was happening, Katherine ﬁled for a separation. It was said that she chose separation over divorce so that her husband would be unable to remarry which he eventually did after her death. The resulting sensational trial, actively followed by the New York Times and newspapers around the country, was told in these headlines.At the conclusion of the legal proceedings, Howard Gould was obliged to pay Katherine $36,000 per year in alimony. Gould continued to develop the estate until he sold it to Daniel Guggenheim in 1917 and moved to Europe. He married again to another actress in 1937 but the marriage did not last long.Katherine spent the rest of her life at Blue Gap Farm, Virginia, where she entertained well-known guests like Booker T. Washington, raised thoroughbreds, and became involved in philanthropic causes. She supported the National Woman’s Party and the National and International Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She also proposed establishing the Katherine Gould Industrial Farm in New Jersey for young people, particularly “Negro Catholics.” Katherine died at her farm in 1930. Bibliography:www.documents.alexanderstreet.com/d/1009054719New York Times. May 13th, 1907 to June 26th, 1909.Brooklyn Daily Eagle. May 21st, 1907.

Page 19

Page 20

18 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 19The Socialite’s Lunchroomby Joan DeMeo Lager, CNPHS Curatorial Director Where could a working-class woman safely go for a nutritious, reasonably priced lunch in New York City in 1910?Why, to Alva Vanderbilt Belmont’s suffrage lunchroom, of course. Alva had been taken aback when she attended a suffrage meeting in Manhattan to ﬁnd only 15 women in attendance in a small room at a hotel. She immediately recognized that more effort and publicity were needed to promote suffrage. Alva was able to provide both, as the press loved this very outspoken, energetic socialite. Her great sums of money allowed her to be able to effect a real change. Alva, a resident of Marble House in Newport, RI, and future resident of her soon-to-be-built Beacon Towers in Sands Point, spent much of her time in New York City at her recently completed home on Madison and 51st. She had just concluded a successful season promoting woman suffrage in Newport, opening her Marble House to the public for the ﬁrst time. Her newly founded Political Equality Association for suffrage was just established in ofﬁces she rented in Manhattan, and she put her growing plans into action. In her efforts to help women and to educate both women and men about suffrage, she introduced a number of establishments: 11 “street-front settlement clubs” in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Long Island. They were visible sites that offered meeting space, lectures, classes, and in one, a Department of Hygiene a.k.a. beauty parlor, so that the women could present themselves well as they worked for suffrage. She also opened up a suffrage lunchroom. Alva Vanderbilt BelmontThe Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont House, c. 1909, 477 Madison Avenue at 51st StreetThe suffrage lunchroom was a home run. Inside it was immaculate and painted white. It was set in the then newly exclusive shopping neighborhood of the city on 42nd Street, just off Fifth Avenue and a block from Grand Central Station, in the high rent district. Turning a proﬁt was not the goal for Alva.Run by women, it catered to women, with selections and low prices suitable to both the working-class and middle-class. Inexpensive soups and sandwiches were served in one room, and multi-course luncheons were served in another. Men were also welcome, and they had a separate dining room all to themselves where they could have homemade food at a good value with no preaching of suffrage. The topic was, however, apparent in the posters and banners on the walls and the “Votes for Women” dinnerware. Beacon Towers, c. 1918, Sands PointMarble House, c. 1892, Newport, RIOn entering, you were directed to the counter to purchase a 5, 10, or 25¢ check, and then you collected your silverware. (10¢ in 1911 = $2.79 in 2021) A splurge on a meal was not necessary for most diners; the most expensive coupon bought you a roast beef dinner with two sides and gravy. If you wanted to spend, or eat, less, you could have a 10¢ chicken salad sandwich or a 15¢ meat pie that came with bread and butter, and the bread was good. The mustard was good. It was all good.

Page 21

Page 22

20 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 21As a result, the men’s tables were never empty. The September 30, 1913 issue of the New-York Tribune noted that 728 people had dined the day before, 115 of them men. But none of the diners were Black women. Black women fought just as hard as white women for woman suffrage, but there was too much racism in suffrage circles for their easy inclusion, a common theme in suffragist organizations and parades; indeed, all of life. Alva reneged on her invitations to them, and when a group of Black women came for luncheon, they were turned away with a takeout lunch. Alva reigned at her “Suffrage Cafeteria.” She oversaw absolutely everything that went on and did whatever was necessary for smooth service, including serving the occasional meal. She was visible to all the diners, many of whom enjoyed getting a glimpse of her. Her managerial methods were often visible to all as well; she was known for her sharp tongue. When a number of the staff suddenly left her employ as a result, she brought in her servants from home. It is said that her personal footman then quit as well. Lunchrooms and tearooms for suffragists appeared in many major cities, with some visiting Alva’s establishment for ideas. Yellow and black suffrage lunch wagons even showed up in the Bronx near Fordham College and in Brooklyn by 1915. Alva Vanderbilt Belmont was a natural at getting publicity for her causes and at achieving her goals. Her “settlement clubs” were just one of her many activities that focused on woman suffrage. In her suffrage endeavors, she cajoled and fought with politicians, she led parades, she paid women’s ﬁnes, she sponsored rallies, she remonstrated against the lack of involvement of the “soft” women of her social class, she organized meetings, and she spoke publicly. Alva was a staunch supporter of feminism and political activism, and with her exemplary social status and wealth, she was instrumental in seeing the ﬁght for woman suffrage come to fruition. For further accounts of Alva’s suffrage activities, go to our website: www.cowneck.org/celebrating-our-local-suffragistsBibliography: The Bellman, Web and Woof, Frances Heath, October 19, 1912.Behind the Scenes, Suffrage on the Menu, July 18, 2017.Alva Vanderbilt Belmont: Unlikely Champion of Women’s Rights, Sylvia D. Hoffert, Nov. 23, 2011.Eater, How Restaurants Helped American Women Get the Vote, Tove Danovic, March 29, 2018.New York Tribune, Ting-A-Ling! Luncheon’s On at Mrs. Belmont’s, September 30, 1913.Restaurant-ing Through History, Suffrage tea & lunch rooms, August 25, 2020.The First Sands Point Golf Clubby Jennifer Wiggins, CNPHS TrusteeThe game of golf was becoming increasingly popular in the late 19th century and many courses were laid out on Long Island, considered to be a hotbed of the sport. Families such as the Frasers, MacDonalds, Sherwood Cofﬁns, Joosts, and the Thayers from Brooklyn Heights summered in Sands Point and undoubtedly were anxious to participate.They organized the Sands Point Golf Club in October 1897 and opened it in the spring of 1898 after a nine-hole golf course was laid out on property towards the tip of the peninsula, about where Tibbits Lane is now. The president was James J. Faye. Any family member, other than husband and wife, could be admitted as an Associate Member. A membership was also available for anyone who lived more than ﬁve miles from the course for an annual fee of $5. The emblem of the club was a lighthouse in white on the background of a black shield, worn on the left sleeve.The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of April 24th, 1898, reported the course to be laid out on hills with commanding views and natural hazards “which will render the course sufﬁciently sporty without the aid of artiﬁcial bunkers.” The main object of the club was for the “recreation and enjoyment of the members and their families who consider exercise more essential than the mere desire to become efﬁcient golfers.”By November 1898, Brooklyn Life was reporting it as one of the prettiest courses with an attractive little clubhouse where Saturday afternoon neighborhood teas were popular. Tennis courts were also built. There was a sizable membership in the early 1900s including our own Lila Willets and her aunt, Anna Willets. However, it must have fallen on hard times and in 1914 it was sold at a foreclosure sale for $12,500 to Harry Tibbits who held the mortgage on the property.The present Sands Point Golf Club, opposite the Sands Point Preserve, was not incorporated until 1927 although some local estates had their own small, private courses.

Page 23

Page 24

22 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 23What’s in a Name? by Ross Lumpkin, CNPHS TrusteeTown of North Hempstead HistorianThe late 1850s was a time of religious fervor in the United States. “Circuit riding preachers” combed the countryside to spread the word of God. Like-minded farmers gathered in neighbors’ homes to pray. In New York City, Wall Streeters could stop by the North Dutch Church on Fulton Street at lunchtime to pray at what later became known as “The Business Man’s Revival.” Historians later identiﬁed 1859 as the beginning of the Third Great Awakening.In 1858, an itinerate preacher came to Cow Neck, as our peninsula was called at that time, to speak at an open meeting in the schoolhouse down by the Mill Pond. The school was a crude 25’ x 25’ structure, and was apparently packed to the gills, for this unknown preacher inspired some 30 local residents to band together to build the ﬁrst church in Cow Neck. They kept a log book in which they recorded their constitution, by-laws, and meeting minutes. Fortunately, that log book was archived in the Local History Department of the Port Washington Public Library, so we have a record of their activities following the initial revival meeting. The constitution declared:“Whereas we, the inhabitants of School Districts Nos. 4 and 5, in the Town of North Hempstead feeling the want of a place of Public Worship to Almighty God and being desirous of providing a building to be used for that purpose do hereby resolve: That we will unite our energies to effect the procurement of a building suitable to assemble for such purposes.”The Free Church was still well preserved in 1906 when this photo was taken by John Witmer, Jr. From the Witmer Collection at the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society.

Page 25

Page 26

24 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 25Trustees were elected and the ﬁrst board meeting was held on January 15, 1859. It was not uncommon at that time in rural America for different religions to share a place of worship. It was a matter of limited resources and convenience. In Cow Neck Village, as the community surrounding the Mill Pond was sometimes known, if you wanted to attend services, you had to make a round trip to and from Roslyn, Manhasset, or Flushing. It could take hours on dirt roads in a horse and buggy in weather that was as whimsical then as it is now. Dressed in your Sunday best, just getting there could be a test of faith. From the log bookSo, the ﬁrst church in Cow Neck was not a church as we think of a church nowadays, that is, as a house of worship afﬁliated with a speciﬁc denomination. Instead, it was a shared building “to further the cause of religion and good morals in the community.” The church was open to Evangelical Christian sects, primarily Methodists and Baptists, as well as for “scientiﬁc purposes.”Freedom’s Just Another WordIdentifying a church as “free” could mean different things. Sometimes it meant that the church was open to all. Although our church was open to denominations of the Protestant faith, the by-laws speciﬁcally excluded Catholics, secret societies (Freemasons), and political groups. Another meaning came from Europe where “free” meant that it was free from government oversight and ﬁnancing, as in the Church of England. Such a designation was irrelevant in the United States, where the separation of church and state was ﬁrmly established.Another possibility was that “free” could signify an anti-slavery church. That would make sense, given that New York was the ﬁrst state to abolish slavery in 1836, that the national debate over slavery was at a peak as we approached the Civil War, and that abolitionist Quakers had a strong presence on the North Shore of Long Island. In fact, Phoebe Dodge, whose homestead was just south of the church, was a Quaker minister who was one of the ﬁrst slave holders on Long Island to legally manumit a slave in 1776. The descendants of a Black man, Cato Sands, who was freed by Simon Sands just after the Revolutionary War, lived in a neighboring house at 35 Mill Pond Road. Although the Black community would ultimately hold religious services in the church at the end of the century, there were no references in the log book to the abolition of slavery or to the question of whether the Free Church would be integrated.Most likely it was called “free” to distinguish it from a “pewed” church, one in which wealthy families could purchase and construct their own pews. Often custom built, the owner held a deed to his pew and could pass it on to his children as if it were real estate. One objection to a pewed church was that as more well-to-do people bought luxury pews, poorer congregants were crammed into a smaller space. It was resolved to raise funds “by subscription.” So, the ﬁrst order of business was to form a committee of ten volunteers to solicit subscribers from “those of the Protestant faith.” Week after week from January to June, the volunteers, each with their own territory, reported on their progress at the biweekly meetings. The log book recorded the names and towns of the 168 subscribers who raised the $2,000 they needed to build the church. Most of the subscriptions fell in the $5 to $20 range. The emerging middle class was asserting itself. A building committee of three was formed to “select and negotiate for one acre of land.” They had a number of false starts, but ultimately Henry Cocks agreed to donate land in the area where the entrance to Mill Pond Acres is today. The schoolhouse would have to be moved to the other side of Pleasant Avenue.James Carpenter drew up plans, gratis, that were modeled after the Free Church in Freeport, with a footprint of 30’ x 40’, supposedly enough to accommodate 300 people. Edwin Henderson (who later built our railway depot and after whom Henderson Street is named) won the bid to build the church for $1,377. Construction began in June, 1859.The Dodge Homestead (on the right) was a stone’s throw from the Free Church (on the left). Photograph by Daniel B. Austin, c. 1900, courtesy of the New York Public Library.

Page 27

Page 28

26 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 27A Touchy QuestionIt wasn’t until that time that any dissension arose in what had otherwise been a harmonious group. The conﬂict erupted when the cornerstone for the building was ordered to be engraved “Christ Free Church of Cow Bay, 1859.” Two opposing groups faced off. One was in favor of using “Manhasset” as it had been written in the constitution. The other group was in favor of using “Cow Bay” as it was ordered for the cornerstone. It should be noted that the subscribers from what we now know as Port Washington used “Cow Bay” to indicate their residence in the log book. The meeting became heated and had to be adjourned for a cooling off period. When they came back a week later to take a vote, the Manhasset advocates won out, but that was not the end of the story by any means.A grand opening ceremony was planned to celebrate the laying of the cornerstone for what would be the ﬁrst church in Cow Bay. Leaders of the community, subscribers, trustees, volunteers, and local baymen gathered to celebrate its unveiling. Although we don’t know exactly what happened at the moment when the cornerstone was revealed, it’s easy to imagine there was a collective gasp. The cornerstone was engraved “of Cow Bay” and not “of Manhasset” as had been voted upon. It must have been confusing for both sides as the debate raged on once more. This time neither side won and neither side lost. They agreed to simply cut or chisel “of Cow Bay” out of the stone, shortening its name to The Free Church. It was confusing then and it’s confusing now. Historians, journalists and map-makers refer to our ﬁrst church in any number of different ways. Note, for example, how the church is labeled on the historical map.Designed by Don Ross of the Dodge Family. Courtesy of the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society.Historical RootsWhat made the choosing of the name so controversial? It’s easy enough to understand that the objection to “Manhasset” was that it was misleading, or that the objection to “Cow Bay” was that it was too quaint. But there must be more to the Cow Bay objections than meet the eye to have caused such a ruckus. There must have been more to it. The historical perspective that follows is attempt to understand how the seemingly superﬁcial semantic disagreement over the name had its roots in previous, more profound disputes between Cow Bay and Hempstead Town over property rights in colonial times and politics in the Revolutionary War.When the ﬁrst European settlers came to what the farmers of Hempstead were already calling Cow Bay, they found that their land was being used as a grazing pasture for cows by their neighbors to the south. From their point of view, the newcomers were encroaching on their land and their rights. The newcomers, on the other hand, believed that the “patents” for land that the King of England or the Governor of New York had granted them should take precedence.John Cornwall (sometimes spelled Cornell or Cornwell) came here in 1664 to settle on 100 acres of land that Governor Andros granted him. When he built a house in the vicinity of Plum Point, the Hempstead farmers were outraged. In 1676, the Town Board issued an ofﬁcial warning to him that they intended to “stand by and defend each other… to maintain our rights.” On October 16 of that year, according to court records later submitted on Cornwall’s behalf, a mob from Hempstead “did riotously, & unlawfully attack, pull down, and destroy ye housing and Goods of John Cornell, whereby he stood in great fear and was in danger of his life.” Cornwall won his case, and ﬁve leaders of the mob were ﬁned and/or jailed. Historian Natalie A. Naylor observed that “The court conﬁrmed Cornell’s liberty to settle on Cow Neck, but the trial’s outcome did not weaken the town’s belief that the neck was town land.”100 years later, when revolutionary fervor took hold in the colonies, the conﬂict between north and south Hempstead became political. Loyalists dominated the southern section, and in 1775, the Town Board resolved to maintain “a true and faithful allegiance to His Majesty King George the Third, our gracious and lawful Sovereign.” They subsequently refused to send a delegate to the Provincial Congress in New York City that was seeking to create an alternative government. In September 1775, the ardent patriots of Great Neck and Cow Neck condemned Hempstead in no uncertain terms:“…their general conduct is inimical to freedom, we be no further considered as part of the township of Hempstead than is consistent with peace, liberty and safety; therefore, in all matters relative to the Congressional plan, we shall consider ourselves as an entire, separate and independent beat or district.”

Page 29

Page 30

28 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 29Our local declaration of independence from Hempstead anticipated the American Declaration of Independence from Britain by nine months. When the Revolutionary War broke out, the Cow Neck Militia fought under General George Washington at the Battle of Long Island where the patriots were soundly defeated. The British occupied Long Island for the remainder of the war. Occupation meant martial law enforced by Hessian troops with sacriﬁces and hardships for all. The British had good reason to be distrustful of anyone living in Cow Neck. Tories of Cow Neck paid a price for their patriotism and had good reason to resent the loyalists of Hempstead, who in turn suffered their share of abuse when the war was over.I don’t imagine many tears were shed when in 1784 the New York State Legislature honored North Hempstead’s declaration of independence by splitting the Town of Hempstead in two. It was the end of a bad marriage. But the name of Cow Neck lived on as a reminder to its residents of the bitter land dispute from the previous century.Colonial history is best understood as family history. Without a strong government, family ties were crucial above all else for survival. The downside was that grudges could be handed down from parent to child, and might even morph into a family feud. This is not to say that the conﬂict between Cow Neck and Hempstead Town was on a par with the Hatﬁelds and McCoys, but it was powerful enough to charge the relationship with bad blood. What should have been a manageable semantic problem of naming a church was muddled with memories that originated in more profound disputes over property rights and political freedom. Indeed, the surnames of the ﬁrst families of Cow Neck appear over and over again on documents from each of the events we have considered. Take the Cornwall family as an example:• In 1676, when John Cornwall sued The Town of Hempstead, his name appears on the court records. • In 1776, two of his descendants, Aspinwall and William, signed the Declaration of Independence from Hempstead. • In the Revolutionary War, Aspinwall served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Cow Neck Militia at the Battle of Long Island.• In 1859, Richard Cornwall subscribed to the Free Church.The Free Church volunteers were not the only ones who were dissatisﬁed with the name Cow Neck in 1859. On the other end of the Mill Pond, a different group of community leaders were meeting at McKee’s General Store. They were preparing to petition Albany for their own post ofﬁce, and to give “Cow Neck” a more respectable name. They decided on Port Washington, which they thought would capitalize on the myth that our beloved ﬁrst president had slept here. (It was later determined that the closest that George Washington ever came to Port Washington was Roslyn). Not only was it more respectable, it had the added advantage of reminding the Town of Hempstead of its shameful loyalist heritage. Many residents perpetuated the appealing myth that George Washington slept here.The Legacy of the Free ChurchThe ﬁrst services were held in the summer of 1859. Methodists met on Sunday mornings and Baptists in afternoon. As time passed and the congregations grew, they began to long for churches of their own. From the seed that was sown at the Mill Pond in 1859, three congregations have emerged and built their own churches that are still active in Port Washington.• In 1871, the Methodist congregation built a church at Bayview and Carlton Avenues. Today, the United Methodist Church has a new church building at 35 Middle Neck Road.• In 1890, the Baptist congregation built a church at 10 Carlton Avenue. The building still stands there, currently occupied by the Assembly of God church. In 1983 the congregation changed its name to the Bible Church of Port Washington and moved to 35 Campus Drive.In the 1890s, a Black congregation formed and began to worship at the Free Church. Marjorie Biddle, who lived on Harbor Road, recalls what it was like:“I remember the old Free Church. We went there three times a day on Sundays – ﬁrst Sunday School, then morning service, then night service. We used to have camp meetings, prayer meetings, down there by Dodge’s Grove. It was – like once a week – on a Friday, in the summertime. They’d have benches and we’d have singing, and like church, people praying. That’s how we came up, see? The old Free Church and then the Old Camp meeting.”

Page 31

Page 32

30 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 31The Mount Olive AME Church is one of three active churches whose seed was sown at the Free Church in the 19th century. Mt. Olive AME ChurchPort Washington’s First Black Church Congregation formed in Free Church at the Mill Pond: 1897Church on Mackey AvenueEstablished: 1903They too would soon long for a church of their own, and in 1903, they built the ﬁrst Black church in Port Washington. The Mount Olive AME Church still stands at 20 Mackey Avenue. Although the Witmer photograph of 1906 suggests that the building was still well taken care of, the Free Church was falling into disuse. Perhaps it continued to serve the community as it was intended in the constitution, to promote “arts or mental improvement” for “moral and scientiﬁc purposes.” At any rate, it was demolished in the 1920s, and apart from the log book in the library, no artifacts were preserved. Too bad, I would have loved to get a look at that cornerstone. For further reading: Brown, Hobart, What ‘Free Church’ means and Why Churches should be Free, webCampaniello, Veronica, Port Washington’s Earliest Churches, Port Washington NewsDinn, Allan; History of St Stephens, unpublished manuscriptFrazier, Norma Goolsby; Circuit Riding Preachers: They Sowed the Seed, webKent, Joan; Discovering Sands Point, the Village of Sands PointNaylor, Natalie; Roots and Heritage of Hempstead Town, Heart of the Lakes PublishingOverton, Jacquelin; The Quakers on Long Island, New York History Journal Shodell, Elly; It Looks Like Yesterday To Me, Port Washington Public LibraryVahey, Mary; A Hidden History, Cow Neck Peninsula Historical SocietyVaccination in 1799by Jennifer Wiggins, CNPHS TrusteeThere are two items in the Society’s Dodge archives regarding vaccination. The ﬁrst is a slip of paper that states: “February 9, 1799 Sarah Dodge and Martha Dodge was inoculation with the smallpox at Uncle Thomas Dodge we came home 2 day of March 1799.”The second is a page from small notebook with a child’s drawings and the text: “Sarah Dodge and Martha and Maria Onderdonk and Caty went in to the smallpox the 9 day of February and we went out the 2 day of March 1799 at Thomas Dodges.”Vaccination in 1799 was done with a method called variolation which inoculated individuals with material from the dried out smallpox scabs of patients who survived an infection. It worked because the scabs contained virus that had been partially inactivated and could induce immunity in the recipient. The powdered smallpox scabs were applied to punctures in the skin. Although variolation produced a mild form of the disease, it was not free of risk and could spread the disease in the community. Consequently, three weeks of quarantine after the procedure were required.The history of variolation is interesting as it originated in Asia and Africa centuries ago and was introduced to Europe by Lady Montague, wife of the British ambassador to Turkey in 1718. Its acceptance in America was a rather more unusual story which began with a smallpox outbreak in Boston in 1721.

Page 33

Page 34

32 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 33Cotton Mather was a Puritan minister who had earlier learned of the technique from his slave Onesimus, who had been inoculated as a child in Africa and could show the resulting scar on his arm. As Mather reported in a letter: “People take Juice of Small-Pox; and Cutty-skin, and Putt in a Drop.” Most Boston physicians resisted the idea as did many of the citizens, and a bomb was thrown into Mather’s window. However, he persuaded Dr. Zabdial Boyston to inoculate patients as a protection in the Boston epidemic; only six people died. Unable to convert Onesimus to Christianity, Mather gave Onesimus the opportunity to purchase his freedom in 1721 but only by helping purchase another African slave to take his place. Little is known about his later life.There was a certain amount of opposition to variolation, and smallpox inoculation was discouraged in many of the colonies, but some of the Founding Fathers were in favor of it. John Adams described his inoculation in 1764: “They took their Launcetts and with their Points divided the skin about a Quarter of an inch… buried a thread (infected) about a Quarter of an inch long in the Channell….and then a Bandage bound over all”In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin wrote: “In 1735 I lost one of my sons, a ﬁne boy of four years old, by the smallpox taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of the parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.” In 1759, Franklin wrote the introduction to a pamphlet encouraging the use of a controlled infection with smallpox in order to save thousands. In 1775, during the Revolutionary War, the Continental Army was so weakened by smallpox during the Battle of Quebec that it had to retreat. George Washington, seeing how the disease could severely deplete his army and having weighed all the risks, ordered the mass inoculation of his forces to prevent the spread of the disease. It was a daunting task and was done in great secrecy to prevent the British taking advantage of the quarantine period required when many of the troops would be laid up.In the late 18th century, Edward Jenner observed that dairymaids who contracted cowpox, a milder disease, were immune to the more virulent smallpox. In 1796, he inoculated an 8-year old boy with material from a cowpox lesion. He had only mild symptoms and when Jenner then inoculated him with smallpox, he did not develop the disease. This new, safer method was called vaccination and was eventually introduced worldwide. After an intensive international program, the disease was declared eradicated in 1980.

Page 35

Page 36

34 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 35Port in Pictures: A Walk through HistoryA series of six Zoom presentations now available on our website 24/7During the global pandemic which encircled the world starting in 2020 our educational programming pivoted. We engaged specialists and speakers to give informative and entertaining lectures, via Zoom, on subjects ranging from the history of cheese to George Washington’s Culper Spy Ring.CNPHS President Chris Bain created six virtual walking tours, also delivered via Zoom over the course of a year, in conjunction with our friends at Landmark on Main Street (the former Main Street School building). These 45-60 minute “slide shows” guide you through speciﬁc areas of Port Washington’s rich history. The presentations were recorded and are archived on our website at www.cowneck.org/port-in-pictures-videos. Enjoy them at your convenience!Mill Pond Historic District Join us as we explore the Mill(s), the School(s), the Hotel(s), the Cato Sands House, the Dodge Homestead, and much more!Origins of Main Street School Join us as we explore the need for a high school, the preceding schools, the neighborhood, and much more!Along the Shore of Manhasset Bay Join us as explore the docks, a lighthouse or two, ice boat racing, a hotel, a guesthouse, and much more!Historic Recognition Program Join us as we explore special places worthy of historic recognition, local businesses and historic sites, and stories that you may not know!Sands Point, Known & Unknown Join us as we explore castles and their owners, the Goulds, the Guggenheims, as well as the myths and realities of that Gatsby guy!Main Street = Flower Hill Avenue Join us as we explore Lower Main Street (where it all started), Middle Main Street, and the rest of Main Street stretching to the Post Ofﬁce.

Page 37

Page 38

36 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 37The Dodge House: A Monument to the Pastby Donald and Marie Dodge RossEdited by Lucy Davidson, Past CNPHS TrusteeWritten by Don and Marie Dodge Ross in 1977, this article tells of life in a very old family homestead brimming with furnishings, ﬁxtures, and family keepsakes that look back through seven generations of Dodges. In the Dodge family nothing was thrown away, nothing was wasted. And so the house became a time capsule, a kind of living museum, and Don and Marie lived there, changing very little. Marie Antoinette Dodge was born in Port Washington in 1904. She married Donald Nicholas Ross, a Port Washington artist, in 1932. Upon the passing of her mother, Bessie Dodge, in 1975, Marie and Don moved into the Dodge House where they made their home. Don died in 1983, and Marie, in 1998. The homestead was sold to the Port Washington Water Pollution Control District, which arranged for its stewardship with the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society. The Society manages the Dodge Homestead to this day.Editing changes have been made for the purpose of clarity.The GhostsLiving with the ghosts of the families of Thomas Dodge, Thomas Dodge II, William Dodge, Henry Onderdonk Dodge, Henry Thomas Dodge, and my wife’s dear mother and father, Bessie and Charles Forster Dodge is an experience to stir anyone’s historical soul. Ghosts of the past are everywhere. I don’t mean the traditional, the shrouded specter variety, although when gale winds blow up the Mill Pond from the south end of Manhasset Bay, the 1721 homestead creaks and groans. The pegged mortise and tenon joints give in the way they were designed. With hot days and cold nights the 14- and 18-inch ﬂoor boards contract in a rhythmic pattern like slow footsteps.The ghosts of which I speak are more intimate. They are touch and sight experiences of a friendly nature. As you pick up the two-tine pitchfork, the brush hook, the scythe, the axes and shovels, you notice the patina caused by the sweat of many hands. As you use any of these tools, the much-worn surfaces of the handles conform to your own hand.The same intimacy strikes me as I sit at the large mahogany desk in my study. Deep hash marks just to the right of the writing surface may have been made by William Dodge who was Coroner of Queens County in 1805. We can presume that he chewed tobacco (most farmers did). He probably cut off chunks from his plug of tobacco as he wrote his reports and worked on his accounts.There are other reminders. The open foundation next to the kitchen recalls the old weaving room where 12 Hessian soldiers were quartered in the winter of 1776. In the attic, a musket and red coat underscore this incident.In my wife’s bottle collection on top of the old cast iron stove are two ghosts, one a hand blown brown glass gin bottle. The story – it saved a cargo of farm produce in the summer of 1777. Thomas Dodge’s packet, on its way to the New York market was overtaken by a British frigate in Long Island Sound. The British stocked their galleys by privateering cargoes in this manner. Captain Dodge had a plan. He invited the British Commander to come aboard and took him to his cabin. Here he broke out the brown gin bottle and toasted the Crown. Dodge was a Tory and had a certiﬁcate (still extant, see below) excusing him from all treason in the name of King George, III. He had quartered the Crown’s soldiers the winter before and given his produce and sheep to British troops. He probably explained this as they toasted the Crown again and again, until the last Courtesy of the Local History Center, Port Washington Public Library.Don and Marie Dodge Ross

Page 39

Page 40

38 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 39drop was squeezed from the bottle. They then emerged from the cabin arm-in-arm. The cargo was saved.The other bottle is a tall, ceramic Holland gin bottle. This was one of a case given to Thomas Dodge by Thomas Mott (a revolutionary and importer) for storing eight kegs of gunpowder in his loft just over the weaving room where the mercenaries were quartered. I think Thomas Dodge was playing both sides.The furniture, the door latches, the old silver, things that we use every day, all are reminders of the others who occupied the home.The HomesteadEach generation has left its mark on this quaint Old Dutch farm house. However, much of the structure is as it was 256 years ago. At one time, there were two or three bedrooms at the back of the house (We have photos that show the scars of plaster walls there). William probably made the additions to accommodate seven children and the help.The old kitchen had an open hearth ﬁreplace with an overhead chimney in which were wooden beams for supporting iron trammels (on which hung the pots). In the stone at the back of the ﬁreplace was a Dutch oven. All this was torn down in 1895 by Henry T. because the entire structure was in such disrepair. Its Victorian replacement is still there. Today, the hand pump and copper-lined wooden sink have been replaced by modern plumbing, and an electric stove stands beside the old cast-iron one. An electric refrigerator has replaced the old icebox, which still stands in the mudroom. Electricity was installed in about 1910 by Marie’s grandmother, Antoinette, or “Nettie.”The mudroom was a mud shed in 1900 where the farm hands cleaned up before they entered the house. The beams supported a meat hook where hogs and sheep were butchered. Although Charles (Chip) Dodge enclosed the mudroom in the 1900s, the old wash tubs and other features are still there.There are several out buildings. A barn was built in 1902 to replace a larger one that burned in ca. 1810, which replaced the original built in the 1700s. The chicken house, woodshed and privy were built by Henry T. and Charles F. Dodge in the early part of this (the 20th) century. Yes, we still keep the outhouse as a relic. There are few left “here about.”The dining room we are maintaining as a transitional room, as we are keeping the kitchen Victorian. This room is basically as it was in 1721. The 9” x 5” hand-hewn beams support a ceiling of board planks 14” to 20” in width (this is the ﬂoor above.)In the 1850s, when Franklin and pot-bellied stoves came into fashion, the large ﬁreplace was bricked up. There is a stove pipe hole in the center of the bricking to accommodate the iron stove. Above the spot where the stove stood is a patched hole in the ceiling where the heat once rose to the next ﬂoor. The walls of this room are papered with burlap over the plaster. A chair rail has been added. The walls are painted brown below and cream above. The furnishings are a mixture of Colonial and Victorian.The hall is unchanged. The old Dutch double doors at each end and the plank walls are as basic as one could make it. Two 19th century mirrors, a Colonial desk, a Windsor chair, and another chair conform to the period.In the living room we return to the 18th century. The burlap paper has been removed, the walls exposing white plaster. All trim has been cut to utter simplicity and painted Wedgewood blue. The ﬁreplace, which was covered like the one in the dining room, has been opened although the chimney was cut off at the second ﬂoor about 70 years ago. Brass period andirons holding locust logs from the old farm’s fence ﬁnish the picture. The mantel is in good preservation and is now painted blue to match the trim. On it are two brass candlesticks and some ancient bric-a-brac. Above, hangs the original mahogany and gold mirror. The furnishings are either of the period or more modern facsimiles.The upper ﬂoor houses two small bedrooms, a spacious hall, a master bedroom and a Victorian-style bathroom. The “privy” was done away with in 1910. On the wall is wooden wainscoting popular in 1900. The two small bedrooms are papered over the original plaster. These rooms will eventually express periods in the development of the house.In addition to the rooms I have mentioned, there is a pantry, a study, a cellar and four attics in the house. The cellar now houses the oil burner but up until 1907, it was used as a cold cellar for storing fruit, vegetables, meat, butter, etc. It now has a cement ﬂoor, but its ﬂoor was dirt for many years.In the living room, Dodge family memorabilia and tools spanned the generations.

Page 41

Page 42

40 Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society I www.CowNeck.org 41New! Dodge Informational Panel Learn more about Dodge Homestead by visiting our informational panel at the top of the Mill Pond or by scanning the QR code below. A Monument to the PastThis is the house that caused the name Port Washington to replace Cow Bay. Folklore had it that George Washington made his headquarters in the Dodge Homestead. We have several postcards of the Homestead, published in 1901 or ‘02 which are titled, “Washington’s Headquarters” (as seen on page 29). I grew up on the story. Tom McKee, the local postmaster and grocer, together with several colleagues, petitioned the government to establish the new name, since it was so appropriate. I wrote a college paper on Nassau County in 1926 and have been borrowing from the archives of the Dodge family since 1932, but can ﬁnd no evidence to substantiate that Washington slept there or visited. However, the Revolutionary incidents surrounding the Dodge Homestead are sufﬁcient to make it a monument to the past.Frederick Hehn, Jr. July 29, 1951 – July 24, 2021We lost our friend and Trustee, Fred Hehn, to a quick illness, far too soon. Fred attended St. Peter of Alcantara Church School as a child and was a devout Catholic throughout his life. As Trustee at the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society, Fred wrote a history of St. Peter’s and arranged for the installation of a Historic Designation Plaque at the Church that he loved. Fred became a Eucharistic Minister, giving communion to those housebound, and was always ready to help anyone sick or suffering. Fred was a 38-year active member and past President of Fire Medic Company No. 1 of the Port Washington Fire Department. He served as an EMT and was active in many committees, including as CPR Committee Chairman. He loved helping others. He also loved to travel, and visited Yellowstone, St. Thomas, the Galapagos, South America, and just about every Presidential Library in the country, as he would proudly tell you. A recent trip to Auschwitz to pay his respects to the Holocaust victims meant a great deal to him. Fred, an only child, had many family members that he loved including numerous cousins and Godchildren. He loved his cats dearly. This kind and generous man was a steadfast friend to many, and helping others seemed to have been his calling in life. Rest in peace, Fred.

Page 43

CNPHS 2021 - 2022 Journal

Page 1

Page 2