Southampton Historical Museum's Annual House Tour is Coming Up!

Lots of organizations in the Hamptons host house tours during the season, and they are all great. But this one is wildly popular, always has terrific homes, and of course, it's for a very worthy cause. I am a big fan of the Southampton Historical Museum! (Their archives collection is priceless!)

On Saturday, May 11, 2013, participants in the “4th Annual Tour of Southampton Homes: An Insider’s View” will have the opportunity to experience a half dozen extraordinary houses that illustrate Southampton’s unique architectural history - from Colonial times to the present.

This year’s tour boasts a quintessential Queen Anne located on one of Southampton’s most picturesque Village streets, a turn-of-the-century architectural treasure featuring a turreted tower, an immense porch and widow’s walk. Among the highlights are a farmhouse built for the Post family sometime before 1858, and a handsome European- style home featuring stylish interiors assembled with flair and confidence. No tour of Southampton homes would be complete without a renovated whaling captain’s retreat. In addition, Saint Andrew’s Dune Church and the Thomas Halsey House (built in 1662) will be open. The 1708 House (built in 1651 and enlarged several times) will provide refreshments and a tour of its facility from 12:30 to 3:00 pm.

The “Insider’s View” takes place from 1:00 to 4:30 pm on Saturday May 11th, and is followed by a Champagne Reception and Art Exhibit Preview at the Rogers Mansion, 17 Meeting House Lane, Southampton from 4:30 to 6:00 pm. Tickets are $75 in advance or $90 the day of the tour. It’s the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Wouldn't tickets make a great Mother’s Day gift?

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Rogers Mansion’s Museum Shop, 17 Meeting House Lane in Southampton, by calling (631) 283-2494 or going online to www.southamptonhistoricalmuseum.org.  Tickets will be available for pick-up on Tuesday, May 7 through Friday, May 10 at the Rogers Mansion. On Saturday, May 11 - the day of the tour - tickets can be picked-up or purchased at the Thomas Halsey House, 249 South Main Street, Southampton. Proceeds from this event benefit the Southampton Historical Museum's educational programs.

Fingers crossed for great weather!

Barn Question: Tower Purpose?

One of the Surviving Barns at 300 Pleasure Drive, Flanders; East Elevation

No, this barn is not in the Village of Southampton. There may be a few rural outbuildings surviving in this over-developed summer colony, but not many. But yes, once again I am writing about something outside Southampton Village. Should I start a seperate blog? That sounds like double the work......hmmm. Unless you all start shouting that you mind, I'm going to "stay the course," and keep doing what I'm doing.

Back to the subject at hand: a very interesting barn in the hamlet of Flanders. This barn is one of several surviving agricultural buildings on what was at least a 15 acre farm a long time ago, and only very briefly.  It is situated on Pleasure Drive, a road which connects Flanders to East Quogue and Westhampton. Originally (or, a long time ago), the property was owned by the Benjamin family. In 1945, Mrs. Ida Benjamin sold the property to Mr. Adrian Allan of Westhampton. Allan had been a NYC stock brocker and decided to have a go at farming - potatos and cauliflower specifically. He failed miserably after giving it his best for a couple of years, maybe because the soil just wasn't suited for it at that location - who knows. So he regrouped and tried again, this time turning the whole operation into a woodwork mill.

South Elevation

The business was almost instantly a success, and expanded rapidly afterwards, even selling wares to NYC department stores. It was known as "Flanders Mill Inc.," and made a wide variety of things, such as common lumber items and trim work, to cabinetry and housewares, like bowls and ashtrays.  Nowadays the property contains other large, contemporary wharehouse type buildings and operates as a top-notch art storage facility.

My question is, why did the barn have a tower? It is a three-story, multi-level, wood-frame structure on a concrete block foundation with a gambrel roof.....and a tall, square tower with a balcony and railing at the top. Was it a lookout to enjoy the Pine Barrens view? Did it house the machinery of a vertical band saw? Did it collect saw dust that could then be drop-loaded into trucks? Or was a water tank somehow involved in the millwork process? These are the questions I pose to you. If you Google the term "barns with towers" you will, of course, see a lot of silos. If you use the term "mill tower" you will, of course, see a lot of windmills. This was neither, and not so terribly old either, maybe circa 1910. Any guesses?

I Quit...

After four years, more or less, I'm done. The business of historic preservation out here in the hamptons has thoroughly exhausted me and I am finally throwing in the towel. I've been overwhelmed for some time, and feeling very alone in my efforts to promote preservation in Southampton and defeat the many myths ingrained in the public mindset. Not to mention the fact that you can hardly make a living at it!

This is what really pushed me over the edge. I was recently researching one of the oldest surviving structures in Southampton Village and went to Rogers Memorial Library to look at a book called Manor Houses and Historic Homes of Long island and Staten Island, by Harold Donaldson Eberlein, published in 1928. While looking for something completely different, this is what I found:

“Although the Village of Southampton was one of the earliest settled places in Suffolk, the visible evidences of this antiquity have been overlaid, to a great extent, by the effects of modern popularity as a social nucleus of the surrounding region. Many of the oldest houses have disappeared, while others have been so altered or so added to that their original quality is not at once evident. With the disappearance or disguise of so many of the ancient dwellings, the highly interesting historic character of the village has been somewhat obscured. .... When one sees the houses that still represent Southampton’s early days, one deeply regrets that the village could not have preserved its pristine appearance unchanged.”

Eighty-five years later and here we are, saying the same thing. I know history repeats itself, but wow, haven't we made even the slightest headway?

APRIL FOOLS!! 

No, I'm not quitting, not even close. I am just as committed to historic preservation on the East End as I ever have been, and even more so. I really did, however, come across that passage last week at the library and pause. It still rings true today and that's depressing. But I am proud of my [few] accomplishments over the past years in the field of historic preservation (myth busting, landmark designations, code changes, a book, etc.), and have many more goals to accomplish before I'll ever think of quitting. I only hope that I can inspire others to join me - here or elsewhere - as there is much work still to do.

Happy April/Spring Everyone!
(p.s. I'm not much of a prankster, as you may be able to tell.)

43 North Sea Road - Tate's Bake Shop

Nestled in a tiny little building as one approaches the heart of Southampton Village’s great shopping area is the wonderful, and nationally known, Tate’s Bake Shop. It took me awhile, but eventually as I stood in line one morning to buy a cup of coffee and gazed at all the baked goodies, I stopped and wondered, “What’s the history behind this place?”

My research suggests that the structure was built on this site around the turn of the 20th century but it sure could be older, maybe even moved to this site. It’s strong corner pilasters and windows along the eaves alude to the Greek Revival period, popular locally 1840-1880.

Before 1889, the property was owned by Mrs. Elizabeth Adams (b.1843). She was an African American woman, and a widow to William Adams who had been employed as a farm hand. Elizabeth lived on the property and earned income as a laundress operating out of a seperate building there, which may have been the long rectangular little building along the southern property line which still exists.

In 1889 Elizabeth Adams sold the property to Harriet A. Anderson, another African American woman. “Hattie” and Elizabeth were related, both to each other and cousins of Pyrrhus Concer (1814-1897), the now well-known freed local slave that made a name for himself as a whaler and taking people on boat rides on Lake Agawam (see Mary Cumming’s lovely article about him on Patch here: http://southampton.patch.com/articles/pyrrhus-concer-was-born-a-slave-but-made-history). The property soon after passed to Henry B. and Mosalena “Lena” Anderson (of Poughkeepsie, NY) and was even owned briefly by the second Polish family to arrive in Southampton Village, that of Joseph and Julia Buttanowicz.

From 1912-1918 William L. and Bertha V. (Fanning) Donnelly owned the property – he was a builder. From 1918-1920 it was owned by Francis A. and Jeanette A. Hamilton – he worked for the telephone company.

For the next fifty-one years 43 North Sea Road was owned by the Napiorski family, specifically Helen, Chester and Alice. Chester too was a builder. I think Chester Jr. may have been the principal of the Tuckahoe school district in the 1940s. Another Napiorski, Clement, was a local police officer.

In 1971 the property was purchased by Michael Capo and Michael Louis who ran an antique business, and in 1983 Kathleen N. King bought it. Kathleen is a daughter of Richard “Tate” King, of the locally beloved North Sea farming family. He participated in a local history interview along with four other farming fellows this winter put together by the Southampton Historical Museum and Rogers Memorial Library. It was wonderfully informative and entertaining and taught listeners that his nickname “Tate” came from being referred to growing-up as “little tater” or little potato after his small size and the crops they grew. The interview was video-taped also, and I believe those are available to the public.

That day when, instead of focussing on Kathleen King’s extraordinary array of baked goods, my curiosity took over wondering about the property, I asked one of the regular employees if she new the original use of the building and she thought it had been a restaurant. I found no evidence of that, but if anyone knows differently, please let me know!

A "Must-Read"

Young and hip preservationists in Buffalo, NY are sharing the love of old buildings worth saving! Very inspiring. Think it could ever happen here? Hope so!
http://www.designsponge.com/2013/02/heart-bombs-young-preservationists-spreading-the-love.html