There's a saying in Nashville TN among the songwriting community "IT ALL STARTS WITH A SONG"....... and for most of my life thats had a big ring of truth. I wrote my first song sitting in our kitchen in Mastic Beach around 1952 ... it was about Kix Cereal which I was also eating at that time and reading the box ( AN ORIGINAL MULTI TASKER ,,,I learned to read off of cereal boxes) .... My "SONG" couldn't of been more than five or six lines and I made up a little tune to it...well my Mom thought it was the greatest thing since Hoagy Carmichael wrote STARDUST..... and she sent  it off to Miss Frances, who hosted The Romper Room because KIX was one of her sponsers.... MOM never heard back.... songwriting career put on hold.... Pass THE  POST TOASTIES PLEASE

Fast forward to 1996.... I'm living in Nashville enjoying a successful songwriting career... It was my birthday and I went to see a movie called A FAMILY THING with James Earl Jones and Robert Duvall playing BROTHERS OF ALL THINGS....good movie and I called my big brother Walt aka Butchie after it was over......but my enjoyment of the film and brotherhood was very short lived that day because it so happened that of my good friends and co writers, a fellow name Walter Hyatt got on the Valu-Jet that day.crashing in the Florida everglades.... It was at Walter's funeral, that I met his brother George who was nicknamed Buzz.... we got to talking and I asked Buzz if Walter had a nickname too...Yes He Did It Was PEE-WEE... Our Dad gave him that name for Pee Wee Reese The Brooklyn Dodger..... Walter didn't care for it and we could make him mad just by calling him that NOT AN EASY THING TO DO I THOUGHT BECAUSE WALTER HYATT  WAS THE DEFINITION OF A SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN....

The more I learned about the Hyatt Brothers, who grew up in Spartanburg SC the same time Butchie & I did in Mastic Beach, the more I saw parallels. I wound up writing a tune called Buzz & Pee Wee, Butchie & Me..... and that was the start of what brings me here today,,,, 

It led to my starting a short story series by the same title and posting it on the internet........the initial dozen stories are all about growing up in Mastic Beach in the 1950's... The second story I wrote around New Years of 2001 was simply called The Mansion.....it was about my days of playing with my friends in the abandoned Knapp Mansion that was just around the corner from our house.....Well  that story got a response from a fellow named Michael Joseph Knapp in California.... He was convinced I was writing about his familie's place, that he had only heard about but never knew the location of, other than it was in NY... Mike grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, FL .....The mansion he described to me certainly fit the description and I got sucked in .....especially with his tales of mystery and some shady dealings that wound up cutting his side of the family out of millions.... His F. A. KNAPP family had several concerns in Pa and Brooklyn They were whiskey brewers ,  and they carved Wooden Horses  and built the Barrel Organs that supplied music for Merry Go Rounds ......  VERY COLORFUL STUFF...and with that I started to look into who were the KNAPPs who lived in THE MANSION  on his behalf.... 

A few months later I came here with my son Erik, who was in his last year of High School then and wanted to look over the Campus of Pratt University.... We spent one day out here in Mastic Beach, visiting my old haunts and in the afternoon pulled into this very building and started poking around the files in the Local History Room It was there that Erik found the name JOSEPH F. KNAPP in the history of Mastic Beach.....

And what a history it is... Mastic, Mastic PARK, MASTIC BEACH . MASTIC ACRES .....SHIRLEY, and all the CHARACTERS that created it THE TANGIER SMITHS,  FLOYDS, WOODHULLS,  ROBERTS, LAWRENCES,  DANAS,  TOLLFREES, SMADBECKS , SHIRLEY & OF COURSE ....THE KNAPPS  There are more names your going to hear today but don't get bogged down with them nor dates for that matter, THERE'S NO QUIZ AFTERWARDS... but nothing to enter or win ...... I just hope you enjoy hearing and seeing few things that I have discovered in the last five years ABOUT THIS AREA.... Many have been LONG FORGOTTEN OR NEVER WRITTEN ABOUT AT ALL
at least not from a songwriters perspective....

I'm not going to spend too much time on the Colonial era here because you have a ton of it at your disposal. MOST of it is FAIRLY ACCURATE.... one thing I've discovered is,,,,,,, History Is FACTS & DOCUMENTS THAT SUPPORT FACTS....... all the rest is Romance.... but don't we all want a little Romance!!!

As for the Peninsula once known as MASTIK NECK  THAT'S SPELLED M A S T I K ...The Colonials were not great spellers ......but I hear they got a great Football Team.... are they stilled called COLONIALS at William Floyd High? ...... I was there when they started VERY SHAKY First game was with Westhampton think the score was 45 - 0..

Well as you know it all starts with THE TANGIER SMITHS  who lived just down the road a piece...they were your original Realtors because they OWNED EVERYTHING....... NOT ONLY THE LAND  WE STAND ON, BUT THE LAND UNDER THE WATER    FROM CONNECTICUT RIVER OUT TO THE TOWN LINE OF SOUTHAMPTON.... ITS ALL THE MANOR OF ST. GEORGE AND IT ALL CAME FROM THE KING ....... SO THEY GOT ENOUGH LAND THAT A FEW THOUSAND ACRES HERE AND THERE IS NOT GOING TO MAKE A DENT IN THEIR HOLDINGS AND THEY COULD USE A BIT OF FOLDING MONEY........ AND THEY START SELLING SOME OF IT TO THEIR FRIENDS & IN LAWS ...FOLKS LIKE NICHOL FLOYD AND HIS SON WILL ,,good for 4800 acres.... RICHARD FLOYD in for 3500 hundred give a take a few... WONDERFUL BIZ THIS REAL ESTATE GAME.... WONDERFUL LIFE... COUNTRY GENTRIES ALL OVER THE NECK... AND AS FAR THE UNCHAGOUGUE INDIANS  GO <<<WHICH MEANS  OVER THE HILL PEOPLE .. WE WILL GIVE THEM THEIR OWN PLACE OVER THE HILL.... ON MASTIK RIVER.... JOHN MAYHEW PUTS HIS X ON THE DEED AND HE'S OUT OF HERE...

SO HERE WE HAVE MASTIK NECK, WHICH IS BORDERED ON THE WEST BY THE CONNECTICUT RIVER SOON TO GET A SECOND NAME : CARMENS RIVER WHEN SAM CARMEN BUILDS HIS MILL ON IT AND CLAIMS IT TOO .......AND ON THE EAST BY MASTIK RIVER.... LATER TO BE CALLED FORGE RIVER BECAUSE THE FLOYDS BUILD AN IRON FORGE ON IT. ONE EARLY 1815 MAP SHOWS THE WHOLE PLACE AS FLOYDS.... NO MENTION OF THE MANOR ,,,,AND NO MASTIK RIVER AT ALL....

ONE OF THE FIRST COLONISTS TO COME SOUTH FROM SETAUKET WHICH IS WHERE THE NEW ENGLAND PEOPLE FIRST SETTLED, WAS THE RICHARD WOODHULL FAMILY & AS YOU MAY KNOW THE WOODHULLS INTERMARRIED WITH THE FLOYD FAMILY AND THEN THE SMITH FAMILY ETC.... WHEN YOU HAVE A LIMITED POPULATION YOU'LL HAVE A BIT OF THAT INTERMARRIAGE THING GOING ON....  WILLIAM FLOYD OF COURSE REALLY DISTINGUISHED HIMSELF BY SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE...HIS BROTHER IN LAW NATHANIEL WOODHULL WAS THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONGRESS OF NEW YORK WHICH AT THAT TIME WAS A MAJOR POWERFUL POSITION. HE WAS ALSO THE GENERAL IN CHARGE OF THE MILITIA OF LONG ISLAND....  WOODHULL HAD FOUGHT FOR THE KING AS A MAJOR  IN THE FRENCH & INDIAN WAR...AND NOW HE WAS PREPARING TO FIGHT AGAINST HIM...  OR WAS HE???... THOUGH "HISTORY" FOR HUNDREDS YEARS WOULD HAVE YOU THINK THAT... BUT MOST OF THAT HISTORY BASICALLY CAME FROM A SONG   THE BALLAD OF NATHANIEL WOODHULL WRITTEN LONG AFTER ALL THE PRINCIPALS WHO WERE INVOLVED IN THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND IN AUGUST of 1776 WERE DEAD AND BURIED... NOT THE LEAST OF WAS THE GOOD GENERAL HIMSELF WHO WAS LAYING IN AN UNMARKED GRAVE IN THE FAMILY CEMETERY ON NEIGHBORHOOD ROAD, UNTIL A GRANDSON IN LAW........ JOHN LAWRENCE BOUGHT THE HEADSTONE AROUND 1825,,,, THE ONE THAT YOU CAN NO LONGER READ.


MY INTEREST IN WOODHULL CAME FROM WHAT I FELT WAS THE NEED TO GIVE THE GUY A LITTLE MORE RESPECT THAN HE SEEMED TO BE GETTING... SURE THE AMERICAN LEGION HAD BEEN MARCHING TO HIS GRAVE SINCE 1938, GIVING HIM A 21 GUN SALUTE AND IN DOING SO, GIVING A FEW LUCKY KIDS WHO RUSHED IN Afterwards SHELL  CARTRIDGE SOUVENEERS... THE BIG KIDS ALWAYS SEEMED TO GET THEM..... BUT IT WAS ONE OF THE FIRST ITEMS I FOUND IN 2001 ON THE MICROFILM OF THE MORICHES TRIBUNE THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION... ALONG WITH THE STORY OF THE FIRST PARADE TO HONOR THE GENERAL WAS A MUCH SHORTER STORY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS HOUSE THAT VERY SAME DAY .  ACTUALLY IT WASN'T HIS HOUSE...HIS HOUSE BURNED DOWN IN APRIL 1784 FROM UNDETERMINED CAUSES... HIS WIDOW RUTH (WILLIAM FLOYD'S SISTER ) BUILT THE HOUSE THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN ATTRIBUTED IN BOOKS & POST CARDS AS THE GENERALS...IT WAS REALLY A NICE PLACE. JUST A STONES THROW FROM WILLIAM FLOYD'S AND  WASN'T TWO BLOCKS EAST OF THE GRAVEYARD...BUT ON MEMORIAL DAY IN 1938 IT WAS GETTING TORN DOWN... SOMEBODY CALLED THE COPS AND WHEN THEY INVESTIGATED ,,,,WILLIE SCHLUDER WHO WAS TAKING THE WRECKING BAR TO IT SHOWED THEM A PIECE OF PAPER THAT SAID HE HAD PERMISSION .... WILLIE THEN TOLD THEM THAT THE LUMBER WAS GOING TO BE USED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OUT IN THE HAMPTONS....OK....WHAT THE PAPER DIDN'T SAY WAS..... THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO COULD GIVE PERMISSION TO TEAR DOWN THE WOODHULL MANSION THEN WOULD BE WARREN OR ARTHUR SMADBECK... THE TWO BROTHERS WHO OWNED IT SINCE 1926... THEY GOT IT WHEN THEY BOUGHT THE FIRST FEW HUNDRED ACRES AROUND IT THAT THEY TURNED INTO SECTIONS ONE & TWO OF MASTIC BEACH .... AT FIRST THEY  TRIED TO SELL IT ... NO TAKERS THEN THEY TRIED OFFERING IT TO DAR... THE NATHANIEL WOODHULL CHAPTER... THEY TOO PASSED.... SO THERE IT SAT BOARDED UP EVER SINCE THE LAST INHABITANT ELIZABETH LAWRENCE PASSED AWAY AROUND 1915..

WHAT ALSO WAS INTERESTING AT THAT TIME WAS, WILLIE SCHLUDER WAS THE CARETAKER IN CHARGE OF THE KNAPP ESTATE & KNAPP HAD JUST SOLD OFF 99% OF HIS LAND TO THE SMADBECKS THAT MONTH, ALLOWING THEM TO START DEVELOPING A 200 ACRE GAP THAT HAD FOR  12 YEARS SPLIT MASTIC BEACH INTO TWO SEPARATE TOWNS.... SO WHERE DID THE GENERALS HOUSE GO... MY GUESS WOULD BE OUT TO  CLAIRE KNAPP'S ESTATE (JOSEPH KNAPP'S SISTER )  ON THE PECONIC BAY......  WHERE IT WAS PROBABLY TURNED INTO DOG KENNELS....... BUT I'M GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF...

THIS PAST YEAR I DISCOVERED A LITTLE KNOWN BOOK  BY WILLIAM  SABINE CALLED MURDER 1776 AND WASHINGTON'S POLICY OF SILENCE..... IT WAS PUBLISHED IN THE 1970'S AND IS A RE TITLING OF A HIS ORIGINAL BOOK CALLED THE SUPPRESSED HISTORY OF GENERAL WOODHULL THAT HE SELF PUBLISHED IN THE MID 50'S... MR. SABINE'S WORK LAYS OUT A COMPELLING CASE BACKED UP WITH EVERY DOCUMENT THAT STILL EXISTS. IT TOOK HIM OVER 5 YEARS TO FIND THIS STUFF .... ... YOU THINK YOU KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOR NAT WOODHULL  EH???? HAH..... 

SERIOUSLY THOUGH SABINE'S BOOK WAS A REAL EYE OPENER ...ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU READ ABOUT WILLIAM FLOYD VISITING WITH GENERAL WASHINGTON's UNDISCLOSED LOCATION TO TRY AND WORK OUT A POSSIBLE PRISONER EXCHANGE FOR HIS BROTHER IN LAW  .... THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN.... BUT WHY ???? THE FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY HAD HIS REASONS... THE ANSWERS ARE IN THE BOOK....      SOOOO .....

 WE HAVE A LOT MORE GROUND TO COVER HERE.... AND SOME OF IT WAS AN ESTATE CALLED PATTERSQUAS ... AKA THE RICHARD FLOYD ESTATE. IT WAS LOCATED ON THE WESTERN BANK OF PATTERSQUASH CREEK ABOUT MIDWAY ACROSS MASTIC BETWEEN THE MANOR HOUSE AT ST. GEORGE AND WILLIAM FLOYD'S PLANTATION.... IT IS FULLY CHRONICLED ON THE WEBSITE. ,UNLIKE GENERAL WOODHULL  THERE WAS NO DISCREPANCY ABOUT WHERE RICHARD FLOYD STOOD ON THE REBELLION... HE WAS AGAINST IT AS WERE ALL OF HIS IN LAWS... THE FLOYD-JONES FAMILY OF QUEENS....  BUT MOST OF QUEENS WAS A TORY STRONGHOLD,,,,, BUT ALAS WE KNOW HOW THE WAR TURNED OUT AND RICHARD FLOYD HAD TO BAIL OUT OF PATTERQUAS IN A HURRY...LIVING OUT HIS DAYS IN NOVA SCOTIA... THE FACT THAT HIS WIFE ARABELLA FLOYD-JONES FLOYD (HOWS THAT FOR A NAME?) IS BURIED IN THE WOODHULL GRAVEYARD HERE IS CAUSE FOR SOME SPECULATION ABOUT WHOSE SIDE SHE WAS ON..... MAKES FOR AN INTERESTING THANKSGIVING DINNER. CONVERSATION...

AND THAT BRINGS US BACK TO THE SMITHS WHO HAPPENED TO BE ON THE COMMITTEE FOR CONFISCATED ESTATES. THEY DID THEIR DUTY AND  WOUND UP CONFISCATING THE RICHARD FLOYD ESTATE ....THEY THEN SOLD IT TO THEIR NEW IN LAW DOCTOR DANIEL ROBERT (WHO REPORTEDLY MADE HIS FORTUNE DURING THE REVOLUTION IN JAMAICA ISLANDS..... COULDN'T OF DONE THAT BY DOCTORING NATIVE JAMAICANS... HAD TO BE SOMEWAY ELSE.... LOT OF PROFITEERING AND SMUGGLING GOING ON DOWN THERE THEN..... THE ROBERT FAMILY WOULD HOLD ONTO PATERNOSTERS FROM THAT POINT ON, SELLING IT OF BRIEFLY ABOUT 1873 TO A MILLIONAIRE NAMED G. E. TAYLOR WHO LIVED NEXT DOOR TO THE OTHER ROBERT ESTATE ...PEPPERIDGE HALL IN OAKDALE .... TAYLOR KEPT IT LONG ENOUGH TO GET HIS NAME ON A MAP OR TWO..... BUT THEN ROBERT FAMILY REPURCHASED IT AT A BARGAIN , A FEW YEARS LATER DURING THE DEPRESSION OF THE 1880'S.....THATS WHEN THEY FINALLY FILED A DEED FOR IT THAT DATES BACK TO AROUND 1835 ......PATTERQUAS  REMAINED IN THE FAMILY UNTIL ADELMA,,,, WIDOW OF DOCTOR CHARLES ROBERT , PASSED AWAY IN 1912..... HER LAWYERS THE LAWRENCES SOLD IT OFF TO AN AUTHOR IN NYC NAMED HENRY LANIER.... THE LANIERS KEPT IT FOR A FEW YEARS,,,,, I BELIEVE THEY DIVORCED AS THEY WERE MAINTAINING SEPARATE RESIDENCES WHEN HENRY'S WIFE STARTED ADVERTISING IT ALONG WITH 215 ACRES OF LAND AND OUTBUILDINGS AROUND 1925  .... IT TOOK HER TWO YEARS TO SELL IT OFF AND THE BUYER WAS ONCE AGAIN.... THE SMADBECK BROTHERS AKA HOME GUARDIAN  COMPANY WHO HAD THE SAME PLANS FOR IT... SELL OFF THE HOMESTEAD AND  DEVELOP  THE LAND AROUND IT, ADDING IT INTO THE TOWN OF MASTIC BEACH.... A WHOLE LOT OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS HAPPENED HERE AND WE WILL COME BACK TO PATTERQUAS IN A BIT BUT NOW LET ME TELL YOU A FEW THINGS ABOUT OUR STEALTHY REALTORS


THE SMADBECKS WHO HAVE THEIR OWN  SECTION ON THE WEBSITE, WERE CALLED THE HENRY FORDS OF REAL ESTATE. THEY  FIRST STARTED DEVELOPING LAND IN MASTIC IN 1922...THEY CALLED IT MASTIC PARK AND HAD A UNIQUE WAY OF SELLING IT... THE PURCHASER COULD ONLY BUY IT BY TAKING A SUBSCRIPTION TO A NEWSPAPER...THEY USED SEVERAL NY PAPERS THAT APPEALED TO THE WORKING CLASS FOR MASTIC THEY USED THE BROOKLYN CITIZEN MOST OF THE DEEDS TO THE LAND IN MASTIC PARK HAVE THE NAME JOHN FROST ON THEM... JOHN FROST REALLY DIDN'T OWN THE LAND, HE WAS THE PUBLISHER OF THE BROOKLYN CITIZEN... IT WAS PROBABLY SOME KIND COST SAVING / TAX BREAK DEAL FOR THE SMADBECKS.... AS A SALES GIMMICK THE SUBSCRIPTION IDEA REALLY SEEMED TO WORK AS THE REPEATED IT ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES...

YOU COULD BUY A 20 x 100 LOT  IN MASTIC PARK FOR 55.00 BY TAKING THE BROOKLYN CITIZEN FOR 3 MONTHS.... UNLESS YOU WERE GOING TO PITCH A TENT AS SOME DID .YOU NEEDED 3 LOTS TO BUILD A BUNGALOW ON ,SO YOU PAID 165.00 FOR YOUR LAND ON VERY EASY TERMS $10 DOWN $ 3 A MONTH  ... MANY OF THE FIRST HOMES AND OTHER BUILDINGS WERE BUILT FROM THE BARRACKS AND OTHER LUMBER THAT CAME FROM THE SALE OF CAMP UPTON AFTER WW1.  ONE PLACE THAT MAY WAS VINCENT "PEPPER" MARTIN'S GYM.... PEPPER MARTIN WAS A LIGHTWEIGHT PRO BOXER BACK THEN WHO HAD QUITE A FOLLOWING...ONE GUY WHO FOLLOWED HIM OUT FROM BROOKLYN WAS A FELLOW NAMED PAUL SCHULTE....PAUL LIKED THE AREA  SO MUCH HE STAYED ON.... THEN MOVED SOUTH TO MASTIC BEACH WHEN IT OPENED UP IN '26...PEPPER MARTIN DIED IN THE TWENTIES AND  HIS GYM BECAME A RESTURANT...PROBABLY THE NAME IT WAS BEST REMEMBERED BY WAS WHEN IT WAS CALLED THE BLUE LANTERN... I RECALL HAVING MY VERY FIRST PIZZA PIE THERE ABOUT 1951....AND PUTTING NICKELS INTO A SEEBURG JUKE BOX THAT WAS STACKED WITH PERRY COMO, BING CROSBY, FRANK SINATRA 78'S

IN NOVEMBER OF 1925 THE PATCHOGUE ADVANCE REPORTED THAT THE C S R V CORP, A  GROUP OF 4 PATCHOGUE INVESTORS HEADED BY JUDGE VUNK, HAD PURCHASED THE 355 ACRE J B LAWRENCE ESTATE IN MASTIC ..... THEY IN TURN QUICKLY SOLD IT BY FEB OF 1926  AND WHEN THE INK WAS DRY IT WAS ANNOUNCED IN MAY OF 1926 THAT THE NEW OWNERS OF THE J B LAWRENCE ESTATE WAS THE BROOKLYN CITIZEN  AND THE PLAN WAS CALLED FOR TO DEVELOP IT AS THEY HAD IN MASTIC PARK. THE NEW TOWN WAS TO BE CALLED MASTIC BEACH, WITH LOTS SELLING SLIGHTLY HIGHER AT $89.00  BECAUSE OF ALL THE WATERFRONT ACCESS....AND A LAGOON TO BE BUILT

 BY THE LAST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY THE LAWRENCES OWNED ALL OF MASTIC NECK THAT SAT BETWEEN THE EAST BANK OF PATTERSQUASH CREEK ALL THE WAY ACROSS TO ODULL'S CREEK ON THE WESTERN BORDER OF THE FLOYD ESTATE...FOR THOSE WHO KNOW THE TOWN THAT'S FROM WEST DRIVE TO PARK DRIVE....

ODULLS CREEK WAS NOTHING MORE THAN  A WIDE DITCH W MISPRONUNCIATION OF THE NAME WOODHULL... WELL INTENTIONED MAPMAKERS LIKE CHARLES BEERS AND  BELCHER & HYDE  CHANGED IT TO ODELLS...LAWRENCES NIPPED THAT IN BUD THOUGH AND RENAMED THE CREEK AFTER THEMSELVES.... ....THE LAWRENCES OF NY WERE STATESMEN, LAWYERS, MERCHANTS AND  EXECUTORS OF MANY ESTATES...THEIR MOST FAMOUS RELATIVE WAS COMMANDER JAMES LAWRENCE WHOSE DYING WORDS WERE "DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP"  IN THE WAR OF 1812...TRUTH IS THERE WAS NOT MUCH SHIP LEFT TO GIVE UP..THE BRITISH BLASTED IT TO SMITHEREENS...TO BE FAIR IT WAS THE COMMANDERS FIRST NAVAL BATTLE......

MANY OF THE LAWRENCES WERE BORN AND LIVED OUT THEIR DAYS IN MASTIC LIKE EMMA & ELIZABETH...THEIR BROTHER FRANK M. LAWRENCE LIVED HERE FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, TILL HE MARRIED HIS COUSIN LOUIS  MAURAN OF PROVIDENCE RI IN 1907.... IN THE 1896 FRANK AND ANOTHER COUSIN HANNAH NEWBOLD LAWRENCE ACQUIRED THE LAWRENCE ESTATE THAT RAN FROM PATTERSQUASH CREEK EASTERLY TILL ABOUT WHERE BEAVER DRIVE IS TODAY...THEY PAID ABOUT 7,000 FOR IT AND THERE WERE SEVERAL HOUSES & BARNS INCLUDED ALL BUILT IN THE 1850'S BY ITS FORMER INHABITANT CHARLES JEFFEREY SMITH OF THE TANGIER SMITHS....CJ SMITH WAS A FARMER OF NOTE AND SEVERAL OF THE LAWRENCES FOLLOWED HIS LEAD...THE LAWRENCE FARM WAS ACTIVE TILL ABOUT 1910- HANNAH WAS A LADY OF LEISURE AND SOCIETY AND  TOOK HER FARM HOUSE AND MOVED IT A SHORT DISTANCE AND GREATLY IMPROVED IT TO SUIT HER FANCY AS A SUMMER RETREAT
I'M NOT SURE IF SHE GAVE IT THE NAME WOODHULL LODGE OR NOT BUT THAT IS WHAT IT IS TITLED AS ,IN THE 1897 PHOTO I HAVE OF IT....
FRANK MOST LIKELY LIVED IN THE OTHER C J SMITH HOUSE, THE ONE THE DERMODY FAMILY LIVED IN DURING THE 1950S AND 60S..... BOTH HOMES ARE STILL STANDING IN FINE CONDITION ON LOCUST DRIVE AND WE WILL BE LOOKING AT THEM IN A FEW MINUTES...BOTH FRANK AND HANNAH MARRIED LATE IN LIFE .....HER NAME BECAME SHERMAN AND THAT'S WHERE SHERMAN ROAD WHICH NO LONGER EXISTS EXCEPT ON OLD MASTIC BEACH MAPS CAME FROM,

   WHEN YOU SEE ANY ROAD ON A MASTIC MAP THAT DOES NOT RUN GRIDLIKE YOU CAN BE ASSURED ITS AN OLD ONE OR PART OF AN OLD ONE..... IN THE COLONIAL ERA THERE WERE JUST THREE ROADS THAT RAN FROM SOUTHAVEN (THE MAIN GATHERING PLACE OF COMMERCE & RELIGION) SOUTH EASTERLY INTO MASTIC NECK.... SMITH ROAD, ROBERT ROAD, AND FLOYD ROAD...WITH THE RESIDENCE DESTINATION SUPPLYING THE NAMES.......

AS FOR THE ROAD TO FRANKS PLACE, NO NAME APPEARS ON IT UNTIL FRANK SELLS IT .... AFTER THAT AND UP TILL TODAY IT IS STILL KNOWN AS KNAPP ROAD. AS FOR THE MANSION AT THE SOUTH END OF IT, I AM REASONABLY ASSURED AT  THIS POINT THAT FRANK LAWRENCE BUILT IT FOR HIS NEW BRIDE IN 1907...AND JUST LIKE THE ROAD THE MANSION DOESN'T GET A NAME UNTIL JOSEPH FAIRCHILD KNAPP MOVES IN THERE OCTOBER OF 1916 ALONG WITH HIS OLDER SISTER CLAIRE ANTOINETTE KNAPP... THE DEED INDICATES THAT FRANK LAWRENCE GOT ABOUT 35,000.00 FOR IT WHICH BECAUSE LAND WAS MIGHTY CHEAP BACK THEN TELLS ME THERE HAD TO BE A SUBSTANTIAL DWELLING ON THE PROPERTY....

MOVING A SHORT WAYS EAST AND BACK AGAIN ABOUT 50 YEARS I WANT TO TELL YOU A BIT ABOUT THE FLOYDS...FIRST I HAVE TO SAY YOU ALL ARE MIGHTY LUCKY TO HAVE THAT PLACE IN  THE PROTECTED HANDS IT IS,  BECAUSE IT COULD OF GONE THE WAY FAR TOO MANY OF THE ESTATES OF MASTIC DID....THAT IS BURNED TO THE GROUND....... 

THE FLOYD ESTATE WAS MY INTRODUCTION TO ALL THE REST .  MY SISTER WHO WAS A GREAT ADVENTURER AS A KID TOOK ME AND MY BROTHER THERE BACK IN 1951... ONLY THING WAS, IT WASN'T OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ....I WAS ONLY ABOUT 4 AND THAT BIG ADVENTURE STORY IS CHRONICLED ON THE WEBSITE ....TAKING THE 6 MILE HIKE TO FLOYDS AND BACK WAS MY INTRODUCTION TO PLACES  I DIDN'T REALIZE  WOULD STILL BE HOLDING MY INTEREST WELL OVER 50 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD.... 

 THE  WM FLOYD HOUSE THAT WE KNOW TODAY, GOT IT'S LOOK FROM JOHN G. FLOYD IN THE MIDDLE 1800'S  HE WAS WILLIAM FLOYD'S GRANDSON....AND FROM MOST ACCOUNTS A PRETTY FLAMBOYANT CHARACTER .... HE GAVE THE OLD FAMILY PLACE A MAJOR FACELIFT BACK THEN.... THE J G FLOYDS HAD 5 CHILDREN.... NICHOL, AUGUSTUS, JOHN , SARAH AND KATHERINE.... IT WAS KATHERINE'S HUSBAND WILLIAM BUCK DANA THAT PROBABLY SAVED THE ENTIRE FLOYD ESTATE FROM DISAPPEARING WHEN HE WORKED OUT THE AGREEMENT FOR THE 5 FLOYD CHILDREN TO DIVIDE UP THE 1800 OR SO ACRES THAT REMAINED... BUCK DANA WAS A LAWYER AND THE PUBLISHER OF THE FINANCIAL & COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE,  THE FIRST AND LEADING NEWSPAPER OF ALL THINGS INVOLVING MAJOR BUSINESS....SORT OF THE PREDECESSOR FOR PAPERS LIKE THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.... DANA WHO LIVED IN NEW JERSEY, WORKED OUT AN AGREEMENT SATISFACTORY TO ALL AND FOR  KATHERINE AND HIMSELF HE SET ASIDE SOME ACERAGE FOR A SUMMER  HOME ON THE BANKS OF POOSPATUCK CREEK & FORGE RIVER..... IN  THE EARLY 188O'S THREE BOXCARS OF BUILDING MATERIAL WERE UNLOADED AT MASTIC STATION AND MOSS LOTS THE GRANDEST ESTATE IN ALL OF MASTIC BEGAN TO RISE.... 
THE DANAS WERE VERY CREATIVE PEOPLE ,,,,,,, THEY HAD NO CHILDREN OF THEIR OWN  BUT THEY ADOPTED THREE.... KATHERINE WHO'S PAINTINGS OF MASTIC IN THE MID 19TH CENTURY ARE GOING TO BE ON DISPLAY HERE THIS WEEK  WAS ALSO AN AUTHOR...SHE WROTE UNDER A PEN NAME OF OLIVE A WADSWORTH, BECAUSE IT WASN'T PROPER FOR A LADY OF MEANS TO BE WRITING IN GILDED AGE....OLIVE A WADSWORTH  WAS HER SECRET CODE  FOR ONLY A WOMAN!!!! SHE WROTE STORIES FOR HARPERS MAGAZINE AND STORIES AND RHYMES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN... HER MOST FAMOUS WOULD BE  "OVER IN THE MEADOW" WHICH IS STILL USED TODAY IN PRE SCHOOL TO TEACH COUNTING....

THE ADOPTED CHILDREN OF THE DANAS TURNED OUT TO BE QUITE A HANDFUL AND KATHERINE DID NOT LIVE TO SEE A LOT OF THE PROBLEMS HER HUSBAND BUCK  HAD WITH THEM.... OF THAT HE SAID SHE WAS LUCKY .....THEIR DAUGHTER  ETHEL WHOSE NICKNAME WAS DAISY, MOVED BACK TO MOSS LOTS ALONG WITH HER YOUNG SON WILLIAM DANA SHEPHERD WHEN SHE DIVORCED , BUCK DANA REALLY DOTED ON HIS GRANDSON  "SHEP" AND WHEN HE DREW UP HIS LAST WILL DECIDED TO LEAVE THE ESTATE TO HIM IF THE BOY CHANGED HIS NAME TO WILLIAM SHEPHERD DANA......BUCK DANA DIED 95 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH....AND IN 1910 THE 18 YEAR OLD WILLIAM SHEPHERD DANA FOUND HIMSELF INLINE TO INHERIT MOSS LOTS & DANAS MILLIONS WHEN HE TURNED 21..... BUT HE ALMOST INHERITED THE WIND BECAUSE OF HIS MOTHERS SPENDING HABITS... SHE SOON REDECORATED MOSS LOTS USING THE FIRMS OF TIFFANY & GORHAM.... MULTI LAW SUITS FOLLOWED BECAUSE DAISY WAS BASICALLY OF THE PHILOSOPHY ... I STILL GOT MORE CHECKS LEFT... DAISY DIED IN 1913 AND HER SON  FOUND HIMSELF AS HER EXECUTOR WITH A HUGE LEGAL MESS PLUS THERE WERE CHALLENGES TO THE GRANDFATHERS WILL,,, BUT AT  AGE 21  W S DANA FOUND HIMSELF AS THE HEAD OF "MOSS LOTS" AND 3 MILLION DOLLARS IN HIS BANK ACCOUNT.....
THE PLACE EMPLOYED A STAFF OF 24  WITH MOST FOLKS COMING FROM MORICHES ,,,,THOUGH SEVERAL BUILT HOMES ON THE ESTATE.....

WE NEED TO GO ACROSS THE NECK AGAIN AND DROP IN ON THE SMITHS... CJ SMITHS BROTHER.... EGBERT TANGIER SMITH AND HIS WIFE ANNIE HAD FOUR CHILDREN : WILLIAM , CLARENCE MARTHA AND EUGINIE....  THEIR MOTHER DIED YOUNG AND WHEN EGBERT DIED IN 1889 THE FOUR SMITH HEIRS FOUND THEMSELVES WITH THE MANOR HOUSE AND PROBABLY 10,000 TO 15,000 PLUS ACRES OF LAND LEFT AROUND IT, THEY MADE MONEY SEVERAL WAYS... MOSTLY BY LEASING LANDS INCLUDING THE RIGHTS TO TAKE OYSTERS FROM THEIR BAY..... THEY ALSO CLAIMED OWNERSHIP OF  CARMENS RIVER WHICH WAS IN DISPUTE FOR YEARS.... THEY TOOK ON MANY A COURT CHALLENGE AND WERE NOT ENDEARED TO MANY OF THE LOCAL FARMERS AND BAYMEN BECAUSE OF IT.... IN 1894 MILLIONAIRE PUBLISHER JOSEPH PALMER KNAPP WHO WAS A DUCK HUNTER AND FISHERMAN OF NOTE LEASED THE CARMENS RIVER FROM THE SMITHS... THE LEASE RAN UP TO THE YEAR 1899. THE  KNAPPS SUMMERED IN BELLPORT BACK THEN . J P AND HIS WIFE SYLVIA DIVORCED IN 1904 BUT SHE AND THE CHILDREN CONTINUED TO SUMMER IN BELLPORT UP UNTIL 1912.  

ABOUT 1900 SEVERAL MILLIONAIRES LIKE THE HAVEMEYERS STARTED TO MAKE OFFERS ON THE SMITHS PROPERTY AND THERE WERE RUMOURS FLYING EVERY YEAR OR TWO THAT THE MANOR OF ST. GEORGE WAS BEING SOLD.... IN 1910 A  REAL OPERATOR NAMED FREDERICK J. QUINBY MADE AN OFFER THE SMITH HEIRS AS THEY WERE KNOWN , Couldn't REFUSE..... AT LEAST THREE OF THEM THAT IS , WILLIAM AND HIS SISTERS SOLD TO QUINBY'S TANGIER MANOR CORP AN INITIAL 7000 ACRES.... CLARENCE G T SMITH WHO WAS A LAWYER  HELD OUT AND KEPT HIS LAND PREFERRING TO BROKER IT HIMSELF...

NOW THIS GUY QUINBY HAD A VISION FOR THE AREA THAT MUST OF STUNNED EVERYONE ..... HIS PLANS CALLED FOR TANGIER TO BE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CENTURY AND TO DO THAT HE WAS GOING TO SPEND ABOUT 4 MILLION OF HIS INVESTORS MONEY MAKING IT THE SHOWPLACE OF THE EAST.... FOR SMITH'S POINT, HE HAD A BRIDGE DESIGN RIGHT OUT OF OLD EUROPE.... AND ON THE BEACH A CASINO,  A HOTEL AND LOTS OF HOMES... HE BASICALLY WANTED TO BUILD ANOTHER ATLANTIC CITY THERE.... HE ALSO PLANNED TO DREDGE THE ENTIRE BAY SO STEAMSHIPS FROM EUROPE COULD COME SAILING UP FROM MONTAUK ON THEIR WAY TO NEW YORK CITY STOPPING AT TANGIER...ON THE MAINLAND THERE WAS TO BE THIS GRAND RAILROAD STATION AT THE PLAZA ONE THAT WOULD TOO RIVAL ANYTHING  ELSE IN THE WORLD

AND CONNECTING THE STATION  WHICH WAS GOING TO BE LOCATED EXACTLY WHERE THE SHIRLEY STATION IS , A 210 FOOT WIDE GRAND BOULEVARD THAT LED TO THE BRIDGE..... ALONG THE BOULEVARD  MANOR HOMES A COUNTRY CLUB AND MORE THERE WERE ARTIFICIAL WATERWAYS CUT IN FROM .CARMENS RIVER ALLOWING EVEN MORE WATERFRONT HOMES... IT WAS ALL LAID OUT ON SOME HUGE COLORFUL MAPS ......EXCURSION TRAINS FROM NYC WERE ARRANGED.... BUT WHEN THE BUYERS CAME OUT AND THERE WEREN'T MANY, ALL THEY SAW WAS WOODS... STILL PRESS RELEASE AFTER PRESS RELEASE CAME FORTH... THE BOULEVARD GOT BUILT , ONE MANOR HOUSE THAT STILL STANDS TODAY GOT BUILT AND A "TEMPORARY" WOODEN BRIDGE GOT BUILT ... SOMETHING WAS AMISS THOUGH.... AND FOR ALL THE PROMOTION, TANGIER FIZZLED AND FILED FOR BANKRUPTCY IN A FEW YEARS.... QUINBY WHO FLEW HIS OWN PLANE,  TOOK OFF FOR ROANOKE VIRGINIA .... CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS WERE CALLED FOR BECAUSE A US SENATOR FROM NEW JERSEY HAD BACKED THE BONDS....LIENS WERE FILED AND THE WHOLE THING FELL APART BY 1915 OR SO... LAST REPORT ON QUINBY IN MASTIC AREA WAS WHEN HIS WIFE WASARRESTED FOR TRYING TO SHOOT HIM  ...HE RESURFACED BRIEFLY IN CONNECTICUT WHERE ANOTHER BANK FORECLOSED ON HIM AND THEN AGAIN IN CHICAGO,,,,, LAST THING I KNOW OF THAT HE DID WAS FORM THE QUINBY OIL COMPANY IN 1927 ... THE TEMPORARY STOCK CERTIFICATES ARE SOLD TODAY ON E BAY....  HIS LEGACY THAT REMAINS HOWEVER IS, EVERY ROAD TODAY SOUTH OF MONTAUK HIGHWAY IN SHIRLEY WAS NAMED AND LAID OUT ON THE TANGIER MAPS..... AND THE ISLAND VIEW MANOR THAT HAD A ROSE QUINBY LIVING THERE IN 1920 IS STILL STANDING NEAR THE SMITH POINT BRIDGE

IT WOULD BE OVER A DECADE BEFORE THE  THREE SMITHS GOT THEIR LAND BACK,,,,NOW CLARENCE WHO PROBABLY GOT TO SAY I TOLD YOU SO, WOUND UP SELLING HIS SHARE OF THE MANOR LAND  TO EDWARD R TOLFREE IN 1922 FOR 250,000.... THAT INCLUDED THE BAYFRONT AND UNKECHOGUE CREEK PLUS THE  MANOR HOUSE AND ACERAGE FROM THE EAST SIDE OF TANGIER BLVD , TO WELL PAST WHERE SUNRISE HIGHWAY IS....TOLFREE WAS AN INVENTOR HAVING COME UP WITH A RADIATOR STOP LEAK THAT HE SOLD TO THE US GOVT IN WW1....AND WHEN YOU SELL TO THE GOVT...WELL YOU CAN BUY BIG.... HE AND HIS WIFE ALINE DIVIDED THEIR TIME BETWEEN NYC, PALM BEACH AND TANGIER,... HE  RAISED ST BERNARDS AND WAS A JUDGE AT WESTMINSTER KENNEL CLUB.... HIS HIGHLY CULTURED WIFE ALINE WROTE VERY DRY ARTICLES FOR SCRIBNERS AND ATLANTIC MONTHLY AND A  BOOK OR TWO ,. ONE WAS  TITLED ANGLO SAXONS & OTHERS...  HIS PLANS TO SELL OFF SOME OF HIS HOLDINGS ALSO FIZZLED AND HE WOUND UP MAKING DEALS WITH THE COUNTY TAX ASSESSOR.... IN THE LATE 1920'S HE DONATED THE RIGHT OF WAY TO SMITH POINT TO THE COUNTY WITH THE HOPES THEY WOULD BUILD A NEW BRIDGE TO REPLACE WHAT WAS LEFT OF THE WOODEN ONE THAT KEPT GETTING WASHED AWAY..... WHEN HIS WIFE ALINE DIED IN 1944 HE PUT ISLAND VIEW MANOR ON THE MARKET.


NOW BACK AT THE KNAPP ESTATE  SOME INTERESTING THINGS WERE GOING ON... WHEN THEY LEFT BELLPORT IN 1912 J P BOUGHT A PLACE IN GREENLAWN AND SPENT $75,OOO.OO FIXING IT UP FOR HIS EX WIFE & DAUGHTER.... DODI HAD ONLY OWNED THE MASTIC ESTATE FOR A FEW DAYS WHEN HE TRANSFERED IT TO HIS SISTER CLAIRE WHO MOVED OUT OF IT GREENLAWN AND CAME TO MASTIC, AT THIS TIME OR PERHAPS AFTER WWI THEIR MOTHER SYLVIA MOVED TO PARIS ...  MY THINKING IS THAT THE TRANSFER OF THE MASTIC ESTATE  =WAS AT THEIR FATHER J P'S  INSISTENCE.... J P CONTROLLED THE PURSE STRINGS OF ALL THE KNAPPS....BECAUSE IT WAS HIS PURSE... DODI HAD A TITLE JOB AS CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF HIS FATHERS AMERICAN LITHOGRAPHIC COMPANY WHICH AT THAT TIME WAS THE LARGEST PRINTER IN THE WORLD..........THE OTHER SIDE BUSINESS KNAPP CONTROLED WAS METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE, DODI & CLAIRE SHARED THE MASTIC ESTATE FROM 1916-25.... CLAIRE WHO WAS RAISING SHOW HORSES WAS ALSO DABBLING IN SHOWDOGS THEN AND SHE STARTED HER CLAIREDALE KENNEL AT THE ESTATE IN MASTIC IN 1922,

6 MONTHS AFTER THE KNAPPS MOVED INTO MASTIC THE UNITED STATES ENTERED WWI . J P KNAPP WAS REMARRIED AND HIS STEPSON WAS INVOLVED IN FLYING AT YALE UNIVERSITY.... SEVERAL STUDENTS AT YALE GOT TOGETHER AND OFFERED THEIR SERVICES TO THE NAVY AS FLYERS DOING COAST PATROLS FOR SUBMARINES SEEING THAT THERE WAS ALMOST NO REAL AVIATION YET IN THE MILITARY, THE NAVY WENT FOR IT AND  AERIAL COAST PATROL # 1 WAS FORMED IN HUNTINGTON.... A SECOND UNIT WAS FORMED IN BAYSHORE AND THEN THE NAVY CAME OUT AT THE INVITATION OF J P KNAPP TO LOOK OVER THE MASTIC PROPERTY FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF A THIRD AERO STATION... THEY WENT FOR IT AND WITHIN A MONTH THERE WERE THREE CURTISS FLYING BOATS AND TWELVE YOUNG STUDENT FLYERS CAMPED OUT ON THE KNAPP ESTATE , THE PLANES WERE MOST LIKELY KEPT AT THE COVE NEAR THE END OF WHAT IS JEFFERSON DRIVE TODAY...WITHIN A FEW MONTHS THE 3RD AERO SQUADRON WAS INCREASED TO  36 MEMBERS AND THE OVERFLOW MOST LIKELY STAYED AT THE HEDGES HOTEL AT SMITH POINT, THEY BUILT A LARGE HANGER THERE ALSO. THERE WERE TWO INSTRUCTORS AND AMONG THE FLYERS WERE  KNAPP CHILDHOOD PAL THOMAS DIXON AND DODI KNAPP... EACH ONE HAD THEIR OWN CURTISS FLYING BOAT HYDRO AEROPLANE THAT COST ABOUT 12,000.00.... THEIR FIRST INSTRUCTOR WAS E K JAQUITH WHO WAS AS COLORFUL AS YOU CAN GET ... HE PROVED A BIT TOO COLORFUL HOWEVER AND WAS REPLACED BY L W BONNEY A PIONEER  WRIGHT BROTHERS AVIATOR ....  BONNEY BECAME A LIFELONG FRIEND OF KNAPP AND WOULD RETURN TO THE KNAPP ESTATE IN THE 1920'S FOR ANOTHER AVIATION ADVENTURE... IN THE WINTER OF 1918 THEIR TRAINING WAS MOVED TO PALM BEACH FLA AND DODI KNAPP CAME OUT OF THE NAVY AS AN  LT JG ....

THIS PAST SPRING I INTERVIEWED MILDRED CLUNE WHO WAS BORN IN MASTIC IN 1916... HER MOTHER & FATHER BOTH WORKED FOR KNAPP IN THE 1920s  THEY LIVED ON THE ESTATE AND MILDRED RECALLS THAT DODI HAD AIRPLANES IN BARNS ALL OVER THE PLACE ,,,,,,, THAT WOULD EXPLAIN ALL THE AIRPLANE PARTS WE FOUND AS KIDS IN A BARN ON JEFFERSON DRIVE ALONG WITH A BUNCH OF RADIO EQUIPMENT..... 

IN 1925 HANNAH LAWRENCE DIED AND HER PORTION OF THE ESTATE CAME ON THE MARKET... ONCE AGAIN THE SMADBECKS CAME ALONG AND BOUGHT IT AND IN NOV OF 1926  MASTIC BEACH HAD THREE SECTIONS , TWO ON KNAPPS EASTERN BORDER AND ONE ON THE WEST SURROUNDING THE ESTATE SO TO SPEAK.... THE CJ SMITH FARMHOUSE THAT SITS ON THE WEST SIDE OF LOCUST DRIVE WAS PURCHASED BY MALCOM GARRITY AND THE KNAPPS HAD A NEIGHBOR JUST A FEW HUNDRED FEET AWAY FROM THEIR BALLROOM DOOR
  

1927 PAUL SCHULTE BUILT A 15 ROOM HOTEL BEHIND THE PROPERTY OWNERS CLUBHOUSE ...THIS WAS THE FIRST OFFICIAL BUSINESS IN MASTIC BEACH... HIS GRANDDAUGHTER GRETA SPIESS TOLD ME HE BOOTLEGGED OUT OF IT.... RUM RUNNING ON LONG ISLAND IN THE 1920's WAS A MAJOR BUSINESS.

THE FIRST CENSUS TAKEN IN MASTIC BEACH WAS 1930 AND IT SHOWED ABOUT 12 to 15 PEOPLE LIVING THERE IN THE WINTER ALMOST ALL WERE INVOLVED WITH WORKING ON THE ESTATES  27 FOUND THE SMADBECKS PURCHASING PATTERSQUAS FROM JOSEPHINE LANIER AND MASTIC BEACH WOULD SOON GROW ANOTHER 200 ACRES ...THEY NAMED THAT PURCHASE SECTION 4 & 5 PAUL SCHULTE WASTED NO TIME BUYING LAND OVER THERE NEAR AT 5 CORNERS THE INTERSECTION . 

MEANWHILE UP IN MASTIC WHICH HAD A 4 YEAR HEAD START, BUSINESS WERE POPPING UP  ALONG THE SUNRISE TRAIL ...A POPULAR NAME THEN FOR MONTAUK HIGHWAY... AND MORE PEOPLE WERE STARTING TO MOVE OUT ALL YEAR ROUND... BY 1925 MASTIC HAD ITS OWN FIRE DEPARTMENT, POST OFFICE, GENERAL STORE AND SEVERAL RESTAURANTS AND FILLING STATIONS.... THE PARR FAMILY WAS ONE OF THE EARLIEST,  LEWIS PARR OPENED HIS TEXACO IN 1N 1922 IN THE BUILDING THAT IS NOW KNOWN MASTIC PARK LIQUORS... HIS SONS WILLIAM & WALTER SOON FOLLOWED SUIT WITH THE PARR BROTHERS STATION AT MONTAUK & HERKIMER... BILL  PARR OFFERED HOUSE CALL SERVICE AND SOON FOUND HIMSELF WORKING ON THE CAR AND BOAT ENGINES AT ALL THE ESTATES. 

THE ROSS &  PENNEY FAMILIES OF MORICHES PLAYED MAJOR ROLES AT SEVERAL MASTIC ESTATES.... CLARENCE ROSS RAN THINGS IN THE 1920's AT THE FLOYDs &  MERRITT CASH PENNEY 1854-1941 WAS THE SUPERVISOR OF THE DANA ESTATE  MERRITT'S SON CLARENCE DID ALL TYPES OF GENERAL CONSTRUCTION WORK AND HOUSE MOVING, HE BUILT AN ISLAND FOR DANA TO GO DUCK HUNTING ON, HE BUILT A GOLF COURSE FOR KNAPP. TO PLAY 9 HOLES ON.... HE ALSO HELPED BUILD THE ROADS IN BOTH MASTIC & MASTIC BEACH ALONG WITH THE HULSE BROTHERS.....MERRITT'S YOUNGEST SON WILLIS WAS A CHAUFFEUR AS WAS THE HIS OTHER SON LEONARD. WILLIS BECAME ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED WITH CLAIRE KNAPP REPORTEDLY AGAINST HER BROTHERS WISHES .,,,,IN 1925 SHE MARRIED WILLIS AND MOVED TO YAPHANK WITH HIM  SELLING  THE ESTATE IN MASTIC  BACK TO HER BROTHER . DODI ALSO MARRIED BY 1927 A WOMAN NAMED GERTRUDE O'BRIEN...  GERTRUDE RACED MISS DEMURE THEIR CUSTOM SEA SLED BOAT   (KNAPPS OWNED THE SEA SLED COMPANY)  CAPTURING THE GSBYC CHAMPIONSHIP FOR 1926....MISS DEMURE WAS 30 FEET LONG HAD 400 HP AND AT 45 MPH WAS THE FASTEST BOAT ON THE BAY FROM WESTHAMPTON TO BAYSHORE. HIS CLOSEST RIVAL IN SPEEDBOATS WAS BILL DANA......... DANA WOUND UP INSTALLING A LIBERTY V 12 AIRPLANE ENGINE IN HIS 36 FOOT ELCO THE ALBERTA B TO TRY AND CATCH KNAPP...... THE ENGINE PROVED TOO MUCH FOR THAT HULL AND DANA HAD ANOTHER BOAT SPECIALLY BUILT FOR IT....  BUT I DON'T KNOW IF HE EVER DID CATCH  KNAPP ..... NOR DO I KNOW IF THE COAST GUARD FOR THAT MATTER..... THEY PROBABLY KNEW KNAPP HAD SOME INVOLVEMENT IN RUM RUNNING , THAT WAS ALMOST A PAST TIME FOR MANY OF THE OTHER ESTATE OWNERS ACROSS BOTH SHORES OF LONG ISLAND... THEY HAD ALL THE MEANS AT THEIR DISPOSAL.....AND LOTS OF PRIVACY,  THE RULES OF THE GAME WERE YOU HAD TO BE CAUGHT RED HANDED.... KNAPP PROBABLY USED HIS AIRPLANES AS WELL AS HIS BOATS TO GET LIQUOR FROM FIRE ISLAND ACROSS THE BAY... THE RUMOURS I INITIALLY HEARD ABOUT THIS IN 2001 HAVE RECENTLY BEEN SUBSTANTIATED BY A LIVING EYEWITNESS. IN MASTIC BEACH BOTH BLUE-BLOODS & BLUE COLLARS LIKE PAUL SCHULTE STAYED  VERY-WET DURING THE VERY DRY YEARS OF PROHIBITION... ONE OF PAUL SCHULTE'S PARTNERS IN RUM RUNNING WAS A WELL KNOWN PHYSICIAN IN CENTER MORICHES .... WHEN PROHIBITION ENDED  IN 1933 SCHULTE HAD A BARN MOVED TO NEIGHBORHOOD ROAD ALONG SIDE OF HIS CORNER MARKET, HE ADDED ON TO IT AND OPENED PAUL SCHULTE'S TAVERN....HAPPY DAYS WERE HERE AGAIN.....EVEN DURING A DEPRESSION

IN 1931 KNAPP MOVED INTO A SLIGHTLY BIGGER BOAT WHEN HE COMMISSIONED THE FIRST OF HIS 4 STORM KING'S....THIS ONE WAS  54 FOOT CUSTOM BUILT TRUNK CRUISER THAT HE WOULD GO BACK AND FORTH TO FLORIDA IN. IT WOULD  HAVE TO TAKE A WHOLE LOT OF DREDGING TO GET STORM KING INTO THE COVE HE BULKHEADED AT THE FOOT OF THE ESTATE... ORIGINALLY HOME-PORTED  HERE IT LATER BECAME DOCKED AT HIS WINTER RESIDENCE IN FT LAUDERDALE.... RETIRED IN 1929 AT AGE 37 FROM HIS FATHERS PRINTING BUSINESS ,,,,, DODI KNAPP WOULD SPEND THE REST OF HIS LIFE AS A MAN OF LEISURE AND ANOTHER 9 YEARS DIVIDING MASTIC BEACH IN TWO. ALTHOUGH I KNOW HE WAS FRIENDS AND A GREAT PARTIER WITH SEVERAL OF THE LOCALS....FOR REASONS UNKNOWN TO ME, KNAPP NEVER ADDED THE WORD BEACH TO HIS MASTIC ADDRESS OR ON THE TRANSOM OF HIS BOATS.

THE BUSINESS DISTRICT OF MASTIC BEACH STARTED ON THE EAST SIDE IN SECTION ONE WHEN A POST OFFICE / GENERAL STORE WAS PUT UP ON THE CORNER OF ASPEN AND WHITTIER... SEVERAL OTHER SMALL BUSINESS OPENED SOME TOURIST CABINS AN ICE AND FUEL AND BY 1930 A FIRE DEPARTMENT.  BUT WITH PROPERTY BEING DEVELOPED ON THE WEST SIDE TOO AND NO EASY WAY TO GET TO THE BUSINESS IN SECTION ONE, PAUL SCHULTE PUT UP A MARKET AT THE 5 CORNERS TO SERVICE SECTIONS 3 4 & 5.... SOON THERE WERE SIGNS AT THE ENTRANCE FORK OF MASTIC AND MASTIC BEACH ROADS POINTING BOTH WAYS TO THE TOWNs OF MASTIC BEACH... THEY WENT BY THE NAME OLD TOWN & NEW TOWN ....BUT THERE WASN'T THREE YEARS BETWEEN THEM... A BIG CONCERN WAS FIRE PROTECTION AND THE WEST END FIRE DEPARTMENT WAS STARTED UP. THEY KEPT THEIR TRUCK IN A GARAGE SOUTH OF NEW TOWN ON BAYVIEW DR AND MET AT SCHULTES TAVERN.....TO HELP CURE THE PROBLEM OF DIVISION ,THE SMADBECKS WORKED OUT A DEAL WITH KNAPP.  IN EXCHANGE FOR THEM GIVING HIM SOME LAND HE ALLOWED THEM TO EXTEND ASPEN ROAD  ACROSS THE NORTH EDGE OF HIS PROPERTY....THEY IN TURN HAD TO ABANDON USING NEIGHBORHOOD ROAD WHERE IT CROSSED HIS ESTATE

BY 1930 HOME GUARDIAN HAD SOLD THE PATTERSQUAS MANSION TO PLAYWRIGHT  JOHN HOWARD LAWSON AND IT SOON BECAME KNOWN AS THE LAWSON ESTATE...THE CLUNES STAYED ON AS CARETAKERS.  LAWSONS ALSO WROTE SCREENPLAYS FOR MANY HOLLYWOOD MOVIES IN THE 30's & 40's THAT STARRED PEOPLE LIKE HUMPRHY BOGART, WALLACE BEERY,  SUSAN HAYWARD, HEDY LAMAR,and HENRY FONDA.... AFTER WWII THE  LAWSON SOLD THE ESTATE AND STAYED IN HOLLYWOOD FULL TIME. IN 1947 LAWSON WAS CAUGHT UP IN THE "RED SCARE" AND BECAME ONE OF THE HOLLYWOOD TEN PROSECUTED BY CONGRESSMAN J. PARNELL THOMAS WHO SET THE STAGE FOR SENATOR JOE McCARTHY... IN 1950 LAWSON  EVENTUALLY SPENT A YEAR IN JAIL  FOR CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS AND WAS BLACKLISTED.... IRONACILLY BY THE TIME LAWSON BEGAN HIS JAIL SENTENCE,  HIS PROSECUTOR WAS ALREADY IN JAIL FOR TAKING KICKBACKS...THOMAS WOULD SERVE MORE TIME IN THE BIG HOUSE THAN LAWSON DID , WHEN THE MOVIES LAWSON WROTE STARTED TURNING UP ON TELEVISION IN THE EARLY 50'S I DOUBT FEW MASTIC BEACH RESIDENTS REALIZED THE SCREENWRITER ONCED LIVED AMONGST THEM... THERE'S MORE ABOUT HIM IN THE PATTERSQUAS HISTORY PAGES ON THE WEBSITE.

BY THE MID THIRTIES HOME GUARDIAN HAD ADDED IN SECTIONS 6 7 AND 8 THERBY EXPANDING MASTIC BEACH WESTWARD TO THE BORDERS OF THE TOLFREE ESTATE... BUT THE DEPRESSION WAS HAVING IT'S EFFECTS TOO..TO HELP COUNTER IT THEY OFFERED FREE 3 ROOM BUNGALOWS TO ANYONE BUYING 4 LOTS..... SO FOR UNDER 500,00 YOU GOT A ONE BEDROOM  HOME WITH A KITCHEN AND LIVING ROOM.... BATHROOMS WERE MAINLY OUTHOUSES BUT SOME PAID A FEW MORE DOLLARS AND HAD THE LUXURY OF INDOOR PLUMBING... MANY OF THESE FREE HOMES ARE STILL STANDING THOUGH FEW IF ANY ARE ORIGINAL.... BUT WHAT COST 500 THEN IS NOW GOING FOR CLOSE TO 200,000 TODAY BUT THAT IS WITH INDOOR PLUMBING .....
BY THE LATE 30's  A FEW  RESIDENTS WERE STARTING TO MOVE THERE ALL YEAR ROUND  BUT IT WAS STILL A FAR CRY FROM CROWDED. ABOUT 60 "WINTER" RESIDENTS ARE LISTED IN THE 1938 MB DIRECTORY.....ST ANDREWS AND ST JUDES STARTED THEIR CHURCHES IN THE THIRTIES.  BY THEN TWO OF THE FLOYD ESTATES HAD LOST THERE ORIGINAL FAMILY  OWNERS AUGUST DIED IN THE 1927 SHORTLY AFTER SELLING SOME OF HIS LAND TO HOME GUARDIAN SO THEY COULD BUILD MASTIC BEACH ROAD.... AND DR ROLFE FLOYD WHO OWNED THE NICHOL FLOYD MANSION DIED ABOUT 1934,,,,, MOST OF THEIR PROPERTY WHICH WAS LOCATED IN BETWEEN THE WILLIAM FLOYD ESTATE AND THE DANA ESTATE REMAINED IN LIMBO BUT NOT FOR MUCH LONGER....WILLIAM S DANA REMARRIED IN THE LATE 20's > HIS NEW WIFE ELLA MARIAN LINDLEY BAKER WAS HIS NEIGHBOR AND TECHNICALLY HIS COUSIN ,  HER MOTHER WAS A FLOYD .... THE DANAS DIVIDED THEIR TIME BETWEEN THEIR RANCH IN NEVADA AND MOSS LOTS..... IN THE MID 30's FIRST LADY ELANOR ROOSEVELT CAME TO VISIT THEM....IN JAN OF 1939  DANA DIED SUDDENLY AT AGE 45.... AFTER THAT ELLA SPENT MORE TIME OUT WEST AND LESS TIME IN MASTIC.... AND WHEN SHE DID COME TO MASTIC SHE USUALLY STAYED IN ONE OF THE SMALLER COTTAGES ON THE ESTATE... IT WAS THE LONG SLOW BEGINNING OF THE END FOR MOSS LOTS WHICH WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE IN 1969.... BY THE MID 1930's DODI KNAPPS FIRST MARRIAGE ENDED AND HE WAS SPENDING MORE AND MORE TIME IN FT LAUDERDALE WITH HIS SECOND WIFE MARION. IN THE SPRING OF 1938 HE SOLD MOST OF HIS LAND BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH OF HIS MANSION TO HOME GUARDIAN AND SECTIONS 9 & 10 WERE DEVELOPED. IN DOING SO THE TOWN BECAME CONNECTED AND NEIGHBORHOOD ROAD BECAME THE MAIN EAST WEST THOROUGHFARE...THOUGH THE EASTERN PART OF IT WAS CALLED BIRCH ROAD UNTIL 1940's. KNAPP KEPT 12 ACRES AROUND HIS HOUSE BUT BY THE SPRING OF 1939 THAT TOO WENT UP FOR SALE.... THE HOUSE  FULLY FURNISHED AND THREE AND A HALF ACRES WAS FIRST LISTED FOR 11,500.00  THE FACT THAT THE WOOD PANELING IN THE LIVING ROOM COST 7,000.00 ALONE WAS DULY NOTED..... ALONG WITH ALL THE OTHER AMENITIES... NEW OIL BURNER ...COPPER PIPES BEST OF EVERYTHING.... BUT THERE WERE NO TAKERS.....THE HOUSE REMAINED ON THE MARKET UP UNTIL DECEMBER OF 1940 WHEN HOME GUARDIAN BOUGHT IT FOR UNDER 5000.00 THE DEED WAS SIGNED ON NEW YEARS EVE 1940..... 8 DAYS LATER HOME GUARDIAN HAD ALREADY SOLD IT TO A GEORGE SUTTER OF THE BRONX FOR ABOUT 6600.00 A FAIR PROFIT.... AND STILL A STEAL FOR SUTTER.... SUTTER WHO WAS A WAITER HAD PLANS TO TURN IT INTO A SUMMER BOARDING HOUSE AND OF COURSE A VACATION HOUSE FOR HIS FAMILY .... WITH 22 ROOMS AND 6 BATHS HE COULD DO BOTH...
 WHAT HE DIDN'T COUNT ON WAS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN JUST 9 MONTHS AFTER HE LOOKED OVER HIS NEW DIGS FOR THE FIRST TIME... PEARL HARBOR..... THROUGH OUT THE 40's SUTTER RAN ADS TO RENT ROOMS IN IT AND I'VE HEARD HE HAD QUITE A FEW PEOPLE  STAYING THERE DURING THE WAR YEARS....AFTER WWII ENDED HE RENTED THE ENTIRE PLACE... THE TENANT WAS THE NEW FIRST PERMANENT PRIEST ASSIGNED TO ST JUDES FR JOHN SKELLY....

BACK IN TOWN THE LAWSON PLACE "PATTERSQUAS"  CAME ON THE MARKET AND WAS BOUGHT BY SPECULATORS. BY 1946 IT WOULD HAVE A NEW OWNER DR FRANK CALABRO WHOSE WIFE'S LARGE EXTENDED FAMILY ALL MOVED IN WITH HIM...THEY REMAINED THERE WHILE THEY  BUILT THEIR PERMANENT HOMES ON THE PROPERTY ALONG BAYVIEW DR. TWO OF THE BROTHER IN LAWS MIKE DIPIERRO & PAT MESSINETTI THEN BUILT A LANDMARK FILLING STATION ON THE FIVE CORNERS... PAT & MIKE'S TEXACO....AFTER THE DIPIERRO, MESSINETTI AND SIRIANI FAMILYS MOVED INTO THEIR OWN HOMES DOC OPENED THE PLACE AS THE BAYVIEW SANITARIUM.... SOON AFTER IT BECAME THE BAYVIEW HOSPITAL...THE CARRIAGE HOUSE ON THE ESTATE WAS MOVED UP TO NEIGHBORHOOD ROAD AND ANOTHER FAMILY MEMBER THE CALABRIAS OPENED IT AS RESTAURANT CALLED THE RED BARN .... ANITA AND BEN SIRIANI OPENED A DELI THAT WAS ATTACHED TO THE SERVICE STATION...THERE ARE A WHOLE LOT OF STORIES AND PHOTOS ON THE WEBSITE ABOUT THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WHAT YOU MIGHT CALL THE DOC CALABRO CLAN.

AS HOME GUARDIAN WOUND DOWN THEIR DEVELOPING ACTIVITIES IN THE MASTICS, MOST OF THEIR REAL ESTATE SALESMAN SET UP SHOP ON THEIR OWN... WALTER URY, DAVID SIMON, CHARLES AMMON, NAT WEISER ALL TOOK OVER SELLING THE BITS AND PIECES OF WHAT REMAINED ...THE LARGEST PIECE OF THE PUZZLE THOUGH WAS YET TO COME... IT STARTED WITH ABOUT A HUNDRED ACRES OF THE FLOYD ESTATE .... AND ACRES IT WOULD BE NAMED,  MASTIC ACRES BY A SUPER SALESMAN NAMED WALTER T. SHIRLEY.... 

SHIRLEY STARTED OUT HIS BUSINESS LIFE AS A SONGPLUGGER... A SONGPLUGGER IS A GUY WHO SELLS SONGS... AS A SONGWRITER I CAN ATTEST THAT IS NO EASY THING TO DO..... WALTER MIDDLE NAME WAS TURNBULL , BUT THE T MIGHT AS WELL OF STOOD TENACIOUS.... HE STARTED AS SONG PLUGGER FOR IRVING BERLIN ...THEY HAD MET AT CAMP UPTON IN WWI.... BUT THERE WAS MORE THAN MUSIC GOING ON IN SHIRLEYS HEAD.....ALL THAT LAND OUT HERE MUST OF LEFT AN IMPRESSION BECAUSE AFTER WWII HE CAME BACK AND GOT MOST OF IT... SOON AFTER HE PURCHASED MASTIC ACRES HE STARTED BUYING LAND FROM THE SMITHS AND ANYONE ELSE THAT OWNED ANYTHING ON THE WEST SIDE OF MASTIC BEACH... HE CALLED THAT  AREA MASTIC ACRES TOO, WHICH LED TO MUCH CONFUSION ,SHIRLEYS FIRST LAND OFFICE WAS ON MASTIC ROAD & WAVECREST DR.. ITS A PIZZA PLACE NOW.... BUT HE SOON MOVED HIS OPERATION ONTO MONTAUK HIGHWAY ....HIS OFFICE WAS ON 5th AVE AND 42nd STREET JUST ACROSS FROM THE NY PUBLIC LIBRARY.... SHIRLEY HE  BOUGHT THE TOLFREE MANSION AS HIS SUMMER HEADQUARTERS BUT SOON SOLD IT AS IT WAS PROBABLY FAR TOO QUIET OUT HERE FOR A GUY WHO SPENT HIS LIFE ON BROADWAY.. THE CUTRO FAMILY BOUGHT IT & STILL HAVE IT MAKING THEM THE LONGEST OWNERS OF THE PLACE....ROCKY CUTRO A MUSICIAN TURNED THE ISLAND VIEW MANOR INTO A NIGHTCLUB... AND HIS FRIEND TONY BENNETT USED TO PERFORM THERE IN THE EARLY 50's TO THE DELIGHT OF EVERYONE, MY PARENTS INCLUDED ... I SPOKE TO TONY ABOUT IT IN NASHVILLE A FEW YEARS AGO AND HE STILL HAS VERY WARM MEMORIES OF IT.

THE ONLY THING THAT HELD SHIRLEY BACK SLIGHTLY WAS THERE WAS NO ELECTRICITY THERE FOR SEVERAL YEARS. MY \ HIGH SCHOOL PAL KENNY VITELLARO , RECALLS WHAT IT WHAT IT WAS LIKE THE FIRST FEW YEARS OF NO ELECTRICITY.... PEOPLE WENT TO BED EARLY....WHICH MIGHT HAVE A BEARING ON THE POPULATION EXPLOSION THAT HAPPENED OUT HERE IN THE 50'S....SHIRLEY WAS TRULY IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME... THEN HE HELPED THINGS ALONG BY DONATING THE LAND THAT THE ORIGINAL WILLIAM FLOYD SCHOOL WAS BUILT ON ....  ALSO HE MIGHT BE THE ONLY ONE WHO HAD A TOWN NAMED FOR HIM WHILE HE WAS ALIVE... ON JULY 2 1952 THE FIRST POSTMARK SAYING SHIRLEY NY WAS STAMPED.....THIS LIBRARY HAS A REAL TREASURE TROVE OF SHIRLEY MEMOROBILA ... and MY WEBSITE HAS OVER 30 PAGES AND HUNDREDS OF PHOTOS- PROBABLY MORE THAN ANYONE WANTS TO KNOW... SHIRLEY HAD HIS FANS AND HIS ENEMIES ..>PROBABLY NO WORSE ENEMIES THAN THOSE IN MASTIC WHO FOUGHT WITH HIM TO KEEP THE RAIL ROAD STATION THERE.... IN THE END THERE'S A  LITTLE BRICK BUILDING SITTING WHERE F J QUINBY ENVISIONED A GRAND RAIL STATION IN 1910... THE LITTLE VICTORIAN AGE MASTIC STATION THAT WON THE PRIZE FOR HOLIDAY DECORATIONS IN 1959 WAS BULLDOZED SOON AFTER....

IN NOVEMBER OF 1950 AFTER COMING OUT FROM THE CITY A FEW TIMES IN THE LATE 1940'S TO VISIT OUR GRANDPARENTS, WE MOVED TO THE CORNER OF ELM  RD AND MCKINLEY DR. A FEW MONTHS BEFORE WE GOT THERE, FR SKELLY HAD CONVINCED HIS DIOCESE IN BROOKLYN TO PURCHASE THE KNAPP PLACE FROM GEORGE SUTTER AND TURN IT INTO A PARISH HOUSE, AND COMMUNITY CENTER WITH THE FINAL GOAL OF MAKING IT INTO A SCHOOL BY SEPT OF 1951.....IN JUNE OF 1950 THEY BROKE GROUND TO BEGIN CONSTRUCTION OF AN AUDITORIUM IN THE BACK YARD...THE WHOLE TOWN WAS BEHIND IT AND WITHIN A FEW MONTHS HAD RAISED ALMOST 58,000.00. THE AUDITORIUM GOAL WAS 75,000.00 SO THEY HAD MADE A STRONG START. THROUGH THAT SUMMER AND THE FOLLOWING YEAR FR SKELLY HELD MANY EVENTS IN THE BALL ROOM AND ON THE GROUNDS. A SUMMER SCHOOL , CARD PARTIES , MUSIC RECITALS ETC. WHEN MY SISTER JOINED THE GIRL SCOUTS IN 1951 SHE WENT TO HER MEETINGS THERE AND ALWAYS TALKED ABOUT WHAT IT WAS LIKE ON THE INSIDE....I NEVER GOT TO SEE IT THAT WAY...FOR SUDDENLY ST JUDES JUST WALKED AWAY FROM IT AND LEFT IT WIDE OPEN... WORD TRAVELED FAST AND WITHIN A WEEK OR TWO IT WAS CLEANED OUT OF ALL ITS FURNISHINGS, PAINTINGS, SPORTING GOODS ANTIQUES ETC... IT WASN'T LONG AFTER THAT KIDS STARTED TEARING UP THE PLACE....IN 1952 THE AUDITORIUM OPENED ITS DOORS ALONG SIDE THE CHURCH....THERE NEVER WAS A PUBLIC EXPLANATION WHY THE PLANS WERE CHANGED OR WHY THE MANSION WAS LEFT OPEN TO RUIN...FR SKELLY WAS TRANSFERRED SOON AFTERWARDS...

THEY SAY A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS.... IF SO WE HAVE ABOUT 170,000 WORDS MORE FOR YOU TO LOOK AT TODAY .......  SO I'M GOING TO WIND UP THE HOT AIR HERE....BUT BEFORE I DO I JUST WANT TO READ A SHORT LITTLE PIECE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED IN 1959.....

ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN MIDDLE OF FEBRUARY , MY DAD TOOK ME TO COMMACK TO SEE SOME GO KART RACES. I GOT HOME AROUND 3 O'CLOCK AND BUTCH AND OUR FRIEND DOUG PERCOCO WERE IN THE YARD. DOUG SUGGESTED WE GO OVER TO THE MANSION FOR A BIT BEFORE IT GETS DARK...WE HEADED OUT FOR IT AND WHEN WE ROUNDED THE CORNER OF JEFFERSON WE PROBABLY HADN'T GONE 20 FEET WHEN WE SAW IT. BECAUSE IT WAS THREE STORIES TALL THE MANSION LOOMED UP OVER THE TREE TOPS AND THERE WAS SMOKE COMING OUT OF THE UPPER STORY WINDOWS.... WE TURNED AROUND TO RUN HOME AND CALL IT IN AND IT JUST SO HAPPENED CHARLIE RATIGAN ROLLED UP ON US IN HIS 58 FORD BROOKHAVEN TOWN POLICE CAR. HE CALLED IT IN ON THE RADIO HE THEN TOOK OFF DOWN THE ROAD WITH US RUNNING BEHIND HIM.

WE WERE THERE WHEN THE FIRST FIRE TRUCK ARRIVED. A COUPLE OF FIREMAN RAN INSIDE TO SEE IF ANYONE WAS IN IT. CHARLIE THEN CAME OVER TO US TO TAKE OUR NAMES. IN A FEW MINUTES THE GROUNDS WERE COVERED WITH EVERYTHING MBFD HAD AND STILL SIRENS COULD BE HEARD. IT WAS MASTIC AND BROOKHAVEN DEPARTMENTS ON THE WAY TOO..... THERE CERTAINLY WAS ENOUGH EQUIPMENT THERE TO STOP THE FIRE...BUT WORD SOON CIRCULATED THAT FATHER O'REILLY SAID LET IT BURN... I HAD A LOT OF MIXED EMOTIONS THAT AFTERNOON ESPECIALLY AS I WATCHED THE ROOF COLLAPSE. IT WAS AROUND 8 OR NINE O'CLOCK WHEN WE FINALLY LEFT, BY THEN ALL THE WALLS WERE DOWN AND IT WAS JUST A HEAP..... THE FIREMAN WERE THERE TILL 4 AM. ITS A GOOD THING I DID GO TO THE RACES THAT DAY BECAUSE LITTLE DID WE KNOW WE WERE THE PRIME SUSPECTS FOR THE ARSONISTS. MRS. NELSON A FLOYD SCHOOL TEACHER WHO LIVED IN THE CONVERTED KNAPP BARN AT THE EAST END OF RAMSHORN TOLD CHARLIE HE WAS LOOKING AT THE WRONG KIDS.....FOR YEARS AFTERWARDS THERE WAS A LOT OF SPECULATION AS TO WHO DID SET THE FIRE. 

THE FOLLOWING DAY AFTER SCHOOL I RETURNED TO THE SCENE . SAM COLE WAS THERE WITH HIS DUMP TRUCK TO PULL DOWN THE 3 CHIMNEYS. WHEN THE FIRST ONE HIT IT SHOOK THE GROUND....THEN HE LET ONE CRASH INTO THE OTHER AND THE GROUND FELT LIKE AN EARTHQUAKE.....AFTER HE DROVE OFF IT WAS GETTING DARK AND I TOOK A QUICK LAST LOOK AT THE RUBBLE BUT WONDERED ALL THE WAY HOME WHAT IT MUST OF BEEN LIKE ONCE UPON A TIME WHEN THE KNAPPS LIVED HERE.....

THANK YOU........Let's Look At Some Photos ......... Erik if you will roll them please....