George Washing Lodge Preservation

A graceful parcel up for preservation
Marist property in Brookhaven hamlet targeted for planning steps
Long Island Advance, December 4, 1008, p. 11


The Marist Brothers of the Schools Inc. property on South Country Road in Brookhaven has been unanimously approved by the county for acquisition planning stages. The town and Post-Morrow Foundation has committed funds for its purchase.
ADV/Leuzzi

By LINDA lEUZZI

The bucolic swath of land owned by the Marist Brothers of the Schools Inc. on South Country Road in Brookhaven hamlet, up for sale, has been targeted for preservation by the town, county and the Post-Morrow Foundation, The Long Island Advance has learned.

Originally 35 acres, the parcel was home to a man named George Washington who built his house around 1865 and had a menagerie of animals, said Tom Williams, vice president of the Post-Morrow Foundation Inc.

Over the years, Williams said, the property dwindled down to 9.5 acres and the house at one time was used as the Bay Community School. The Marist Brothers, a Catholic teaching order dedicated to the Christian education of children and young people, bought it in the 1950s.

"Right now it houses some retired teachers from Marist College," Williams said. "But they're thinking it's too much to maintain."

Post-Morrow approached county Legislator Kate Browning as well as the town to purchase the property about six months ago, Browning said. "Isabella Rossellini contacted us too," Browning said. "It's in the Beaver Dam Creek watershed and I want to pre- serve it. We don't need to pollute it with more cesspools." The acquisition proposal, introduced by Browning, was passed unanimously by the legislation Tuesday. "Now we'll go through the process of appraising the property and speaking ,with the owner about acquisition," said Browning's spokesperson Joshua Slaughter.

"We passed the resolution to purchase it Nov. 13," said Councilwoman Connie Kepert (4th District).

"The town is kicking in 40 percent. One of the nice things is that it's close to other preserved parcels, the Lohmann farm and the Dennis Puleston Nature Preserve."

The county and town will purchase 7.6 acres. "Post- Morrow will purchase the remaining two acres with the house on it," Slaughter explained. "They'll handle the demolition. The more environmentally sensitive land is what the county and the town are purchasing. It's categorized as passive park land with a public use where hopefully there will be nature trails in the future and people can walk and hike on it."

Williams said Post-Morrow would contribute 10 percent to the purchase of the property.

Besides its proximity to Beaver Dam Creek, Williams said there were specimen trees on the property and it was considered a wildlife habitat as well. "We did a small study and found sapsuckers and other birds," Williams explained. "It's a place where wildlife is abundant and it's adjacent to the Dennis Puleston Nature Preserve. Those were our major reasons. And we feel it's a significant piece in the hamlet."

A history of the Marist property, known as the Washington Lodge, and George Washington may be found at here.

Uncovering Lively Times, then and now

Bellport High School History Club Restores Cemetery.

Long Island Advance, Thursday, December 11, 2008 Page 5

http://www.longislandadvance.net/index.php

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Documentary filmed

The Puleston Farm, located in Brookhaven hamlet was used as the site for filming a PBS documentary on Joan Baez and the Cambodian refuges.

Article from the Long Island Advance, Thursday, December 11, 2008, p. 5

http://www.longislandadvance.net/index.php

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Fire Place History Club news

Dear All,

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving as we look forward to the upcoming holiday  season. 

We hope that you were able to attend some of our Fire Place History Club events during the  past year. These included a presentation on the human and cultural history of Carmans River, the restoration and rededication ceremony of the Rose Cemetery, a bike tour of our historic cemeteries, and, just this month, John Deitz's "Brookhaven Hamlet Cultural History 101." We plan to do several new presentations in the upcoming year, and I will send you announcements beforehand. 

The FPHC board has also been spending much of its time this year mowing, cleaning and maintaining the eight larger historic cemeteries  – all work that Brookhaven Town is required by NYS law to do, but refuses to. Recently, we received some help from the Bellport High School History Club, and you can see pictures at this link:

 http://brookhavensouthhaven.org/cemeteries/Barteau/08-11-23HighSchoolHistoryClub/Cleanup08-11-23/index.htm

We see the cemeteries as a vital component of our historical and cultural heritage, and we have submitted a grant proposal for $11,000 to repair and restore them. However, all of this money and work will be in vain if Brookhaven Town doesn't commit to a long-term maintenance program. Much of the deterioration to these cemeteries was caused because of the Town's failure to maintain them. We have been pleading with the Town to do this minimal maintenance for many years to no avail. Now we are asking for your help: Please,  send either an e-mail or letter, sample below, to our Town Council members asking them to order the Town Parks Department to do their mandated job by mowing the lawns in our Brookhaven Hamlet historic cemeteries a few times a year and doing the minimal maintenance to ensure their conservation.

Sample letter or e-mail:

Dear Councilman/Councilwoman ________,

I am writing to urge you to preserve Brookhaven Hamlet’s unique history by ordering your Parks Department to do its job and maintain our historic cemeteries, which are deteriorating rapidly since the Town stopped maintaining them. If the 75 people employed by the Parks Department say that they don’t have enough personnel to do this, then the work should be done contractually.  

Sincerely,

Our Town representatives can be contacted with the e-mail addresses below. Thank you in advance for your help.  

--Marty

Brian Foley <bfoley@BROOKHAVEN.ORG>

Keith Romaine <councilmanromaine@BROOKHAVEN.ORG>

Jane Bonner <councilwomanbonner@BROOKHAVEN.ORG>

Constance Kepert <councilwomankepert@BROOKHAVEN.ORG>,

Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld <fiore-rosenfeld@BROOKHAVEN.ORG>

Jim LaCarrubba <jlacarrubba@BROOKHAVEN.ORG>

Kathleen Walsh <kwalsh@BROOKHAVEN.ORG>

Timothy P. Mazzei <TMAZZEI@BROOKHAVEN.ORG>

Fire Place History Club Urges Cemetery Maintenance

The following letter was sent on behalf of the Fire Place History Club on October 10, 2008.  As of  December 1, 2008, no response has been received.  This is not surprising, given the general nonresponsiveness of Brookhaven Town government, regardless of party, to citizen inquiries.  I can assure you that if we represented real estate interests, we would have not have been ignored!

Supervisor Brian X. Foley

Town of Brookhaven
One Independence Hill
Farmingville, New York 11738

October 10, 2008 

Dear Supervisor Foley, Members of the Council, 

The duty of the Town, pursuant to Article 17, § 291 of the Town Law of the State of New York, is to maintain abandoned cemeteries or burial grounds. 

The members of the Fire Place History Club have, for many years, been working to maintain historic cemeteries in Brookhaven and South Haven Hamlets, Town of Brookhaven, as a vital component of our historical and cultural heritage. We recently started a restoration program for these cemeteries, some of which have suffered significant deterioration. The community has been very supportive, both financially and in terms of volunteer work. It is our concern that, without appropriate long-term and consistent Town maintenance, they will again deteriorate after this work is completed. In perhaps another generation they will be lost forever. 

As stated above, the Town of Brookhaven is legally obligated to maintain these cemeteries. We have met several times with officers and representatives of the Town expressing our concerns and reiterating the Town’s duty. As far as we have been able to determine, all the cemeteries and burial grounds of interest are under Town ownership. We have provided the Town Parks department with all the necessary information as to their locations and their needs, and have repeatedly asked that they receive the minimal maintenance required.

We know that the Town has many obligations, but we ask that the Town Board pass a resolution requiring the Parks Department to immediately implement a long-term maintenance program for the cemeteries in accordance with NYS Town Law, Article 17, § 291.

Please provide us with a copy of the plan or proposal for the long-term maintenance and safe-keeping of Town cemeteries, by January 1, 2009. 

The need is urgent due to ongoing deterioration. Without corrective action, our commitment to those who rest in these burying grounds will impel us to file an Article 78 action so that this important cultural and historic heritage of our Town is not forever lost.

Sincerely, 

Martin Van Lith
18 River Lane
Brookhaven, NY 11719

John Deitz
7 Locust Lane
Brookhaven, NY 11719

Ron Kinsella
Meadow Lane
Brookhaven, NY 11719

Eben Ludlow
1 Chapel Ave
Brookhaven, NY 11719

cc:
Councilman Steve Fiore-Rosenfel
Councilwoman Jane Bonner
Councilwoman Kathleen Walsh
Councilwoman Connie Kepert
Councilman Timothy P. Mazzei
Councilman Keith Romaine
Edward Morris, Parks Dept
Karen M. Wilutis, Town Attny.

Michael Ince Exhibition @ Scoto Gallery, NYC

Visionaries and Outcasts

December 4, 2008- January 24, 2009

Reception: December 4, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Michael Ince, Olalekan B. Jeyifous, Pefura

Skoto Gallery

529 W 20th St, NYC

Skoto Gallery is pleased to present Visionaries and Outcasts, an exhibition of recent works by Michael Ince (USA), Olalekan B. Jeyifous (USA/Nigeria) and Pefura (France/Cameroon). The reception is Thursday, December 4th, 6-8pm and the artists will be present.

Despite their varied traditions and personal cultural backgrounds the three artists in this show respond to the challenges of developing strategies of survival and resistance in emerging societies, and in the process create aesthetic forms that respond to the consequences of political, economic and social crisis caused by policies of international financial organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank. Each of the artists explore issues such as the deterioration in the standard of living, environmental degradation, renewable energy, unemployment and migration that are likely related to the contradictory result of globalization due to policies that force these societies to devalue their currencies against the dollar; lift import and export restrictions; balance their budgets and not overspend; and remove price controls and state subsidies. This has led to the formation of mass movements and protests in every continent as people organize to combat the pillaging of the lands, resources and livelihood.

Michael Ince has always been motivated by a deep connection to nature, but over the years, the ability of social and economic policies to impact the natural world and its endangered state have become central to his practice. His sculpture installation River Bird Landing, 2008 is elegant in its poetic evocation of the fragility of our ecosystem as a result of the undermining of environmental rules and regulations. His forms, reduced to its essences are derived from nature and culture, and still suggest the actual objects to which they refer. They are the product of much thought and simple design that are meticulously crafted. He grew up in Brookhaven, Long Island where, when not in Paris, he lives with his family on a small farm surrounded by buildings of his making, planting carrots, rearing chickens, making prints and drawings, and birding. A 1964 graduate of Bowdoin College, he traveled to India as a Peace Corps, and has subsequently returned there on a major pilgrimage. He is widely exhibited in galleries around the US and in Paris; and in several collections.

 

______________________________________

 

The artist Michael Ince maintains homes with his wife Zabby in Brookhaven, Long Island, and Paris, France. He has had exhibitions at the A & E (Anson & Ellen) Atelier Gallery in Chelsea, and is currently working on several large commissions in Paris. 

Bellport High School History Club Works at Historic Barteau Cemetery

On Sunday, November 23, 2008, students with the Bellport High School History Club worked to clean up the historic Barteau Cemetery in Brookhaven Hamlet. The work was done under the auspices of the Fire Place History Club members Marty Van Lith and Ron Kinsella.