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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSD-43 [-OR OFFICE USE ONLY SD 43 BUILDING-STRUCTURE INVENTORY FORM 103 10L 00000 '�— ' UNIQUE SITE NO._ DIVISION FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION QUAD NEW YORK STATE PARKS.AND RECREATION SERIES ALBANY, NEW YORK (518) 474-0479 NEG. NO. YOUR NAME: Town of Southold(SPLIA ©ATE: November 1986 YOUR ADDRESS. Town Hall. main Road TELEPHONE: ( 516 ) 765-1.892 Southold , L.I. , N.Y. 11971 ORGANIZATION (if any): Southold Town _Community Levelopm n__ nt Off IDENTIFICATION 1, BUILDING NAME(S); Presbyterian Church 2. COUNTY: ql3ff 01 k TOWNICITY: Snjithnlrl _VILLAGE: 3. STREET LOCATION: Main Road . Rante 25, south si tie 4. OWNERSHIP: a, public ❑ b. private ❑ 5. PRESENT OWNER:First Church Society ADDRESS: same (, USE: Original: Church Present: 0bureb 7. ACCESSIBILITY TO PUBLIC. Exterior visible from public road: Yeses No ❑ Interior accessible: Explain DESCRIPTION 9. BUILDING a. clapboard ❑ b. stone ❑ c. brick ❑ d. board and batten ❑ MATERIAL.: e. cobblestone ❑ f. shingles ❑ g. stucco ❑ other: Vinyl siding 1). STRUCTURAL, a. wood frame with interlocking joints Ll SYSTEM: b. wood frame with light members ❑ (if kn(wn) c. masonry load bearing walls ❑ d. metal (explain) e. other I0. CONDITION: a. excellent KI b. good ❑ c. fair ❑ d. deteriorated ❑ 11. INTEGRITY: a. original site h. moved ❑ if so,when" c. list major alterations and dates (if known): The interior of the church was re-built in 1850. The exterior aluminum cladding was added in the 19801s. SD-RSM XXX-8 12. PI1oTo: From north west 13. MAP: N.Y.S . DOT Southold Quad . Front (north) and west elevation •Southold`' f ••S V. . Z_ . dhow HHL• Cera ,," 2`• JP E NE•K• .. ` i gM• P o• 20 V s SIS 43 .. 14. THREATS TO BUILDING: a.none known ® b. zoning ❑ c. roads ❑ d. developers ❑ e. deterioration ❑ f. other: 15. RELATED OUTBUILDINGS AND PROPERTY: a. barn❑ b. carriage house ❑ C. garage ❑ d. privy ❑ e. shed ❑ f. greenhouse ❑ g. shop ❑ h. gardens ❑ i. landscape features: i. other: picket fence 16. SURROUNDINGS OF THE BUILDING (check more than one if necessary): a.open land IM b. woodland ❑ c, scattered buildings M d.densely built-up ❑ e. commercial X1 f. industrial g. residential h.other: 17. INTERRELATIONSHIP OF BUILDING AND SURROUNDINGS: (Indicate if building or structure is in an historic district) The hamlet of Southold is a medium-low density historic community. The Main Road is lined with large trees and well spaced old houses with lawns and greenery. Adjacent to the church is the old burial ground . 18. OTHER NOTABLE FEATURES OF BUILDING AND SITE (including interior features if known): Large , gable roof, pilastered church, 5 bays deep, with double rows of 12/12 windows on east and west elevations. The steeple slightly projecting on the main facade rises from the roof in two balustraded tiers surmounted by an octagonal belfry with ogival roof, sphere , and pinnacle . SIGNIFICANCE 0. DATE OF INITIAL CONSTRUCTION: 1803 ARCHITECT: BUILDER: '0. HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE: A plaque reads: "American Presbyterian and Reformed Historical Site No. 100. Registered by the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pa." The area is the site of the oldest Meeting house in the State of New York, built shortly after the founding of Southold Town by the Puritans in 1640. (October 21, 1640) The second Meeting house was built in 1684, and the pre- sent church was incorporated on April 6 , 1784 ; the church now standing was built in 1803 . 21, SOURCES: Joy Bear. Historic Houses . . .1981. P 46 Randall Lee Saxon. -Voices in the Wilderness. Brentwood Christian Fress, Columbus , . 9 5 .P.37 R.M. Bayles. Sketches of Suffolk County . .1S74.p.374. THL NIF: Form prepared by Rosemary Skye Moritt , research assistant . J f i 9 871 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD. TOWN OF sOLTHOLL 875 rods west of the present Presbyterian church site. After a and in the rear of it stands a long row of sheds which coat better one was built, in 1684, the first was sold to the County upwards of$1,000. for a prison, in which use it was continued until 1725. A An Academy was built in Southold during the year 1834_ deep excavation, which may be seen in the grave yard at the The people of the First church contributed about four-fifths present day, is the remains of a dungeon which waa con- of the money for the pnrpose, but they consented to its atrncteci beneath the building, and now indicates the site of organization on very objectionable principles, and the build- the original church. A third building was erected in 1711, ing was soon sold for debt. It was incorporated by the and continued in use ninety-two years. It was in size thirty- State Legislature April 21, 1837, and during a part of the two by fifty feet, and stood on the opposite aide of the street time was sustained in a creditable manner. It changed from the fust, a short distance west of the resent chs a ownership, however, Some eight or ten times, and the While this building was standing the Revolution occurred, building was at different times appropriated to different and the State became the possessor of the eminent domain. purposes, until April 7, 1863, when it was sold to an agent The State required the church to elect trustees according to of Bishop McLaughlan. It was afterwards moved, en law, and directed these trustees to take the property of every larged, and adapted to the purposes of public worship for kind and however acquired, which had been used for relig- St. Patrick's R. C. church, organized that year, and is still ions purposes, and hold it for the use and benefit of the occupied by that denomination. It stands on the north side J church. This was done forthwith, and so the First church of of the main street, a short distance west of the Presbyterian Southold become the first church organized in Suffolk county chapel, and a handsome residence for the use of the Priest under the authority of the State of New York. The present has recently been erected on the cast side of it. Presbyterian church was erected in 1803. It is a substantial Southold Academy stands on a pleasant site, adjoiiing the looking edifice, forty by sixty feet in size, and supplied with railroad track., a short distance north of the institutions the modern improvements, standing on the south side of the already noticed. The land was bought, and the bTjilding main street in the northeast part of the village cemetery. erected in 1857, under the direction of Messrs Barnabas H This old burying ground having been enlarged, comprises Booth, Henry Huntting, and Rev. Epher Whitaker. These persona had collected from about forty donors nearly Kia 1 some five or six acres of ground,and is well filled with graves, rs. thousand dollars for this object. Henry Hnntting, Esq., and some of which contain the remains of the primitive settle Capt. Theron B. Worth had each given $1,000, and the The interior of the church was re-built and re-furnished in former afterwards greatly increased his donation. The 1 1850. A chapel belonging to this church was built in 1871, at founders placed the title, by a deed of trust, in the hands of j a Bost of$2,004. It stands on the opposite aide of the street, the Trustees of the First church (Presbyterian) thereby a& �I ' Sketches of Suffolk Uount�. . R.M. Bayles 174 a } SD 41 ' - r Second Section/ The Suffolk Times August8age IA . 1985 Up 0 n Jh e Yooj Suffolk Times staff photographer) Ahrens loves weather vanes.Among her 75—VO–riles: 1. Methodist Church, Cutch- ague;2.Private residence,N,-,'h F?—d, C;ro,-nport; I Presbyteria=r Cnwm, cuichogue, 4. Universalist Church, Southold;5. Methodist Church,Green- port;6.Presbyterian Church Southold; :--------- 7.Private barn,North Road,Nnuthold 1. U [lllF-= "111111 lh"" 6. = 11 wig t ,:r r J f Suffolk County Seat and Justice 1 Y W o�Akn txV��� Southold This seal which has the figure of an ox was adopted by the board of supervisors in 1784. THE BIRTH OF THE COUNTY SEAT The long incubation period from 1659 to 1727 was over. Riverhead was born unid turmoil and strife. Its birth was an appeasement effort to try to curb Southold and Southampton's hatred of each other. The Justices of the Peace of Suffolk County at General Sessions held in September, 1727, sought an act of the Colonial Assembly enabling them to AL erect a "Convenient Court house and Gaol in a most commodious place at or Around the Forks . : near a Place commonly called by the name of the head of the River Aquaboug Yeager (Aquebogue)or Pekonnick(Peconic) ear , gage This was to settle a hot dispute between Southampton and Southold as to which community should be the County Seat. Back in the Spring following the organization of Suffolk County in 1683, the Court of Sessions meeting at Southampton had ordered that,a prison house be provided at Southold also. Accordingly, the people of Southold converted their first old meeting Rouse into the required prison and the cn butt a new church for t e use, Southampton's older jail house was also continued in use for almost a century so the courts continued to be held alternately at Southampton and Southold. This pleased no one, thus the decision to make Riverhead the County Seat. It was enacted by the Governor's Council and General Assembly on Nov. 25, 1727, that the "free holders,inhabitants, residents and sojourners" in the county be assessed the sum of four hundred pounds to be collected one half by March 25 following, and the remainder by April 1, 1729. The collectors were paid nine pence on the pound for their services. With the funds so raised, the first County Hall and Jail at Riverhead was erected on the north side of Main Street on the site of the late Perkins Store. A bronze plaque, placed there by the Suffolk County Historical Society,marks the site. Perhaps the funds so raised weren't too great for an old article stares—"It was a rather sorry looking building of contracted dimensions. The Count and SOUTHOLD--In 1640, Pastor John Youngs and his small band sailed south from New Haven, through what is now l named Plum Gut and along the bay side of the North Fork,a land area the Indians ,. called Yennicott. These Puritans knew { ) exactly where they were going, and v moored in a protected harbor today S ouTil 1t ofd kn Strong n as Founders Landing Strong willed, self reliant and God- fearing, these Englishmen adapted an Indian trail as the main road of the Presbyterian village which they laid out -- the same �f t Main Road which runs through the hamlet of Southold today.Families were Churchgranted acre lots on either side of this road for homes. Their church was founded October 21, 1640- The Town of Founded 1640 Southold was born. SS The building sketched at right is the - Will I-+' Rev. Alexander Sime, church's third. Its first building was in V C-t the adjoining cemetery,the site marked ® © 0 Minister today by Founders Monument. Denise — y Limouze,church historian,says the first building was probably rough frame or tog, with either small leaded-glass win- i 4 _ t j CD SD 0 dows or shutters with no glass. It = q probably had a dirt floor,benches and no O heat. It was nevertheless a very im- rtant house, serving as church, town 'I''' i 0 ha g ih i lr 11 Ill III I hall and fortress.Membership was man- y 1 datory for those who wanted to live in the town,vote,share in pastures and public �-��; lands and be covered by the town's ;� , protection. The second meeting house was built in iW--the year after Suffolk County was organized. It was located on the north The church's third building is the one burned whale oil,that fuel repla- side of Main Road.roughly across from sketched here, beautiful inside and out. early i90o's by acetylene gas and the present church building. In this Its cornerstone was laid in 11103 by Hon, electricity. second building, members were seated Ezra L'Hommedieu,probably Southold's During work done on the exter according to their status in the commun. first citizen at the time. The seating church building recently some v ity.with prominent citizens and officials capacity of 400 gives an indication of how age-blackened boards were Fou up front. the community had grown. the sheathing, inside the wall Q ` tr On April 6, 1784, the church was in 1832, the church united with the With a knife into the boards v 18th CcQty graffiti? - incorporated as the"First Church,Con- Presbytery and became the First Pres- circa-1803 graffiti. What was ry g gregation or Society in Southold." This byterian Church of Southold. 19th century graffiti?Well,this historic occasion marked the separation A gun rack once stood in the vestibule. be typical,but one old board be Mirk KI1; 2 Cor. 5:4 of the church from town government,and In the sanctuary today, red-cushioned cut-in words: Peter Tuthill 179: gave the church, not the Town, owner- pews retain their original doors. Some XII. The other board has the Job 1:15-17; HOSt1 2.1q ship of its property, including the ceme- old panes of glass are still to be seen in hand-cut lettering- 2 Cor. 5:4 • lery. the large windows. A chandelier once 15.17: Hosea 2:14. 46 C1] C w SD 43 Voices in the Wilderness. R.L. Saxon 1985 est between i idwaters to concerned under the � �i"; 1 �iiuur,• ' a band of -" 1^ , . Hers began I IIS I"'4 Uu massacred become an ons before us colony. IOU__ ttempts to I derness, it JV colonizing the Church - t freedom in Spain had - r ise to look ?_ ►" Iat - s might be r:i f ►,, i 1 a ;;�,', -esbyterian SOUI'HOLD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Organized October 21, 1640 Southold, Long Island One of the oldest Presbyterian congregations in the de- nomination today, this church was organized by a Connecticut colony led by Reverend John Yonges (Youngs). Early in the congregation's life, one-quarter of the men at worship were required to be fully armed, and sentinels were posted without the meeting house to warn of Indian attack. In 1784 the church was the first on Long Island to incorporate and elect Trustees. In 1832 the church became fully Presbyterian, and on March 25th of that year elected its first Elders, all of whom had served as Deacons in the Congregational style. Many influential men and women of Congregational, Huguenot, and Presbyterian tradition lie buried in the historic graveyard adjacent to the church. 37 SD 43 Photo SD-RSM V111-2 From NE y _ l THE TRIANGLE "The Graat Triangle That Called The Congregation To Worship" . "Removed in 1855 from the present Steeple. Dedicatpd November 1975 in Observance of the Bicentennial Year of our Country" . f F 000/, NEW YORK STATE HISTORIC TRUST STATEWIDE SURVEY OF HISTORIC SITES AND BUILDINGS logo 1. Name (Common and Historic) First Presbyterian Church of Southold Location 2. Suffolk 3. Southold 4. CountyTown Village or City S. Address or Location 1v1Glvz c1; ;0OfL-1 Side.; cozA- o� WWCUW A-.z rlMe� Religious 6. Type Federal 7. Subject or Theme Architectural 8. Date of Construction 1803 9 . Architect (If Known) 10. Builder (If known) 11. Original Owner First Pres. Ch. of Southold 12. Original Use Church 13. Present Owner First Pres. Ch. of Southold Name same Address 14. Present Use Church 1S. Physical Condition Excellent. 16. Surveys a L. I . Survey, (Office of Planning Coordination) . 17. Future Action Federal Register 18. Surveyed by R. Wiggins, Cuddebackville, N. Y. , March 68 . Date Surveyed DSP-23 History and Significance: ` R More than likely this is the most New England-like church #� L. I . It is exceptionally handsome, sophisticated, & well main- tained by a wealthy congregation. Sources of Information: Plaque. L. I . Survey, (Office of Planning Coordination. ) Photograph: Date Direction of View March 68. S. Map Location: GS Coordinates �r Moth �t t ca t 1 1 N