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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCompletion Report- Eastern Sect 1987-1988 TOWN OF SOUTHOLD Eastern Section Completion Report SOCIETY FOR THE Project Director Barbara Van Liew PRESERVATION OF LONG ISLAND ANTIQUITIES Setauket, Long Island Research Assistants Rosemary Skye Moritt Kurt E. Kahofer Car t oE.~phy Kurt E. Kahofer TABLE OF CONTENTS A. Survey Methodology .............................. 1 B. Summary Description of Historic Resources Inventory ................. 3 C. Summary Statement of Significance ............... 5 D. Recommendations ................................. 8 E. List of Structures Worthy of Further Research .................... 9 COMPLETION REPORT Uown of Southold Survey 1987-1988 Eastern Section Survey Methodology After preliminary research in former studies, publications, old atlases and maps, collections of photographs, National Register lists, Historic American Building Survey, Town landmark list, and SPLIA sources files, and after consultation with Town Historian, local libraries, local historians, and residents, an infield windshield survey was conducted with project director and research assis- tant making a visual examination of every older structure in the subject area. Decisions were made at this time as to which structures would be inventoried, each was given a code number, and a brief analysis was made stating the reason for the structure's significance following the New York State Historic Resources Survey Manual criteria. At the same time consideration was given to groups of buildings that might be suitable for de- signation as historic distr/~?cts. A value Judgment of the visual impact of the negative intrusions was included. -1- Survey Methodology continued: New York State inventory forms were then pre- pared and arranged in folders in geographical sequence. Xeroxes of New York State inventory or National Register forms that were already on file in Albany were incorpor- ated into the folders in the same geographical sequence. Attachments have been added to forms when avail- able so that persons unfamiliar with Southold can under- stand the significance of a structure or site. -2- Summary Description of Historic Resources Inventory The comprehensive inventory, Town of Southeld, Year III, 1987-1988, has involved 273 new forms which have covered the outlying sections of Greenport, the hamlets of East Marion and Orient, Plum Island, the Gull Islands, and Fishers Island. These comprise the eastern section of the town, and extend from Ashamomaque on the west to the Connecticut and Rhode Island bound- aries. Except for that boundary on the west, the area - which varies in width from a mere sand beach to one or two miles - is completely surrounded by water with Fishers Island lying close to the coast of Connecticut. While the areas are all different, they have in common their glacial origin, having been deposited by the glacier ten thousand years ago. The terrain slopes from the bluffs along the Long Island Sound shore to the irregular, marshy southern shoreline with its numerous inlets, ponds, and bays. Be- tween .~ast Marion and Orient the peninsula narrows to a few rods in width which means that Orient is almost an island. All the areas were prime farmland, and East Marion and Orient with expanses of open fields are still noted for their agricultural activity. The areas surveyed are primarily low density residential. The only commercial development is found in a very small pocket on Fishers Island. While Plum Island is a U. S. Government restricted center for animal disease research and Great Gull Island -3- Summary Description of Historic Resources Inventory con'd: is now a nature preserve, these along with Fishers Island - formerly supported major coastal defense installations which were only abandonned in the 1950's. There are six lighthouses in the subject area. These are Orient Point, Plum Island, Little Gull Island, Race Rock, North Dumpling, and Latimer Reef. The hamlet center and harbor area of Orient, where there is a fine concentration of early buildings, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the Orient Historic District. This present survey studied the houses outside of that district. -4- Summary Statement of Significance Prior to the first settlement by Europeans there were a number of Indian villages on Long Island. Indian occupation of the subject area has been documented by considerable research (GR 4, OR 72, WE] A). The English arrived in Southold in 1640, and John Winthrop purchased Fishers Island likewise in the 1640's. From that first period there are two houses in this subject area (GR 21) (OR 35). As in the western part of the town, Main Road - the original Kings Highway is lined with old houses, many dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries. These are significant examples of the local vernacular, being e~ther a 1 1/2-story, 3-bay, gable roof, side entrance plan house with a smaller wing at one side (called "a house" in the local parlance) or a i 1/2-story, 5-bay, Cape Cod-style, gable roof house (called a "double house" lo6ally). Until recently all of Main Road throughout the length of the Town of Southold was noteworthy for the large number of these ancient Cape Cod-style 5-bay houses that lined this historic highway. Many of these have Vanished or been hidden by inappropriate alterations, but here in the sub- ject area a considerable number survive in a recognizable form. These little wood-built houses display a charm and picturesque quality that is unusual. Also surviving from the 18th century are the mile- stones which occur at one mile intervals along this road (GR 8, GR 13a, GR 28, EM 40, OR 13, OR 36A, OR 46A, OR 61.) -5- C. Summar~ Statement of Significance con't. On Fishers Island houses that remain from the period when the Winthrop family owned the island are believed to date from the early 1800'$. They do not resemble the classic North Fork house, but seem to be a umique vernacular ex- pression (FI 7 & FI 43). The outstanding Greek Revival period house in the subject area ia the Harmon Tuthill house with its Amon Tabor III doorway (EM 44). From the 1840's and 1850's there are several flat- roofed two-story houses similar to those found in western Southold. These are found along Main Road in East Marion and Orient although there is one west of Greenport on Route 25 (GR 7a). They were remarked upon in the Town of Southold Summer of History, Map Section three, in 1965 and also in the book Long Island Landmarks published in 1969 by the State Office of Planning Coordination. Also from this period is the magnificent Brecknock Hall, a stone mansion built with proceeds from whaling (GR 23). With the area's many inlets and small harbors and the major deep water port - Greenport - it is not surprising that a number of the houses surveyed were the homes of sea captains (EM 13, EM 19, EM 47). The majority of the houses have their barns still in use for agricultural purposes. Many of these barns date from the i9th century, although there are a few from the 1700's. (See List of Structures Worthy of Further Research.) -6- Summary Statement of Significance con~t. According to local sources, Irish and German immi- grants came to the area in the mid 1800's, probably originally to build the railroad which was completed in 1844 or to work in the Ashamomaque brick yards. On Fishers Island workers ~n the brick manufactory were of Irish extractiom (Form FI 43). Toward the turn-of-the-century there were two note- worthy developments in the subject area. One was the pur- chase of Fishers Island by the Fergusons followed by the erection df some remarkable shingle-style mansions in the 1890's (WE 15, WE 14, WE 9). The other was the establish- ment of major defense installations at Plum Island, Gull Island and Fishers Island. While it is primarily the officers' residences that remain on Fishers Island, Plum Island has buildings. and re~in the finest concentration of significant military They are currently in use, are well preserved, their integrity (PI 1 - PI 15). -7- Recommendations Ail the structures for which forms have been pre- pared are worthy of protection from inappropriate alter- ations. It is hoped that at least some may be given landmark status by the Town of Southold. The town is very fortunate to have a knowledgable Landmarks Commission. It is recommended that an Architectural Review Board be established and that it and the Landmark Commission be given Jurisdiction over commercial and shorefront as well as residential areas in order to preserve the identity and character of Southold. On each form the significant architectural details have been described. In the paragraph "Integrity" inappro- priate alterations have been noted so that they may be re- moved if the owner so desires. Main Road in East Marion presents a visual continuity of old houses with relatively few negative intrusions. It should be considered for nomination to the National Register of His ~ric Places as a district. The buildings remaining from Fort Terry on Plum Island might be appropriate for nomination to the National Register as a district. There are very few visual intrusions. (PI 1 - Pi 15). On Fishers Island National Register recognition might be appropriate for the Winthrop and Fox buildings FI 7, FI 43, WE 18, and for the Ferguson-era mansions on the west end, WE 6, WE 7, WE 8, WE 14, WE 15. -8- E. List of Structures Worthy of Further Research Individual Structures Brickyard School on Fishers Island (FI 43). D.A. Conklin (?) barn (GR 11). Conklin/Faulkner mansion (GR 12). Derby house (GR 19) at 214 Bridge Street. Douglas Moore (Musician, composer) home and studio in Cutchogue (no form). Barns An attempt in 1972 to survey Southold's old barns was analyzed and documented by H.F. Tares as his thesis for a degree at Columbia University in 1981. While the Tares work is a valuable resource, it is not complete. Southold's barns are worthy of further research. Buildin8 campaigns on Fishers Island There are a number of instances on Fishers Island where concentrations of types of buildings have been represented in this survey by a samplin~ of the struc- tures.-~' The cottages built in the Fox era of the 1870's are sampled in WE 8 and WE 11. The many Mansion House cottages are represented by WE 12, and WE 19. The Fort Wright Officers' Quarters are typified by WE 3. The large concemtration of country mansions that were built on the ~ast end of Fishers Island in the 1920's and 1930's are sampled in forms FI 2 through FI 40. There are un- doubtedly other structures in these categories which are worthy of further research. -9-