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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.)
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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.)
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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).
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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.
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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.
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