USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 28
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 28
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BELMONT LAKE STATE PARK
A new interest and importance will be attached to Belmont Lake State Park with the completion of an easterly extension of the Southern State Parkway to Deer Park Avenue north of the Village of Babylon, the completion of which was interrupted by the stoppage of all construction during the war. Formerly reached only by local town roads, the park will now be readily accessible to all motorists.
In 1864 access to this area also played an important part in shaping its future use for according to early records it was because of the "fields, fresh water brooks and pond and its easy access by way of excellent dry sandy roads" that August Belmont chose this loca- tion as the site for his Nursery Stud Farm and there established a country estate of 1100 acres devoted to the breeding of thoroughbred horses whose names were to become internationally famous.
With the extension of the Southern State Parkway furnishing a new means of access to this area will come thousands of new visitors who know nothing of Belmont Nursery Stud Farm, of the "dry sandy roads", or of the natural beauty or other advantages which in later
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vears and under different conditions of usage also made it a logical site for a State Park. Even by closely inspecting all existing land- marks it is not easy to visualize this large estate as it was during the height of its glory.
By the time Kingfisher, The Ill-Used, Matador, Fiddlesticks and other famous stallions of the nineteenth century were holding court at this North Babylon estate it had been made into one of the most complete establishments for the breeding and raising of racing horses in this country. Over 500 acres were under cultivation and furnishing all sustenance for horses and other livestock. About 150 more acres were down in grass together with some 50 acres of paddocks. In addi- tion to a 24-room mansion which was completed in 1868 and served as the Belmont country home, there were more than thirty other build- ings on the estate. On the forty-acre lake, close to the main house, was a boat house. In back of the house was a recreation building containing squash courts, game rooms and the master's carriage shed. An ice house, conservatory, and dog kennels completed the building arrangement in the immediate vicinity of the main residence. A quarter mile south of the residence were located the main buildings for the accommodation of the thoroughbreds. These consisted of a huge structure over one hundred feet long with sufficient space to exercise horses during inclement winter months. Adjacent buildings contained stalls, boxes, saddle rooms and feed storage. This entire group of buildings was connected by covered and enclosed walks. Close by the main stables were trainers' residences, cook house and bunk house with accommodations for fifty stable boys. To the west of the stables was a fine level mile track with sheds and a grandstand where Belmont and his friends watched and clocked trials of future champions.
Incidental smaller buildings were scattered over the estate. Among these were two silos, a blacksmith shop, and on the south end of the lake a small grist mill which for a time prepared the horses' grain. The main farm buildings consisting of large barn, cow shed, pig pens, etc., were located on the east side of the lake. In this area were also located five farm cottages. The entire holdings were served by a complete water system supplied from two windmill-powered wells.
Mrs. August Belmont was a daughter of Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry who in 1853 opened Japan to western civilization and who was a brother of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. Oliver Hazard Perry won the naval battle of Lake Erie over the British on September 10, 1813, and sent the famous message to President James Madison,-"We have met the enemy and they are ours." From a Pittsburgh junkyard Mrs. Belmont resurrected two cannons from one of the English ships captured during that battle and had them set up in front of the mansion. Under a group of large Norway Spruce to the north of the mansion she established a cemetery for the family's pets. It was here that she interred her pet horse and marked the grave with an appropriate headstone.
After the expenditure of large sums of money and after more than twenty years of experimenting, Mr. Belmont became convinced that the location of this famous stud farm was not the best for the
.
The Belmont Mansion as it appeared in 1932 when used as Park headquarters
This building, constructed in 1868, has been torn down. The two British cannons, one of which is shown above, still remain in place.
Park Commission office building
Of colonial architecture on west side of Belmont Lake was constructed on the site of old Episcopal Church. Many persons mistakenly believe this office to be the old Belmont Mansion.
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raising of thoroughbreds whose young bones required grazing land with more lime in the soil. Not content with anything but the best for his horses, in 1885 he moved his entire racing stock to a new establishment in Kentucky but continued to spend much of his time at the Babylon estate which became a place for the wintering of full-grown horses and for the care of ailing ones. He was principally known around Babylon during this period for his vigilance in pre- venting any trespassing on his estate. Sometimes pedestrians along his private roads were prominent men of Babylon out for a walk through the countryside and he was acquainted with them, but it made no difference who they were. All intruders were ordered off.
On November 24, 1890, August Belmont 1st died and the once glorious Nursery Stud Farm with all its remaining stock was sched- uled to be sold at auction. The Spirit of the Times in its issue of August 20, 1891, commented on the proposed sale as follows:
Although sentiment plays, as a rule, but a very minor part in the everyday life of the present day, it is impossible but that racing men will feel some trace of it when the famous Nursery Stud Farm, near Babylon, L. I., where the late Hon. August Belmont spent so many thousands of dollars in working out his ideas of what a fine breeding farm should be, is sold under the hammer. In the pastures of the Nursery Farm have grazed a host of thoroughbreds, whose names form an integral portion of the annals of American racing. The good sportsman who created this charming property from the rough, scrubby stretches that it formerly comprised, has also created a tradition of honor- able, upright conduct of a great racing stable, second to none in the world. We sincerely hope that the Nursery Farm will pass into the hands of some gentleman whose pride it will be to keep the savor of its name as sweet in the nostrils of the racing community as it has always hitherto been.
Twenty-nine racing horses at the farm were sold at auction but the entire remaining estate passed to the then 37-year-old August Belmont, Jr. The second August Belmont made further improve- ments and for a number of years the estate was used as a sports- men's paradise for Mr. Belmont, his family and friends. The two rows of tall spruce along the road leading to the west from the estate were planted by him around 1895 and still remain as an attractive approach to the area from the west. Mr. Belmont not only continued to provide the best accommodations for his livestock, but also gave thought to the spiritual well-being of his employees and followers. Just to the north of the family mansion he erected an Episcopal Chapel, known as St. Elizabeth, and employed a rector, the late Reverend Eugene Fay, to preach and care for the Parish.
The younger Belmont devoted much of his time to the breeding of stock for the cavalry of the U. S. Army and when the World War came in 1917 he turned over a large portion of his estate to the Army Air Corps for use as a training camp. In turn he was made
View of Belmont Lake
As it appears today from near the site of the old mansion. August Belmont's boat- house was located between the two trees in the foreground.
Old dairy and livestock barns
On east side of Belmont Lake, used for 14 years as equipment and repair shops, have now been demolished.
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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND STATE PARKS
a Major. The camp with extensive barracks was maintained on the estate for the duration of the war and was known as Camp Dam.
When August Belmont, Jr., died on December 10, 1924, the lands passed to his widow, Eleanor Robson Belmont, who continued to live there. Mrs. Belmont was born in England and later became a famous American actress and playwright. After her husband's deatlı no one in the family had the inclination or means to carry on the name of Belmont in the sport of kings.
Early in 1925 she sold all but a small portion of the estate to Cadman H. Frederick who promptly subdivided most of it into lots. The remaining 158 acres, including the lake, the mansion and the main farm buildings, Mr. Frederick sold to the State of New York for $97,000 by deed dated May 10, 1926. The following year the State also purchased all the lands retained by Mrs. Belmont. Since that time additional acquisitions for park purposes have brought the total area of Belmont Lake State Park to over 350 acres, a mere one- third of the original area of the Belmont estate. But many things still remain in this small fraction of the original estate to remind one of its past fame and glory.
On the east side of the park, the present refreshment stand and cafeteria is the same structure built by August Belmont, 1st, in 1870 for a pig pen. One of the present park comfort stations like- wise at one time housed prize poultry. Plans have now been prepared to replace these buildings with modern facilities. In 1927 the mainte- nance and equipment shops of the Long Island State Park Commission were moved from Mineola into the original dairy barn on the east side of the lake and remained there until 1941. The family mansion was used as the main park administration headquarters until 1935 when it was razed. During that period former bedrooms were used as executive offices and the squash court in the rear of the main building, as well as other rooms, were used for drafting rooms by the engineering staff.
In 1929 the voters of the Village of Babylon approved a convey- ance to the State of a corridor connecting Argyle Park on Montauk Highway with Belmont Lake. This corridor, about three and one- half miles in length, borders a swift flowing stream along which have been constructed foot trails, bridle paths, benches and rustic bridges. Just south of the Sunrise Highway the Belmont Trail widens into what is known as Southard's Pond area, where future plans provide for further improvements. The trail system between Belmont Lake and the Village park has insured for all time the conservation of beauty and usefulness of this fresh water stream.
The present new office building completed in 1935 was constructed on the site of Belmont's Episcopal Chapel which together with all its furnishings had been given to the Mother Church and taken to Flush- ing. Although the old mansion is now gone the two cannons cap- tured by Commodore Perry and placed on the front lawn by Mrs. Belmont still remain in their original position. Upon inspection of these, one will notice the English crests cast in relief. The stately spruce trees now form a shaded mall on each side of which will run
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the pavement of the Southern State Parkway. "In Memory of My Faithful Dog Robin, May 24th, 1875", and other inscriptions can still be read on the headstones marking the graves of the family's pets beneath the group of spruce trees in front of the new office building.
But gone are the "dry, sandy roads", the paddocks and the old man who used to chase occasional intruders. In their place is a fine State Park already visited by 235,000 persons each year and now destined to see even more. Popular with visitors are the skating and boating facilities on the lake which was drained in the winter of 1933 and graded to a uniform depth of about three feet. The grading and cleaning out of the lake was carried forward as a Work Relief project and involved the removal of two thousand tree stumps and thousands of yards of muck which had accumulated since the time it was enlarged and cleaned out by August Belmont prior to 1870. Around the north end of the lake a nature trail has been established with marked specimens of flora and fauna of Long Island. Some of the animals and birds on exhibit along the trail are fox, turtles, snakes, frogs, squirrels, raccoons, skunks, owls, hawks, etc. To the north of the old dairy barns on the east side of the lake are situated the play fields and picnic areas with tables, drinking fountains, fireplaces, etc. The repair and equipment shops are now housed north of the adminis- tration building on the west side of the lake and the vitally needed space, formerly occupied by the unsightly old barns, is now available for public usage.
With the coming of better means of access to Belmont Lake State Park and the consequent increase in the number of visitors, the use of this small additional space becomes very important. The park area on the east side of the lake is quite inadequate to meet future needs and considerable additional land must be acquired.
Efforts have been made from time to time to obtain funds from private sources to round out the park. A few years ago Mr. Perry Belmont, the then only surviving son of August Belmont, Sr., sug- gested that it would be appropriate to place a large bronze statue of his father at a suitable location in the park. The statue, a remark- able likeness of the founder of the Belmont fortune, was owned by his son. He was willing to pay for moving it but felt that he could not donate sufficient funds to acquire additional lands to make a suitable site in the already overcrowded park area, so his suggestion was abandoned. For a number of years Mr. Perry Belmont used the Belmont Nursery Farm as his legal residence and was twice elected to Congress from this district. He was, incidentally, the only person ever elected to Congress from the Town of Babylon. Perry Belmont died on May 25, 1947, at the age of ninety-six.
Looking back a half century ago, the wish expressed in regard to the future use of the Belmont estate by the editors of The Spirit of the Times seems unimportant in view of the public benefit now derived from even this small part of the original area. Associations of the past that prompted the wish, however, still linger and will continue as a matter of interest and reflection to all who visit Belmont Lake State Park.
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HECKSCHER STATE PARK
Never in the history of the State of New York has the acquisition of land for park purposes had such far-reaching results as did the establishment of Heckscher State Park at East Islip.
It was the subject of actions in every possible court from the County Court of Suffolk County to the Supreme Court of the United States and involved twenty-five separate appellate proceedings.
It was the cause of a special summer session of the state legislature.
It held up the expenditure of park funds throughout the entire state for nearly a year.
It was the subject of mass meetings, printed pamphlets and news- paper campaigns.
It was instrumental in changing the route of a parkway more than thirty miles away.
The property involved in the controversy having these far-reach- ing results was formerly the George C. Taylor estate of 1500 acres on the Great South Bay in the Town of Islip. It was wild and pic- turesque property with a wild and picturesque history.
George C. Taylor, who assembled this large tract, had been an unusual and eccentric man of considerable means. In 1886 he built there a large and ornate country home. He erected about 30 other buildings, such as carriage barn, stables, dairy barns, greenhouses, and quarters for his employees, etc. The wooded areas of the estate he stocked with deer and game birds. For proper effect he had peacocks and a herd of elk wandering about the lawns of the man- sion. Inside he displayed seven cupid-like statues of himself, sup- posedly representing the seven ages of man. The spacious porches of the mansion overlooked a broad canal, starting at the far edge of the lawn and stretching over half a mile to the bay. In the canal he kept a yacht for cruising and fishing in bay and ocean. In fact everything was apparently perfect for the normal life of a country gentleman.
But George C. Taylor's life at his Islip estate was far from what the good people of the local community considered normal. He isolated himself on the estate with a common-law wife. Their daughter was rarely seen off the private grounds. They hired special tutors and instructors for her and when the bicycle craze came along they imported a bicycle instructor from England who brought with him all available models of English-made bicycles. They also had con- structed a special bicycle house for storing and repairing the newly acquired equipment. The outcome of these activities was that the girl who had been so zealously guarded unexpectedly ran off and was married to her bicycle instructor by a local Justice of the Peace.
This may or may not have contributed to George C. Taylor's eccentricities. In any event he and his companion became heavy drinkers. At times the winding staircase in the three-story mansion became hard to navigate so he had an elevator installed. Other tales relate how he built a log cabin not far from the mansion where he
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kept his liquor stores and where he slept after one of his frequent quarrels with his common-law wife.
This wild gossip which had kept the locality excited for so long a time came to an end in 1908 when George C. Taylor and his com- panion died within a few days of each other.
The large estate passed to three sisters and a brother and several of their kin but the property remained practically unused and unoccu- pied for the next sixteen years. These heirs, about eighteen in number, formed a corporation, known as the Deer Range Corporation, for the purpose of better handling the estate. The corporation of heirs car- ried the property at quite some expense and tried without success to sell it. The only use made of it was by Percy Pyne, 2nd, one of the heirs who established a private shooting preserve on it where ducks, pheasants and other wild life, tamed by regular feeding, became easy prey.
That was the status of the Taylor Estate when in the summer of 1924 the newly created Long Island State Park Commission was investigating locations for new state parks and for a headquarters. for the Commission's staff. The Taylor estate was found to be for sale and considered suitable for both purposes. After negotiations between Robert Moses, President of the Long Island State Park Com- mission, and the officers of the Deer Range Corporation, the officers agreed to give an option to the State to purchase the property for $250,000 in anticipation of the funds being made available by a Park Bond Issue Act to be voted on by the people of the State. The new park was to be known as Deer Range State Park. The action of the officers, however, could not be binding without the consent of the stockholders so a meeting of the stockholders was called to pass on the matter.
When it became known that the State intended to acquire the Taylor estate for a park, W. Kingsland Macy, the President of the nearby Timber Point Country Club and Horace Havemeyer, his brother-in-law, both of whom were owners of nearby property, became alarmed for fear that a park at this location would be detrimental to the neighborhood. Many of the Taylor heirs were their friends to whom they made an offer to buy the estate themselves at the same price offered by the State. As a result the option to the State was disapproved by a majority of the heirs over the protest of the officers. The corporation then voted to sell the property to the newly formed Pauchogue Land Corporation. The president of the new land com- pany informed the Park Commission that it was opposed to the establishment of a state park on the Taylor estate not only because it was believed that a public park would be objectionable to nearby estate owners, but because a park at that location would also make it difficult for new estates to spring up near enough to the country club for it to benefit.
An active campaign was started to create sentiment against a state park at East Islip and a combination was formed between the officers of the Pauchogue Land Corporation and the large estate owners of Nassau County whose object was to block the proposed Northern State Parkway. This welding of interests brought about
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a change in the parkway route in Nassau County where it now swings toward the south to avoid the estates in the Wheatley Hills section. The change was made, however, only after the payment to the State of nearly a quarter of a million dollars. In later years, after the completion of the parkway, those who brought about the change were sorry that it had been made and wished that it were more convenient for their use.
The combined opposition in no way changed the Commission's plan to acquire the Taylor estate and on November 4, 1924, when the Park Bond Issue Act was approved at the polls, allotting $1,000,000 for park development on Long Island, the Park Commission resolved to take the Taylor estate by eminent domain. All necessary papers to effectuate the acquisition were prepared for the signature of Alfred E. Smith, the Governor.
Before Governor Smith signed the papers he held a hearing in the Hotel Biltmore in New York City at which the Long Island State Park Commission was represented by Robert Moses, Judge Townsend Scudder, Raymond P. McNulty, George D. Carrington and H. L. Bowlby and at which the officers of the Pauchogue Land Corporation and their representatives stated their objections to the proposed park. Mr. Havemeyer asked, "Where can a poor millionaire go?" This went unanswered but when someone objected to being "over-run with rabble from the city", the Governor said, "Why, that's me". He then signed the papers.
Thus began probably the most intensive campaign to block a public project and hamstring a public body ever carried on in this State. The representatives of the newly formed corporation, out- spoken in their intentions to do everything in their power to prevent the establishment of the park, proceeded to launch their attack along all possible lines. On December 31, 1924, they brought suit against the Commission claiming that the taking of the land by the method of eminent domain, known as entry and appropriation, had been illegal because the legislature had not yet made available to the Commission any of the funds authorized by the Park Bond Issue referendum. In order to make this objection hold they sent eminent counsel to Albany to urge the legislature not to appropriate any funds out of the Bond Act to be used on Long Island. Meanwhile pamphlets were printed and articles appeared in newspapers denouncing the action taken by the Commission. Bills were introduced in Albany to abolish or cripple the Commission and to take away the power of acquiring land by entry and appropriation.
The late Judge George H. Furman of Patchogue was the first of a long list of judges to hear the lawsuit brought by the Pauchogue Land Corporation. He granted the corporation an order declar- ing the seizure by entry and appropriation illegal.
In the meantime the opposition before the 1925 legislature resulted in a delay of the whole state-wide park program. A bill appropriating funds authorized by the Park Bond Issue referendum of the previous November was passed containing provisions taking away control of the acquisition of land from the various regional park commissions of which the Long Island commission was one.
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Governor Smith vetoed the bill on April 1, 1925, with the result that no funds were available for the state-wide park program as authorized by the previous referendum. He then called a special session of the legislature for June 2, 1925, but again at this extra session the objectionable appropriation bill was passed and again it was vetoed by the Governor.
HECKSCH
TỔ THE
ST.TE'O
Lt. Governor Herbert Lehman and Ex-Governor Alfred E. Smith officially receive the park from August Heckscher
The late August Heckscher, long a champion of public recreation facilities, became interested in the controversy and decided to give the State $262,000 (the amount of the original option price plus interest) so as to enable the Commission to pay for the property. Upon receipt of this gift the Commission again appropriated the property on September 25, 1925, in order to meet the legal objection that it had been without funds in hand at the time the property was first taken.
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