The Lefferts Tide Mill & Preserve is sponsoring a photography contest for photographers and artists!! The winning image of this 18th-century tide mill will be printed on the labels of a custom brew issued by Six Harbors Brewing Company this August, and the winner will be celebrated at a special awards ceremony at the brewery.
For creative inspiration, take a tour of the mill operated by the Huntington Historical Society, paddle your kayak to the end of Puppy Cove, or visit us at www.huntingtontidemill.org.
“The Lefferts Tide Mill is a place where you can capture the essence of the beautiful setting that has been home to the Tide Mill for 231 years,” commented Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano, the Executive Director.
The Lefferts Tide Mill & Preserve is a not-for-profit organization, established in 2013, with a mission to preserve and protect an 18th century tide mill, located in the Village of Lloyd Harbor, that is the best-preserved tidal grist mill in the United States.The mill design is based on U.S. Patent No. 3 for an “automatic mill” signed by President George Washington.The mill pond has flourished into a haven for native and migratory waterfowl, contributing significantly to the region’s biodiversity.
Photos and camera ready drawings should be submitted toClaudia Fortunato-Napolitano, Executive Director, at [email protected] or mailed to Lefferts Mill at P.O. Box 1482, Huntington, NY 11743, by June 30, 2024.
The Van-Wyck Lefferts Tide Mill is a not-for-profit organization, established in 2013, with a mission to preserve and protect an 18th century tide mill, located in the Village of Lloyd Harbor, that is the best-preserved tidal grist mill in the United States.The mill design is based on U.S. Patent No. 3 for an “automatic mill” signed by President George Washington.
After making extensive repairs to the Mill and the dam at Puppy Cove on which it sits, the Board of Trustees is proud to announce the hiring of its first Executive Director, Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano.
“Claudia is a great addition to our team of volunteer Board members. Claudia brings a wealth of experience … and will play a pivotal role in fundraising initiatives, exploring new grant opportunities, expanding public awareness, and effectively managing day-to-day operations,” said Richard Hamburger, the President of the Board of Trustees.
“I am really excited to be a part of the team that is working to preserve and share this incredible historic resource, which is remarkably unchanged from the time when it was in operation and was such a vital part of the local farming community,” said Fortunato-Napolitano.
Fortunato-Napolitano has more than 20 years of experience working for non-profit organizations.She is the former Executive Director of the Huntington Historical Society and is currently the Executive Director of the Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association. She has also worked at the Long Island Children’s Museum, the Seaman’s Church Institute, and the Museum of the City of New York.
Public tours of the Mill are available through the Huntington Historical Society, which operates ten to fifteen tours a year from May through October. Visitors travel to the Mill by boat from Gold Star Battalion Beach in Huntington.For more information, email [email protected].
Photo from the Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association
Photo from the Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association
Photo from the Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association
Photo from the Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association
Photo from the Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association
Photo from the Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association
Photo from the Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association
On Tuesday, December 12, 2023, the Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association hosted the Harborfields High School Jazz Band for a focus session on local hero Samuel Ballton.
Born into slavery in Westmoreland, Virginia in 1838, Ballton found his way to freedom three times, finally escaping the South for good with his wife, Rebecca. Arriving in Greenlawn in 1873, Ballton found employment with Alexander Gardiner and was eventually dubbed Greenlawn’s “Pickle King” when he grew and processed more than 1.5 million pickles in a single season.
Harborfields High School Jazz Band Leader Dan Bilawsky, having developed an interest in Ballton’s life, commissioned an original jazz composition about his story and, to learn more about “The Pickle King,” attended a Walking Tour and Pub Crawl in June of 2023. Through discussions with Town of Huntington Historian Robert Hughes at that event came the idea of creating deeper community connections by bringing the jazz band to the GCHA to learn more about local history and, specifically, Ballton.
During the field trip, Hughes spoke to the band and the GCHA created a temporary exhibit complete with photos, memorabilia, and Samuel Ballton’s sword. This visit also served as a part of a larger project for the students—a documentary on “The Pickle King” to be co-produced by the high school’s media journalism students and the jazz band.
“Our plan is to premiere this musical selection at our December concert to tie into the sesquicentennial of Ballton’s arrival in Greenlawn, and then put together a short documentary about ‘The Pickle King’—man and music,” Dan Bilawsky shared.
Hughes and Executive Director Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano were interviewed by the students for this forthcoming production. “The students did a great job, and they were fascinated to hear about Samuel Ballton and his journey in life, from being born a slave to becoming a pioneering figure in Greenlawn,” remarked Fortunato-Napolitano. “At the conclusion of their visit, the band presented our organization with a copy of the score signed by the composer, Jeff Lederer, which is now in the GCHA archives. The jazz band also performed the piece, and it was wonderful!”
The Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association is a non-profit membership organization with a mission to research, collect, record, and preserve artifacts, photographs, fine arts, and ephemera of Greenlawn & Centerport. In addition, they promote the preservation of historic structures and maintain two historic homesteads to provide the public with an opportunity to learn about early life on Long Island.
Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano at her 'I Am Alive!' party.
By Stephanie Giunta
In honor of National Stroke Awareness Month, we would like to honor a local survivor, Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano, who is beyond inspirational. Here is her story.
On January 11, 2017, 34-year-old Huntington Village resident Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano, went to work like it was any other day, although she remembers having a bad headache. The passionate history buff and Executive Director at the Huntington Historical Society was making some personal calls during her lunch break. As she sat down to eat her lunch, she suddenly felt dizzy; her coworker asked if she was okay, and she couldn’t speak. Out of nowhere, a simple Wednesday became the day that forever-altered Napolitano’s future: the day she unexpectedly suffered a stroke.
Once the stroke had occurred, Fortunato-Napolitano couldn’t remember what happened next, though she recounted her story by way of others at the scene. She was rushed to Huntington Hospital, and was then airlifted to North Shore University Hospital, where she resided for two weeks. When she woke up, she still couldn’t speak, had weakness in her right arm and couldn’t walk.
After a stint at the hospital, she was released into a rehab facility, but at the end of her week-long tenure, needed to move back into her parents’ house. Though the mobility in her arm was very low, she was slowly regaining the ability to walk, but couldn’t tackle the stairs up to her front door. She lived with her parents for three weeks, while simultaneously beginning outpatient rehab, seeing a handful of therapists to attempt to win her life back as her own through physical and cognitive recovery.
Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano at her ‘I Am Alive!’ party.
No warning signs
Doctors were puzzled that a healthy 34-year-old, who had nothing more than a routine headache on the day of her stroke, could suffer something so unexpected and traumatic. At six months post-stroke, Fortunato-Napolitano began seeing a neurologist and underwent in-depth testing to reveal underlying notions of root cause.She tested negative for everything doctors had assumed she would test positive for. Though they could confirm that the stroke was caused by a clogged blood vessel in her brain, the actual diagnosis remains inconclusive.
A determined patient
After routinely attending speech therapy for six months, Fortunato-Napolitano still fought to talk. In our interview, she mentioned that she struggled with aphasia for the first two years during her recovery. Her therapist alluded to the fact that her speech would not improve — that she should simply get used to this new way of life. This led her down a dark path of depression, afraid that she would never regain her full ability to communicate with others.
After 4-5 months, her parents encouraged her to seek a second opinion from another therapist who would work with her past the “6 month window.” As Fortunato-Napolitano stated during our interview, her mother “God bless her soul!” put her in touch with her current speech therapist, Judy Cavallo, who she still sees to this day. Cavallo even provides Fortunato-Napolitano with homework because she asks for it!
In addition to speech therapy, Fortunato-Napolitano continues to see an occupational therapist, Ian MacManus, to aid in her physical disabilities. Seven of her fingers work, but three fingers on her right hand are bent in a fixed manner. She dreams of the ability to wear high heels again, but walking is too difficult in any shoe aside from her signature Doc Martens and Birkenstocks — which she has in a wide variety of colors.Her right foot cannot be fully-placed on the floor, and only the outside edge can go flat completely.
To this day, Napolitano still goes to outpatient rehab twice per week (once to her speech therapist and once to her occupational therapist) to improve her skills and continually progress.
New realities
Prior to the stroke, Fortunato-Napolitano was a writer. She wrote a historic Half Hollow Hills column for Patch Media on a weekly basis, as well as many articles for the Huntington Historical Society. Now, on average, it will take her about three hours to write three paragraphs. She mentioned that this has been the hardest thing for her to overcome from a professional perspective. But Siri is her best friend. She is so grateful for technology, which helps her text, post on social media, and write emails.
Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano at her ‘I Am Alive!’ party.
A major milestone
Within the first five years of having a stroke, an individual is 50% more likely to suffer from a second stroke in comparison to a person of the same age. So, in January 2022, Fortunato-Napolitano threw herself an “I Am Alive!” party to celebrate meeting this critical milestone. There were over 85 people in attendance, including her neurologist and speech therapist, and she donned a stylish, sparkly green jumpsuit. Not only was this a celebration of how far she had come, but also that statistically, her chances of having another stroke or stroke-like episode would start to significantly decrease.
Pivotal life lessons
Fortunato-Napolitano is so grateful to be alive. She could have been paralyzed and in a wheelchair; she may not have survived. But now, she makes sure that she lives every day to the fullest. She voluntarily chooses happiness.
Prior to the stroke, she was unhappy about stupid, inconsequential things. Now, Fortunato-Napolitano uses a “whatever!” mentality. She believes that life is worth living and she intends to make the most of the hand that she has been dealt. The biggest lesson she learned from her stroke, she mentioned, was, “I can be unhappy [about that] or I can just be happy. And I choose to be happy all of the time.”
Fortunato-Napolitano fuels her happiness with her work. This February, she was newly-appointed as the Executive Director of the Greenlawn-Centerport Historical Association. She loves her job and the challenges it provides.
She is also a travel connoisseur — something she has been passionate about from a very young age. Her next destination includes heading to Cleveland on a baseball stadium tour for her husband’s birthday, but the top future spots on her international travel list include Africa, Argentina, Australia, and Turkey.
A message to all stroke survivors
Fortunato-Napolitano’s hope is that someone in similar shoes reads this article, her story, and becomes happy due to reading it.She can’t stress enough that you can and will get better — you just can’t stop believing in yourself. At six months post-stroke, her original speech therapist told her she would never speak again. Six years later, Fortunato-Napolitano is carrying on conversations beautifully. Each year, she sees subsequent progression and truly believes that she will continue to improve for the rest of her life.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel even during the darkest and most depressing of times. Her outlook on life has drastically changed from Year 2 to Year 6. She stressed the importance of self-dedication, while also surrounding yourself with a great support system.
Above all, Fortunato-Napolitano is a true inspiration.She epitomizes optimism, and is dedicated, admirable, and determined. Her new dream is to become a life coach, as she hopes to help others through similar dark and unexpected times. She would love a platform in which to tell her story publicly. Fortunato-Napolitano is a happiness evangelist, a survivor to the nth degree, and only hopes she can inspire others, stroke conquerors or not, to live life to the fullest.
Follow along with Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano’s journey on Instagram: @ayoungstrokerecovery.
This article first appeared in TBR News Media’s supplement Focus on Health on May 25, 2023.
From left, Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano, Executive Director; Deanne Rathke, Director Emeritus; and Alexandra Leverton, President of the Board of Trustees. Photo courtesy of the Greenlawn-Centerport Historcial Association
The Greenlawn-Centerport Historical Association, a nonprofit organization with a mission to preserve the history of the communities of Greenlawn and Centerport, has announced the selection of Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano as its new Executive Director.
Ms. Fortunato-Napolitano officially assumed the role on February 6. Deanne Rathke is retiring after having held the position for 20 years.
“We are very pleased to announce Claudia as the new Director,” reported Deanne. “Its time to pass the job along to the next generation.Claudia’s skill set will help bring about new members and programs to the organization.In addition she has a lifelong passion for local history having been born and raised in the Huntington area”
Claudia holds a BA in History, and a MA in Liberal Studies with a concentration in American History, both awarded by Manhattanville College. Previous positions include Executive Director of the Huntington Historical Society and Assistant Historian at the Town Of Huntington.
“I am honored to serve as the Executive Director and thrilled to serve the members of the community,’ remarked Ms. Fortunato-Napolitano. “Deanne is a wonderful role model, and as Director Emeritus she will be a valuable asset for furthering our research, expanding our public programs, educational workshops, and exhibits.”
The mission of the Greenlawn-Centerport Historical Association is to research, collect, record and preserve artifacts, photographs, fine arts, and ephemera of Greenlawn & Centerport. In addition, they promote the preservation of historic structures and maintain a historic Suydam homestead and John Gardiner Farm to provide the public with an opportunity to learn about early life on Long Island.
A scene from a previous Historic Houses at the Holidays Tour in Huntington
A scene from a previous Historic Houses at the Holidays Tour in Huntington
A scene from a previous Historic Houses at the Holidays Tour in Huntington
A scene from a previous Historic Houses at the Holidays Tour in Huntington
A scene from a previous Historic Houses at the Holidays Tour in Huntington
A scene from a previous Historic Houses at the Holidays Tour in Huntington
By Kevin Redding
There’s no place like a historic home for the holidays.
On Sunday, Dec. 3, the Huntington Historical Society will host its 12th annual Historic Houses at the Holidays driving tour, giving residents the opportunity to explore five private historic homes and two house museums in the area from Huntington Village to Cold Spring Harbor.
Each stop on the self-guided tour will be decorated to the nines for the season; equipped with a volunteer from the historical society to answer any and all questions about the background of each location; and provide a firsthand glimpse at the original architectural styles and designs within these homes, which were built between the early 1800s and early 1900s. Visitors will be able to view bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens and even some attics of these colonial-style residences.
Approximately 300 to 400 people are expected to attend the event this year.
“The Holiday Historic Houses Tour is a real treat,” said Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano, executive director at Huntington Historical Society. “The houses on the tour are all decorated for Christmas and the refreshments are overwhelming. Come and enjoy a day out!”
The theme of this year’s tour is also the mantra of the historical society: Huntington Lives Here.
“Huntington’s history goes back to the mid-17th century and the people that came to live here were interested in building a meaningful town and leaving their imprint on it. This tour serves to highlight that,” said Toby Kissam, a trustee at the historical society and one of the tour’s chief researchers, whose ancestral home — the Dr. Daniel W. Kissam House Museum on Park Avenue — is among the afternoon’s seven stops. “Each year I find people that come on our tours know there’s going to be a great historical story with each house and I enjoy researching and telling that story. It’s always fun.”
Kissam said the oldest private home on the tour is also the one he’s most excited about: the 1820s-built Cold Spring Harbor birthplace of leading suffragette Ida Bunce Sammis, who organized the first women’s suffrage club in Suffolk County and became one of the first two women elected to the New York State Legislature in 1919. The home’s inclusion on this year’s tour correlates with the 100th anniversary of the passing of the constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote in the state of New York, Kissam added.
Also on full display is a house built in Huntington Harbor for a local sea captain in 1902; the grand 1914 Georgian-style home of New York City attorney-turned- Suffolk County representative in the New York State Assembly John J. Robinson, who was elected in 1912 and built his house on West Main Street in 1914; and a farm house constructed in the village in 1917 by Henry Willets of Dix Hills.
The most modern stop on the tour is a 1935-built summer estate in Greenlawn previously owned by a wealthy manufacturer named Walter Beh and his wife Margaret. Beh acquired the large, 110-acre property so he and his a wife, an equestrian, could raise and train horses there.
“Most of these were part-time residents, but they have contributed meaningfully to the town over years and has contributed to the place that Huntington holds today in Suffolk County and Long Island as one of the premiere towns in the region,” Kissam said.
The historical society-owned museums — both the Kissam House and the David Conklin Farm House, built in 1750 — will also be decorated for the tour. Visitors to the Kissam House will be treated to an exhibit entitled Promenade and Parasols, showcasing outfits and umbrellas from the 19th century and Victorian era, and the Conklin Barn will provide an array of refreshments from noon to 4 p.m.
Kissam, who is the great-great-great-grandson of Dr. Daniel Kissam, has naturally had a deep fascination with history his whole life, both general and Huntington-specific, and has occupied the role of genealogist in his family. This past summer, he and the rest of the Huntington Holiday House Tour Committee began their search and research of local private properties to feature.
“That’s always the challenge,” Kissam said on choosing homes to showcase during the tour. “We have to get people to agree, but we know of houses with a history and sometimes we just knock on doors and explain who we are and what we’d like to do. Usually we can talk people into it, particularly if they’re interested in what the history of their own house is. Once we run out of houses and can’t find houses maybe the tour has to stop, but we’ve been able to keep it going for the past 12 years.”
Historical society and committee member Patricia Ernst said the tours are beneficial to both those who take them and those who host them. “At the end of the day, everybody has such a good time,” she said. “The homeowners have a great afternoon having people exclaim over their houses, both the historical aspects of them and otherwise. The tour highlights these old houses and I think that’s a big draw for people who are deciding on what town they want to live in.”
Ernst continued, “Huntington has homes that have been here since the mid-1600s and that isn’t true in too many places. These houses are lovingly taken care of and are being guarded, and people in Huntington appreciate that.”
The Huntington Historical Society’s 2017 Holiday House Tour will be held on Sunday, Dec. 3 from noon to 4 p.m. Tickets are $40 for the general public and $35 for members. For more information or to order tickets, please call 631-427-7045, ext. 401 or visit www.huntingtonhistoricalsociety.org.
Whether you’re driving or walking through a neighborhood of custom-built homes, it’s human nature to slow down and take in the scenery. From craftsman and Victorian-styled homes to Cape Cod, colonial and Dutch colonial, the architecture and history behind them piques interest.
The same can be said of the historical homes in the town of Huntington.
To “perpetuate an interest in things historic … in fact all historic relics relating to the Town of Huntington since 1653,” was the reason a group of women, some from Huntington’s founding families met at the home of Mrs. Frederic B. Sammis — known to her friends as Lizbeth — to form the Huntington Historical Society in September of 1903.
Visit seven historic homes this festive season.
Every December, the Huntington Historical Society collaborates with local owners of historical homes, offering tours that display the history of each home and their eclectic and architectural designs, as a service to the community. This year’s event will be held on Dec. 4.
Those who take part in the tour can exploit the chance to not just have something to do on a Sunday afternoon but also to see distinctive design styles.
“It’s a great way to spend the afternoon and to get some inspiration for your own house as far as decorating ideas. Typically, when we ask our homeowners to open up their homes, we do ask that they do some type of holiday decorating,” said Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano, executive director at Huntington Historical Society.
Each year the tour is presented with a different theme. This year’s theme, Huntington’s History Lives Here, will feature five decorated homes along with the Dr. Daniel W. Kissam House Museum (circa 1795) and the David Conklin Farm House Museum (circa 1750).
“At the Kissam house we do have an exhibit called Wedding Days and Wedding Nights. Basically, it’s wedding attire from the late 1800s through the 1950s,” said Fortunato-Napolitano. “It’s not just gowns, it’s night wear as well. There’s other things too, like accessories, clothing that men wore, and information about weddings during that time.”
The homes on this year’s tour roster are not in walking distance of each other. “It is a driving tour,” said Fortunato-Napolitano. “After you purchase your tickets, you get the addresses and the map, and then you can view them in any order you want.”
Visitors of the tour can take a break from the tour or end the tour by visiting the Conklin Barn, where they can enjoy an array of scrumptious refreshments. Participants can expect to walk away with a good demonstration of the colonial lifestyle throughout America’s history. Fortunato-Napolitano said, “They’re all historic houses. They have a good story to them. They all cover different periods of Huntington’s history. And then of course too, there’s a snapshot of Huntington’s history through the architecture.”
The Huntington Historical Society’s 2016 Holiday House Tour will be held Sunday, Dec. 4 from noon to 4 p.m. Tickets are $40 for the general public and $35 for members through Dec. 2. For more information, please call 631-427-7045, ext. 401 or visit www.huntingtonhistoricalsociety.org.
Wine lovers can enjoy a fun night out as well as a bit of history at the Huntington Historical Society’s 25th annual Evening of Wine Under the Stars on Friday, Sept. 18.
Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano, executive director at the society, said the organization’s biggest fundraiser of the year will honor the 100th anniversary of Huntington Hospital.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get to know your hometown a little bit more,” Fortunato-Napolitano said.
In addition to a selection of fine wines available for tasting, Blind Bat Brewery will be offering its craft beers. The historical society has also planned a night filled with gourmet food tasting from neighboring restaurants including Black & Blue, The Culinary Studio, Christopher’s Crew, Cinque Terre, IMC, Old Fields, Reinwalds and XO. With business owners from the local area participating, Fortunato-Napolitano said, “It’s always fun to try the new restaurants. It gives you a great idea of where you want to go and get dinner.”
The event, which takes place outside on the property of the Dr. Daniel W. Kissam House at 434 Park Avenue, will give guests the opportunity to view the historical society’s museum. The director said, in the early part of the evening, attendees will be able to tour the house, which on an everyday basis is only open by appointment.
Maria DeLeo, public relations manager at the society, said there will be plenty of opportunities to dance under the stars, too. Local band The Modern Age will be on hand, and the society is planning to include a floor so partygoers won’t have to dance in the grass.
Rounding off the night will be a raffle with an array of items including restaurant and spa baskets and a silent auction that includes an item donated by Disney World.
The public relations manager said in prior years guests have traveled from out east, Nassau County and Queens, but the majority of the wine and gourmet food tasters are locals interested in preserving the history of the community.
“We’ve had people in the past who are new to Huntington so they want to meet other Huntonians. So it’s a great place for people to meet other people from the neighborhood,” DeLeo said.
Evening of Wine Under the Stars will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18. For more information, contact the Huntington Historical Society at 631-427-7045 or visit its website at www.huntingtonhistoricalsociety.org. Tickets are $70 for society members, $85 for nonmembers and $100 at the door.
Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano. Photo from HHS
Meet the new director! This year’s Evening of Wine Under the Stars will be the first one Claudia Fortunato-Napolitano will be attending as the society’s executive director.
Fortunato-Napolitano stepped into her new position on June 1 of this year. The Huntington Station native is no stranger to the society having worked there as the special events coordinator from 2009 to 2010 and then taking on the role of director of operations from 2011 to 2012. She left the historical society for a couple of years to work for the Seamen’s Church Institute and in the past has worked as a former assistant historian for the town of Huntington and at The Long Island Children’s Museum, The Museum of the City of New York, the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce and the Huntington Rural Cemetery.
The director said growing up surrounded by Long Island’s rich history she cultivated an early appreciation for the subject. Her interest in history as well as preservation was solidified when she attended a summer program at the University of Oxford in England. She explained that while studying abroad after learning about history in the classroom, she was able to go outside the university and actually experience it. Something she recognized as being capable of doing in her own hometown.
Fortunato-Napolitano said she enjoys playing a part in educating residents about their community, and Huntington is a great example of how most people don’t even realize how much history is practically right in their own backyards. The director said there have been many times while leading the society’s pub crawl that many participants were surprised to learn historical facts about buildings that they passed every day.
The new executive director said she looks forward to increasing awareness of the town’s history, creating new exhibits and programs and having the historical society return as a mainstay in the community.
“My overall vision is to have the Society become the kind of integral part of the community that it was in the first half of the 20th century. Just to really increase awareness, to offer new public programs and try to get more people involved,” Fortunato-Napolitano said.
