Creativity unleashed!
The Port Jefferson Gallery at the Village Center held an art reception for its latest exhibit, Celebrating the Beauty & Spirit of Long Island, last Friday evening. The group show, which features artwork by, from left, Moriah Ray, Mary Jo Allegra, Nancy and Charlie Kapp and Mindy Carman, runs through Sept. 28. For more information, call 631-802-2160.
Suffolk County Police arrested a 23-year-old man after receiving multiple reports of a 2010 Nissan driving on the wrong way on the Long Island Expressway in Commack early Tuesday morning, Sept. 6.
Ivan Ceron was charged with driving while intoxicated after officers said he was driving east in the westbound lane on the LIE near Exit 52. Canine Section Officer Ralph Fuellbier located the wrong-way vehicle, and worked with the Highway Patrol Bureau to pull over Ceron.
The Bellrose resident was also issued summonses for driving the wrong way, driving an unregistered vehicle and operating a motor vehicle below the minimum posted speed limit.
Ceron, is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip today, and no attorney information was immediately available.
The Ward Melville girls’ soccer team faced some adversity late in the first half of their season-opening game, but the Patriots pushed through the wind, kept their heads up and got down to business.
Junior striker Kerri Liucci scored a hat trick to propel Ward Melville’s 4-1 win over Smithtown West in nonleague action Sept. 5.
“It’s the first time we’ve scored a hat trick in a while,” Ward Melville head coach John Diehl said. “We got a bit rattled, but I spoke to them at halftime about keeping their composure, getting their minds in the right place and winning the 50/50 balls in the middle and establishing our game we had in the first 20 minutes, and I think we did that.”
Less than three minutes into the game, Liucci scored her first goal after some back and forth in front of the net off a corner kick allowed her to knock the ball into an open right side of the net.
“I was trying to find the ball; trying to get a hit off of it,” she said. “Smithtown West went to go clear it, but I got my body in front of it.”
She tallied her second goal minutes later, when Smithtown West’s goalkeeper Gabby Lorefice came out of the box to stop the ball.
“I kept my composure, and let myself play how I usually do,” she said.
With three minutes left in the first half, Smithtown West senior forward Alicia Daoust scored off a corner kick, and the Bulls’ bench erupted in excitement, which gave them a boost heading into halftime.
Both teams came out ready to fight in the second half, and Lorefice made some of her crucial nine saves on the evening in the final 40 minutes to keep her team in the game.
“We came out a bit flat and it cost us in the beginning — they made us pay for it,” Smithtown West head coach Rob Schretzmayer said. “They pressed us. They’re a good team, and just very aggressive. We were on our heels, and we were chasing a little at the end. Credit to [Ward Melville] — with the wind on their back—they caught us again.”
With 17:49 left to play, a high kick bounced over Lorefice’s head, and Liucci scored her third goal of the game. Junior back Victoria Vitale added insurance with just under 10 minutes left.
The Patriots, are loaded with experienced upperclassmen on their roster, an advantage not lost on one of the team’s leaders.
“Our fitness is really high, we work really well together and have a really good relationship with each other that I think translates onto the field,” senior center back Megan Raftery said. “I’ve been playing with some of these girls since kindergarten, so we know each other’s strengths and we know how to build on each other’s strengths.”
That chemistry showed in connected passes and the girls getting open for one another, according to Liucci, who said the team is looking to make a big statement this season.
“We’ll keep working hard in practice and pushing one another,” she said.
Despite the 4-1 victory, Diehl still saw room for his team to improve.
“With the experience we have and the attitude of the girls, this is a special group,” he said. “This group wants to play and want to do the best. They’re getting over that mental hump and gaining confidence, and I think they’re looking good. Given the quality of the opponent — Smithtown West one of the top teams in the county — gives us a better understanding of what level we can play at, and gives them the confidence to believe in themselves. We can play really good soccer.”
Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) are teaming up to help North Shore residents prepare for a natural or man-made disaster. The lawmakers will host a free NYS Citizen Preparedness Training event Sept. 10 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Port Jefferson Village Center, located at 101 East Broadway.
Participants will learn how to develop family emergency plans, how to stock up useful supplies and will receive a free disaster preparedness kit containing vital items if a disaster were to strike.
“The state training and kits will help New Yorkers be the most trained and best-prepared citizens in the country,” a release from Hahn’s office said.
Those interested in participating should visit www.prepare.ny.gov to register in advance of the event.
Rebecca Anzel
When Daniel Scofield died in 2011 from a heroin overdose, his mother Dori decided to do something.
“I wasn’t going to keep [his death] under the carpet,” she said. “I just said, ‘I’ve got to bring this out into the world. My son was my life and I’m not going to bury his addiction with him. I have to help others. I have to bring awareness.’”
In April 2014, the founder of Save-A-Pet Animal Rescue and Adoption Center started Dan’s Foundation for Recovery, a not-for-profit organization that provides assistance to those suffering from alcohol or substance abuse. The group uses its donations to help an addict get help — it assists addicts in covering insurance copayments, treatment and travel costs to recovery centers in other states.
Scofield co-hosted Lights of Hope on Aug. 31 at Memorial Park in Port Jefferson. The event, which is in its third year, brought together families and friends to remember those who died from a drug overdose and to support those who are recovering from drug addiction.
The event’s other co-host was Public Relations Director Debbie Gross Longo of the New York Chapter of Magnolia New Beginnings, an advocacy, education, support and addiction resource group.
“Each year, unfortunately the crowd gets bigger,” Longo said. “We lose about 129 kids a day throughout the United States. This is something that is an epidemic. It has gotten out of control and there’s no reason for it.”
Longo’s son was a soccer player at Ward Melville High School. He was so talented, she said, he was being scouted by colleges. That was before he tore his quadricep.
The doctors at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson prescribed him oxycodone, and he became addicted. The price per pill of oxycodone is expensive — about $45 each, Longo said. So he switched to heroin, a much less expensive but more potent drug. Before long, his personality began to change.
“The changes happened pretty quickly until I couldn’t ignore it any longer, and that’s when he went to rehab,” she said. “It didn’t work the first time, it didn’t work the second time and it didn’t work the third time.”
Longo said her son is now living in a sober community in Florida helping other addicts get into recovery.
According to a 2015 New York State Opioid Poisoning, Overdose and Prevention report, there were 337 heroin-related deaths in Suffolk County between 2009 and 2013 — more than any other county in the state during that period.
“We come together to celebrate the lives they lived, we’re celebrating the recovery and we’re celebrating the people who are still struggling. We will never give up hope. Where there is life, there is hope.”
—Tracey Budd
In a brief speech at the Lights for Hope event, Scofield stressed the importance of helping those addicted to the drug get into recovery. Earlier that day, she said, she helped a young girl who lost her mother get into the Long Island Center for Recovery in Hampton Bays as well as three other young people get into a rehabilitation facility in Arizona.
In starting Dan’s Foundation, Scofield “wanted mostly to help kids that sought treatment now — not 10 days from now,” she said. “In 20 minutes, they’re gone. You have a small window of opportunity to help them and you’ve got to do it when you can do it.”
Scofield’s son David, 28, went through heroin recovery. His mom said her sons were best friends and they did everything together, including using heroin.
“I struggled with this disease for a long time,” he said to those who attended the Lights for Hope event. “I found a way to live sober. I found a different way to live my life.”
Event attendees decorated white paper bags with the name of a loved one who died from heroin or who recovered from it, and a message. Toward the end of the evening, a candle was placed inside each bag, and they were arranged in a large circle around the cannon in the park.
“We come together to celebrate the lives they lived, we’re celebrating the recovery and we’re celebrating the people who are still struggling,” Tracey Budd, a Rocky Point resident and founder of North Shore Drug Awareness Advocates, said. “We will never give up hope. Where there is life, there is hope.”
Budd’s son Kevin died in September 2012 from a heroin overdose. Her daughter Breanna has been drug-free since May 2014.
She said the stigma of addiction has changed dramatically since 2008 at the height of her son’s struggle with heroin. There is now a community of families that support each other through a child’s struggle with addiction or an addict’s death.
“It’s sad to say, but when you feel the hug of another mother who’s lost a child, even if you’ve never met, no words need to be spoken,” Budd said. “It’s a connection that we wish we didn’t have, but we do, and it’s actually pretty amazing.”
Middle Island resident Hugh Rhodus said the worst part of the heroin problem on Long Island is going to a funeral for a young person. He recently attended the funeral of a friend’s 24-year-old nephew.
“Going to a kid’s funeral is the hardest thing, but unfortunately we do it all the time,” he said. “It’s so hard to do. Kids that age laying in a casket is awful.”
Rhodus and his wife helped their daughter Amanda through her 13-year struggle with heroin. He said when they first tried to get her help, they took her to Mather Hospital, where they waited for a couple of hours after speaking with a nurse in a “room in the back.” Eventually, they were told to go to a hospital in Nassau County because Mather Hospital was unable to help Amanda.
“It’s your daughter, she’s sick, she’s a drug addict and that’s how we found out how powerful the stigma was,” Rhodus said. “We fought for years to get her in and out of treatment — it was tough. It was really tough.”
Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) praised families and recovering addicts for not giving up.
“We can’t give up,” she said. “Everybody has to be engaged and participate because it is our lives and our children’s lives and our loved ones lives that’s on the line.”
By Rebecca Anzel
Long Island’s economic prosperity and quality of life are at risk from an unlikely source, but both the Suffolk County and Town of Brookhaven governments are taking steps to combat the issue.
Bodies of water in the county face nitrogen pollution, which leads to harmful algae blooms and a decrease in shellfish population, among other environmental defects. Critically, nitrogen seeps into the Island’s groundwater, which is the region’s only source of drinking water.
Fishing, tourism and boating are billion-dollar industries in Suffolk County — approximately 60 percent of the Island’s economy is reliant on clean water. County property values are also tied to water clarity, according to a Stony Brook University report.
Nitrogen enters ground and surface water from various sources of runoff, such as landscaping, agriculture and pet waste. But the largest contributor of nitrogen pollution is failing septic systems, which County Executive Steve Bellone (D) designated as “public water enemy No. 1.”
Which is why Bellone signed into law last month a resolution that amended Suffolk County’s sanitary code to help protect the county’s aquifer and surface water by improving wastewater treatment technologies to combat nitrogen pollution as part of the county’s Reclaim Our Water initiative.
“It doesn’t help our tourism industry, our quality of life or our ecosystems,” county Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) said of issues with the Island’s water. “Tackling the nitrogen problem, while not a sexy issue, is a very important one.” Hahn is chairwoman of the county’s Environment, Planning & Agriculture Committee.
Town and county officials are tackling the problem by utilizing what Hahn called a “multipronged approach.” Brookhaven is working to track any issues with outfalls, where drains and sewers empty into local waters, and Suffolk County is employing alternative septic systems.
Municipalities like Brookhaven are required by New York State to inspect each point where waste systems empty into a body of water and create a map of their location. It is part of a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit because, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, storm sewers collect pollutants like bacteria, motor oil, fertilizer, heavy metals and litter, and deposit them directly into bodies of water.
In addition to conducting the inspections of outfalls necessary to comply with the MS4 permit, the Town of Brookhaven conducts a DNA analysis of any outfall that has indications of impacting water quality. Since 2007, Brookhaven has spent more than $880,000 on this state requirement, Veronica King, the town’s stormwater manager, said.
“You want to put your resources where it makes the most sense,” she said. “Instead of dumping millions of dollars into structural retrofits that don’t address the true problem, the DNA analysis helps us to prioritize and make educated and cost-effective decisions.”
Town Councilwoman Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point) said Brookhaven contracts with Cornell Cooperative Extension because it maintains a DNA “library” of Long Island wildlife, which it uses to identify the source of any pathogens in collected stormwater. For instance, if the DNA tests conclude they came from pets, Brookhaven might conduct an educational campaign to remind residents to clean up after their furry friends. If the pathogens come from a human source, there might be an issue with a septic system.
“This type of analysis could prove of great importance because any patterns identified as a result of this study can help determine what next steps can be taken to improve water quality where necessary,” Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station) said.
Brookhaven has applied for a state grant to help pay for these DNA tests and outfall inspections for the first time this year, because, King said, this is the first time New York State has offered a grant to cover the work.
The DNA tests are important, Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine (R) said, because they help to identify ways to decrease the amount of nitrogen seeping into groundwater.
“The amount of nitrogen in the Magothy aquifer layer has increased over 200 percent in 13 years,” he said of one of the sub-layers that is most commonly tapped into in Suffolk, although not the deepest in the aquifer. “Cleaning up our waterways is not going to be done overnight — this is going to take a long time — but the waterways did not become polluted overnight.”
Suffolk County launched its Septic Demonstration Program to install cesspool alternative systems in 2014, called Innovative and Alternative Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems (known as I/A OWTS), on the property of participants. Manufacturers of the technology donated the systems and installed them at no cost to the homeowner.
The county’s goal in testing these alternative systems is to lower the levels of nitrogen seeping into groundwater. According to a June 2016 Stony Brook University report, “the approximately 360,000 septic tank/leaching systems and cesspools that serve 74 percent of homes across Suffolk County have caused the concentrations of nitrogen in groundwater to rise by 50 percent since 1985.”
More than 10,000 of the nitrogen-reducing systems are installed in New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island — all areas with similar environmental concerns to Suffolk County — according to the county executive’s office. County employees met with officials from these states to help shape its program.
“Tackling the nitrogen problem, while not a sexy issue, is a very important one.”
—Kara Hahn
The I/A OWTS installations worked out so well during a demonstration program that on July 26, the county passed a resolution to allow the Department of Health Services to regulate their use.
Typical cesspools are estimated to cost between $5,000 and $7,000 to install. The low nitrogen systems cost between $12,000 and $20,000, Hahn said. She added that as more areas facing similar environmental concerns require lower nitrogen standards and, as the technology improves, the cost of cesspool alternatives will go down.
Until then, Hahn said county officials have been discussing the possibility of subsidizing the cost of installing the I/A OWTS. It might begin requiring new homes to install low-nitrogen systems instead of traditional cesspools. Or, upon an old system’s failure, it might require an I/A OWTS be installed.
“We hope to eventually be able to help in some way,” she said.
County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) said she hopes local businesses begin producing the alternative systems that the county determines best work for the area since it would “keep the economic dollar here” and provide jobs.
In January, Brookhaven will be the first town, Romaine said, that will begin mandating new constructions within 500 feet of any waterway to install an alternative wastewater treatment system.
“I think alternative systems work,” he said. “In many ways, even though we’re a local government, we are on the cutting edge of clean water technologies.”
Both the initiatives by Brookhaven and Suffolk County “go hand and glove,” George Hoffman, of the Setauket Harbor Task Force, said. Many of Suffolk’s harbors and bays are struggling due to stormwater and nitrogen pollution, including Great South Bay, Lake Ronkonkoma, Northport Harbor, Forge River, Port Jefferson Harbor, Mount Sinai Harbor and Peconic River/Peconic Bay.
“Living on an island on top of our water supply and with thousands of homes along the shores of our harbors and bays, it never made sense to allow cesspools to proliferate,” he said.
The success of the initiatives, though, depends on residents.
“The public needs to be always recognizing that whatever we do on land here on Long Island and in Suffolk County affects not only the drinking water beneath us but the quality of our bays and waterways, streams and rivers all around us,” Hahn said. “It’s critically important that folks have that understanding. Everything we do on land affects our water here on the Island.”
By Ryan DeVito
A certain manufactured meritocracy exists in the United States. Success has become indelibly connected to elite college education in the minds of parents and students. Consequently, a student’s potential is dictated by his or her triumphs in the college arena. The logic goes like this: the higher an institution is ranked by U.S. News & World Report, the better a student is and the better their life will be.
College ranking systems are psychological demons. Thousands of data points tell a story that, year after year, paints a skewed picture of higher education. These ranking systems use algorithms to transform a host of statistics about one school into a single score. Students often use this score to make college decisions.
The existing ranking systems are silly, though. They attempt to compare completely disparate institutions on one inflexible scale. As a result, The Ohio State University can be compared to Pepperdine University. The former is an enormous public university in the middle of a large city; the latter is a small private Christian college perched above the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by mountains. Essentially opposites, U.S. News & World Report tells us that these schools are the same.
Ohio State and Pepperdine scored the same in the rankings algorithm. But these institutions are impossible to compare. Ohio State dominates downtown Columbus with nearly 60,000 students and another 20,000 staff members — all spread across dozens of various colleges, schools and departments. How could you possibly reduce the complexity that is The Ohio State University down to one solitary number?
College ranking systems fail to take into account the intangibles that make a college great. Academic reputation — among leadership at peer institutions — and faculty resources are the two variables given the greatest weight in the U.S. News ranking algorithm. The weight on these variables creates an obvious skew toward the well-endowed private universities that consistently grace the top of the rankings list. Rankings drive reputation and funding, and so a glass ceiling forms that keeps lower-ranked schools from every establishing their brands. But these variables tell us nothing about the ability of the institution and its faculty to inform and inspire students.
It’s the intangibles that enable success in students — regardless of whether they attend a top-ranked institution or not.
Students who are engaged and encouraged in their learning are better off. So the ability of professors to get their students excited about learning is much more important than how much research funding they have. The extent to which professors care about their students as people and are willing to act as mentors has a major bearing on the student’s potential for engagement. These are the intangibles that college rankings system could never take into account.
Of course, top-ranked institutions can offer these intangibles. My point, though, is that you can be engaged and encouraged anywhere. There are obvious flaws in the college ranking systems that we all too often rely on when making college decisions. A great college experience is not limited to the top of any ranking’s list. Success after college is not dictated by the ranking of the college you attend.
Rather than depending on any murky ranking system, search for the college that has the greatest potential to inform, inspire and challenge you personally. Your success after college depends most on your ability to find that engaging environment. Four years of engaged learning are more valuable than any ranking on its own. And it’s the engaged student, not necessarily the elite student, who has the potential to achieve the greatest success after graduation.
Ryan DeVito is a Miller Place native who started a college advising company, ScholarScope, to help Long Island students. Learn more at www.ScholarScope.org.
No catch and release here:
Karen Silvestri of Melville recently captured this image of a juvenile black-crowned night heron fishing for its next meal at Avalon Park and Preserve in Stony Brook.
Send your Photo of the Week to [email protected].
Roasted White Peaches with Honeycomb and Vanilla Ice Cream
YIELD: Serves 8
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup sugar, divided
1 lemon, zested
4 ripe but firm white peaches, halved and pitted
2/3 cup water, plus 2 tablespoons, divided
nonstick cooking spray
1/3 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
4 cups Breyers Natural Vanilla Ice Cream, divided
honeycomb (optional)
DIRECTIONS: Heat oven to 425 F. In a small bowl, whisk 3 tablespoons sugar and lemon zest for about 1 minute or until sugar is fragrant and moist. Arrange peaches, cut side up, in 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Pour water into dish. Sprinkle lemon sugar mixture over peaches and roast 25-30 minutes or until peaches are slightly softened and have released their juices. Meanwhile, lightly spray cooking spray on small baking sheet. In a medium-heavy saucepan over high heat, bring remaining sugar, honey and 2 tablespoons water to boil, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, without stirring, about 5 minutes or until candy thermometer reaches 305 F. Remove from heat and whisk in baking soda until blended and mixture begins to bubble. Gently pour hot mixture onto prepared baking sheet and cool. Spoon 1/2 cup ice cream into each of 8 bowls. Top with warm roasted peaches and warm juices. Sprinkle with honeycomb pieces if desired and serve immediately.
Source: Breyers
Perfect Peach Pie
YIELD: Makes 1 pie
INGREDIENTS:
Pastry for two-crust pie
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup cold butter, cut up
ice water
1 egg white
Filling
6 cups peeled and sliced peaches
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup flour
DIRECTIONS: In a large bowl mix the flour and salt. With a pastry blender or fork cut in the shortening and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle in 4 to 6 tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Mix lightly with fork after each addition, until dough is just moist enough to hold together. Shape dough into two balls, one slightly larger. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight (if chilled overnight, let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes). Roll out crusts on a lightly floured surface. Roll out the smaller half of the pastry and place in a pie plate. Sprinkle with sugar to prevent it from getting soggy.
Toss sliced peaches in large bowl with remaining ingredients, then spoon mixture into pie crust. Place the second half of the pie crust on top; cut slits and brush egg white over it. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes at 425 F or until the crust is golden. Serve warm or cold.
By Rita J. Egan
Romance is in the air at the Smithtown Historical Society. The organization is currently hosting the exhibit Smithtown Gets Married: Weddings Past and Present at the Caleb Smith II House.
Curator Joshua Ruff said the exhibit, which examines the changes in wedding traditions throughout the centuries, presents a universal theme that provides the historical society the perfect opportunity to display some of its collection pieces that the public may not have seen before.
“The story and topic is one thing, but if you have the objects and the photos and the clothing that really can do justice to the story, then you have the making of a good exhibit,” the curator said. Ruff said the society has a great number of wedding-oriented artifacts in its collection, and among the pieces on display are items that date back to the 18th and 19th centuries. Items from 1854 include a wedding vest of Benjamin Newton, who ran a livery service, and wedding slippers worn by his wife Ellen.
A wedding slipper from 1755 belonging to Martha Smith, who was married to Caleb Smith I, the original owner of the home located on the property of Caleb Smith State Park Preserve in Smithtown, is also featured. “It’s pretty amazing that it survived,” the curator said.
Ruff said the historical society borrowed a couple of artifacts from the Smithtown Library including the wedding invitation of Bessie Smith and architect Stanford White, who designed the second Madison Square Garden as well as local structures including All Souls’ Episcopal Church in Stony Brook and Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower in Shoreham.
“It’s a small gallery, a small space, so I think it’s always good for us to have a little gem of an exhibition, something that has a few really great artifacts. You also have to realize that you can’t do a great, huge elaborate exhibition in the space,” Ruff said.
Marianne Howard, the historical society’s executive director said, “I think the exhibit is beautiful. One of the reasons why we were excited about the exhibit is because we wanted to have those partnerships with community members and with other organizations like the library who have a collection that is deep in this history, in this topic in particular,” she said.
In addition to the small artifacts, the exhibit features seven dresses from different periods. Gayle Hessel of Kings Park donated a 1980s wedding dress worn by her daughter Mary in 1985. “This is the kind of thing that people save and at a certain point after handing it down generation after generation, they start to think, ‘Well, what do I do with it now?’” Ruff said.
The curator said the gown by Laura Ashley has the princess style that was popular during the era due to Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding. “It’s timeless. You can tell it’s modern because of the material, and the overall look, and how low cut it is, but at the same time it really is this throwback, and it just looks great,” he said.
On the same side of the room as Hessel’s dress is one from 1882 worn by a Julia Strong. Ruff said it features a lace filigree neckline, and the dress is so small, it looks a child wore it even though the bride was 23 years old when she married. Ruff said he first attempted to put the dress on a regular mannequin, then a child’s mannequin, but finally had to carve a form for it. Ruff said it’s a perfect example of how people were smaller in the past, and the tight bodices and corseted waistlines worn in those days, too.
While at the museum, visitors can watch a 2½-minute video featuring wedding announcements of Smithtown residents in 1961. Ruff said it’s interesting to see the choices couples made as far as venues before the big catering halls of today. He said he chose 1961 because “the video is just a good way of returning to one moment in time, a moment that’s both long ago to feel like history, and maybe modern enough also to have some relevance and connection to people that come to see the exhibit.”
Howard hopes with the exhibit that attendees will not only learn about local history but also realize they can contribute to future exhibits, when they see the artifacts that are on loan. “I want people to learn about the history of Smithtown and the history of Long Island as well. And, I also want people to know that this is a place where they can have a say and have an impact and be a part of something bigger, and that’s what we’re really trying to do,” she said.
With the historical society’s museum located at the Caleb Smith II House on North Country Road slightly north of the Smithtown Library, Ruff said he hopes library patrons will take a few minutes to visit the museum adding, “They can step right next door and see a wonderful little exhibit with really unique little treasures that they’re not going to see anywhere else.”
The Caleb Smith II House, 5 North Country Road, Smithtown will present Smithtown Gets Married: Weddings Past and Present through Nov. 29. Hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission to the exhibit is free. For more information, call 631-265-6768 or visit www.smithtownhistorical.org.
Prev
