Joan Rockwell with Still Life with Pomegranates, oil on linen
M. Ellen Winter with LI Mechanic (Worker Taking a Break), oil
Cliff Miller with The Age of Innocence, oil on gesso panel
Marsha Solomon with Primary Layers, acrylic and collage on Arches paper
William Wagner with DNA 12816/65, digital print
A visitor to the Long Island Museum enjoys its Anything Goes! exhibit.
The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook hosted an artist reception for its latest exhibit, Anything Goes!, on Dec. 6. The exceptional exhibit features artwork created by 104 participating members of LIMarts, the LIM’s special membership initiative for artists.
Joshua Ruff, deputy director at the Long Island Museum, welcomed the artists and guests to the reception.“It’s quite amazing and impressive how, just within a space of a few miles, we have such incredible talent. I think this is our best show yet − it’s colorful, it’s wonderful.” Most of the artwork is for sale with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the museum’s exhibitions and programs. The show is on view in the museum’s Visitors Center through Jan. 5.
For more information, call 631-751-0066 or visit www.longislandmuseum.org.
Most people are probably unaware that their cells contain ribosomes. They probably know each of their cells has a nucleus and within that nucleus are chromosomes and that the chromosomes contain their genes.
But most people do not know what other organelles in their cells are present and what they do. One of them is the ribosome. When you look at an electron micrograph of a cell, you see the cytoplasm (the goop between the cell membrane and the nucleus) has many membranous folded sheets called the endoplasmic reticulum on which are thousands of tiny dots. Those dots are the ribosomes.
In the 1950s, after DNA was shown to be the hereditary material and present in the chromosomes of cells, some biologists began exploring how the structure of DNA is treated to the functions carried out by genes. One of these was how information (the genetic code) was carried by the genes and how that became the traits we see of the organism.
One theory quickly proven was that DNA made another copy with a slightly different chemical composition, called RNA. In fact, there were three types of RNA − a copy of the gene sequence called messenger RNA, a groups of small RNA molecules that carried one of the 20 different amino acids that compose protein molecules, and an RNA that is present in a molecular machine called the ribosome.
The ribosome takes the messenger RNA coming from the genes, enters the ribosome and begins plugging amino acids whose tips contain a three-letter sequence corresponding to one of the 20 different amino acids.
The ribosome is a complex molecule, much bigger than hemoglobin in our cells, and carries out the protein synthesis for the cell, each messenger RNA producing a specific type of protein from a specific gene.
All that mouthful of scientific events you can translate into this thought. When I eat my three meals a day, how does so much of it become me? Well, one thing to thank is your ribosomes. They take the digested bits of proteins from your foods and convert them into the proteins (enzymes, structural components of your cell organelles, and switches used to turn genes on an off or make fertilized eggs into embryos, fetuses, babies and ultimately you).
I read an interesting memoir by a Nobel molecular biologist (who started his career as a physicist) who worked on the structure of the ribosome. It has a large and a small protein mass. It also has several ribosomal RNA regions that allow the messenger RNA to enter, the transfer RNAs to deposit their individual amino acids, and the ribosomal RNA to move them along and grow the protein chain. It took about 40 years to work out the details of this molecular machine.
For science buffs, I recommend reading Venki Ramakrishnan’s 2018 book “Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secret of the Ribosome.” It is a wonderful memoir about the many blind alleys, goofs, luck, hard work, competition and numerous tools used by scientists to bring about the solution to a complex system invisible to the naked eye and it requires the disciplines of physic, chemistry and biology to solve it.
Elof Axel Carlson is a distinguished teaching professor emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University.
‘Red’ marks the estimated depth where the water table is less than 11 feet. Image from Campani and Schwarting
A state agency has granted Port Jeff over $80k in funds to help plan for future storms and floods.
The New York State Regional Economic Council awarded Port Jefferson village $82,500 Dec. 19 to create a Climate Resilience Plan. This comes in response to hurricanes over the past decade, including Irene and SuperStorm Sandy, as well as other storm surge events. The promised plan will integrate sea-level rise predictions to propose solutions to mitigate flooding and storm surges, along with the impacts of rising tides due to climate change.
Michael Schwarting presents the study’s findings to village officials back in August. Photo by Kyle Barr
Nicole Christian, Port Jefferson’s grant writer, said the village would have to put conducting the plan out to bid sometime early in the new year, and should cost a total of around $165,000. The $82,500 from New York State was the fully awarded amount requested.
With the funds, she said, Port Jefferson will be one of the few North Shore communities whose waterfront revitalization reports will be “on the leading edge” of current technologies and data from storms.
The funds go back to June this year, when the village presented its Waterfront Revitalization Plan to the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, describing its intention to perform immediately needed maintenance of the storm drainage system and provide emergency equipment to deploy in a rain event to protect properties in the village in catastrophic flooding.
At its July 15 meeting, the village voted unanimously to apply for grant funds from the state Division of Planning’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program, Empire State Development and any other applicable state agencies.
In September of last year, Port Jefferson was bowled over with water, with nearly 4 inches of rain collected in a short span of time. Buildings like the Port Jefferson firehouse and the venerable Theatre Three were drowned in 3 to 4 feet of water, causing thousands of dollars in damages in the case of the theater. In July this year, the village was hit with yet another flooding event, and while this year’s was not nearly as severe as 2018, it still left many villagers wondering what could be in the future.
Christian said when submitting the grant, the village included images of that 2018 flood, giving an example of what could happen in the future if issues are not addressed.
The area outside Theatre Three was under 2 feet of water July 22. Photo from Brian Hoerger
Back in August, architects from the Port Jefferson-based firm Campani and Schwarting displayed a draft report about trouble spots for Port Jeff flooding. Michael Schwarting, one of the architects, pointed out Port Jeff has a lack of permeable surfaces, a significant amount of hardscape, and a water table that lies as close as 11 feet to the surface.
The Long Island Explorium is planning to create rain gardens at several points in the village, which may have the added benefit of creating permeable land for water to seep into during heavy rains. The gardens originally had a deadline of the end of this year, but the explorium’s Executive Director Angeline Judex said their grant was given an extension to June 1, 2020.
In a release, the village thanked Cara Longworth, chair and director of the LI Regional Economic Development Council and Denise Zani, deputy of the LIREDC, along with other state, county and town officials for continued support.
Sophomore Becky Hannwacker scores from the paint for Smithtown East against Bellport Dec. 17. Photo by Bill Landon
Smithtown East senior Briana Durland lays up for two in a league IV matchup against visiting Bellport Dec. 17. Bill Landon photo
Smithtown East sophomore guard Jackie Shaffer shoots and scores for the Bulls Dec. 17. Photo by Bill Landon
Smithtown East’s Jackie Shaffer goes up for the score in a league IV matchup against Bellport Dec. 17. Bill Landon photo
Josie Lent an 8th grader passes inside for Smithtown East in a league IV matchup against visiting Bellport Dec. 17. Bill Landon photo
Senior guard Katie Bigliani lays up for Smithtown East against visiting Bellport Dec. 17. Photo by Bill Landon
Smithtown East sophomore guard Nicole Schwartz shoots from the baseline at home against Bellport Dec. 17. Photo by Bill Landon
It was all Smithtown East against Bellport in a League IV matchup where the Bulls trampled the Clippers 46-17 on their home court Dec. 17. Junior guard Paige Doherty led the way for the Bulls with two treys and three field goals for 12 points. Senior Kate Cosgrove sunk three from the charity stripe and three field goals for 9 points along with nine rebounds; and sophomore Jackie Shaffer netted 6. After dropping their league season opener on Dec. 13, the win puts the Bulls at 1-1 in league and 2-5 overall. Smithtown East retakes the court Dec. 20 when they hit the road against North Babylon. Tipoff is at 4 p.m.
Clockwise from right; Smithtown East’s Jackie Shaffer goes up for the score; sophomore Becky Hannwacker scores from the paint; sophomore guard Shaffer shoots and scores; Josie Lent an 8th-grader passes inside; senior guard Katie Bigliani lays up; sophomore guard Nicole Schwartz shoots from the baseline at home against Bellport.
Elementary school teacher Meryl Nani, as Peter Pan, and Paul Wilgenkamp, as Captain Hook, during the Three Village school district’s scholarship show performed by teachers and administrators. Photo from Three Village Central School District
Teachers and administrators in the Three Village Central School District recently combined their talents to lend a helping hand to students.
“It’s a great bonding experience between the administrators and staff, and when the community gets to come see you, they get to see you in a whole different light as a performer on stage.”
–Paul Wilgenkamp
On Nov. 21-23 nearly 100 members of the Three Village Teachers Association and Three Village School Administrators Association put on a production of “Peter Pan” at R.C. Murphy Jr. High School. Directed by Anthony Pollera, TVCSD director of music, the musical featured elementary school teacher Meryl Nani in the lead role. Students, parents and community members paid $20 a ticket to attend, which in turn raised $25,000 for scholarships that will be distributed to eligible students from elementary to high school.
Pollera said children like seeing their teachers playing characters such as the ones in Peter Pan, adding that there was such a huge interest they could have put on a fourth show.
“Some of these adults are very talented, and some are very brave regardless,” Pollera said. “You want to pick a show the audience is going to like, most importantly the students.”
Paul Wilgenkamp, math center teacher at Minnesauke Elementary School, played Captain Hook. Performing in previous faculty productions, he said it’s just as exciting for the students as for the teachers and administrators.
“It’s a great bonding experience between the administrators and staff, and when the community gets to come see you, they get to see you in a whole different light as a performer on stage,” Wilgenkamp said. “It’s kind of like when kids see you in the supermarket. They can’t believe that a teacher is out shopping for food.”
“Peter Pan” brought back a tradition that started in 2002 when teachers came together to put on a production of “Guys and Dolls” to raise money. In the following years, the educators presented “That’s Entertainment!” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Grease.” After a break for a few years, in 2011, they acted in “The Wizard of Oz,” which was followed by another years-long sabbatical.
“Everybody is busy with what they do in their dedication to students,” Pollera said. “It just kind of rolled around and we said let’s do it this year. If you ask them right now, they’re ready to go again next year.”
“I think what has made this last one really special was the administrative unit working with the teachers.”
— Anthony Pollera
Pollera added this was the first time administrators took part in the group effort.
“I think what has made this last one really special was the administrative unit working with the teachers,” he said.
He said it was fun seeing administrators like Kevin Scanlon, deputy superintendent for business services, building sets with them and seeing principals performing as the Lost Boys.
Wilgenkamp, who used to perform occasionally with his father Jan at the former Island Squire restaurant in Middle Island, said Pollera brings out everyone’s hidden talents.
“I probably never would have gone and done any more singing or acting or performing if [Anthony] hadn’t shown up in our district a few years ago,” Wilgenkamp said. “He’s an amazing guy. He touches so many lives.”
Pollera, who also played piano for the production, added there was a nine-piece musical pit filled with all music teachers. The production also included a flying apparatus for Peter Pan and the Darling children.
Rehearsals began in September, Pollera said, for four days a week. During Saturday rehearsals, high school students helped babysit teachers’ children.
“It was one big family,” the director said. “I can’t really describe it any better than that.”
Wilgenkamp said Pollera always puts together a professional production that brings out confidence and the best in everybody involved.
“It’s really mind-blowing how he can take people who are teachers or working in the school buildings and turn them into stars on the stage and change the stage into this elaborate Broadway production,” Wilgenkamp said.
He said it felt good to know the show will positively impact students with the availability of scholarships for years to come, in addition to the bonds that were created.
“The camaraderie and the relationships that the shows create really lasts a lifetime,” Wilgenkamp said.
Town Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station) and PJ Village trustee, Kathianne Snaden, at the town’s Quality of Life Task Force’s first public meeting Dec. 17. Photo by Kyle Barr
As members of the Brookhaven Town’s Quality of Life Task Force walked in to the Comsewogue Public Library Dec. 17, looking to talk about the homeless issue, they were each greeted with a poignant reminder, a shopping cart laden with items, of containers and blankets, sitting in a handicapped space closest to the library’s main doors.
At the area surrounding the railroad tracks in the Port Jefferson area, men and women sleep outside even as the months grow colder. They sleep on benches and on the stoops of dilapidated buildings. Village code enforcement and Suffolk County police have said they know many of them by name, and services for them have been around, in some cases, for decades.
Still, homelessness in the Upper Port and Port Jefferson Station area continues to be an issue that has vexed local municipalities. On both sides of the railroad tracks, along Route 25A, also known as Main Street, residents constantly complain of seeing people sleeping on the stoops of vacant buildings.
But beyond a poor sight, the issue, officials said is multipronged. Dealing with it humanely, especially getting people services, remains complicated, while an all-encompassing, effective solution would require new efforts on every level of government.
Phase two of the task force, officials said, will mean coming out with a full report that includes recommendations, to be released sometime in 2020. Likely, it will come in the form of proposed state legislation regarding access to sober homes, bills to allow assistance in homeless transport, increased sharing of information between departments and municipalities, increased law enforcement activity, and revitalization efforts by both village and town while concurrently tackling quality of life issues.
Efforts by the town
At the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association meeting Dec. 17, members of the town’s task force, along with other local legislators, talked with residents about their findings.
The task force came into its own last year after a video of two homeless people having a sexual encounter on a bench in Port Jeff Station exploded in community social media groups like a bag of popcorn heated over a jet engine. The task force has brought together town, police, village, county and other nonprofit advocacy groups to the table, looking to hash out an effective response.
Town Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station) said much of the first phase of the task force has been collecting data, although some items still remain up in the air. Vincent Rothaar, of Suffolk County’s Department of Social Services, said there have been approximately 48 street homeless, but he was not sure if that was 48 outreaches to a single individual multiple times.
That is not to say the homeless population in the town’s District 1 and PJ Village is stagnant. Much of them are transient homeless, said PJS/T civic president, Sal Pitti, who is an ex-city police officer. Especially since Port Jeff contains the LIRR Station, those who sleep under a tent one morning may be gone the next day.
“It’s not just an issue that’s affected District 1, it’s an issue that’s affected the entire town, is affecting the entire county” Cartright said. “A lot of the legislation we’re putting forward is not just affecting District 1.”
“It’s not just an issue that’s affected District 1, it’s an issue that’s affected the entire town, is affecting the entire county”
– Valerie Cartright
Cartright has said that several months ago she stood out by the side of the road with a homeless couple that after weeks of talks and persuading finally agreed to go into a Suffolk County housing program. The county had called a cab to pick up the couple, and the councilwoman described how the people had to figure out what they were going to bring with them, going down from several bags between them to one bag a piece.
After calling the cab company, Cartright said the car had apparently got turned around, thinking they were in Port Jefferson instead of Port Jefferson Station. To get the homeless couple their ride, she had to make Suffolk County call up the company again.
Cartright has made efforts to use town-owned buses to help transport homeless individuals in emergency situations but was stymied by other members of the Town Board and officials in the county executive’s office, who said it was both unnecessary and not in the town’s purview.
Rothaar said DSS, especially its recently hired director Frances Pierre, would not dismiss any offer from any municipality of additional transportation services.
“We’re up to working with any government entity for the transport of a homeless person to one of our shelters,” he said. “We’re adamant of not just working with the Town of Brookhaven, but working with every municipality in Suffolk County.”
County offers more collaboration
The difficulty comes in trying to get services for the homeless population comes down to two things, officials said. One is the individual’s or group’s willingness to be helped, the other is the way the county manages the homeless person once they make it into the system.
The difficulty is enormous. Cartright said she has personally talked to individuals multiple times over a year before they even give a hint of wanting to be put in the system.
COPE officer for the Suffolk County police 6th Precinct, Casey Hines Berry, said the police have stepped up foot and bike patrols in the station area, the village and the Greenway Trail, along with talking to increasing communication with local businesses and shelters such as Pax Christi.
The Pax Christi Hospitality Center in Port Jefferson. Photo by Kyle Barr
“As we were able to determine who were the individuals committing crimes, we could determine who were the individuals who need housing, who have housing, who are refusing housing,” Berry said. “We did this by collaborating all our different resources within the community.”
She said there have been more arrests, specifically 362 from May 2018 to current date, compared to 245 from the previous time period. The disparity of those numbers she attributed to warrants identifying more people in the area who may be wanted for previous citations, especially in quality of life matters such as public urination or open containers. She added there is no gang activity in Port Jefferson Station, only gang-affiliated people living in the area. In May this year, police arrested one young man of Port Jeff Station for an alleged conspiracy to murder two others in Huntington Station.
But police are not allowed to simply arrest people who may be “loitering” on the street without due cause, she said. If a person is standing on private property, it’s up to the owner to call police to ask them for help getting them to move on. In cases where homeless may be living on property such as the LIPA-owned right-of-way, it’s up to that body to request help removing them.
Police know many of the stationary homeless on a first name basis. Getting them to come in to an emergency shelter or through DSS systems is the difficult part. Many, officials said, simply have difficulty trusting the system — or can’t — such as the case when a homeless, nonmarried couple cannot go into services together and would rather stay together than be separated and have help.
Rothaar said the DSS offers much more than emergency housing, including medical assistance, financial services, along with child and adult protective services.
He said department workers often go out to meet homeless individuals over and over. Each time they may bring a different individual, such as a priest or a different social worker, as if “we keep going out to them again and again, they might respond.” He said they have conducted 18 outreaches in the Port Jeff area since 2018 and have assisted 48 people.
“If we continue to reach out to them, they have come into our care, for lack of a better term, to receive case management services,” he said.
Port Jeff Station/Terryville Chamber of Commerce vice president, Larry Ryan, said the best way to give homeless access to care is to be compassionate.
“People have to be willing to accept help,” he said. “You can offer it all you want but if that person’s not willing to take help, or use the services being provided for them, your hands get tied.”
That sentiment was echoed by Pax Christi director, Stephen Brazeau, who said he has seen DSS making a good effort, especially when the weather gets cold. He added that one must be cautious of thinking someone you meet on the street must be homeless.
“You always need to be there, need to always be available when that ‘yes’ comes,” Brazeau said.
Alex DeRosa, an aide to Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), said the county has already passed legislation, sponsored by Hahn, to allow police a copy of the list of emergency homes that was originally only kept by DSS.
There are more than 200 supportive housing sites in Suffolk County that DSS does not oversee, which are instead overseen by New York State. However, the state does not list where or how many sober homes in the area.
“That’s what we’re trying to change, increase that communication,” said Pitti.
Village works with local shelter
Residents have appeared at village meetings to state they have seen drug deals happening near the LIRR train tracks in Upper Port, specifically surrounding Hope House Ministries, which has provided services for homeless for just under 40 years.
Port Jefferson residents have mentioned witnessing catcalling and harassment on the train platform from people behind Pax Christi’s fence. One resident, Kathleen Riley, said she had witnessed what could have been a drug deal between people using Pax Christi’s back gate to exchange an item that was then taken by people onto a train.
Village officials said they have been in communication with the Pax Christi’s Brazeau. In the past few weeks, village trustee Kathianne Snaden said she has communicated with Pax Christi and has toured their facility along with village manager Joe Palumbo and Fred Leute, acting chief of code enforcement. While she commended the facility for the work it does, she suggested either extending or raising the exterior fence, though Palumbo said he was told they would not be able to take any action on new fencing until at least the new year.
Snaden said the village has also reached out to a fencing company that could create a new, larger fence in between the platform and Pax Christi, in order to reduce sight lines.
Brazeau said the shelter is looking to install a new fence around the side to the front of the building, and has agreed with the village about them installing a higher fence in between Pax Christi and the platform.
Regarding the back gate, he said fire code mandates it be open from the inside, but didn’t rule out including some kind of alarm system at a later date.
MTA representative Vanessa Lockel lauded the new train station to help beautify the area, along with new security cameras for added protection. However, when it came to adding new benches, civic leaders helped squash that attempt. Pitti said they feared more people using the benches for sleeping or encouraging more people to stay and loiter.
Snaden said code enforcement meets every train arriving in an effort to show a presence, which she said has led to a reduction in incidents, though code enforcement is limited in what they can do, with no power of arrest. MTA police, Lockel said, have more than 700 miles of track to cover on the Long Island Rail Road, and not enough people report incidents to their hotline, 718-361-2201, or text [email protected].
Other services available
Celina Wilson, president of the Bridge of Hope Resource Center in Port Jeff Station, has helped identify other nongovernment entities providing services for the homeless population in the area.
She said the two hospitals in Port Jeff, namely St. Charles and Mather, provide similar amounts of service as far as substance abuse, but while St. Charles hosts inpatient detox and rehabilitation services, Mather hosts outpatient alcohol and substance abuse programs.
There are numerous soup kitchens in both the village and station areas, but only two kitchens, Maryhaven and St. Gerard Majella, host food pantries. She said both groups reported to Bridge of Hope there was a decline in people utilizing their services as of a year ago.
Hope House Ministries hosts a range of services for the homeless, including the Pax Christi 25-bed emergency shelter.
“Most people are not aware of the available resources until they are in a crisis,” Wilson said. “And they are scrambling for answers.”
She said largely in the area, “everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing,” and thanked the local officials for taking action compared to other areas, like Brentwood, whose officials did not make efforts until the situation was already out of control.
“It’s been a wonderful opportunity to work with the members of the task force,” she said.
This year, Mount Sinai’s SADD club and nonprofit Holiday Magic team up to gather Christmas presents for needy children. Photos from John Wilson
Mount Sinai High School’s Students Against Destructive Decisions club and Holiday Magic combined for their 21st year as a team devoted to making the holidays magical for children across Suffolk County.
Holiday Magic, headed by local attorney Charlie “Santa” Russo, is a nonprofit organization that dedicates itself to making the holidays special for less fortunate children and their families. This year, Holiday Magic received gift requests from nearly 14,000 children on Long Island. On Dec. 6, with 54 Santa lists in hand and $4,000 in cash from Holiday Magic, the SADD students took a sleigh donated by the First Student bus company to Walmart and the Smith Haven Mall in search of the requested gifts. With the help of a donated truck from RTI Trucking, the gifts were delivered to their very own “North Pole” for wrapping.
As always, SADD’s goal is to show these children that the community does care, which in the future will hopefully prevent them from making “destructive decisions.” Making this year’s shopping event even more special was that Mount Sinai High once again opened its doors to host the holiday dinner for the children we had shopped for and their families. The dinner, which took place Dec. 12, fed over 80 people in a holiday themed cafeteria at the high school. Many of the SADD members played with the children or dressed in holiday themed costumes. SADD members escorted Santa into party to the delight of some eagerly awaiting kids, who were each given gifts from their Santa lists.
The group was once again joined by Mount Sinai graduate, SADD alumni and now Mount Sinai teacher, Gabriella Conceicao. Gabby is a leave replacement at the Middle School by day and a guest elf at night.
Mount Sinai teacher John Wilson, who is co-club advisor alongside John McHugh, said he hopes to continue this tradition with Gabby every year. A magical part of the night was when SADD presented Holiday Magic with a check for $7,000 from the proceeds of the 2019 Turkey Trot.
“It’s simply magic when we can return what we borrowed plus donate thousands more back,” Wilson said.
Those looking to donate to Holiday Magic can visit www.holidaymagicli.org.
Next year will be the schools 22nd anniversary of SADD’s and Holiday Magic’s annual teamup.
Now through Jan. 16, 2020, the New-York Historical Society is featuring an exhibition Beyond Midnight: Paul Revere, while in East Setauket there’s reason to celebrate a find related to the home of courier and spy Capt. Austin Roe, known as the “Paul Revere of Long Island.”
Roe Tavern, Robert S. Feather Photo Postcard, c. 1916-1918. Photo courtesy of Three Village Historical Society
For the first time in a century, sketches of Old Roe’s Tavern in its original location in East Setauket have come to light courtesy of the New-York Historical Society (N-YHS) after an ongoing search, at my request, for catalogued entries that initially evaded art handlers. Gifted in 1954 to the N-YHS, the sketches remained unheralded for 65 years until brought to light this September on the eve of the recent fifth annual Culper Spy Day sponsored by the Three Village Historical Society, Tri-Spy Tours, The Long Island Museum and The Ward Melville Heritage Organization.
Dating from 1911 to 1917, the sketches in graphite (pencil) with touches of white chalk on buff paper are by Arthur W. Strong, an interior designer and third-generation American sign painter. At my request, they have been photographically digitized for the first time.
Spy Trail captured in Strong’s sketches
On his sketches, Strong inscribed a date of circa 1702 to the future tavern, a year before it’s now believed the first Selah Strong in Setauket built the one-story section seen to the right (east) in the top photo. The Strongs sold to the Woodhulls who, in turn, sold to the Roe family, who added the main section in 1735 and turned it into a tavern. Under cover of his livelihood as tavern-keeper, Roe acted as a courier for George Washington’s spy ring, carrying information between New York City and Setauket at great personal risk during the American Revolution, when Long Island was occupied by the British.
Among the few known views of Roe Tavern in its original location (now marked by a sign), Strong’s sketches predate Route 25A road changes that necessitated the tavern’s move a mile away in 1936. Strong’s 1914 sketch of the tavern conveys the same basic undulations of land and roadway so familiar today on the Spy Trail, which extends from Port Jefferson to Great Neck along 25A, known as the King’s Highway during the Revolution.
Today it’s known as the Culper Spy Trail after Washington’s chief spies on Long Island — Abraham Woodhull, alias Samuel Culper Sr., and Robert Townsend, Culper Jr., who provided key intelligence to Washington in 1780 that helped save West Point from Benedict Arnold’s treason. Also, thanks to the horsemanship of Roe that year, the French Navy was spared at Newport, Rhode Island, so it could sail south to assist Washington in achieving the ultimate Revolutionary War victory at Yorktown, Virginia, the following year.
In 2017, the New York State Legislature recognized the contribution of the Culper Spy Ring, and commemorative Spy Trail signs were installed by the North Shore Promotion Alliance.
Arthur Strong’s 1914 sketch provides the earliest known perspective of the Roe Tavern from the northeast looking west along the dirt road to New York City as it was likely laid out when traveled by Roe as he couriered coded messages for Washington. Riding horseback 110 miles round trip at least once a week, on roads patrolled by British soldiers and frequented by highwaymen and British spies and couriers, the danger persisted when Roe returned home where the enemy, drinking at his tavern, would hopefully drop an unguarded comment on military plans that warranted transmittal to Washington.
Through Strong’s eyes, too, we see the tavern where it stood in 1790 when Washington saw it and recorded in his diary, “thence to Setakit . . . to the House of a Captn. Roe which is tolerably dect. [decent] with obliging people in it.” Washington slept there on the evening of April 22, 1790 during a post-war tour of Long Island to thank those, like Roe, who spied for the American cause.
Out of a cache of six, five sketches are related to the tavern and a sixth (1915) is of the Setauket Presbyterian Church. Strong’s work features a previously stored-away view of the second-floor front southwest bedroom George Washington slept in when visiting Roe Tavern in 1790.
The week of Washington’s birthday bicentennial, a Feb. 26, 1932 Long-Islander newspaper article reported that care had been taken to “preserve the original appearance” of the bedroom and that its central feature was the open fireplace “across the northern end of the room.” That is the focus of Strong’s 1917 sketch, made years earlier, showing the first president’s humble accommodations.
According to census records, Arthur W. Strong was born about 1878. He may have moved from Brooklyn to Port Jefferson in November 1911 at about age 32, when he completed his first sketch, which was of the tavern.
Strong’s sketches appear to have been done during his commissions as a sign painter, and he returned to the tavern on three occasions. The first sketch, drawn in 1911, included an inset of what was likely his proposed sign marking Washington’s visit (that Strong mistakenly recorded as occurring in 1782) and not a word about a tea house. Strong’s last three sketches in 1917 depict the front facade of the tavern without any sign; a proposed sign for the ‘Old Tavern Tea House’ with a full-face picture of George Washington and the correct date of his visit in 1790; and Washington’s bedroom. The latter indicates Strong’s interest in interior decorating that ultimately led to his becoming a partner in his own design business by 1930.
Strong’s 1911 sketch is reminiscent of similarly composed views found in photo postcards of the tavern by English-born photographers Arthur S. Greene (1867-1955), who came to Port Jefferson in 1894, and Robert S. Feather (1861-1937) a jeweler and watchmaker who arrived in Smithtown after 1900.
While Greene’s postcard shows a real estate sign on a post like that drawn in Strong’s sketches, Feather’s postcard circa 1916-1918 shows a boxy tea house sign, framing a view taken east of the signpost. Tea houses were a popular venue in 1917: the same year Strong drew Washington’s visage on his Old Tavern Tea House sign for Roe’s, a new tea house was established to the west on Route 25A, at the Roslyn Grist Mill, the oldest Dutch commercial building in the United States (now undergoing extensive restoration by the Roslyn Landmark Society).
The N-YHS received Strong’s sketches as a Gift of the Estate of Oscar T. Barck Sr., historian to the Sons of the American Revolution, collector of documents signed by Washington and father of Syracuse University professor and noted historian and author Oscar Theodore Barck Jr. (1902-1993), whose papers and ephemera the N-YHS also houses.
Barck Jr.’s book, “New York City During the War for Independence: With Special Reference to the Period of British Occupation” (1931), provides one of the early discussions of Washington’s spy ring, following Suffolk County historian Morton Pennypacker’s “Two Spies” (1930) identifying Robert Townsend of Oyster Bay as Culper Jr. in prelude to Pennypacker’s “George Washington’s Spies” (1939) establishing Abraham Woodhull of Setauket as Culper Sr.
Pennypacker described how Anna Smith Strong hung laundry on a clothesline to signal Woodhull when and where Capt. Caleb Brewster’s whaleboats beached in various coves to receive messages he would relay across the Sound to Washington’s headquarters. Arthur Strong’s interest in Roe Tavern shows an appreciation for Strong family history in Setauket although his father’s family emigrated to the United States from England in 1851. As “Master Painters,” Arthur Strong’s family established their own business of paper hanging and painting in Manhattan and Brooklyn before Arthur moved to Port Jefferson.
Encoded art and architecture lead to rediscovered sketches
Roe Tavern’s two-story three-bay main section with a door to the right, considered a “half-house,” featured nine-over-six windows, a common yet potentially politically significant configuration, also found in the similar facade of a circa 1752 house once the home of Mary Woodhull Arthur and now owned by the Smithtown Central School District on West Main Street, Smithtown. That suggestive fenestration led me to discover Mary’s father was Abraham Woodhull, aka Culper Sr., one of the Culpers for whom the Spy Trail was named. After leaving Roe’s Tavern on April 23, 1790, Washington traveled to Smithtown past the Arthur House en route to Huntington and dined at Platt’s Tavern, no longer extant, making Mary’s home the only one of the three Washington passed that day still located where it stood in 1790.
The locating of Strong’s Setauket sketches comes in conjunction with my current research into the possibility that architectural features of Roe Tavern, the Arthur House in Smithtown and the wall paintings of the Sherwood-Jayne House in East Setauket could be highly political in nature. Owned by Preservation Long Island, the Sherwood-Jayne House is believed to have been built about 1730 with the east addition housing the paintings dated to circa 1780-1790. Without giving away details, I’ll say the Sherwood-Jayne House would not be the first American home documented with frescoes of a similar style said to have been painted to express loyalty to either a British or American political stance close to the end of the American Revolution.
As a clue to understanding the political potential of the Sherwood-Jayne wall paintings, I’ll remind readers of Abigail Adams’ admonition, “Remember the ladies,” written to her husband, John, at a time when he was helping to frame the Declaration of Independence for the new American government in 1776. Abigail’s advice lends meaning to the ciphers that appear to be spelled out on the interior walls of the Sherwood-Jayne House and are repeated in the fenestration of its front facade as well as the windows of Mary Woodhull Arthur’s home and Roe Tavern.
North Shore arts flourish
The southeast parlor, Sherwood-Jayne House, East Setauket Photo courtesy of Preservation Long Island
Within the 1911 to 1917 time frame that Arthur W. Strong sketched Roe Tavern, painter Emile Albert Gruppé was commissioned in 1916 by antiquarian Howard Sherwood, to restore the wall paintings in a downstairs parlor of his nearby East Setauket home (now the Sherwood-Jayne House).
Sherwood discovered the paintings beneath the wallpaper shortly after purchasing the house in 1908.
Strong and Gruppé were working in the East Setauket area while sculptor Charles Cary Rumsey’s early plaster cast of Whisper, the Smithtown Bull (now at the Smithtown Historical Society), was exhibited, beginning in 1913, at the new Smithtown Library (1912), to raise funds for the five-ton bronze Bull.
Gruppé could have seen the model when he arrived in East Setauket and ironically, in 1919, Emile’s brother, sculptor Karl Gruppé, would become Rumsey’s assistant. After Rumsey’s death in 1922, Karl went to Paris for three years to supervise completion of Rumsey’s unfinished works, which included the Smithtown Bull (National Register Eligible 2018).
It was cast in 1926, shortly after Emile Gruppé returned to the North Shore and recorded, in April 1925, that he restored “with much care,” the second-floor frescoes at Sherwood’s home.
The Bull represents not only the time-honored folklore of Richard “Bull” Smith’s famous ride upon a bull circling the land that would become Smithtown but also stands as the secular symbol of the winged ox attribute of St. Luke, patron of painters and architects.
Standing tall at the junction of Routes 25 and 25A, the bronze Bull installed in Smithtown in 1941 serves as a symbol of the arts along the North Shore from the township of Smithtown to Brookhaven. Little known, but locally significant, Arthur W. Strong, creator of the Roe Tavern Sketches, was a figure in that North Shore arts movement.
About the author: Independent Historian Corey Geske of Smithtown also compared sketches at the N-YHS to an Asher Brown Durand painting at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, resulting in its correct re-titling as “View in the Valley of Oberhasle, Switzerland” (1842) in the Art Inventories Catalog of the Smithsonian American Art Museums. Geske proposed a National Register Historic District for downtown Smithtown in early 2017, prepared the report resulting in the Smithtown Bull being determined Eligible for the NR (2018) and wrote the successful nomination for recent listing on the National Register of Historic Places of the Byzantine Catholic Church of the Resurrection (1929) designed by Henry J. McGill and Talbot F. Hamlin, and its Rectory, the former Fred and Annie Wagner Residence (1912) designed by Gustav Stickley.
Town and County officials joined together with the Briggs family at the Boyle Road Elementary school for an unveiling of a portrait. Photo by Monica Gleberman
Town and County officials joined together with the Briggs family at the Boyle Road Elementary school for an unveiling of a portrait. Photo by Monica Gleberman
Town and county officials joined Rebecca Briggs and her children, Ava and Jayden, in dedicating King Street to her late husband, Dashan Briggs. Photo by Monica Gleberman
Town and county officials joined Rebecca Briggs and her children, Ava and Jayden, in dedicating King Street to her late husband, Dashan Briggs. Photo by Monica Gleberman
The Port Jefferson Station and Terryville communities came together Dec. 18 to show that a National Guard Airman and community member is still remembered.
Comsewogue School District and Brookhaven Town officials gathered with community members at the corner of Bedford Ave. and King Street to honor Tech Sgt. Dashan Briggs, a Port Jeff Station resident who was assigned to the 101st Rescue Squadron, 106th Rescue Wing of the National Guard. He was among those killed when their helicopter was shot down in March, 2018. The 30-year-old was one of seven airmen on board carrying out a mission in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, an American-led mission to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Underneath the sign for King Street now reads “Tech. Sgt. Dashan J. Briggs Way.” The street sign’s designation came after Brookhaven town Councilwoman Valerie Cartright (D-Port Jefferson Station) sponsored and helped pass a town resolution in June.
“Tech. Sgt. Dashan Briggs was a husband, father, grandson, friend, neighbor, and dedicated service member our country with honor and distinction,” she said. “We remember Briggs as a wonderful representative of our community and a leader who was committed to his work and to helping others.”
Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) said Briggs’ sacrifice can be better be remembered by both school and community.
“As a mother your heart breaks for the sacrifice the family has given for our nation and that’s
the reality for protecting our freedoms,” she said. “It’s such an honor for the family and the sacrifice, but its really important for his children to see this from the community. The kids may not remember this specific moment, but as they grow up and travel through the school they will always remember seeing their father there every day.”
Before the street sign unveiling, the school district presented Briggs’ family with a portrait of their husband and father at the Boyle Road Elementary School. Both of Brigg’s children are in the Comsewogue school district.
County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said the portrait does a great job as a reminder to everybody who moves up through the district.
““I think the portrait following the kids as they get older is a wonderful thing,” he said. “A whole generation of kids who grow up in this school and the school district will learn the lessons of sacrifice and service of country through the example of Tech. Sgt. Dashan Briggs. It’s a great way to honor him, it’s a great way to honor his family and it’s a great benefit to all of the kids in this school district.”
Additional reporting by Monica Gleberman
This post was amended Dec. 19 to add additional comments from Councilwoman Cartright.
Katherine Lewin with her newborn son Jonathan at St. Charles Hospital's new maternity wing. Photo by Kyle Barr
St. Charles Hospital’s nearly $4 million new maternity wing has one thing at the top of the mind, privacy.
St. Catherines officials cut the ribbon on the new maternity wing. Photo by Kyle Barr
At a ribbon cutting for the new renovated 16-room maternal/child pavilion Dec. 19, hospital officials boasted rooms with “hotel-like atmosphere,” that focus on letting families stay together with their newborn in relative quiet.
“Today the standard in the community is probably for privacy for mothers, because now their husbands stay with them, so you need to have more people in the room,” said Jim O’Connor, the president of St. Charles Hospital.
O’Connor said the new wing cost around $3.8 million, most of which came from the hospital’s capital budget, and took around 10 months to build. During that time patients were moved to the 3-West wing, in order to avoid the disturbance of construction for the doctors, nurses and patients.
The hospital’s foundation and auxiliary contributed about $500,000 to the construction, said Lisa Mulvey, executive director of the hospital’s foundation. Funds were raised through trustees and events such as their annual golf outing and spring luncheons. The end result, she said, was well worth it.
“It’s beautiful,” Mulvey said. “I couldn’t have pictured something more beautiful.”
Each room features new beds and more accommodations for person’s significant others with new sofa chairs and larger, walk-in showers. The rooms also include more modern isolettes for newborn children.
One of the new rooms at St. Catherine Hospital maternal unit. Photo by Kyle Barr
Dr. Jerry Ninia, the director of obstetrics and gynecology at the hospital, said the new wing’s technology helps in emergencies, but it’s always moreso the staff involved.
“It goes beyond the nice showers and the nice digs, so to speak,” he said. “It helps the staff, it’s always nice to work in a nice facility.”
The wing officially opened about three weeks ago, and patients are already making use of the facilities.
Ed Casper, an architect from Stantec engineering company that worked on the new wing, said just that morning he had become a grandfather, his grandson being born right there in the new wing.
“Our experience through the night last night was absolutely phenomenal,” he said.
One of the first children to be born in the new maternity ward was young Jonathan Lewin, less than a week old. His sparse, brown hair is already as long as thumbtacks. His mother, Katherine Lewin, 31, a nurse from Wading River, said her care there was “excellent, everyone here is great.”
She is excited to take her new son home, where she expects her 2 ½ year-old daughter is excited to be a sister.
“She asked if she could bring him home,” Lewin said.
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