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A view of the grounds of the Long Island Museum from the Art Museum on the hill.

By Tara Mae

The Long Island Museum (LIM) in Stony Brook unveils three exciting new exhibitions — Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light, Fire & Form: New Directions in Glass and the 8th annual LIMarts Members’ Exhibition, Fragile — this Friday, Aug. 20. All three will be on view through Dec. 19.

Art exhibit, Fragile, showcases work of LIMarts members
Long Island Museum’s Visitor Center and History Museum

Peace may be found in both the practice and presence of art. Fragile explores how art enriches our lives, particularly during times of stress and strife. On display in the recently renovated Cowles Gallery in the History Museum and Visitors Center (pictured on the right), the show features works by 92 members of LIMarts, both amateur and professional, working in different formats and mediums including sculpture, printmaking, oil painting, watercolor, etc. 

“LIMarts is a collaborative arts group designed for artists dedicated to creating a new forum within our cultural community,” said Neil Watson, Executive Director of the LIM. “The group offers space for the exhibition and sale of artwork, varied programming events, lectures and opportunities for social gathering with other artists and the public.”

All LIMarts members were invited to submit one piece for the exhibit, which enables the museum to introduce or amplify the art of local artists to its audience. Although a few of the artists have works already in the museum’s permanent collection, the art included in Fragile is being exhibited for the first time. 

Thanks to a sponsorship by Maryellen and Michael Lubinsky, the museum was able to waive its normal commission; all proceeds from art sales will go directly to the artists. 

There were no confines put on the artists’ interpretations of the theme, but they were constrained by space; each participant’s work had to fit on 12″ x 12″  canvas boards. This restriction enabled creative solutions and unique results. 

“When everybody’s work is the same size, it distills a different type of beauty…they are all on the same panel and figuring it out,” said Joshua Ruff, Deputy Director of the LIM and the show’s curator. “The diversity of approaches and how the exhibit was interpreted are amazing: fragile, as an idea, departure point, and concept.”

During the past 19 months, emotional and physical fragility have been ideas arguably at the forefront of the collective conscience. Most of the submissions were created during this time frame, and these ideas are recurring subjects, especially as they relate to the delicate nature of both the environment and human condition. Yet fragile does not equal weak, and the exhibit is also a testament to how fragility can be infused with fortitude.

“This is not an exhibition of 92 different ways of suffering; rather it shows there is an inner reserve of strength in all of us. You can be vulnerable but have other positive qualities of strength. I think some of the artists were trying to say that you can be fragile but be strong or have a fragile environment that produces great beauty and great strength,” said Ruff.  

Certain artists chose to explore the intersection of fragility and vulnerability by experimenting with new painting styles or artistic techniques. “Some artists were trying new things and you can be vulnerable when you are trying new things,” Ruff explained. “It’s really impressive to see how many ways people approached the subject and how many different points of view and perspectives you see.”

Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light
Wisteria Library Lamp, ca. 1901, Tiffany Studios, NYC

Organized by the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass in Queens, Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light will be the first exhibition of its kind at the LIM. This compelling exhibition will include five windows, twenty lamps, and several displays showing how Louis C. Tiffany’s lamps were assembled, and how collectors today can distinguish between authentic lamps and forgeries.

The exhibition features some of the most celebrated of Tiffany’s works. Chosen for their masterful rendering of nature in flowers or landscape scenes, they exemplify the rich and varied glass palette, sensitive color selection, and intricacy of design that was characteristic of Tiffany’s leaded-glass objects. This exhibition also highlights some of the key figures at Tiffany Studios who made essential contributions to the artistry of the windows and lamps— chemist Arthur J. Nash and designers Agnes Northrop and Clara Driscoll.

 

 

Fire & Form: New Directions in Glass
Acesa (Ascend), 2019; by Toots
Zynsky;
Heller
Gallery, NYC

Fire & Form: New Directions in Glass , organized by the Long Island Museum, will feature nearly 50 works from nine contemporary artists, all reinforcing that glass is a sculptural material of near-infinite artistic and narrative possibilities. The artists included in this exhibition represent some of the most renowned names in American contemporary glass: Joseph Cavalieri, Deborah Czeresko, Trefny Dix, Bengt Hokanson, Beth Lipman, Judith Schaechter, Andy Stenerson, Marianne Weil, and Toots Zynsky. These exceptional artists all demonstrate a variety of approaches, methods, and inspirational starting points. Fire & Form will inhabit more than 2,500 square feet in LIM’s History Museum and Visitor’s Center and will  be accompanied by a richly illustrated 30-page catalogue that will be printed as a takeaway for visitors.

“Fire & Form and Tiffany Glass are two of the biggest and most beautiful exhibitions we have ever mounted here,” says Joshua Ruff, Deputy Director the LIM and one of the curators of Fire & Form. “The comparison between Tiffany’s approach with some of the striking other work people will see  — modern stained glass, blown glass, and cast glass — will really give people some perspective on how versatile a medium it really is.

IF YOU GO

The Long Island Museum is located at 1200 Route 25A in Stony Brook. It is open Thursday to Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $7 for seniors (62 and older), $5 for students (including college students with IDs), $3.50 for people with disabilities (personal care assistants admitted for free), and free for children under the age of six. For more information about the above exhibits or orther programs at the LIM, call 631-751-0066 or visit longislandmuseum.org.

 

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A scene from 'The Green Knight'. Photo courtesy of A24
A scene from 'The Green Knight'. Photo courtesy of A24
A scene from 'The Green Knight'. Photo courtesy of A24
A scene from 'The Green Knight'. Photo courtesy of A24
A scene from 'The Green Knight'. Photo courtesy of A24

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

The tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table have always been fair game for adaptation. Whether it is Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889), Lerner and Loewe’s Broadway musical Camelot (1960), or the gritty but entertaining film Excalibur (1981), the story has embraced (or at least stood up to) revisionism. As a result, the legends have endured over seven centuries, from The Sword in the Stone (1963) to Spamalot (2005).

The Green Knight loosely draws on the fourteenth-century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and other sources. Knowledge of the story and history is not necessary to view the film. Clearly. David Lowery has written, directed, edited, and produced the film. So, he can be considered the responsible party.

Gawain (Dev Patel) awakes on Christmas morning in a brothel, having spent the night with Essel (Alicia Vikander). His mother, sorceress Morgan le Fay (Sarita Choudhury), sends him on his way to celebrate Christmas with King Arthur (Sean Harris) and Queen Guinevere (Katie Dickie). 

Unbeknownst to Gawain, his mother performs a ritual, raising and sending the Green Knight to the feast where the tree-like titular lord issues a challenge: If anyone can land a blow on him, he will win his green axe. However, in exchange, the victor must meet the Green Knight on the following Christmas to receive a reciprocal hit. For some reason, Gawain, a bit of a slacker, volunteers. He decapitates the Green Knight, who then picks up his head and leaves. Sort of a hah-hah-see-you-next-Christmas.

Fast-forward a year. Gawain has become something of a celebrity; he is even featured in a puppet show. He sets off to the Green Chapel, and throughout, he encounters a handful of challenges, mostly unsatisfying blips. He also meets a fox who joins his journey. “The Quest” is a well-known, often-trod trope and can be exciting, engaging, and enthralling. Unfortunately, it can also be an epic slog into scenery, mumbled dialogue, and symbols. Oh, so many symbols. The Green Knight is full of meaning and “meaning” and meaning and MEANING. 

One suspects that Lowery’s goal was a rumination on the nature of heroism and honor, with a few nods to the dangers of celebrity. But this is all lost in a meandering and pretentious narrative. There are a few dramatic strokes, but these do not add up to a film.

In the theatre across the hall, the sounds of The Suicide Squad could clearly be heard. Sitting at The Green Knight was like attending a lecture that you suspect might be good for you, but next door, there’s a barnburner where everyone is having a good time. “I’ll bet it’s fun over there,” you think. “But, no, this is going to make me a better and smarter person.” You have plenty of time to think these thoughts because, in The Green Knight, the pauses are longer than the dialogue. There are pauses and scenery. Lots of pauses. Lots of scenery. Then a monologue. Please note the singular: monologue. While there are multiple long speeches by various characters, they all sound like the same monologue. Followed by some pauses. And then some scenery.

The filming itself is impressive, highlighting the vast expanses of wilderness as Gawain travels towards his destiny. Cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo has done beautiful work capturing the natural/supernatural world. But landscape only goes so far. In this case, it seems to go really, really far.

Dev Patel is a fine actor, and he does what he can. But he is offered the emotional range of dissipated to slightly less dissipated. The script’s Gawain is painfully passive; Patel ultimately struggles to show the character’s evolution. The rest of the talented cast is saddled with dialogue that is spoken in harsh whispers with a great deal of meaning and “meaning and … (One suspects the CGI-ed fox called his agent mid-filming to see if he could get out of his contract.)

The ending—one of the only brisk moments in the film—has been much discussed on the internet. Suffice it to say, the denouement owes not a little to t, the well-crafted story by Ambrose Pierce later made into a memorable short film.

As a public service and attempt to salvage the reader’s time, the balance of this review is given over to something of value. Here is the beginning of a recipe for a good vegan pound cake: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Rated R, The Green Knight is now playing in local theaters.

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Members of the Port Jefferson Fire Department are pictured in front of the original firehouse on the east side of Main Street. Photo by Arthur S. Greene, June 1907; Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

The Suffolk County Volunteer Firemen’s Tournament, held in Port Jefferson on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 1901, was a bellwether event in the history of the village.

In tournaments of yesteryear, fire departments typically competed in a series of contests such as maneuvering hand-drawn equipment, laying hose, climbing ladders, and passing buckets of water.

Tournaments not only showcased the firefighting skills and physical fitness of the participants but also brought large crowds to the host village, publicizing its attractions and stimulating its economy.

Although the Port Jefferson Fire Department (PJFD) had never run a tournament and the Port Jefferson of 1901 was “terra incognita” to most Long Islanders, a committee of Port Jefferson’s residents and firefighters made such a strong case that Port Jefferson was selected as the event’s venue.

The village’s cheerleaders touted Port Jefferson as an undiscovered gem blessed with a beautiful village and harbor and easily reached by land and sea.

The event’s backers also contended that the village’s hotels and restaurants were fully prepared to entertain the throngs expected to descend on Port Jefferson and that villagers had raised earnest money to demonstrate their strong financial support of the tournament.

Port Jefferson’s champions also pointed out that the village had a straightaway on West Broadway between Jones (Main) Street and Barnum Avenue on which the contests could be run, and that nearby hydrants provided steady water pressure.

Once the PJFD received the go ahead to hold the tournament, work began on decorating downtown Port Jefferson with flags and bunting while Loper Brothers built a 2000-seat, covered grandstand along West Broadway as well as a judges’ stand.

The cover of the sheet music for the ‘Port Jefferson March — Two Step’ features a photograph of W. Kintzing Post, president of the Suffolk County Volunteer Firemen’s Association, and a view of Port Jefferson Harbor from the west side. Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

On Tournament Day, special excursion trains and steamboats brough2firefighters and their guests to Port Jefferson to enjoy the festivities, including a parade that began near Myrtle and Main and wound its way through the village. 

The impressive line of march featured over 1,000 Suffolk County firemen accompanied by their respective engines, trucks and carts. The procession also included delegations from Connecticut, including the Konomoc Hose Company of New London which brought its renowned band famous for playing the rhythmic “Port Jefferson March — Two Step.”

In the afternoon following the parade, various hook and ladder, steam engine and hose contests were held, and prizes awarded. Fire departments were also honored in “Best Dressed,” “Best Equipped” and other special categories.

By all measures, the one-day tournament was a resounding success. A record 5000 people reportedly attended the event, earning Port Jefferson a reputation for its hospitality.

The tournament was extensively covered in local and metropolitan newspapers, the articles depicting the village as the “Naples of Long Island” and bringing favorable notice to Port Jefferson and its businesses. 

Merchants saw dramatic increases in patronage. Liveryman John “Billy” Brown could barely keep up shuttling visitors from Port Jefferson’s railroad station to the village’s downtown.  

The fledgling PJFD, only organized in 1887, demonstrated it was as capable as well-established departments, such as acclaimed Greenport, in running a large-scale event.

Most important, the tournament contributed to popularizing Port Jefferson as a vacationland, presaging its entry into the lucrative tourist market and predating the village’s storied homecomings, concerts, festivals, regattas and other crowd-drawing events by years. 

Kenneth Brady has served as the Port Jefferson Village Historian and president of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, as well as on the boards of the Suffolk County Historical Society, Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and Port Jefferson Historical Society. He is a longtime resident of Port Jefferson

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The Port Jeff Hill Climb has been postponed to Sept. 30. Photo by Bob Savage

By Tara Mae

What’s old is new again as Port Jefferson’s Hill Climb returns on Saturday, August 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Continuing in the tradition of the 1910, 1911, and 1925 Port Jefferson hill climbs, this event is an historic tribute that features an antique car parade with about 50 automobiles and a photo exhibit at the Port Jefferson Village Center. 

File photo

“This is a celebration of the history of the hill climbs,” said Bob Laravie, a Port Jefferson Conservancy board member. “The parade starts at the Port Jefferson Village Center, goes up East Broadway hill and hits Belle Terre Road, turns onto North Country Road, and heads back to Main Street, and East Main Street.” 

The parade concludes when they circle back to the Village Center where visitors can view prints of historic photographs by Spooner and Wells. Primarily images of the 1910 Port Jefferson Hill Climb, they are shown courtesy of the Detroit Public Library which now houses them in its collection. 

Hill climbing is one of the oldest forms of motorsports, with the first one taking place in France in 1897. Generally, rather than race each other, cars race the clock as they ascend a peak. Port Jefferson’s version is arguably more a combination of parade and car show rather than a traditional hill climb. 

As each vehicle joins the parade route, the announcer will provide insight and details about the car, its history, and its owner. The cars are driven to a height of about 2,000 feet before beginning their descents.

Participants were recruited from car clubs and car shows, according to Laravie, who is showing the electric car replica he constructed, a Baker Torpedo Kid. The primary requirement for the entries is that they are at least 74 years old, although there are some exceptions. 

“My car is modified for actual hill climbing,” explained Laravie. “I built a replica/tribute to a 1903 electric racecar and they let me in the event …”

In 1910, the Port Jefferson Automobile Club sponsored the first Port Jefferson Hill Climb to promote its cars. “Port Jefferson was a good location for a hill climb; you didn’t need a track or tremendous spectator control. There was a very good turnout the first two years,” Laravie said. A commemorative hill climb was held in 1925. The modern incarnation has been held periodically for the past 50 years and run every 5 years since 2000. Scheduled for 2020, the event was postponed due to the pandemic.

“It is a great piece of Long Island automotive history,” said Howard Kroplick, of East Hills, who is returning for his third Port Jefferson hill climb, having participated in 2010 and 2015. This year, Kroplick will be driving the “Black Beast,” a restored racecar that won the 1909 and 1910 Vanderbilt Cup races and was in the first Indy 500.

“The hill climb has a kind of a legacy about the beginnings of automotive history, not only on Long Island but throughout the United States. We respect history by participating in this event. Also, it’s a lot of fun. It gives [drivers and spectators] the opportunity to utilize these cars and see them in action; most car shows are really stationary,” added Kroplick. 

Sponsored by the Port Jefferson Conservancy, East End Shirt Company, Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry, Blacktop Yacht Club and the Village of Port Jefferson, the Port Jefferson Hill Climb is free to the public with a rain date of Aug. 21. For more information, please call 631-965-0797.

Please note: Parking at the Port Jefferson Village Center, 101-A E. Broadway, Port Jefferson is reserved for the hill climb’s participants; other public lots are available to spectators.

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View of Port Jefferson village and harbor from Cedar Hill Cemetery from a colorized post card. Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

There is a rich selection of non-fiction books about Port Jefferson’s early years, but perhaps because they are mostly novels and magazine articles, L. Frank Tooker’s literary works are not often found on Port Jefferson’s local history bookshelf.

This omission is unfortunate since Tooker’s writings transport us back to nineteenth-century Port Jefferson, letting readers feel the village’s past as formal history cannot, making a bygone age live again.

Tooker was born in Port Jefferson on Dec. 18, 1854 and came from a seafaring lot. He was raised in a house at 108 High Street, a short walk from the village’s harbor and shipyards where he spent much of his spare time.

While still a youth, Tooker sailed aboard his family’s ships and traveled to exotic ports, including one memorable voyage during the Civil War to Christiansted on Santa Cruz Island in the West Indies.

After graduating from Yale, Tooker served as the Suffolk County deputy clerk before joining the editorial staff of The Century Magazine where he worked from 1885-1925 and first recognized the talents of “unknown” author Joseph Conrad.

Tooker and his wife Violette (nee Swezey) resided in various communities including Brooklyn and Riverside, Connecticut, but frequently returned to Port Jefferson where they summered with their children, Lewis and Helen.

L. Frank Tooker, while on the editorial staff of The Century Magazine. Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

In Tooker’s first novel, “Under Rocking Skies,” we sail on a brig bound for Santa Cruz Island along with Tom Medbury, the vessel’s mate, and Hetty March, the captain’s daughter, a couple destined to fall in love.

The plot is typical of many romances, but it is the author’s depiction of “Blackwater,” the homeport where the story begins, that holds the reader’s attention.

Tooker peppers his tale with references to Blackwater, a thinly veiled Port Jefferson, with descriptions of its streets, churches, shoreline, cherry trees, shops, and wharves, capturing life during the village’s shipbuilding heyday.

“The Middle Passage,” Tooker’s second novel, recounts the adventures of David Lunt, a native of Blackwater, who sails on a number of ships, one chartered to transport a “cargo” of enslaved Africans to the New World, another to carry arms for South American revolutionaries.

Returning to Blackwater between each of his hair-raising voyages, the high-spirited Lunt woos Lydia Wade, but is prohibited from seeing the young woman because of his wild ways.

After a penitent Lunt publicly acknowledges his reckless behavior, Lydia’s father relents and allows the courtship to continue.

Through Lunt, we also discover there is a dark side of Blackwater, where a two-faced “Captain Joe” pretends to be an upright citizen, but secretly profits from the illegal slave trade, suggesting the complicity of some from Port Jefferson in fitting out the slaver Wanderer in 1858.

Besides historical fiction, Port Jefferson is central again in “A Boyhood Alongshore,” one of the scores of features penned by Tooker and published in The Century Magazine.

In the story, Tooker reminisces about growing up in the 1860s during Port Jefferson’s “cherished past,” a time for him of flying kites, playing marbles, fishing, swimming, boating, and gathering beach plums.

But Tooker is at his best when writing about the “smells of the shipyards,” especially in the article’s excellent account of the launching of the bark Carib at Port Jefferson’s Bayles Shipyard in 1868.

“As long as life lasts,” Tooker concludes the piece, “I shall go to the high, green hill back of our village where lie our dead” and the view over land and water is “always beautiful.”

Seemingly drawn to Port Jefferson’s Cedar Hill Cemetery, Tooker was buried there following his death on Sept. 17, 1925, marking the return of a native son to his beloved village.

Kenneth Brady has served as the Port Jefferson Village Historian and president of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, as well as on the boards of the Suffolk County Historical Society, Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and Port Jefferson Historical Society. He is a longtime resident of Port Jefferson.     

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As it prepares for its new exhibitions in the Art Museum and History Museum, The Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook will offer free admission to its state of the art Carriage Museum, which includes eight renovated galleries that tell the story of transportation before the automobile, from Aug. 6 to 8 and Aug. 13 to 15 from noon to 5 p.m.

Three new exhibitions will open on Aug. 20 and run through Dec. 19:

Fire and Form: New Directions in Glass

Tiffany Glass: Painting with Color and Light

8th Annual LIMarts Members’ Exhibition, Fragile

For more information about admission, exhibitions and programs visit: longislandmuseum.org

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'Old Soul' by Jean Marie Bucich
'Mind the Gap' by Alan Richards
'The Pier 1956 New York City; by Georgia Rittenhouse McKenna
'Wild Stallions' by Eric Chimon
'Reflections' by Elizabeth Fusco
'Take Me Back' by Donna Corvi
'The Age of Innocence' by Cliff Miller
'Field of Wild Flowers' by Angela Stratton

By Heidi Sutton

It is said that the past is always an important part of the present. It is also said that a picture is worth a thousand words. The Smithtown Township Arts Council’s Mills Pond Gallery in St. James has taken those two adages and melded them into an exciting new summer exhibit, Visualizing the Past. The juried show opens Aug. 7 and runs through Sept. 5.

Juror Carol Strickland, who selected 52 works for the exhibit, was intrigued by Emily Dickinson’s lines — Memory is a strange bell, both jubilee and knell. She asked artists to respond to that in visual terms—both the celebratory memories and sad ones. The call was very open-ended, leaving a lot of room for varying interpretations. 

“Selecting artworks to include in the exhibition was very difficult because we received so many entries that were both technically proficient and evocative. I was especially moved in deciding what to accept by those artists who took risks and showed me new perspectives,” said Strickland. “Art conveys what can’t be communicated in words, and my response to so many entries was non-verbal, like an inner vibration that brought a shock of recognition.”

Allison Cruz, Executive Director of the Mills Pond Gallery, is pleased with the beautiful show which incorporates many types of mediums including acrylic, charcoal, colored pencil, collage, fused glass, ink, mixed media, oil, pastel, watercolor and welding. 

“The artists have shared memories or recalled stories and events and assembled them in a variety of media to be seen and experienced by others. Their works offer narratives open to a wide range of interpretation and expression. For me, that is the strength in this exhibit. I hope it encourages the viewers to reflect on their own memories and hopefully learn that art is a wonderful tool to explore different points of view, gain understanding and experience the world in different ways,” she said.

Participating artists include Amal, Tina Anthony, Victoria Beckert, Sheri Berman, Jean Marie Bucich, Frank Casucci, Eric Chimon, Donna Corvi, Caryn Coville, Brigham Dimick, Paul Edelson, Elizabeth Fusco, Kathleen Gerlach, Ashley Rose Gillin, Maureen Ginipro, Jan Guarino, Heidi Hogden, Elizabeth Kelly, Julianna Kirk, Sueim Koo, Cara London, Dorothy Lorenze, Margaret Marzullo, Briana McGinley-Downey, Georgia Rittenhouse McKenna, Avrel Susan Menkes, Cliff Miller, Gail Neuman, Lily Newland, Catherine Rezin, Alan Richards, Roberta Rogers, Oscar Santiago, Alaina Scheffer, Stacey Schuman, Alisa Shea, Faith Skelos, Erica Perjatel Stolba, Angela Stratton, Hui Su-Kennedy, Daniel Van Benthuysen, and Taylor West.

The Mills Pond Gallery, 660 Route 25A, St. James will present Visualizing the Past from Aug. 7 to Sept. 5. The public is invited to an opening reception on Aug. 7 from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. For more information, call 631-862-6575 or visit www.millspondgallery.org.

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Three Village Historical Society’s Director of Education Donna Smith and historian Beverly C. Tyler. Photo from TVHS

Join the Three Village Historical Society, 93 North Country Road, Setauket for a special event – Spy Stories on the Porch – with TVHS Historian Bev Tyler and TVHS Education Director Donna Smith on Thursday, Aug. 26 at 6 p.m. (rescheduled from Aug. 4 due to weather). Stories include Benjamin Tallmadge and Nathan Hale at Yale at 6 p.m.; Selah Strong and Caleb Brewster on Strong’s Neck cliff at 6:30 p.m.; Benjamin Floyd, Loyalist and friend of Abraham Woodhull at 7 p.m.; and Austin Roe Rides to meet President George Washington at 7:30 p.m. Free. Bring seating. This event will be live streamed on the TVHS Facebook page as well.  For more information, call 631-751-3730 or visit www.tvhs.org.

*This post was updated Aug. 4.

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Kyle Marshall. Photo by Matt Smoak

Pack a picnic, bring a blanket or chair and settle in on the grounds of the Reboli Center for Art & History, 64 Main St., Stony Brook to welcome Kyle Marshall, a Long Island native, and author of the recently published book, Americana: Farmhouses and Manors of Long Island, on Sunday Aug. 8 from 4 to 6 p.m. Kyle Marshall is creative director at Bunny Williams Home, known for distinctive furniture, lighting and decorative accessories. Previously he was a furniture designer at Ralph Lauren Home. 

The cover of Kyle Marshall’s new book.

Marshall will talk about the homes featured in his book and explore some of these architectural treasures during his presentation. Mr. Marshall’s book features 15 historic private and public homes on Long Island, including Lloyd Manor in Lloyd Harbor; Thatch Meadow Farm in Head of the Harbor; Point Place in Miller Place; Sagtikos Manor in Islip; Sylvester Manor in Shelter Island and more.

One home of particular interest is The Homestead in Nissequogue. The house was originally owned by Ebenezer Smith, the grandson of Richard “Bull” Smith, the founder of Smithtown. It was built along Long Island Sound. The house has been in the family for centuries, and various family members have added rooms, extensions and a wraparound porch. In the early 1900s it was sold to someone outside of the family. Owned once again by the Smith family, the home is currently being sold.

In an interview with Architectural Digest, Mr. Marshall explained that his research process entailed visits by foot, bike and car or, in one case, subway, to the houses to photograph and meet with the owners or caretakers. Collections at libraries, historical societies and universities aided his research. According to Mr. Marshall, “I selected properties that illuminate the range of the subject, so it’s a banquet of examples, not an exhaustive survey. So everything was shot with daylight, so readers could have a sense of what it feels like to walk, or sit and drink and eat and gossip, in the rooms.”

“We are excited to have Kyle Marshall at The Reboli Center, and for him to share his experience visiting these homes with a designer’s perspective. The book and his photographs are just exquisite,” said Lois Reboli, the co-founder of The Reboli Center and wife of the late artist Joseph Reboli. Admission is free and guests may purchase the book at The Center for him to sign.

For more information,  call 631-751-7707 or visit www.rebolicenter.org.

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Crowds gather at Port Jefferson’s Bayles Landing awaiting the departure of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the yawl Myth II. Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

Franklin D. Roosevelt launched his 1932 campaign for president of the United States by sailing from Port Jefferson across Long Island Sound into New England coastal waters.

Roosevelt had accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on July 2, 1932, at the party’s convention in Chicago.

Returning to New York where he was governor, FDR announced he would be going on a week’s cruise with his sons and departing from a secret Long Island location, later revealed as Port Jefferson.

Escorted by state troopers, Roosevelt motored from his home in Manhattan to Port Jefferson, arriving in the village around noon on July 11, 1932.

As seaplanes roared overhead, FDR was greeted by the tooting of boat whistles, screeching of car horns and the cheers of the hundreds who had lined Water Street (East Broadway).

Roosevelt made his way to Bayles Landing and boarded the Myth II, a 37-foot yawl rented for the trip from Prescott B. Huntington of St. James, New York.

Offering sleeping accommodations for six and a galley with a two-burner range, the unpretentious vessel had a black hull, orange deck and white cabin. With no auxiliary engine, the Myth II was solely dependent on her three sails for power.

Before casting off, FDR chatted with two local boys, Randall Woodard and Gilbert Kinner, who would become instant celebrities in Port Jefferson when they appeared in dockside photos and newsreels with the presidential nominee.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, New York State Governor and Democratic presidential nominee, is pictured aboard the yawl Myth II as he prepares to leave Port Jefferson on a vacation cruise with three of his sons.
Photo from the Kenneth C. Brady Digital Archive

Getting underway, a launch captained by E. Post Bayles pulled the Myth II into the choppy waters of Long Island Sound where the tow was parted, and the yawl caught the wind.

At the helm, Roosevelt laid a course for Connecticut, backed by a crew of three of his four sons, as well as friend George Briggs, who kept the ship’s log.

The luxury yacht Ambassadress, chartered by FDR’s supporters and advisers, and the motor yacht Marcon, packed with newspapermen covering Roosevelt’s voyage, followed in the Myth II’s wake.

Ostensibly, the vacation cruise was to provide FDR with rest and relaxation before beginning his campaign for president, but the trip was more about politics than recreation.

Roosevelt anchored at several ports during his “holiday” including New Haven, Connecticut; Marblehead, Massachusetts; and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

At these locations, FDR worked to bring dissident Democrats into the fold, meeting with political leaders from New England who had supported former New York State Governor Alfred E. Smith as the party’s presidential nominee.

During each stop, political heavyweights attended strategy sessions aboard the Ambassadress and Roosevelt held daily press conferences with the reporters tagging along on the Marcon.

A victory for the Democrats, the extensively photographed cruise showed Roosevelt as a vigorous leader who was prepared to command the “Ship of State” as well as he captained the Myth II, countering claims that FDR was a helpless invalid crippled by polio.

Roosevelt would go on to defeat Republican candidate and incumbent President Herbert Hoover in the Nov. 8, 1932 election, marking the end of a campaign that began on a summer day aboard a sailboat in Port Jefferson Harbor.

Kenneth Brady has served as the Port Jefferson Village Historian and president of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, as well as on the boards of the Suffolk County Historical Society, Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and Port Jefferson Historical Society. He is a longtime resident of Port Jefferson.     

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