History

By Melissa Arnold

It’s been a long year of Netflix binges and Zoom meetings for all of us, and these days, nothing feels better than getting out a little. You don’t have to go far to find interesting places to explore, either.

Most Long Island locals are probably familiar with the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium in Centerport, with its sprawling grounds, elaborate mansion and impressive collection of marine life. But be honest: When was your last visit? If it’s been a while — or even if it hasn’t — their 70th anniversary year is the perfect time to stop by.

“The Vanderbilt is unique, a don’t-miss slice of American history. When you take a guided tour of the mansion and its galleries, it’s a time machine trip to a remarkable era of privilege,” said Elizabeth Wayland-Morgan, executive director of the museum. “At one point in the past, there were more than 1,200 mansions on Long Island’s Gold Coast. This is one of the few that remains.”

The Vanderbilt Mansion as we know it today had relatively modest beginnings. William K. Vanderbilt II, a son of the famed Vanderbilt family, had just separated from his first wife in the early 1900s. “Willie K.,” as he’s affectionately known, was looking for a place to get a fresh start, away from the public eye. So he came to Centerport and purchased land, where he built a 7-room, English-style cottage along with some outbuildings.

The cottage, called Eagle’s Nest, was eventually expanded into a sprawling 24-room mansion in the Spanish Revival style. From 1910 to 1944, Eagle’s Nest was Vanderbilt’s summer hideaway. He and his second wife Rosamond hosted intimate gatherings of Vanderbilt family members and close friends, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, legendary golfer Sam Snead, and the Tiffanys.

Of course, that was just the beginning. According to Killian Taylor, the museum’s curatorial associate, Vanderbilt developed a fascination with all kinds of animals, the sea and the natural world from a young age. He had the opportunity to travel the world on his father’s yachts as a child, and longed to see more as he reached adulthood.

“Later, Willie K. inherited $20 million from his late father. One of the first things he did was purchase a very large yacht and hire a team of scientists and a crew,” Taylor explained. “With them, he began to travel and collect marine life, and by 1930, he had amassed one of the world’s largest private marine collections.”

With the help of scientists and experts from the American Museum of Natural History, Vanderbilt created galleries at the Estate to showcase his collections which contains more than 13,000 different marine specimens of all kinds and sizes, from the tiniest fish to a 32-foot whale shark, the world’s largest taxidermied fish, caught off Fire Island in 1935.

After Vanderbilt died in 1944, Rosamond continued to live in their Centerport mansion until her death in 1947. The 43-acre estate and museum – which remain frozen in time, exactly as they were in the late 1940s – opened to the public on July 6, 1950, following instructions left in Vanderbilt’s will. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The museum also features a 3,000-year-old mummy, which Vanderbilt purchased from an antique shop in Cairo, Egypt, Taylor said. The mummy even had an X-ray taken at nearby Stony Brook University Hospital, where they determined the remains are of a female around 25 years old.

“She doesn’t have a name out of respect for the fact that she was once a living woman with her own identity,” Taylor added.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought its share of difficulties to every business, and while the museum has had to temporarily close some of its facilities, including the mansion’s living quarters and planetarium, they’ve also added new opportunities for visitors.

“Like many other museums, we had to get creative virtually very quickly,” said Wayland-Morgan. “Our Education Department created the ‘Explore’ series for children — fascinating facts about the lives of birds, butterflies, reptiles, and fish, with pictures to download and color. The Planetarium astronomy educators produced 11 videos on topics including How to Use a Telescope, Imagining Alien Life, Mars, Black Holes, and Fitness in Space. We’ve received very positive responses.” The planetarium also offers online astronomy classes.

The museum is also offering new outdoor programs on the grounds, including walking tours, sunset yoga, a popular series of bird talks by an ornithologist James MacDougall and are currently hosting the third annual Gardeners Showcase through September. On Fridays and Saturdays, movie-and-picnic nights are a popular draw at the outdoor, drive-in theater.

Even without a specific event to attend, the grounds are a perfect place to wander when cabin fever strikes.

“The best reason to visit right now is to stroll the grounds and gardens and visit the open galleries. We’ve also become a very popular picnic destination with a great view of Northport Bay,” Wayland-Morgan said. “We plan to reopen the mansion living quarters and planetarium later in the fall.”

The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum is located at 180 Little Neck Road, Centerport. As of Sept. 17, hours of operation are from noon to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The mansion’s living quarters and the planetarium are currently closed. Please wear a mask and practice social distancing. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for children under 12, and $7 for students and seniors. Children under 2 are admitted free. For questions and information, including movie night passes, visit www.vanderbiltmuseum.org or call 631-854-5579.

Ethan Hawke as the visionary Nikola Tesla. Photo from IFC Films

Reviewed By Jeffrey Sanzel

After dropping out of Harvard, writer-director-producer Michael Almereyda got a Hollywood agent based on a spec script about inventor and innovator Nikola Tesla. Tesla now arrives in theaters (and streaming) some three decades later. In the meantime, Almereyda has made over two dozen films, ranging from shorts to feature length to documentaries. He has worked with many of the same actors over the years — in this case reuniting with Ethan Hawke (who starred in Almereyda’s modern-dress Hamlet), Kyle MacLachlan, and Jim Gaffigan.

Kyle MacLachlan plays Thomas Edison, Tesla’s frenemy and rival in the film. Photo from IFC Films

The film is not a complete biopic but instead begins in 1884 when Tesla was unhappily working for Thomas Edison in his workshop. It quickly presents their incompatibility and Tesla’s subsequent embarkation on an independent path. The focus is on the battle between Edison’s direct current and Tesla’s alternate current. (Some of this material was covered in Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s The Current War, which emphasized the business competition between Edison and George Westinghouse with Benedict Cumberbatch as the former, Michael Shannon as the latter, and Nicholas Hoult in the less prominent role of Tesla.)

The structure of Tesla is eclectic. It is narrated by Anne Morgan, daughter of mogul J.P. Morgan, who later bankrolls Tesla. Dressed in period garb, she talks to the camera, referencing her laptop, and siting Google searches. This sets the tone for what is going to be an unconventional structure. The visual elements are highly stylized, with scenes often played out against enlarged photos, painted backdrops, or stock footage.  Sometimes this is highly effective; other times it has the feel of the cheaply made educational films of the 60’s and 70’s.

There is nothing wrong with this strange, theatrical tactic. Often, the unexpected vision or rough approach bring the explored world into a different focus by not enslaving it to its period. The result can present old concepts in new lights. When this fails, works such as these can still succeed as a triumph of style over substance. Unfortunately, Tesla is no triumph. The scenes that are part of the historical narrative are meandering, with a lot of mumbling scientific jargon that is no doubt well-researched and accurate, but make for very slow going.

Tesla should not be a history report: It should engage on some visceral level. The surrounding structure is uniquely artistic and unpredictable; the content plays as pedestrian. The result is like a pie with an amazing and complex crust but a bland, tasteless filling.

There is a wonderful scene that ends in a small food fight between Edison and Tesla. This, like several other moments, are then corrected as only fantasy. The random appearance of a cellphone is a slyly introduced anachronism. This is where the film delights and surprises. The speculation, the what-if’s, and the flights of fancy engage us for a few moments but then we drift back into soporific stupor. There is great deal espoused about idealism versus capitalism and creation versus commerce. All are important concepts but they are not presented in any dramatic fashion.

When Tesla sets up his laboratory at Wardenclyffe in Shoreham, there are enough lightning flashes and electrical storms for half a dozen Frankenstein movies. It is stretches like these that seem to go on with little purpose.

Ethan Hawke makes Tesla a brooding genius, full of tics and OCD. As always, he fully commits to the role and delivers the best he can. But the problem is we never really learn who Tesla is. In many ways, he is a cipher at the center of his own story. Kyle MacLachlan’s Edison is an egotist of epic proportion but allows flashes of doubt to peek through. There are occasional sparks between them and the rivalry between these dysfunctional geniuses offer the strongest sequences. If only there were more.

Eve Hewson’s Anne Morgan is a fully-realized character, the underlying but never spoken love for Tesla a driving factor. She makes the  marveling at his genius and exasperation with his inability to communicate completely natural. Jim Gaffigan is a blowsy and sincere George Westinghouse and loses himself in the character. J.P. Morgan, as played by Donnie Keshawarz, enters late and is a borderline melodrama villain.

Rebecca Dayan as the grand dame of the theatre, Sarah Bernhardt, steers her away from the dangers of caricature, and her fascination with Tesla is intriguing if not fully explored. The rest of the cast are given one note each to play, and they struggle along with the weightier sections of exposition.

There are at least half a dozen electrical references that could be made to cleverly sum-up Tesla — comments about random sparks or broken circuits. But, ultimately, it is much simpler than that: The film just doesn’t work.

Tesla is rated PG-13 for some thematic material and some nudity.

Help the Three Village Historical Society reach its fundraising goal of selling 100 face masks!

Help raise funds for the Three Village Historical Society by buying a “Three Village Strong” Face Mask!

The design, beautifully created by Setauket artist Sam White, features the 439 ton whaling ship Daisy, which was built at Nehemiah Hand’s shipyard along Shore Road in East Setauket in 1871-72 and, with naturalist Robert Cushman Murphy aboard, sailed on a whaling expedition to the Antarctic in 1912-13.

The triple-ply cotton face masks, which come in black or white, sell for $15 plus shipping at www.tvhs.org. The fundraiser runs through Sunday, Sept. 27. 100% of the proceeds will be used to help support and fund the Three Village Historical Society’s educational programming. For more information, call 631-751-3730.

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Amongst the Middle Country Public Library’s many historical artifacts are a few that explain just how far the area has come from its pastoral routes.

The pictures and story below comes courtesy of a collaborative effort among the librarian staff.

If you’ve driven down today’s Bicycle Path in Selden, you’ll be quite surprised to see how it used to look. Originally constructed in the 1890s for bicycle enthusiasts, the 14-mile path ran across Long Island from Patchogue to Port Jefferson and was a popular destination for tourists. One of the greatest contributors to the path, Selden resident Albert R. Norton, donated the right-of-way for it in front of his extensive property between Selden and Port Jefferson.

Norton ran the Wheelmen’s Rest, located midway along the route, serving refreshments to the hungry cyclists. Its visitor’s log recorded over 6,000 names, including bicyclists from all parts of the U.S. as well as England, France, Denmark and other countries. Perhaps of more interest are the entries of many Centereach, Selden and Lake Grove neighbors and ancestors whose signatures recall their lives in the communities. The original register of visitors to the Wheelmen’s Rest can be viewed at the Town of Brookhaven Historian’s office.

Bicycle Path was a busy spot during the summertime. The 1899 League of American Wheelmen’s Midsummer Festival program shows the elaborate events held from Thursday to Saturday. The Cyclists’ Carnival began in Patchogue and featured sailing, swimming, fishing and a clambake on the Great South Bay. Friday featured a ride to Babylon, where Charley Murphey cycled a pacing mile alongside a locomotive. On Saturday, members rode the “Cross Island Cycle Path” through Selden to Port Jefferson, where a parade, cycle races and Fire Department contests capped off the
carnival’s events.

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

Margo Arceri first heard about George Washington’s Setauket spies from her Strong’s Neck neighbor and local historian, Kate W. Strong, in the early 1970s. Arceri lights up when talking about her favorite spy, Anna Smith Strong.

“Kate W. Strong, Anna Smith Strong’s great-great-granddaughter, originally told me about the Culper Spy Ring when I used to visit her with my neighbor and Strong descendant Raymond Brewster Strong III. One of her stories was about Nancy (Anna Smith Strong’s nickname) and her magic clothesline. My love of history grew from there,” she said.

Seven years ago Arceri approached the Three Village Historical Society’s President Steve Hintze and the board about conducting walking, biking and kayaking tours while sharing her knowledge of George Washington’s Long Island intelligence during the American Revolution.

Today, Arceri runs Tri-Spy Tours in the Three Village area, which follows in the actual footsteps of the Culper Spy Ring. “I wanted to target that 20- to 60-year-old active person,” she said.  “I have to thank AMC’s miniseries ‘Turn’ because 80 percent of the people who sign up for the tour do so because of that show,” she laughs.

It was during one of those tours that Arceri came up with the idea of having a Culper Spy Day, a day to honor the members of Long Island’s brave Patriot spy ring who helped change the course of history and helped Washington win the Revolutionary War.

“Visiting places like the Brewster House, which is owned by The Ward Melville Heritage Organization, the grave site of genre artist William Sidney Mount at the Setauket Presbyterian Church cemetery (whose paintings are at The Long Island Museum) and the Country House, which was built in the 1700s,” Arceri thought “there has to be a day designated to celebrating all these organizations in the Three Villages and surrounding areas; where each of us can give our little piece of the story and that’s how Culper Spy Day developed.”

After a successful five-year run, plans were underway for the sixth annual Culper Spy Day when the pandemic hit. At first the event was canceled out an abundance of caution but now has been reinvented and will be presented virtually on Facebook Live on Sept. 12 and 13 to be enjoyed from the comfort of your home.

The Three Village area is full of hidden intrigue and stories of how America’s first spy ring came together secretly to provide General George Washington the information he needed to turn the tide of the American Revolution.

Over the course of the weekend, you will have the chance to visit many of the cultural organizations from years past who will share their story, including the Three Village Historical Society, Tri-Spy Tours, Ward Melville Heritage Organization, Special Collections and University Archives at Stony Brook University, Preservation Long Island, Emma S. Clark Memorial Library, Drowned Meadow Cottage, Caroline Church of Brookhaven, Ketcham Inn Foundation and more in a virtual format.

Join Margo Arceri from Tri-Spy Tours live from the Village Green on Saturday at 9 a.m.

Meet Big Bill the Tory live at the Sherwood-Jayne House.

Take a Virtual Spies! exhibit tour with TVHS historian Bev Tyler.

Visit the famous Brewster House with Ward Melville Heritage Organization Education Director Deborah Boudreau.

View a resource guide to everything Culper Spy Day courtesy of Emma Clark Library.

Watch a short film on Long Island’s South Shore from the Ketcham Inn Foundation.

Make your very own periscope with Gallery North.

Read up on the Revolutionary War History from the Caroline Church of Brookhaven.

Look back at the festivities from 2016 Culper Spy Day.

Don’t miss the five part virtual spy tour series with historian Bev Tyler.

Listen to the lecture “Spies in the Archive: A history of two George Washington Culper Spy Ring letters presented by Kristen Nyitray Special Collections, Stony Brook University Libraries.

Learn about SBU’s two Culper Spy Ring letters and access images and transcripts Special Collections, Stony Brook University Libraries

Dive into George Washington & the Culper Spy Ring A comprehensive research and study guide Special Collections, Stony Brook University Libraries

Find out who Agent 355 was from historian Bev Tyler.

Listen to the story of Nancy’s Magic Clothesline, written by Kate Wheeler Strong, and told by Margo Arceri.

No registration is necessary. For more information, visit www.tvhs.org/virtualculperday.

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By Beverly C. Tyler

Stories, anecdotes and tales are the remembrances that add shape and substance to family history. Recording or writing down these bits of folklife can be an enjoyable experience for family members. It is also an excellent way to keep alive the memory of generations past and preserve the interesting details of the lives of ordinary people, who lived in a different time with a different way of life.

I can remember years ago my father told me a story about his father that had been passed down to him by his cousin. My grandfather died when my father was 12, hence the lack of a more personal remembrance.

My grandfather, Beverly Swift Tyler, had been captain of coastal sailing vessels all his working life. After he retired from the sea, he continued to enjoy sailing and being on the water. He built a 31-foot gaff-rigged catboat, named the Madeline, behind the Lake House which he owned and ran as a hotel and summer boarding house, now the Setauket Neighborhood House. The boat was constructed under the critical eye of neighbors and friends, who had no hesitation about making suggestions to improve the work as it progressed. When completed, the Madeline was considered a fast boat and won a number of sailing races against other boats in the area. One individual, who Grandfather beat quite often, was constantly after him to sell the Madeline. Finally, Grandfather agreed, and he sold the catboat to the man.

The next year Grandfather began work on a new catboat which he completed in 1906 and named the Setauket. While he was building the new boat, the same kibitzers came around to make suggestions. He, very curtly, referred them to the Madeline as being their community boat and that he was building the Setauket by himself.

The Setauket, as related by cousin Roger Tyler, “was oak ribbed with pine planking. The original mast was sixty feet, made of strips of wood bound together making the mast hollow in the center. The mast was (eventually) shortened to forty-five feet. The canvas was very heavy and was cleaned by lying (it) out on the beach and scrubbing with water, scrub brushes and sand.”

The Setauket was raced in Port Jefferson and won consistently against all competition (including the Madeline). It got to be so that they would not tell Bev when a race was to be run and a few times he found out about them only just an hour or so before the race but raced and won anyway.

“The Setauket required two to handle it,” Tyler noted. “The canvas was extremely heavy and difficult to raise and control.”

The Setauket was also used by my grandfather to take summer guests staying at the Lake House on excursions around Port Jefferson Harbor and into Long Island Sound. Grandfather installed a two-cylinder engine in the Setauket, probably after 1913. Then, when the mast was removed a sun cover was added. This arrangement was more comfortable for and still gave guests an enjoyable afternoon on the water.

Grandfather married my grandmother, his third wife, in 1912 at the age of 57. Together they continued to run the Lake House as a hotel and summer resort until 1917, when it was purchased by Eversley Childs and donated to the community.

The Setauket was sold, about 1825, and used to carry coal for a coal company in New Jersey. It was brought back a few years later by Theron and Leon Tyler, cleaned of coal dust and eventually used again as a sailing craft. It finally sunk a number of years later off Horton Point, which is north of Southold on Long Island’s North Fork. My grandfather died Oct. 12, 1926, and is buried in the graveyard of the Caroline Church of Brookhaven in Setauket.

Beverly C. Tyler is a Three Village Historical Society historian and author of books available from the society at 93 North Country Road, Setauket. For more information, call 631-751-3730 or visit www.tvhs.org.

A rendering of the Dominick- Crawford Barn. Image from TVHS

By Melissa Arnold

Since 1964, the Three Village Historical Society (TVHS) has worked hard to preserve and share the community’s past with future generations. You’ve likely seen the historical society members and volunteers at local events, like the annual Spirits Tour, Culper Spy Day, Prohibition Night, or the Candlelight House Tour during the holidays.

The society is also dedicated to protecting local historic properties of all kinds. Recently, they were awarded a $350,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation to be used to rebuild, restore, and repurpose the Dominick-Crawford Barn, a historically significant building from circa 1847. The barn will have a new home in the field neighboring the historical society’s headquarters. The meadow is currently used to host a farmer’s market every Friday through September.

The pre-Civil War barn was originally located just inside the boundaries of Old Field. It was in poor condition, suffering from the lack of upkeep and long-term exposure to the elements. But TVHS member president Steve Hintze saw potential in the wooden structure.

“The Village of Old Field planned to demolish the barn, but we felt it was historically significant because it was one of the last of its time,” said Hintze, who served as historical society president in 2007.

The barn also serves as an example of two different eras of construction. According to Hintze, You can still see the markings of traditional hand saws, but the work of circular saws is also evident — a method that was still very new at the time. The finished structure was a blending of the old and the new.

It’s been a long road to earn the funding to support the project. Early on, Hintze reached out to Assemblyman Steve Englebright, who guided the society toward a $300,000 grant from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. This additional grant from the Gardiner Foundation will allow construction to move forward with a barn raising this fall.

Of course, such an old structure would need to be entirely rebuilt to meet the requirements of modern safety codes. The historical society chose to use the old timber for the exterior while shoring up the interior with stronger materials. In this way, the barn is getting the best of both worlds.

“It gives us greater structural stability while honoring the original look,” explained Steve Healy, current president of the historical society.

Acquiring the barn also has practical advantages for the society, where space has always been at a premium.

“We always seem to be short on space, and it was one of those things where we were looking for something new and the barn really fit the bill. We’re very happy about it,” said Healy.

In the recent past, the historical society could only allow groups of 25 people at a time into its exhibit space inside its headquarters at 93 Main Street in Setauket. This limit forced them to turn away larger groups, most notably schools that hoped to visit on a field trip.

Once completed, the new two-story, 35-by-50-foot space will be able to accomodate more than 200 people, Hintze said.

It will include teaching facilities, interchangeable exhibit space and archives. The center will allow the Society to supplement the archival space currently being used at the Emma S. Clark Memorial Library in Setauket and provide accessible, climate-controlled storage for the society’s many historical artifacts.

“We are always being offered historical documents and artifacts from the community, so this will give us an opportunity to brush the dust off our archives and share them,” Healy explained.

And as the area recovers from the pandemic, the historical society is looking forward to hosting future large events, including auctions, summer camps, and even hoedowns at the barn.

“We’re excited to bring the community together for historical and educational opportunities of all kinds,” said Hintze. “When you start a project from just the seed of an idea and eventually see it come to fruition, it’s a great feeling.”

For more information about the Three Village Historical Society, visit www.tvhs.org.

'Mandush, Shinnecock Sachem of the 17th century' by David Bunn Martine

Preservation Long Island will launch a new virtual exhibition, Indigenous History & Art at Good Little Water Place, beginning Sept. 3. Artwork from nine contemporary Indigenous artists centers the exhibit. Offering an inquisitive look at the history and on-going relations between Indigenous people and land, the show reminds viewers of a shared responsibility to recognize our common histories and know how they impact our connections to place.

Organized by Preservation Long Island with guest curators, Jeremy Dennis, artist and a tribal member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton, and Dr. Gwendolyn Saul, Curator of Ethnography, New York State Museum, the exhibition features objects from the collections of Preservation Long Island, the New York State Museum, and the Southold Indian Museum.

“We are thrilled this important exhibition, that began as a collaborative endeavor with the New York State Museum in the Fall of 2019, could be reimagined in the virtual realm,” said Alexandra Wolfe, Preservation Long Island’s Executive Director. “Thanks to the efforts of the project curators, partner museums, and artists, the provocative insights that Long Island Indigenous art offers about history and environment, and the future of our relations to both is now accessible to a wider audience online.”

“The exhibit features indigenous presence and expression from 10,000 years ago to the present — and I am proud and excited to be a part of representing this collective,” said Dennis. “I’m honored to be part of a project that directs attention to the diligent, on-going, and talented work of Indigenous artists and intellectuals of what is now known as Long Island,” added Saul.

Sponsored by an Action Grant from Humanities New York, the exhibition will open with a special Curator Conversations virtual event on Sept. 3 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Visit www.preservationlongisland.org to register for this free program.

Photo by Beverly C. Tyler

Open cast call

The Three Village Historical Society seeks actors for its upcoming Spirits Tour in October (to be filmed and possibly to be presented live). The committee is looking for women from age 30 to 50 and men from age 20 to 70. Auditions will be held via Zoom and possibly in person. Please send a short bio, resume and headshot to [email protected]. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further details. This is an unpaid, volunteer opportunity. For further information, call 631-751-3730.

By Jeffrey Sanzel

Arcadia Publishing Co.’s Images of America Series’ latest offering is Charles Denson’s illuminating and handsomely constructed Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel Park. The book doesn’t just explore the area’s oldest and most famous attraction, the Wonder Wheel, but honors Brooklyn’s Coney Island as a vibrant neighborhood of variety and independence. It also celebrates the importance of our country as a melting pot:

The story of the Wonder Wheel is the story of immigration in America.  The century-old landmark comes with a narrative:  this incredibly complex machine was designed, built, owned, operated, and ultimately saved by immigrants with little formal education who came to the United States penniless and wound up realizing the American Dream.

In 1907, 17-year-old Romanian-born Charles Hermann immigrated to the United States. While working in San Francisco, he saw the Aeroscope at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. It was this device that most likely inspired him to design his “perpetual motion machine.” (His early concept bore a resemblance to one of Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches for a similar invention. The book smartly shows the drawings together.)

Above, the Wonder Wheel viewed from the Bowery and West 12th St. in Brooklyn during the 1940s.
Image courtesy of the Coney Island History Project

In New York, Hermann teamed with the more business savvy Herman Garms (born Rosenfeld) to form the Eccentric Ferris Wheel Company. (Coincidentally, Garms and Hermann both arrived in the U.S. in the same year; the latter from Germany). It was realist Garms who suggested that it become a wheel and be used for an amusement ride. The pair were joined by businessman William J. Ward who was instrumental in the development of Coney Island. It was Ward who enabled the erection of the Wheel on the site of the torn-down Roosevelt’s Rough Riders roller coaster.

The book succinctly traces the building and opening of the Wonder Wheel in 1920 and notes that once built, Hermann walked away from it to pursue other projects. Typical of Hermann, he was more interested in creation and innovation than he was in financial gain. His life was a series of sometimes brilliant inventions for which he received little financial renumeration. In contrast, Garms stayed with the Wheel and his descendants would operate it for the next sixty years.

Throughout the 1920’s Coney Island flourished. Between 1917 and 1923, the City bought back the beachfront property from private holders to create a wide beach and public boardwalk. Rollercoasters — the Thunderbolt, Tornado, and Cyclone — were joined by two luxurious theaters: the RKO Tilyou and the Loew’s Coney Island. The Half Moon Hotel, fourteen stories high, opened in 1927.  Ward was the driving force behind much of the renaissance.

The book continues by briskly tracing the events of the ensuing decades, highlighting the ups and downs with interesting and informative anecdotes. It shows the shifts in the attractions (changes in the businesses, various fires, etc.) and leads up to the purchase of the Wonder Wheel by Greek immigrant Denos Vourderis, in 1983.

Vourderis (born Constantinos Dionysios Vourderis in 1920) joined Greece’s merchant marine at the age of fourteen and then fought for the Americans in World War II. He began with a hotdog pushcart before growing his business to restaurants and food concessions. Fulfilling a life-long dream, he bought the Wonder Wheel and its environs, creating Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, a family business that endures today. Vourderis is another wonderful example of the fulfillment of the American Dream.

One of the great joys of the Images of America series is, of course, the pictures. There are literally hundreds of photos spanning a century, each telling its own story. There are fascinating sketches and blueprints that show Hermann’s process and progress. There are maps and admission tickets, promotional stills, and candids. There is artwork from the popular Spook-A-Rama and behind the scenes photos revealing many of the innerworkings. There are also publicity pictures from films that have used the area as a location juxtaposed with the myriad visitors and employees. And, of course, dozens of pictures of the families that have been integral to its upkeep, survival, and improvement.

One particularly fun photo is an advertisement that includes the Wheel’s statistics (Height:  150 feet; Weight:  150 tons; Cars: 24—8 “dip” cars; Capacity: 132 riders) with “THRILLS” emblazoned across the Wheel along with  “CONEY’S COLOSSUS!” and “STUPENDOUS!  AWESOME! THRILLING!” in the text. The Wonder Wheel did not come with an operating manual; there is a photo of the only existent instructions, jotted down on the inside of a cigarette carton. At the end of the two columns is “Good Luck.”

The Wheel is more than an amusement ride. It’s a work of art and the ultimate survivor in an ephemeral world — a link to Coney’s remarkable past.

Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel Park is an the ideal tribute to a ride, a place, and a way of life.

The executive director of the nonprofit Coney Island History Project, author Charles Denson grew up in Coney Island and began documenting his neighborhood as a boy, a passion that continues to this day. Pick up a copy of Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel Park at Book Revue in Huntington, www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com.