Three Village Dads Foundation restores historic Setauket property
By Serena Carpino
Three Village Dads Foundation recently finished refurbishing the outside area of the Merritt-Hawkins House in East Setauket. The renovations of the 9-acre property cost about $40,000.
The house, located on Pond Path, was leased to the Three Village Dads in 2021, after Brookhaven Town Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) approached the organization about a partnership. In July 2022, Three Village Dads began fixing up the house and after two years of work, the outdoor renovations were complete.
After Kornreich was first elected, he began to identify properties owned by the town that needed to be fixed up and looked for stewards to repair these areas. Kornreich said that he chose the Three Village Dads organization for this project because he “figured these guys are going to put on their New Balance sneakers, go out there, and cut vines and be dads in the backyard of this place and clean it up.” Kornreich continued, “It was a good match because there’s a lot of volunteers who like to do this kind of hands-on project.”
The first step of the restoration was to clean up the trails that led to the vernal pond at the back of the property. Volunteers cleared brushes, put down wood chips and built a parking lot increasing the accessibility for members of the community. In addition, they placed signs around the property that identify different plants and other unique factors of the house.
Although much of the work was done by volunteers, Three Village Dads also enlisted the help of outside companies. David Tracy, president of the organization explained that they “used [about 30] volunteers from the group for the first year. However, there was a lot of heavy lifting and work to be done, so we hired a few companies to help with the remaining work.”
The foundation hired Clovis Outdoor Services, a Stony Brook tree company to remove old or rotted trees. In addition, JM Troffa Hardscape, a masonry and building supply company from East Setauket, provided Three Village Dads with the materials for the parking lot. Furthermore, Sheep Pasture Landscaping of Port Jefferson Station helped finish remodeling the trails. Tracy added that they “had a Boy Scout complete his Eagle Scout project on the property by installing our educational signs and building benches.”
The house is near to Nassakeag Elementary School, and Tracy and Kornreich hope that students and teachers will be able to take advantage of the trails through nature walks. There are over 15 educational signs meant for student use.
“The house is connected to Nassakeag and we’re going to put a gate in between the two, so students from other parts of the district can take a bus and go on guided nature walks and educational walks. So, it’s good for students and it’s good for people that want to just get out into nature,” Kornreich said.
Tracy confirmed there will be public access to the property.
Having completed the outdoor renovations, Three Village Dads hope to finish work on the inside of the house within the next two to three years. Tracy said that their goal is “to transform it into something similar to the historical society building, with a small museum.”
Kornreich will spearhead a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the house May 1 to commemorate the finished work around the outside. “The reality is that these guys do so many things to support the community and they never really do it for the publicity or the recognition, so I think it’s a really good opportunity to highlight the good work they did and thank them for all their hard work,” the councilmember said.
