Oyster Bay History Walk

Over the ensuing 350 years several important events in the religious, military, and social history of Colonial America and the United States occurred there.

The tour was designed through the collaborative efforts of historian John Hammond,[2] Oyster Bay Historical Society Director Thomas A. Kuehhas,[3] and sound recording artist Claire Bellerjeau.

An audio commentary was created to accompany the maps to enable interested walkers to understand the significance of each of the sites on the Walk.

These tracks were originally released under the title Talk of the Town,[4] but the name was changed to the Oyster Bay History Walk in 2008[5] at the time of certification by the American Heart Association as the first Start!

[citation needed] Dutch and English merchants, fishermen, and shipbuilders later made this a lively center of maritime trade.

However, her godson Leonard Wood Hall, a New York Congressman and Oyster Bay native, died shortly before completion.

The artists included Ernest Peixotto, who with his assistant contributed several murals representing Oyster Bay's history, and Leo Lentelli, an Italian sculptor, who created terracotta panels above the interior doorways, a terracotta bust of Theodore Roosevelt, and a stone flagpole base on the grounds outside the Post Office.

The first station was built in 1889 and then expanded in 1901 at the time of Roosevelt's election as President to accommodate the large increase in guests to the hamlet.

The Christeen serves as a floating classroom to educate students of all ages about the operation of historic vessels and protection of the marine environment of Oyster Bay and Long Island Sound.

This secrecy was in vain, however, for his location in Oyster Bay was revealed, and just over a month later he was imprisoned in Boston before being shipped back to England for trial.

In 1884 the hotel was used for the coroner’s inquest into the murder of three women of the area, Lydia and Annie Maybee of Wolver Hollow and Charlotte Aurelia Townsend of Oyster Bay.

In 1889 she installed a central heating system which supplied year-round comfort to the guests of the hotel and in 1890 she built a generating plant which provided Oyster Bay’s first electrical lighting.

The one-room office soon proved to be too small and the staff moved to larger quarters in the nearby Oyster Bay Bank Building.

Finally, after ten years, he sold the building to Edward Fisher, who turned it into Oyster Bay’s first Ford automobile dealership.

Community groups have expressed their strong interest to see this building tied to the heritage of Theodore Roosevelt to be restored in a sensitive and thoughtful manner.

[13] The Oyster Bay Guardian, a weekly newspaper, was founded by Nelson Disbrow in 1899 and over the following six years it was produced from various rented premises.

In response Disbrow bought his own property on West Main Street and in 1906 built The Printery, a brown shingled building that still stands today.

Colonel John Graves Simcoe ordered his troops to cut down a vast apple orchard which once grew here, and to rebuild the remains of an old fort which stood on this site.

His initialed headstone is greatly worn and weathered, but a bronze marker has been added, noting his immigration from England and his original ownership of this land.

The Town Council decided to restore the building to the saltbox structure of the mid-18th century, and in 1959 the Victorian additions were removed, including bay-windows, porte cochere, skylights and the water tower.

The Opera House, a private home and a millinery shop were destroyed, but the Ludlam Building and the Post Office were saved with only scorching.

Shortly after this fire Royce sold the building to the Kursman brothers, who ran a dry goods and clothing store.

[citation needed] Snouders Drug Store, located here since 1884, is the oldest continuously operated business in Oyster Bay.

The drug store was established by Abel Miller Conklin who had been a druggist in New York City, but moved to the countryside of Oyster Bay in 1880 on the advice of his doctor, who felt the fresh air would improve his health.

This enabled the switchboard operated by Miss Ellen Ludlam to remain open late at night until the drugstore had closed.

The telephone also brought many members of the press to the booths of Snouders Drug Store, covering news of Theodore Roosevelt, both as Governor and President.

The subjects covered by the library include the military, maritime and religious history of Oyster Bay along with a genealogical collection.

The organizations, founded in 1962 and 1892, preserve genealogical material, deeds, other documents, and artifacts of the Townsend and Underhill families which settled in Oyster Bay in the mid-17th century.

Soper in his investigation published June 15, 1907, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, said he believed soft clams might be the source of the outbreak.

The architect was J. Cleveland Cady, who was just beginning his career and would go on to design the original Metropolitan Opera House, the American Museum of History, and other noted buildings.