The SenTry

Out on a Limb for SHHS— Thanks To a LoT of heLp, We enjoyed an evenTfuL 2013—This past May saw for only the third time in twenty-eight years the passing of the torch to a new presidency of the Sag Harbor Historical Society (SHHS). We applaud Joan Tripp and Nancy Achenbach for guiding SHHS since its inception in 1985. Their hard work, dedication, and management will always be appreciated. Now, for the first time, Co-presidents Diane Schiavoni and Jack Youngs direct us in what has become a smooth transition and a very successful season. We are very proud of the accomplishments achieved this past season, in no small part, because of the involvement of our trustees, volunteers, and donors.

enTering The digiTaL age—Trustee Barbara Schwartz explains that our newly purchased Past Perfect Museum Software has been installed, and we are on our way to a digital record of our collections and our membership. In support of this essential step we are grateful to several members whose generous contributions made it possible to hire Jackie Marks who is recording our archives into the new system and discovering surprising finds in the attic.

fridays on The porch—Our four “Fridays on the Porch” were extremely popular. For the first one

History Feature—

The Other* Victorious Battle of Sag Harbor–1813by David A. ThommenThe following is the speech prepared and delivered by David Thommen on 11 July 2013 at the dedication of our fort’s site to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle which took place on 11 July 1813.

Tension between the United States and Great Britain had been escalating for at least a decade be-fore President James Madison signed a bill declaring war on June 18th, 1812. Although there were many factors leading to the hostilities, the actions of the Royal Navy stood out among the Americans. Britain was engaged in a colossal struggle with Napoleon’s France. One of their tactics was a global economic blockade to prevent ships from neutral nations to reach ports controlled by the French. This required the British to maintain the largest navy in the world estimated at 1,000 ships. This created a shortage of able-bodied seamen. Undermanned British war-ships stopped neutral ships and took the sailors they needed by force. American ships were often targeted, and the Americans saw this as a just and sufficient cause for war. Then, for more than two and a half years battles raged from the northern Cana-dian borders to the Gulf of Mexico. And, a sea war was fought on every ocean in the world. In the fall of 1814, delegates from both sides negotiated in Ghent, Continued on page 3

Continued on page 2

Appreciating heritage—encouraging Preservation

HISTORICAL SOCIETYSAG HARBOR

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Vol. 28, No. 2Fall 2013

NewS

➤ Out on a Limb for SHHS— This Year’s Accomplishments

➤ Holiday Party—Free

➤ In Memoriam

HiSTOry

➤ The Victorious Battle of 1813

➤ A Havens Beach Memory

Attending Dave Thommen, as he raises the flag over the monument at the fort’s site on High Street, are Sag Harbor veterans from right: ralph Ficorelli, Jay Babcock, Marty Knab, Bruce winchell, and Vincent Starace.

Thanks to Bartlett Tree experts for trimming and cabling our trees to protect the Annie Cooper Boyd House

HISTORICAL SOCIETYSAG HARBOR

FOundEd1985

Mailing address

Sag harbor historical Society PO Box 1709 Sag harbor, ny 11963 location

174 Main Street, Sag harbor, nyThe Annie Cooper Boyd house & Museum (631) 725-5092www.sagharborhistoricalsociety.orgsagharborhist@gmail.com officers

Presidents: Diane Schiavoni and Jack youngs Vice President: ryan horn recording Secretary: Martha Potter Treasurer: robert espach, esq.Archivist: Dorothy Zaykowski

trustees

nancy French Achenbach, John Bjornen, David Bray, robert espach, Muriel hanson Falborn, Mary Jane hamel, Jean held, ryan horn, Deanna Lattanzio, Andrea Meyer, Martha Potter, Tucker Burns roth, Diane Schiavoni, Barbara Schwartz, Jack youngs, Dorothy Zaykowski Priscilla Ciccariello, emeritus Joan Bates Tripp, emeritus WelcoMe neW trustee Mary Jane hamel With regret we received the resigna-tions of ShhS trustees Peter hansen and Lorraine haynes and thank them for their past and future participation.

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Out on a Limb for SHHS Continued from page 1

we held an opening for this year’s exhibit of Annie Cooper Boyd’s “Plein Air Paintings of Old Sag Harbor” curated by Molly Adams. Parrish Museum docent Rebecca Radin explained Annie’s student relationship with the William Merritt Chase School of painting in the 1890s. At the second, Joe Zaykowski Jr. entertained us with the ancient history of wells through the discovery of our own Eighteenth Century well. At the third, we reported the auction of newly discovered poems written by Sag Harbor-born George Sterling. To close the season, Robert Browngardt memorialized his brother Arthur, who piloted the World War II bomber “The Sag Harbor Express” that was shot down over the Philippines.

programs—Our programs were well received. To an overflowing audience, Mac Griswold talked about her historically significant book on the Sylvester family, The Manor. We led Jeff Reed’s fourth grade class on an historical tour of the village and the Annie Cooper Boyd House, and at a later date, led a group from the Westhampton Presbyte-rian Church. On separate occasions, Trustees Barbara Schwartz and Jack Youngs intro-duced living in Colonial Sag Harbor to Sag Harbor Cub Scouts and children from the Bridgehampton Child Care & Recreation Center. Next, the Girl Scouts plan a visit. Many adults and children visited our Old Jail Museum on the three days it was open this season.

granTs and gifTs—Three new informative historical marker signs are now installed which identify the former location of the Alvin Silver Building on Main Street, the Break-water off Cormaria Retreat House, and Ligonee Brook and Creek where it crosses the Nancy Willey Park on the Turnpike. These signs and an updating and printing of the SHHS in-great-demand “Self-Guided Walking Tour of Sag Harbor” are realities thanks to a grant from the Suffolk County Department of Parks obtained by our Trustee Tucker Roth. The three signs are in addition to our five pre-existing signs designating the Atheneum, Duke Fordham’s Inn, John Jermain’s Mill, Peter’s Green, and Wharf Street.

We are grateful recipients of many historical gifts. The Sag Harbor Whaling Museum donated the 1871 Meneely bell which originally hung in the Union School (now the Munici-pal Building) at the time Annie Cooper attended the school. Barbara Schwartz donated a computer and router necessary to run our new archival software program. Nancy Achenbach treated us with Hannibal French family photos; Chaddy Worden’s children gave us memora-bilia from his collection; Paul Van Arts Dalen and James Squires brought us rare photos of the Sag Harbor Whalers Barbershop Chorus. Anita Cilli brought us souvenir plates donated by Jean Neidnig, and Lorraine Haynes gave pamphlets promoting long ago Sag Harbor events. Barbara Maher presented us with a complete set of Alvin Silverware.

cerTificaTe of occupancy—We recently fulfilled the requirements for our certificate of occupancy, and we thank Bill Porter of Peconic Security Alarms for upgrading our alarm system, and Sag Harbor Village for guiding us through the process.

Festive Holiday tea Join us For our traditional celebration

witH seasonal reFresHments at tHe

annie cooper boyd HouseSaturday, Dec. 28, 2013

3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

parTying aT The BreakWaTer—“The Port of Sag Harbor,” our major fundraiser, was held at the Break-water Yacht Club, a magnificent setting. Board member John Bjornen generously donated all the decorations and servers. Russ Miller, our clam and oyster shucker, generously donated his time. Trustees made delicious hors d’oeuvres, and Gabe Schiavoni and Steven Espach cooked up the finishing touches to make this affair a financial and social success.

Join us as we look forward to an interesting 2014 season.

Nancy Achenbach,Co-presidents Diane Schiavoni and Jack youngs, and Joan Tripp

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Battle of 1813 Continued from page 1 membersHip

& GiFt membersHips

Sag Harbor Historical Society

PO BOx 1709, Sag HarBOr, NY 11963

your Membership and Donations maintain

the Annie Cooper Boyd House Museum and its programs and our efforts to support

the preservation of Sag Harbor’s historic character

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$arrange alarm signals with them, places of rendezvous in case of attack, and to con-sider methods of arming the people. Henry P. Dering was to have charge of the signals at Sag Harbor in case a landing should be attempted.

Guards were kept at the Three Mile Harbor Gut. 16-year-old Charles R. Hand of Amagansett was there one evening and saw British armed boats leaving the fleet and proceed toward Sag Harbor. He ran home, saddled his mare, and galloped to Sag Harbor to give warning all in 40 min-utes. The warnings signals were given, and the militia and fort were readied to repulse the attack. Captain Henry Green and militiaman John Gann were the sentinels on the wharf. Green heard a boat and chal-lenged it. Obtaining no reply, he fired and the battle was under way.

The following excerpt is from General Rose’s official report.

“Sir, about 2 o’clock this morning, five barges from the British squadron came and made an attack upon Sag Harbor, took three vessels, set fire to one, but met with a reception so warm and spirited from our militia there stationed, who are entitled to much credit, as also many citizens of the place, that they abandoned their object and made a very precipitate retreat. They threw some shot almost to the extreme part of the place, but fortunately no lives were lost or injury done except to the vessels which they had in possession, one of which was bored through and through by an 18 lb. shot from the fort. It is probable the enemy must have suffered, as they departed in such confu-sion as to leave some of their arms and accoutrements.”

*The first “victorious battle” was Meigs Raid in 1777.

Check out the blog on our website for more history of the war of 1812.

Belgium, and on Christmas Eve 1814 the Treaty of Ghent was signed thus ending hostilities and restored “status quo ante bel-lum.” Word of a treaty did not reach North America in time to stop the famous Battle of New Orleans on January 8th, 1815 or the 5-day Battle at Fort Bowyer in Alabama starting on February 12th, 1815.

The forT on high sTreeT— The Fort at Sag Harbor was built sometime during the summer or fall of 1810 when Brigadier General Joseph G. Trotten was a 22-year-old West Point Graduate, 1st Lieu-tenant and engineer in the U.S. Army. From 1808 through 1812 he was the assistant to the army engineer and was instrumental in the building of the defenses of New York Harbor and having special supervision of the construction of Fort Clinton at Bat-tery Park in lower Manhattan. He chose our site as it must have afforded the best view for a lookout and best placement for the coastal artillery. The Fort would have been constructed of stone and timber with a wooden parapet wall. The grounds surely would have contained officers’ quarters, militia barracks, mess hall, guardhouse and a storehouse for gunpowder, weapons and shot. The artillery was composed of can-nons referred to as 9 and 18 pounders. The weight reference pertained to the weight of the cannonballs they fired. According to cannon expert, Richard Hendrickson of Bridgehampton, a 9 pounder would have a barrel length of about 5 feet and threw a shot about the size of softball. An 18 pounder had a barrel length of 10 feet and its shot was the size of a melon. Our fort was manned by the ranks of the Fourth Regiment of The New York Artillery, the equivalent of today’s Army National Guard. Three thousand men were assigned to the Fort working rotating tours of duty. I have seen estimates that about ten officers and fifty men were assigned at a time. The fort’s site was preserved as a village green when the Sleight Hill /High St. property was sub-divided, and the stone was placed in 1902 by Mrs. Mary Gertrude Aldrich of the first Sag Harbor Historical Society.

The BaTTLe—In the spring of 1813, a British fleet appeared in Gardiners Bay under the command of Sir Thomas Hardy. On May 1st, American Gen. Abraham Rose was ordered by the commander-in-chief to call together the field and staff officers of the most easterly regiment and

Photographed 92 years after the Battle of 1813 this picture shows the view of Long wharf and what is now Marine Park from the site of our fort then on High St.

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History Feature—

the Benfields (Johnny and Stanley), and the Horns (Tommy and Billy). Tommy claimed that the best water in town came from the old hand pump at Havens Beach. Johnny Benfield, with a physique teenage girls would swoon over, sunned himself on the float and every so often flexed his muscles, bounced on the spring board and dove into the water, much to the delight of the girls.

Old “Pop” Murphy was custodian at the beach, who made sure we all behaved. He carried a little first-aid kit with him ready for any cuts from broken glass or shells. After he retired, Herbert Ingersoll took over his job, arriving at the beach each day in my Grandfather’s Model T Ford. Riding in it, we ducked down so no one would see us. Today it would be a joy to let everyone see us.

No lifeguards were there to keep their eyes on the swimmers, but the water was so shallow we used to complain you had to walk half way across the bay before the waves of the water would reach our necks.

We used to dig for clams with our bare feet. Clams were plentiful at that time and provided a treat to bring home or to eat raw at the beach.

None of the boys had cars in those days. We either bicycled or walked to the beach—but nobody minded. That’s the way it was. You carried your towel—and if you were fortunate enough—a portable radio.

In our late teens, long walks hand in hand to Barcelona weren’t uncommon. We were growing up. Some of the boys had cars now, and a ride to Long Beach or the ocean at Sagg took the place of our early times at Havens Beach. Another group of younger boys and girls took our place as time passed by.

were a picture wearing the hottest attire imaginable. They sat themselves in the shade of the pavilion while the girls, mostly from Central and South America, enjoyed the shallow water of the bay. A float with diving board bobbed up and down in the cool water, adding to the fun.

Grace, Marty, June, and Dot wore bathing suits alike—a two piece suit with the top resembling a butterfly and the skirt bottom with an appliqué of a butterfly on it. Two of the suits were blue and white, and the other two were peach and white. We were pals, joined at the beach by the Early boys (Tom, Buddy, Charlie and Denny),

What draws me back to Havens Beach? Is it the beautiful panoramic view of ships dot-ting the bay, or is it my vivid memories of that time back to 1945–46 when as a young teen my summer days were spent at this wonderful spot? Maybe a little of both.

During those years there was a pavilion—painted a dark green—with a table running the length of the open sided building and benches. A hand waterpump stood at the end of the pavilion. The sisters from the Academy of the Sacred Heart of Mary on Hampton Street, would bring the girls that boarded there down to Havens Beach for a swim. The sisters, dressed in their black “habits” with attached hoods and dresses to their ankles,

in 1936, custodian of the beach “Pop Murphy” and Mrs. Murphy were photographed in their yard on Bay St. with Havens Beach in the background. —Photo courtesy of their grandson Jim Horn

A Time Passed by at Havens Beachby Dorothy ingersoll Zaykowski