Self-Driving Tour of Historic Sayville and West Sayville
Based on the Trolley Tours of Historic Sayville and West Sayville
Presented by Sayville Library as Part of its 90th Anniversary Celebration,
November 13, 2004
Sayville - After the American Revolution, New York State sold off some of the Nicoll Family’s Royal Patent to settle William Nicoll IV's debts in the new country. John Edwards purchased the eastern section from Brown’s River to about present-day Candee Avenue; Willett Greene acquired land from that line west to Greene’s Creek; and John Greene bought West Sayville. All three properties ran from the Bay to about the location of Tariff Street; the purchase price was about three dollars an acre.
Begin on Collins Avenue, in front of the library:
R Sayville Library - The library moved to its present site on the southeast corner of Collins Avenue and Middle Road, its second location, in 1924, occupying the Reuben Edwards house, which had been purchased by the Sayville Village Improvement Society. The house was demolished and replaced by the present building in 1965.
Middle Road - Laid out in 1834, its name evolved because it connected various farm houses dating back to 1796 that had been erected in the middle of large farms bought from the Nicoll Family. Alternatively, the name reportedly resulted because it is midway between the Great South Bay and Montauk Highway.
L Congregational Church - The present church building was designed by Robert Nunns and Isaac H. Green Jr., built in 1888/89, and dedicated on January 2, 1890. The original Congregational Church, built in 1849, was sold and moved to Railroad Avenue where it has been home to the Suffolk County News from 1891 until the newspaper moved to its present building in 1906, a Christian bookstore and is now a piano store. The building to the right of the church, originally the rectory and now the church office and library, was built in 1872.
L (#145) PetPort - Nelson Strong House - Strong was “boss builder” of Meadow Croft and other strong, long-lasting structures, many of which were designed by local architect Isaac H. Green Jr.
R (#178) Gerber House - This was the home of Francis Gerber, the first Jewish tradesman in Sayville. At first a peddler, later he built a multi-floor department store east of Railroad Avenue on the north side of Montauk Highway in Sayville (across from Sparrow Park). Gerber’s daughter married a New Jersey architect who designed the Patchogue post office building. Built 1877, the Gerber house was originally the home of Dr. Rice, an early physician, and now contains several apartments.
L (#167) Brown House - This was the home of Henry Brown and his wife, Clara. He was a coastal sea captain who ferried oysters to the New York and New Jersey markets. A Republican, he also served as Town of Islip Highway Commissioner.
Proceed east to St. Ann’s Church and make a right turn into the parking lot on south side of road, across from church:
Church Charity (Children’s) Cottages - This property was once owned by Dr. George Brush, a Civil War Navy doctor who, before his naval career began, moved to Sayville from Huntington. He met Margaret Smith, daughter of entrepreneur Jacob Smith, and married her. Their son, George Jr., died at the age of eleven. When Dr. and Mrs. Brush died, all their property went to her cousin, Ida Gillette. (Both Mrs. Brush and Ida Gillette were on the Library Board of Trustees.) When Ida heard that the Episcopal orphanage in Brooklyn had burned, she donated this property to the Church Charity Foundation of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island for use as an orphanage. The buildings, built in 1924, one for boys and one for girls, were in use until 1940. In 1959 St. Ann’s acquired the buildings and property for $35,000 from a developer who had purchased them and then defaulted on payments. Today, the buildings house the church’s Thrift Shop as well as the Sayville Project.
From the parking lot, look across the street to the church:
St. Ann’s Episcopal Church - The St. Ann’s compound consists of the church building, attached parish house, rectory and cemetery. St. Ann’s was named in honor of Ann Suydam (d.1870), wife and mother of the church’s major benefactors in its early years.
St. Barnabas Mission Chapel - Extending from the right/east side of the Church is the parish house, which contains a bit of the original chapel/church, St. Barnabas Mission Chapel, built in 1866. The Chapel building was moved aside to make room for the newer stone church and was turned into the parish house. The main part of the Chapel/parish house was destroyed by fire in 1959, but the original roofline and the stained glass window of the old chapel can be clearly seen on the façade of the parish house. In 1874, the Church became independent (it had been a chapel of St. John’s in Oakdale) and changed its name to St. Ann’s (see above).
Turn left out of the parking lot back onto Middle Road, then immediately make a right turn into St. Ann’s east driveway and drive to the back behind the rectory:
R St. Ann’s Church - The stone church, designed by architect, vestryman and cemetery comptroller Isaac H. Green Jr., was built in 1887/88. It was the first stone church in Suffolk County and is known for its beautiful Tiffany windows.
R St. Ann’s Cemetery - Established in 1874, this picturesque cemetery contains the graves of many notable local people. Among those interred here are members of the Suydam, Roosevelt, Post and Smith families, including General (Baron) Philippe de Trobriand, a French aristocrat who married into the Post family and served both in the American Civil War and in the American West.
R Lytch Gate and 12 Stations of Cross - Both are recent additions to grounds. England has long had a tradition of lytch gates which sheltered mourners from the elements while they awaited a burial. This one was designed by William Colson, a well-known local artist who is also buried in the cemetery. The Stations of the Cross are on a walkway to the right beyond the lytch gate. (If you drive through the gate into the cemetery, exit by the same way, back into the Church driveway.)
Continue around to the end of the driveway and make a right turn out onto Middle Road. Proceed to Foster Avenue:
R (#199) The Sayville Inn - The Inn was originally a tavern with a beer bottling business at the rear. The original tavern, built in 1888, is a separate structure behind the present building and is now used for private parties.
At the traffic light turn right onto Foster Avenue:
Foster Avenue
Foster Avenue - Foster Avenue was originally called Seaman Avenue for the family who lived on the southeast corner and ran a coal and wood business. This northern extension of Foster Avenue was cut through in the 1915/16 period, on land that was originally part of the Smith farm.
R St. Ann’s Cemetery Gate - This iron and stone gate marks the Foster Avenue entrance.
R (#23) American Legion Hall - Originally the West Sayville Fire House, the building was moved here when the new fire house was built in 1931.
R (#19) Brinkbilt Fitness - This building was originally at Camp Upton, Yaphank. After WWI, on August 21, 1921,
the federal government auctioned off all the buildings and equipment there. This building was bought and moved to Sayville by Davis Brothers and used by the Suffolk County Carpenters' Union, later became the Odd Fellows Hall, then a church, and now houses a business.
Turn left at the next traffic light and proceed west on Montauk Highway/North Main Street:
R Chamber of Commerce Visitor’s Bureau - The Chamber’s Visitor’s Bureau is located on the northeast corner of Montauk Highway and Lincoln Avenue (in the Shop & Shop parking lot). This building was originally Bud Van Wyen’s gas station, located in the parking lot is next to the present West Sayville firehouse. Bud was nicknamed the “Mayor of West Sayville” and his service station was affectionately known as the “West Sayville Town Hall”. It was moved to its present location in the shopping center after Bud’s death in 1987.
R Sayville Fire House - The first firehouse had been built in 1879 on Railroad Avenue, followed by one on Main Street, near Greene Avenue, in 1887; the first water mains and fire hydrants were laid in 1889. The present firehouse was opened in 1938. This property was first occupied in 1820 when Sayville’s first schoolhouse, a log cabin structure, was moved from its location near the present railroad trestle, west to the northwest corner of Montauk Highway and Lincoln Avenue. It was replaced twice on this site until schooling was moved to a new building (later known as “Old 88”) on Greene Avenue. The schoolhouse on this site became a residence which was torn down in 1937 to be replaced on the site by the new Sayville Fire House.
R Masonic Temple - The Masonic lodge building was originally Sayville’s first Methodist Church, erected in 1847 and enlarged in 1864. In 1895, after the Methodists had moved to their new church in the west end of town, this building was rented to the new Roman Catholic parish until St. Lawrence Church was completed the following year. It was then acquired by Connetquot Lodge #838 of Free and Accepted Masons.
R Sayville Plaza - Gerber’s (later Goodman’s) Department Store, a four story building, was located on northwest corner of North Main Street and Smith Street in the early 1900s. It burned down after completion and was rebuilt. Next to it, on the northeast corner of Main Street and Railroad Avenue, was the Kensington Hotel, renovated in 1895 from the old Bedell Tavern, the first public building in Sayville, erected about 1830.
The Bedell Tavern was the social center of the town. About 1837, locals met here to request that the Postal Service name the town. A tie between Edwardsville and Greenville was broken by final selection of Seaville, later misspelled as Sayville. During WWI, Justice White discovered German radiomen from the Telefunken Wireless facility in West Sayville wining and dining U.S. Navy operators here to keep them away from the station while secret messages were being sent to Berlin. The Kensington was demolished in 1954 to make way for the shopping center.
L Sparrow Park - A triangular garden once planted and tended by Ida Gillette (landowner and library trustee), it had a large tree in the center where birds nested, hence the name. Sparrow Park served as “ Village Square” with the three-story Gillette & Smith Department Store (Grand Central) behind it where Dick’s Gulf is today. In 1919, the Golden Eagle was placed on the monument and flanked by two cannons as a memorial to men who lost their lives in WWI. The eagle, symbol of the old New York World newspaper, had graced the front of the World building on Park Row in New York. Its owners, the Pulitzer Family, had given it to Robert G. Smith who, in turn, donated it to the town. Among the servicemen memorialized on the monument was Smith’s stepson, Irving Elward Smith, killed in action in France.
Continue traveling west on Montauk Highway/Main Street through the heart of the business district:
Main Street - 1900 was a banner year. Sayville’s population was 1,954. The first autos began to appear in town and Main Street was paved with oyster shells to help minimize dust and mud. (Oyster shells were used until 1914 when replaced by concrete.) The first street lights were turned on November 13th.
R (#1) Pepperberry Patch - The northwest corner of Main Street and Railroad Avenue was the site of the first store in Sayville, William J. Terry’s general store, built in 1849. Terry was married the aunt of local architect Isaac H. Green Jr. Green’s father, Samuel Willett Green started out his mercantile career working for Terry. About 1930, Sewell Thornhill moved the original building around the corner and remodeled it. The building still stands as 22-24 Railroad Avenue (retail stores) in Sayville.
L (#2) Thornhill's to (#22) The Chocolatier (Gillette Avenue to Candee Avenue) - Over a period of years, Isaac H. Green Jr. designed this stretch of buildings. #2 Main Street (built 1918) was the second location of Sewell Thornhill’s drug store and popular soda fountain. (He opened his first in the Brush Block on South Main Street about 1895.) Previously the site was the location of Wilson J. Terry’s house that had served as the post office. When telephones came in, Thornhill’s was the center of the network being the site of the switchboard and had the first phone number, number 1, which it has retained to this day as 589-0001. Cottage & Co. at #6 Main Street was originally built in 1913 for Joseph Arata’s produce market (he and his family lived upstairs). Runaway Bay Books (#10 Main Street) and A Basketful (#12 Main Street) occupy the former site of The William L. Mantha Co. The end building was built in 1896/97 for Isaac H. Green Jr.’s cousin, Joseph Wood, a lawyer who had his office in the building. On the street level it housed Ramm’s Meat Market, now the location of Stadtmuller Jewelers (#18 Main Street) and The Chocolatier (#22 Main Street). The Chocolatier location was once Frances’ Sweet Shop.
L (#44) Sayville General Store - Built in 1899, this was originally the Oystermen’s Bank. It was designed by Isaac H. Green Jr., bank president and member of the bank’s board of directors. The building was an addition to the Aldrich Block to its west. There had been a previous building on that corner which was moved around the corner in order to build the bank.
R (#49) Violets Blue - Originally this was the Community Trust Building. The trust merged with Oystermen’s Bank in 1934. For many years afterward, the building was occupied by the National 5 & 10 Cent Store.
R (#53) Debra Canavan Classics - Site of the original Edwards home which was moved back to Center Street when this building was built in the 1920s.
R (#55) Past & Presents - This is the Bedell Block, built in 1895 by William Bason & Sons. It was originally Sayville’s first real post office. Previously, mail had been delivered and picked up from a table in the hall of the Wilson J. Terry house located where Thornhill’s is today. In the early days, the mail was delivered to Sayville via rider or stagecoach.
R (#153) Eye Supply and other businesses - Site of the original Green Block built for Samuel Willett Green’s general store in the 1870s. Green’s son, architect Isaac H. Green Jr., had an office in the Green Block as did many other important businessmen of Sayville. Another early tenant was Sayville’s first public library, located on the second floor and managed by St. Ann’s Parish. (This library preceded the present one, which was founded in 1914 by the Sayville Village Improvement Society.)
Continue driving west, past the Greene Avenue traffic light:
L Methodist Church - Designed by Isaac H. Green Jr., it was built in 1892 at cost of $9,975. The Methodists moved here from their original location on North Main Street. (Their original building was the first church in Sayville.) This church building originally had a steeple which was removed after it was badly damaged during the Hurricane of 1938.
L Prince of Peace School - Built in 1922, east of the original St. Lawrence Church (with a convent between the two buildings).
L St. Lawrence the Martyr Roman Catholic Church - Built in 1970 to replace the original which was destroyed by a fire set by an arsonist in 1967.
The original, very ornate Gothic-style church was located approximately where the Prince of Peace schoolyard is today.
It had been designed by Poole, a NJ ecclesiastical architect, and erected in 1896. The original rectory, located west of the first church, was designed by Isaac H. Green Jr. It was also destroyed in the 1967 fire.
Continue west on Montauk Highway/Main Street:
Main Street, West Sayville
R (#21) Goodrich House - This house was designed by architect Isaac H. Green Jr. for the Goodriches, a husband and wife team of doctors. The wife, Dr. RenDell Goodrich, was a native of the Sayville area. She and her husband, Dr. Edward P. Goodrich, settled in and practiced medicine in New Haven, Conn. Dr. RenDell Goodrich had this home built in 1914. When she was widowed and dependant, the house was sold to P. J. Grady and later it became part of Greater Riviera Park. It has been a restaurant for many years.
R (#33 and #37) Westerbeke Houses - Oyster business owners Edward and William Westerbeke had these houses built. Probably designed by Isaac H. Green Jr.; Green did do a lot of renovation work on one of them. Edward was second only to Jacob Ockers as “Oyster King.”
R (#55) Yesteryear’s Antiques - This was originally the First (Dutch) Reformed Church of West Sayville, built about 1866. In 1908, Peppard and Van Emmerik’s bought the vacated building; the family lived upstairs and the moving business was headquartered downstairs. This building is one of Islip Town’s officially recognized landmarks.
R (#93) Greene House - Built in 1786 by William Greene. The Greene family originally acquired all of the present day West Sayville, were the first family here, and occupied the house until 1931. In 1790, while on a tour of Long Island, George Washington stopped at the Greene House for a rest and refreshment, both for him and his horses. A blue historic marker is located on the sidewalk in front of the Greene House. (The Greene House can also be viewed later in the tour, at the north end of Atlantic Avenue.)
Turn left into the entrance of the West Sayville Country Club (the golf course). Drive up to the main building:
Hard Estate/West Sayville Country Club/Long Island Maritime Museum
Anson Hard Estate - This 500-acre estate affords an idea of the many estates that existed on the South Shore at the beginning of the twentieth century. It stretched from Montauk Highway to the shore, had three gatehouses, a greenhouse, a 14 room mansion (though not as elegant as many others in the area), a large carriage house (now the Long Island Maritime Museum), and a boat house. It was built in 1909 by Commodore Frederick G. Bourne as a wedding present for his daughter, Florence, upon her marriage to Anson Hard. Bourne, President of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, had his own estate in Oakdale that later became La Salle Military Academy (now St. John’s University). Architect Isaac H. Green Jr. designed the Hard mansion, gatehouse, and the boathouse. The estate was acquired by Suffolk County in 1967 for the Country Club and the Museum. The mansion is now the clubhouse for the Country Club as well as a catering establishment.
Turn left into the parking lot in front of the house and drive straight ahead through the parking lot. Turn right at the end of the parking lot, go past the greenhouse to the Marine Museum gates. Turn right into the Maritime Museum grounds:
R Maritime Museum - The museum’s main building was originally the Hard Estate Carriage House. The building was constructed after Isaac H. Green Jr. retired; the exact date and architect unknown. At one time, the Hards left the mansion and lived in this garage. Today, the building contains, among other things, a large collection of paintings and other items reflecting area’s fishing industry as well as multiple Fire Island shipwrecks and rescues by the Coast Guard.
L Bayman’s cottage, Priscilla, Frank F. Penney’s Boat Shop, and the William Rudolph Oyster House - These are set up as they were in the early 1900s.
Exit the Maritime Museum grounds and go straight to the driveway exit to West Avenue:
R (#88 West Avenue) The Gatehouse - This gatehouse was already on the premises when the estate was built. It was originally a bayman’s house; Anson Hard had the building stuccoed.
Although the first “Blue Point” oysters were seeded years earlier, fishing for oysters did not become a major industry until the mid-1800s when the Dutch began to arrive in large numbers. Oystering was a major business that employed not only Baymen, managers and owners, but also barrel makers, coastal schooner captains and crews. Clams did not become notable until the1930s.
R Westerbeke Oyster Houses - This is where the fortune was made that paid for the houses on Montauk Highway (#33 and #37). The entire west end of the oyster houses (West Avenue side) comprises the original Bourne boat house which Jacob Ockers moved here from Oakdale in 1908. Although the industry dotted the coast from Brown’s River to Oakdale, all of the major shippers, except Ockers, had been clustered around this West Basin prior to that time. These buildings were among those that housed the World War I Navy Station (1917-1919) which was comprised of seven buildings. The Station was designated Section Base # 5. It had five boats employed for mine and submarine detection. The base assisted the U.S.S. San Diego when it was torpedoed off Point O’ Woods in July 1918. Robert (Bert) Roosevelt and Walter Suydam were station commanders.
At the end of Shore Road, turn right onto Atlantic Avenue, left onto Clyde Street:
Clyde Street
R Bluepoints Company - Offshoot of a Connecticut company, it was established in 1888 and later absorbed many independents in the area. Owner Captain Jacob Ockers was initially, and successfully, working out of an Oakdale location adjacent to the Frederick Bourne property. When Bourne became bothered by the smells and noise of the oyster facility, he asked Ockers to move his operations to West Sayville and by 1908 this was accomplished. Reportedly, The Bluepoints was the largest oyster company in the world. Some oysters were shipped whole, others shucked on site and the shells used for paving streets or ground up for poultry feed. Business boomed until 1938 when the hurricane caused cuts through Fire Island which increased salinity of the bay, threatening the oysters. The company began to work more with clams in 1931. The buildings have recently been purchased by the DeAngelis’/West Sayville Boat Basin who plan to restore the buildings and establish businesses in them.
Follow the road as it curves around and goes north:
R Green’s Creek County Park - The houses directly across the Creek were built on what was originally part of Frank Jones’ Beechwold Estate, which we will come to later in the tour. After the main house at Beechwold burned in 1957, almost all of the land from Jones Drive to the Bay and from the creek to Handsome Avenue was acquired by Elwell Palmer, a local investor, who divided it up and developed it.
At the top of Clyde Street, turn left onto Canal Street and right onto Atlantic Avenue. (If Canal Street is blocked by parked cars, return to Atlantic Avenue via Clyde Street.):
L (#66) - Originally Case Van Wyen’s Grocery Store, and more recently Lillian’s Bridal Shop, this building is now a private home.
L Christian Reformed Church - Built in 1878 by a group that split off from the original Dutch Reformed Church on Main Street. The building is now home to the Gospel Community Church.
L (#38) DeGraff House - Home of Neltje DeGraff who, when she was a young woman, became Sayville Library’s first librarian, then went on to a career as an English teacher in Southampton. In DeGraff’s time, the home was known for its beautiful English-style gardens in the back.
Proceed to the end of Atlantic Avenue. At the traffic light turn right onto Montauk Highway/Main Street:
R Parking Lot - Site of original fire house (now the American Legion clubhouse on Foster Avenue) and, later, Bud Van Wyen’s gas station (now the Sayville Chamber of Commerce Visitor’s Bureau in the Stop & Shop parking lot). Known as the unofficial mayor of West Sayville, Bud was an active member of the West Sayville Fire Department, serving as chief from 1959 to 1962. He was a past president of the Suffolk County Volunteer Firemen’s Association, past president of the NYS Firemen’s Association, and charter member of the Sayville Community Ambulance Company. Bud’s gas station had been a fixture just east of the West Sayville Fire House for many years and was nicknamed “West Sayville Town Hall” because residents could exchange views at Bud’s station. Bud also worked toward the Suffolk County acquisition of the Hard estate. The stretch of Montauk Highway to the estate is named for Bud.
Make a right turn onto Benson Avenue and proceed south to Nancy Drive:
Russell J. Perrine, a wealthy Brooklyn lumberman, came to Sayville about 1920. In 1926, through his friend, Attorney Ralph C. Greene, he acquired about 80 acres of Frank Jones’ Beechwold Estate south of Montauk Highway between Handsome Avenue and Greene’s Creek. He added this to a smaller parcel north of the Highway and named it Greater Riviera Park. The major entrance would be at Benson Avenue, former entrance to Jones’ Beechwold, passing through an impressive gateway with an adjacent brick lodge, and running south to Jones Drive.
Homes would be built along this stretch as well as a new street to the west, Sunset Drive. Greene’s Creek would be enlarged to create Sunset Lake for recreational use of the new homeowners. Unfortunately, the Stock Market crash of 1929 put an end to Perrine’s grand plans.
R (#48) - This home with its original orange tile roof was once part of a larger home. It was the servant’s quarters of Wyndemoor, the elegant and stately home of Mr. and Mrs. William Robinson Simonds, a wedding gift of Mrs. Simonds’ father, Frank S. Jones, who lived on the adjoining estate, Beechwold. Simonds was on the New York Stock Exchange. The Wyndemoor estate was located at the foot of Handsome Avenue. The house was designed by Isaac H. Green Jr. (who had also designed Beechwold) and built in 1909. It was divided and moved to its present two locations at #48 and #71 Benson Avenue in 1930.
L (#71) - The other part of Wyndemoor is here (without its original clay tile roofing). At this location, it was once the home of Elwell Palmer who eventually acquired and developed most of the Beechwold and Wyndemoor estates.
L (# 51 Jones Drive) Gardener’s Cottage - The house on the northwest corner of Jones Drive and Benson Avenue was originally the Beechwold gardener’s cottage.
L (#96) Beechwold Playhouse - Built in 1905, the playhouse originally contained a bowling alley, billiard room, ballroom and dressing rooms. Note the bowling pin on tree at the bottom of driveway. The shorefront Beechwold estate which stretched from Handsome Avenue to Greene’s Creek, from the bay to Montauk Highway, also included a working farm, two bathhouses, stables, a gatehouse and other structures, in addition to a huge home. The original owner was Frank S. Jones, founder of the Grand Union Tea Company – one of the pioneer supermarket chains. Beechwold’s main house was destroyed by fire in 1957.
Turn left onto Nancy Drive and proceed to the end of the street. Turn left onto Handsome Avenue:
Handsome Avenue
R (#311, 299, 277-79, 259) Cedarshore Cottages - In the late 1860s, there was a large factory on this site producing oil from menhaden; this oil was used in paint and cod liver oil and the residue from the process of pressing the fish was used in fertilizer. In the 1880s, Leander Powell built a home here for his family. George A. Morrison, builder and Brooklyn Alderman, purchased Cedarshore, the 4.3 acre Powell estate in 1913. The property stretched from Elm Street to the Bay and halfway (about 300 feet) back to Greene Avenue. Morrison immediately began construction of summer cottages and established a Casino on the waterfront. These homes are four of the nine original “cottages,” seven of which remain today (the three others are on Elm Street). In 1924, the four-story hotel was constructed (a fifth floor was added the following year) and became the center of summer social life in the late ‘20s and the ‘30s. In its heyday, the Cedarshore was the grandest of Sayville’s hotels. During World War II, it was used by the Herald Tribune Fresh Air Fund. After the war, it reopened as Bayview Manor but Sayville as a summer resort had ended by that time. The hotel burned to the ground in 1959 following a firemen’s banquet and while the sprinkler system was down for repair.
L (#254) Beechwold Gate Lodge - This lovely home still retains the elegant stone-walled entryway to the Beechwold estate. It was designed by Isaac H. Green Jr. and built by William H. Bason and Son.
Make a right turn onto Elm Street and proceed to the end of the road:
Sayville Golf Club (between Eastgate Drive/ Greenway Terrace and Candee Ave) - A six-hole golf course was laid out in 1902, with its north boundary between Elm and Maple and stretching to the bay. About 1920 it was later expanded to 9 holes with the 9th hole directly behind the Clubhouse (which originally had been the first Shoreham, a restaurant) on the bay. After the Island Hills golf course and club opened in 1938, the Sayville Golf Club was abandoned and the land developed. On the golf club’s former site, the Clubhouse was converted to a summer theater and homes were built on the northern section.
Candee Avenue - Named after Homer Candee, a noted local educator.
Beginning in July 1909, a horse-drawn trolley ran from railroad station to South Bay House at the foot of Candee Avenue.
L (#101) Good Samaritan Nursing Home - Original site of The Inn (Davis Inn), built about 1901 and especially noted for its theatrical clientele and good food. Mr. Davis was a stage manager, his wife a vaudevillian and actress. After his death in 1922, The Inn was sold and operated by others.
Eventually it became a nursing home, later replaced by the present structure.
L (#141) Part of the original W. H. Terry (later Moore) House - This house was originally part of a larger home that was designed in 1885 by Isaac H. Green Jr., and that was located on Foster Avenue, south of the Fosters’ Greycote. William Hazzard Terry formed a friendship with the Foster family when staying with them for a few summers. He bought his property from Foster and had this house built. Green featured the plans in Architecture and Building, and it was this exposure that brought him his commissions in East Hampton. Terry was on the Board of the Fire Island Chatauqua, and had Green design him a house there also, in Point O’ Woods. that was designed in 1885 by Isaac H. Green Jr.,
L (#145) - This house was an outbuilding on the W. H. Terry/Moore estate which stretched from Foster to Colton and north to Andrew Foster’s property.
Make a left turn onto Foster Avenue and go a short distance to Terry Street:
Foster Avenue
L (#302) Greycote, the Foster Home - Also designed by Isaac H. Green Jr. and built in the late 1880s. Andrew Foster (originally Forsslund) was a Swedish immigrant who came to Sayville about 1852. Trained as a tailor, he was involved in various other businesses as well. He built and operated two hotels, the Foster House Hotel on South Main Street, built 1864, and the Delavan on Foster Avenue, built in 1883. It was here at Greycote that Foster and his wife, Ann Eliza Brown, raised their children: Ann (married Dr. Haines), Amelia (married Dr. George A. Robinson), Minnie (a noted gardener), Amy B. (a Broadway actress), Louise (a noted author whose books were set in Sayville); and two sons, Rufus and Charles—all buried in St. Ann’s cemetery.
Turn right onto Terry Street and proceed to River Road:
Terry Street
(#85) Captain Mark L’Hommedieu’s Boat Shop - In the distance at the foot of Terry Street still stands what was Capt. L’Hommedieu’s shop which was a very popular place for sailboat repairs in the 1930s and 1940s.
Turn right onto River Road:
Brown’s River Frontage - Sayville and West Sayville’s coastline has been a prominent feature of the area from its discovery. Here fisherfolk, oystermen and clammers, vacationers, coastal schooner captains and sportsmen have lived and congregated.
L Ferries to Fire Island - The ferry docks were first located in West Sayville and, later, further up Brown’s River at the foot of Erwin Street. The ferry service has been operated for four generations by the Stein family.
L Westin’s Boat Yard - Established by Doug Westin, grandson of Beechwold owner, Frank S. Jones, and now operated by his daughter Pru. A great sailor, Doug Westin won many races on the Great South Bay.
At the stop sign at the end of River Road, look left to Land’s End:
L Land’s End - Built in 1923 by Northam Warren, a Connecticut pharmacist and avid boater who, in 1916, developed Cutex, the first liquid nail polish and polish remover, and headed the Cutex Company. The original house has been substantially expanded as it has served as various restaurants.
Turn right onto Brown’s River Road and proceed to the end of the street:
“Sayville Riviera” (not to be confused with Riviera Park) - This bayfront area included the beach, yacht club, hotel and restaurants, an area especially for those who wanted to have fun on the Great South Bay. Here many a wealthy summer resident came to sail, swim, or just relax.
L Sayville Beach - In 1925, the Sayville Village Improvement Society purchased the shoreline land west of Land’s End and gave it to the town for a public beach.
L (#40-42) Sunset Bay - The square, two-story shorefront structure of this residential complex was originally the Sayville Yacht Club clubhouse. The Sayville Yacht Club was informally organized in the early 1890's, then formally organized in 1901 as the South Side Yacht Club. The name was changed back to the Sayville Yacht Club and the clubhouse was acquired from the defunct Patchogue Yacht Club and floated by barge to this site in 1921. During the Depression, the Yacht Club moved to smaller quarters and the building was converted to apartments. When John Ellis Roosevelt was commodore of the South Shore Yacht Club (1901-1907, long before the clubhouse was acquired), board meetings were held at Meadow Croft. It’s said that Theodore Roosevelt often came by boat and sailed with the Yacht Club and his uncle and cousins.
Turn left into the Sayville Marina Park, drive into the east parking lot:
Port O’ Call - In the early 1900s, this location featured Syke’s Beach and the Lobster Grill restaurant. Both were sold at bankruptcy in 1935. The Wet Pants Sailing Association is headquartered in the original restaurant building.
Return to the Park entrance and look directly ahead:
Sayville Marina Park - Site of the Tidewater Inn which opened in 1916 and featured a restaurant that could seat 300 for dinner. In 1937 new owners renamed the inn The Shoreham. In its more recent history, the Shoreham was operated as a beach club. The building was destroyed by fire in 1987.
Drive out of the Park onto Foster Avenue:
Foster Avenue (part 2)
L (#272 & 268) Delavan Annexes - The Delavan Hotel was designed by Isaac H. Green Jr. and built in 1883 by Andrew Foster. It burned down New Year’s Day, 1933. Like most successful inns of their day, the Delavan needed an annex to house all its guests. These two houses were part of the Delavan property.
At the stop sign make a left onto Edwards Avenue and proceed to Gillette Avenue:
R Edwards Homestead - Sayville’s oldest existing house was built by Matthew Edwards about 1790, and remained in the Edwards Family until the death of Clarissa Edwards. Clarissa founded the Sayville Historical Society in 1944 and, when she died in 1948, she left the Society the house and a substantial amount of money. This was the second Edwards house; the first was on Foster Avenue. The original Edwards farm reached from the Great South Bay north to beyond the RR tracks and east to Brown’s River. Sarah Edwards Hallock left the east house and property to the society when she died.
L (#29) Haff House - Elinor Haff, her husband F. Palmer Haff (a relation of Hank Haff of Islip, the famous America Cup sailor), and her mother, Bertha Clock Huntoon (Sayville Library Trustee for 41 years) lived in this house. Elinor was Librarian/Library Director of Sayville Library, 1937-1970. She belonged to most, if not all of the local organizations. She was a founder of the Wet Paints Studio Group and the Suffolk County Library Association. Elinor also wrote a library column for the Suffolk County News for many years.
L (#10) Shattuck House - Mr. and Mrs. Harry Shattuck began summering in Sayville in 1887. Mr. Shattuck was a salesman for Tiffany. In 1893, Isaac H. Green Jr. designed this house for the Shattucks. Shattuck and Green were to become good friends, as were their children. Harry’s daughter, Ency, married Ludwig Battermann, chief engineer of the Telefunken Wireless Company. They were wed in the front parlor of the Shattuck house. Battermann went on to work in the experimental laboratory at RCA, Radio Central, Rocky Point.
Make a right turn onto Gillette Avenue:
Gillette Avenue
R (#141) Huntoon House - The house on the corner of Gillette Avenue and Edwards Street was designed for Charles H. Huntoon, his wife Bertha Clock Huntoon and their 2 children. Mr. Huntoon came to Sayville from Bridgeport, Connecticut, to work in the Lewis Oyster facility here. He was a descendant of many old colonial New England families. In 1922, Charles Huntoon was appointed Sayville’s Postmaster.
R (#103) Alvin Boarding House - The Alvin was a favorite
teacher’s residence when most were single women.
L Rotary Park - This park was created in 1916 by Ida Gillette who lived across the street--she paid her neighbors to relocate and move the houses so she had a nice view from her home. Sometime after her death in 1936, Rotary Club acquired the land and donated it to the town in 1953. The park now includes Common Ground, a project inaugurated by Rotary and joined by other service clubs, which encompasses the Reflective Memorial Garden and a gazebo which is a venue for summertime performances.
R Gillette Park / Gillette House - Ida Gillette was one of Sayville Library’s first trustees, serving on the board 1914-1922. She grew up in this house, now known as Gillette House. Her father, Charles Zebulon Gillette, came from a prominent Patchogue and Blue Point family. He sailed all over the world, ending his maritime career commanding the US supply ship John F. Farland up the Mississippi River to the Battle of New Orleans. After he returned to Sayville, he built the Grand Central store at Sparrow Park, was postmaster of Sayville and served as Islip Town Supervisor. Faithful Episcopalians, he and his wife (Phoebe, daughter of Reuben Edwards), willed that their house go to the Church Charity Fund upon Ida’s death. When Ida died in 1936, the CCF battled to turn the house into a nursing home, but were defeated. CCF then donated the property instead to the Town of Islip in 1944. After several failed attempts to build a community center and library on the property, the land became a park and ball field and the house became a town meeting place now used by the Sayville Village Improvement Society and others. Today the former Gillette home also houses the BAFFA art gallery and the Greater Sayville Food Pantry.
At the traffic light, make a right onto South Main Street (the south fork):
South Main Street
Brush Block - Owned by Dr. George Brush, the stores in this block were originally independent buildings, but Brush had them joined so they looked similar to other business blocks in Sayville at the time. There have been many well-known businesses located here, such as Thornhill’s (before it moved to its present location) and Otto’s Meat Market (over which the original Sayville Library was located). In 1914, Brush’s wife Margaret gave the Women’s Village Improvement Society a meeting room on the second floor, then a room for the society’s great endeavor, the Sayville Library. Margaret Brush served on the library’s first Board of Trustees. In 1980, the Town of Islip tried to interest the storeowners in having the block put on the National Register, but they turned it down. Later an arsonist burned all of the eastern stores, so that only two of the original block survives. The destroyed sections have been rebuilt.
R (#16) Down Town Hair - Part of the Brush Block, site of Otto’s Meat Market, above which the first Sayville Library was located, 1914-1924.
R (#38) Sue Byrnes Realty - A Victorian-era building, probably an extension of the Brush Block. In the 1920s/1930s, this was Frank Suda’s tailor shop.
R (#40) Whimsey - Another Victorian-era building; in the 1920s/1930s this was Joe Chew’s Chinese Laundry. Chinese writing may still be found on walls upstairs.
L Columbia Hall - Shortly after the Civil War, this apartment building was built on North Main Street and later moved to its present location. It originally housed businesses on the ground floor and a large, open room with a stage on the upper floor. The local school and the churches used Columbia Hall as a venue for events such as graduations and theatricals until the 1500-seat Opera House on Candee Avenue was opened in August 1901.
L (#89) Sayville Auto Collision - Site of Giroux’s (later Steigerwald’s) Bicycle Shop. The Sayville High School has the “bone breaker,” the large-wheeled bike that stood on display outside Giroux’s.
R (#100) Collins & Main - Site of the Foster House Hotel, built by Andrew Foster in 1864. Initially, it housed a candy and ice cream store along with his tailor shop. Until St. Barnabas Chapel was built, the Reverend Mr. Douglas of St. John’s Church, Oakdale, ran a classical school (St. John’s Academy) on the 2nd floor of Foster’s establishment.
Turn right onto Collins Avenue and return to Sayville Library.
There are many, many other notable places in, and interesting stories about, our town.
To learn more about Sayville and West Sayville visit
Sayville Library, Sayville Historical Society & Edwards Homestead, Meadow Croft, Islip Grange, and the Long Island Maritime Museum.
A sampling of resources to be found in the Long Island Collection located in the Huntoon Room:
· Havemeyer, Harry W., East on the Great South Bay: Sayville and Bayport, 1860-1960, c2001. (LI 974.725 HAV)
· A history of the West Sayville Volunteer Fire Department centennial celebration, 1891-1991. (LI REF 974.725 HIS)
And browse online: