Footnotes to Long Island History
Booth Home in
Yaphank
August 20 1956
Thomas R. Bayles
In continuing
the story of Yaphank, its mills and places of historic note, mention
must be made of the old home across from the Yaphank Episcopal Church,
the birthplace in 1831 or Mary Louise Booth.
She was
widely known as the editor of Harper’s Bazaar from 1867 to 1889. Her
history of New York City was the first complete work ever published.
The Suffolk
County home was built in 1871 on a farm of 170 acres that was bought for
$12,700. The original building, which was torn down when the present
building was built several years ago, was three stories high and was 35
by 90 feet, with a wing on either side 40 by 80 feet. The Children’s
home was built in 1879 on the east side of the road and was used for
many years before it was torn down.
The
Connecticut River flows through Yaphank and on to the Great South Bay,
where is had another important mill located on it at South Haven, where
it flows under the Montauk Highway at Robinson’s Duck Farm, near the
Presbyterian Church. This old mill is still standing and was in
operation in 1745. It still has the old mill stones between which the
corn and grain brought by the farmers were ground. Here also are the
rusted remains of the machinery that operated the saws that cut the
farmer’s tree logs into lumber. Water still pours through the mill race
as it did a generation before the Revolution as though it expected to
again hear the creak of revolving wheels.
It was in one
of the pools below this mill that Daniel Webster caught a famous trout.
He was spending the weekend at the Carman Tavern nearby, and on Sunday
morning went to church across the road, leaving a Negro boy to watch the
pool for the long sought fish. During the service the boy tiptoed into
the church and whispered to Mr. Webster that the fish was in the pool.
Mr. Webster quietly went out and soon several others who knew what was
going on left also. Finally, the minister, the Rev. Ezra King, who was
my great grandfather, closed the service and the whole congregation went
over to the mill and watched Mr. Webster catch the second largest trout
on record. A copy of it in wood was made for a weather vane and was
hung on the steeple of the church for 50 years, until one summer
afternoon a thunder storm came up and lightning struck the steeple and
knocked off the weather vane, killing a mule that had taken shelter
against the side of the church.
Near the mill
was the general store of Samuel Carman. The store sold about everything
the farmers who came to the mill in those days needed. An old account
book in 1798 showed a great variety or articles sold, among which were
thimbles, needles, thread, powder, shot, trousers, coats, shoes, paper,
tobacco, molasses, (very popular, as it was used to make rum) tea,
knives, combs, cloth, spices, salt, books, snuff, rum, whips, wheels,
rice and groceries. The largest item sold was rum.
Groceries
were mostly all weighed in those days, and crackers, sugar, salt,
oatmeal and a great many things came in barrels and were weighed by the
store keeper when sold. Salt pork was kept in a barrel of brine in the
back room and a hook was used to fish a piece out when wanted. Hams
were hung on hooks also, and cheese came in a big round cake which was
cut into pieces as needed. Things were different from today when
everything comes in a package and is picked up in the self service
stores.
More about
Yaphank will appear in a coming issue of The Patchogue Advance.