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MEMORIES  OF A 
FORT  SALONGA  CHILDHOOD 
IN  THE  1950’s
By James Donaldson  

      My brother and I couldn’t wait for the summer to begin, when our best friends from the city would take up residence in their summer home, just at the base of the Indian Hill, years before the days of the golf course. Being city kids, they were much more worldly and brave than we were, a couple of country boys from Fort Salonga, and they would fearlessly lead the way through the brambles and thicket to the top of Indian Hill   to establish our fort for the summer.

      That became our world for the summer, on endless quests to hunt for the secret Indian Burial Grounds complete with bones and skulls that we heard rumors about. The tales of Captain Kidd’s money hole where he would hide captured treasure for safe keeping was long a local legend and became a daily adventure searching out those long forgotten treasure chests of gold coins. Both the skulls and gold coins were never found!

     We knew of the dangers that were all around us! We heard talk of hidden pools of quicksand that would swallow us up forever, or the sand slides that may topple down on us at any minute and bury us alive. We spent countless hours of what do in such an event, and the thoughts of our mothers sending our a search party for their lost sons always kept an element of scariness on high alert to which none of us ever wanted to admit!

      As only brave and adventurous 10 and 11 years olds can do, we pretended to be thrust back in time and keep watch out across Long Island Sound for the invading army of ‘Red Coats’ on English ships. Our job was to report back to General Washington in the event of any such sightings, and help prepare the way for the secret invasion from Connecticut to capture nearby Fort Salonga.

     Then next day, we would be on the lookout for German Subs that were rumored to be lurking off shore. We heard tales of a German spy that had lived in an old mansion up the beach, where present day Sunken Meadow Golf Course is, and suspected it to be a hot bed of espionage activity and we wanted to be in on the action.

      I could go on with endless adventures for that hill, but as time moved on, the world change around me and now I find myself still on that old hill, but playing a different game. Even today, as I prepare to launch a little white ball across the vast expanse of well manicured lawn at the top of Indian Hill, I still look out across the horizon of Long Island Sound, looking for that English Ship or German Sub that just might appear out of nowhere, and I’m still prepared, as when I was eleven years old, to report in to General Washington, or General Eisenhower, that this patriot has keep this promise to defend our homeland in any way he can! So far, the view from Indian Hill is all clear and our boarders are safe, but that won’t stop me from always keeping a lookout. I learned my duty to my country in our summer fort, watching and waiting, ready to spring into action from our special spot on Indian Hill. I learned a lesson during those endless summer afternoons long ago that will forever remain priceless to me. I have memories that I will forever cherished as one of the ‘boys of summer’ on Indian Hill. I value what it still means to me today, almost 50 years later and will always remember that hill, my hill, Indian Hill. 

THE  ORRIN  LONGBOTHUM  HOME

The Orrin Longbothum home is the last Longbothum family owned property in Fort Salonga, a family  tracing its L.I. history  back to the eighteenth century. The circa 1850  brick and cedar home sits astride Fresh Pond at the end of a private road and includes beach front on LI Sound. Originally part of a 93 acre farm, it once included the famous Longbothum brickyards.  Rented beach plots and sixty rented cottages including a private water tower also graced the property. The original  home, a cottage, and a summer cabin are all that now remain on  approximately six acres.

 William Hubbard Longbothum and Elizabeth Gildersleeve originally settled in Setauket in the early 1800's. Their son George Searing Longbothum and his wife Anna Tappan moved to Fort Salonga in the mid 1850's and established a 500 acre farm including the large colonial Longbothum family home on Bread and Cheese opposite Ketcham's Farm. The Fresh Pond farm and home were also constructed at this time. The farm was run by tenant farmers and The Longbothum name gained prominence in the area. The Longbothum brickyard was established when they recognized the unique composition of our clay. ( Claymore takes its name from this clay). Irish immigrants worked the brickyards and a dormitory and tavern were established for them along Fresh Pond.

 The bricks were carried by flat car onto docks over a bridge which only collapsed in 1903. This bridge also provided original access to the home. A canal to the Sound was constructed by immigrant labor so the brick colliers could be moved into open water. A large anchor was used as part of a winching system to pull the boats through the canal and this anchor which was subsequently recovered from the Sound now sits at the intersection of Brookfield and Windy Lane. The Longbothum brickyard competed with neighboring yards such as Brown's and Sammis'. The quality of the clay proved too soft, however, for hard bricks so the bricks were only useful as back brick. This ultimately made the brickyards noncompetitive and they closed. A large schooner was constructed to transport the family's bricks into N.Y.C .but subsequently sank in the treacherous waters of Hell Gate.

 The Longbothum name is represented in a number of venues in our area. Several of our streets take their name from Longbothum family members including Thornton Lane, named after Orrin's Grandfather George Thornton and Marion's lane after George's brother Marion. Orinn's grandfather George attended Huntington High School, winning the oratorical contest in 1902 for the grand prize of $10. His father George Shearing matched it and George purchased his first sail boat.  The family also appears in several William Sidney Mount paintings in the permanent museum collection of the  Stony Brook Carriage Museum, posed between 1836 and 1850.  Our own Middleville cemetery on Middleville Road  boasts a large gated family enclosure where many of the family are buried.  A small shed on the property also is noteworthy because Orrin has information that another famous neighbor, Booker T. Washington, ( see related article) used this cottage when he penned "Up from Slavery".

 This beautiful  property is currently for sale and Orrin plans to relocate to Vermont where  skiing is better. We wish him the best as  the last in a long line pulls up anchor and leaves our shores. 

MIDDLEVILLE CEMETERY

At our 2004 Spring brunch. Fort Salonga alumnus. Anton Angelich. shared with us a restoration effort he and a number of McGill University ( Montreal) alumni have undertaken for the past several years at Middleil1e Cemetery on Middleville Road near Rinaldo. The organization is also working with Huntington historian Bob Hughes in documenting the area residents buried there as they clear away the overgrown gravestones and plant bulbs, trees and azaleas. Anton will be coordinating a volunteer cleanup effort scheduled for April 16th for which we are asking our residents to volunteer ( see enclosed flyer) Anton grew up on Bread and Cheese and is a former president of the McGill Alumni Association of New York.
Middleville Cemetery is approximately half an acre in size and contains at least ii 9 identified graves. The earliest graves are believed to go back to before the American Revolution. ‘fhe earliest stones that are still in existence date from the early 1800’s. The cemetery contains graves of many long established Middleville and Fort Salonga families, such as the Longbothums, Hudsons, Ketchams. Andersons, Griffiths, etc. There is one small section in the northwest corner where there are remnants of wooden markers. It is believed that this was a section used by local Quakers, Many of the burials date to the era of the mid-1800’s, when there was a strong religious resurgence. Associated with this era was a burial design with bodies being laid to rest facing Fast, and with stone foot markers. Vnis can be seen throughout the cemetery. Behind the existing cemetery is another plot of land that is unused, and that was intended by local officials many years ago to be used as a “Potter’s Field.” As far as can be told, it has never been used for any burials.
After the restoration project began a McGill sign was put up at the front of the cemetery, and the project was written up on a McGill website. Soon. various inquiries began to come in. One came from the Longbothum descendants, who were appreciative of the work being done. Most interesting though, and quite unexpectedly, were several inquiries that came from McGill alumni families in the Gaspe region of Quebec, and the Province of New Brunswick. They indicated that they had relatives buried in this little cemetery! The Alumni Branch is currently trying to make the historical connections linking Middleville and Canada! The volunteers have found the Edwards family that still lives in Fort Salonga and is related to the Edwards families in Canada.
Much work has been undertaken since the project began in 2002. The whole front end of the cemetery has been opened up, and a corridor along the eastern side has been cleared all the way to the back corner. One work day resulted in 45 trash bags of branches and trash being filled. Another work day resulted in two truck loads of logs being taken away. Much brush and catbriars have been cleared and removed, and several very large dead trees have been cut down. One very large tree came down during a storm and did significant damage to the Longbothum enclosure and there are still several overturned stones to be righted. Grass has been planted in newly cleared areas, along with daffodil bulbs, azaleas, and a symbolic maple tree commemorating a McGill alumni killed in the World Trade Center tragedy.
A master work plan has been proposed to complete the restoration. Much more still has to be done. The goal is to make the cemetery as maintenance free as possible (mostly by means of open clearing) by beautifying by means of perennial planting, and by protecting from vandalism with fencing/gates. The Project has enlisted Town of Huntington help in restoring the Longbothum enclosure and righting the large overturned stones while future fundraising is planned to install a front fence, gate and signs. A good turnout on April 16th will dramatically move this project ahead. Hope you can join US!
 

THE BREAD AND CHEESE STORY

 Bread and Cheese Hollow Road evokes much interest in our community. The deplorable road conditions have generated numerous attempts by your FSA to remedy this with town highway departments. Surprisingly, our efforts have uncovered much jurisdictional confusion over which municipality is responsible for road repair. While repair issues generate today's confusion  so also, for many years, has the curious origin of the name  generated speculation as to how it earned this colorful appellation. The apocryphal story of "Bull Smith" riding through Smithtown and stopping here for a bread and cheese sandwich has been pretty well debunked. Several years ago Robert Miller, an Archaeological Consultant residing in Northport, put forward an alternative explanation relating to a common plant grown in England.  

The use of the current Bread and Cheese to mark the boundaries between Smithtown and Huntington was actually established through a series of gifts, purchases, depositions and lawsuits carried on through the courts of both the Dutch and English colonial authorities over a twenty five year period. Conflicting claims resulted in Richard  Smith suing property owners in the Town of Huntington, claiming all the land from the Nissequogue River to what is now the western boundary of Smithtown. In 1674 the English property owners in Huntington refused to recognize a Dutch court awarding the land to Smith. They appealed but the English court upheld the Dutch court and affirmed Smith's  claims. 

Richard Smith grew up in Yorkshire, England where the leaves of the Hawthorne plant were known as "Bread and Cheese". The leaves were eaten by children on their way to school, usually picked in April when they have a pleasantly nutty taste and also were used in hawthorne and beetroot salad and hawthorne and potato salad. Hawthornes were also used as boundary markers for fast growing visible hedges thanks to the white blossoms which were used in May Day observances up through 1752. Hawthorne hedges tolerate most soil types and are the most frequently planted shrub in England. This tradition of boundary demarcation continued in New York State, corresponding to early settlement areas, eventually replaced by split rail fences and barbed wire.

 If Richard Smith did use hawthorne to mark his western boundary, much of the evidence has been destroyed during the construction of the modern asphalt surface. However, each Spring in late May and early June residents along this road may find the remains of these hedges, representing the original hedges Richard Smith planted to mark his victory over the town of Huntington in 1675. An example of this shrub in bloom appears below. Be on the lookout !