Executive Director's Note | |
Christmas is my favorite time of the year! It’s the lights! It’s the Christmas tree! It’s the villages! It’s the holiday cards! It’s the time of year when everyone is concerned about the fellow human! Family and friends are what this season is all about! I love it so much! I hope you have a great new year!
We have an exciting new Dine and Discover, focusing on Eagle’s Nest: The William K. Vanderbilt II Estate in Centerport, by the former Director of Curatorial Affairs, Stephanie Gress.
Our Annual Appeal is still running, and don’t delay, get your tax-deductible donations in this calendar year. We need you to help us bring our history of Greenlawn and Centerport to you with our programs and research. Give here!
As you reflect on the year, I hope it was a year filled with joy, laughter, and love! I hope you have this next year filled with happiness, peace, and especially, new adventures! Happy 2024!
| | |
|
Donate to the Annual Appeal by click here.
Thank you!
Or if you would rather pay by check, click here.
| | |
The Harborfields High School Jazz Band Forges Community Connections with GCHA While Learning About Samuel Ballton | |
|
On Tuesday, December 12, 2023, the Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association hosted the Harborfields High School Jazz Band for a focus session on local hero Samuel Ballton. Born into slavery in Westmoreland, Virginia in 1838, Ballton found his way to freedom three times, finally escaping the South for good with his wife, Rebecca. Arriving in Greenlawn in 1873, Ballton found employment with Alexander Gardiner and was eventually dubbed Greenlawn’s “Pickle King” when he grew and processed more than 1.5 million pickles in a single season.
Harborfields High School Jazz Band Leader Dan Bilawsky, having developed an interest in Ballton’s life, commissioned an original jazz composition about his story and, to learn more about “The Pickle King,” attended our Walking Tour and Pub Crawl in June of 2023. Through discussions with Town of Huntington Historian Robert Hughes at that event came the idea of creating deeper community connections by bringing the jazz band to the GCHA to learn more about local history and, specifically, Ballton.
During the field trip, Hughes spoke to the band and the GCHA created a temporary exhibit complete with photos, memorabilia, and Samuel Ballton’s sword. This visit also served as a part of a larger project for the students—a documentary on “The Pickle King” to be co-produced by the high school’s media journalism students and the jazz band. “Our plan is to premiere this musical selection at our December concert to tie into the sesquicentennial of Ballton's arrival in Greenlawn, and then put together a short documentary about ‘The Pickle King’—man and music,” Dan Bilawsky shared. Hughes and Fortunato-Napolitano were interviewed by the students for this forthcoming production. “The students did a great job, and they were fascinated to hear about Samuel Ballton and his journey in life, from being born a slave to becoming a pioneering figure in Greenlawn,” remarked Fortunato-Napolitano.
At the conclusion of their visit, the band presented our organization with a copy of the score signed by the composer, Jeff Lederer, which is now in the GCHA archives. The jazz band also performed the piece, and it was wonderful!
| |
Vaudevillians of Centerport and Greenlawn | |
Registration required.
Click here is you are a member.
Click here is you are a non-member.
| | |
Historical Article: Christmas 20 years ago | |
The Long Islander, December 25, 2003, p. 4 | |
64 years ago:
1959 Caroling at Centerport Methodist Church.
Photography by: Harvey Weber
| |
32 years ago:
1991 Lighting of Christmas Tree,
In Front of the Greenlawn Post Office
| | |
|
Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association Mug
$12.00
Click here!
| | | |
|
Centerport
Discover the Deco estates, summer camp spots, and stunning landscapes that Long Island's North Shore coastal community of Centerport has to offer.
Once known as Little Cow Harbor, the coastal community of Centerport on Long Island's north shore is rich in natural resources, including a beautiful harbor with several freshwater streams surrounded by wooded hills. Centerport was originally the site of several important mills, but in the late 19th century, it became a summer retreat for both the rich and the not so rich. Youth camps, most notably the Franciscan Brothers' Camp Alvernia; guesthouses; and resorts as well as popular restaurants dotted the shoreline. In the early 20th century, large estates were established by the Vanderbilt, Van Iderstine, Burling, Morse, DeBrabant, Whitney, and Corbin families on the Little Neck peninsula. As the 20th century progressed, modest and generously sized houses replaced the small farms and many of the large estates. The unspoiled natural beauty and rich history has for centuries drawn residents whose love of Centerport continue to make our village a great place to live.
$20.00
Click here!
| | | |
|
|
Greenlawn: A Long Island Hamlet
SOLD OUT!
From the archives of the Greenlawn-Centerport Historical Association comes this striking visual history of the north shore Long Island hamlet of Greenlawn.
Originally known as Oldfields, the area was settled in the early 1800s by farmers. The extension of the Long Island Railroad through the farmlands in 1867-1868 provided the impetus for the development of a profitable pickle and cabbage industry, the growth of the community, and the arrival of vacationers, many of whom soon became year-round residents. Greenlawn includes stories of the Halloween eve conflagration, the Adirondack-style vacation retreat, the opera house, the farmhouse murders, the vaudevillians, and the Pickle King, among others. Today, houses cover the old farmlands; yet Greenlawnwith -one main street of small shops, a railroad crossing that halts traffic throughout the day, and many historical buildings-still retains its small-town charm.
$20.00
SOLD OUT!
| | |
Join and Rejoin the GCHA!
Please renew your membership or join because your annual dues give the future of Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association a steady foundation to maintain its two historic properties, the John Gardiner Farmhouse, and the Suydam homestead, and the preservation of paintings, photographs, documents, and ephemera at the Russell B. Brush Research Center. As members, you get a discounted admission rate on every one of our programs. We thank you for your continued interest in helping us to preserve your history for the future.
Click here to join!
| | | | |
