June E-Newsletter! Volunteer at the Farm Stand, Walking Tour & Pub Crawl!

Newsletter 2

June 2, 2023

Welcome!

Executive Director's Note

The weather this past week has been awesome! Not too cold, not too warm! It was perfect weather when we went on our first Walking Tour and Pub Crawl! Robert and Toby were outstanding leaders, full of stories and facts, but with their knack for making it entertaining. I hope you will join us for the July and August dates. June is SOLD OUT!

Also, I must thank Mary Barter, Cheese and Crackers Long Island, for donating $1000 from her Charcuterie Event to the Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association. First of all, it was so much fun! Second, it bought the GCHA message to a new audience. Thank you so much!

Lastly, if you are newly retired, retired, and have some time on the weekend (or the week) can you volunteer at the Gardiner Farm Stand? It is a service to our organization, and it is your part in keeping our history alive!

New Email and Mailing Address!

Today, we are announcing our new email and mailing address!

New Email:

cfortunato@greenlawncenterporthistorical.org

info@greenlawncenterporthistorical.org

We will no longer use the old email address!

New Mailing Address:

Greenlawn Centerport Historical Association

31 Broadway

Greenlawn, NY 11740

Please update your records.

Volunteer at the Farm Stand!

Volunteers needed for our summer farm stand! Please share far and wide! We need one volunteer for each shift to work alongside Fatima/another GCHA rep! Shifts are 10am-2pm or 2pm-6pm beginning the week of July 1 for the summer! High school students can earn community service credit! Reach out if you have any questions and complete this form to show your interest.

https://forms.gle/bGBGUquB92fq4iDc7

Reservations required.

Click here if you are a member.

Click here if you are a non-member.

Pictures from the Charcuterie Event!

Historical Article: Cedarcroft

In 1904, the land of the east side of Broadway, running north of East Maple Road, to the top of the hill overlooking Centerport and Northport Harbors, was sold to a real estate corporation organized by Willard N. Baylis of Huntington. This land, which had been the northern section of the Charles Kissam farm, included what is now East Sanders Street, Arbutus Road, Pine Path, Barbara Court, Jean Court, Tanglewood Court, and Arosa Court.

The corporation names the area "Cedarcroft" because of the abundance of Cedar Trees on the site, and made plans to subdivide the property into plots of 4-5 acres. Due to an insufficient water supply. this plan never materialized. However, some of the plots were sold, including the land at #14 Broadway upon which E.S. McClay constructed his home in 1909.

The purveyors of catalog homes appealed to the dreams of middle-class Americans for a home of one's own and a better future for one's children. The advertising copy unabashedly equated ownership of these homes with Patriotism and virtue:

"You are about to take the step that shall stamp you as the substantial family- the backbone of the American republic. Your home is your castle. ....owning one's home is preferred by all those men and women who seriously think for the welfare of their family. It would be a violation of natural law if homes of the above class should produce other than men and women of clean purpose. " (catalog of D. T. Bayles & Son)

Quite a number of the first houses on East Maple Street and later Jean Court were built by the Sanders Building Co., the principals were Clarence E. Sanders and his brother Burten. These young men had moved to Greenlawn from upstate New York in the early 1900's with their father and mother, Alonzo and Helen Sanders. This family built and lived in the large Broadway and West Sanders Street house.

Alonzo Sanders and his sons formed, owned, and operated the Greenlawn Water Supply Co., in 1909. Later, the Sanders family had the most important strawberry farm in the area.

Although the Sanders brothers never succeeded in developing the area to the extent they had envisioned, they did build many homes on the Cedarcroft tract and spot-built homes on the west side of Broadway on Alvord Court, West Sanders, West Maple, and Gwen Court; this land had been the Sanders's family strawberry fields. The exteriors of many Sanders's homes remain intact today. In other homes, porches have been enclosed, and dormers added. Yet these houses are recognizable as the models shown in the Cedarcroft Colony brochure of 1927.

Volunteer

This is the work of one volunteer, Tom! Interesting in helping the GCHA? Volunteer! We are in need of volunteers! Email me!

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!