From The President
January 2012
The Yaphank Historical Society has had a very busy and productive year. Our main objective for 2011 was to open the Mary Louise Booth House. We set a date to be done and our volunteers brought this project in on time for our grand opening on August 20th. We are still working with Jeremiah McGiff (our restoration carpenter) who is restoring the windows. All windows on the entire first floor were completed. And as we raise money this coming year, we will restore the second-floor windows. The County is in the process of making and installing first-floor storm windows.
It was a long and tedious process to get to this point. We had to scrape the peeling paint off all of the walls and ceilings, we had to remove layer upon layer of wallpaper and in one case we had to take the entire plaster ceiling down. We then were able to contract with Mitrani Plasterers to plaster all of the walls and the ceilings on both floors. Plastering was paid for by the generosity of our members and a grant from Suffolk County given to us by our legislator, Kate Browning. Recently the County installed a new roof on the building. Interior work done by Society members included painting all walls, floors, ceilings, and trim.
Extensive exterior work was completed, including raising the grade to appropriate levels around the entire building. We received a donation of 250 yards of fill from Andy Kauffman of US Rail Corp. Landscaping efforts included several loads of topsoil, shrubs and plants, installation of stone pathway, installation of stone steps for both front and back entrances, and extension of the Nature Trail.
In addition to the Booth House project, initial restoration work began on the Homan House. Protective boarding was put up on all of the windows and doors, debris was removed from the lawn areas surrounding the house, the basement entry was secured, debris was removed from the original barn foundation, the old and ugly chain link fence was removed, and a new picket fence was installed and painted. The Homan House (which is #1 on the County list of structures to be restored) is ready for the architects and engineers to go in and give us the plans to get this long overdue project under way.
The Yaphank Historical Society applied for and received a grant from the Knapp/Swezey Foundation for $25,000 and we are partnering with the Coalition to Save the Yaphank Lakes, which is providing $40,000 from monies they received from the Caithness Fund . We will be continuing restoration of the Swezey-Avey house and grounds. We will be doing this in conjunction with the Town of Brookhaven Parks Department, working with Commissioner Ed Morris and Councilwoman Connie Kepert.
We did not neglect the Hawkins House. Construction efforts included finishing exterior house painting this spring, installing new custom shutters, replacing rotted sill and clapboard on the North side of the house, building new brick platforms at each staircase and repainting the wood fence that is in the front and side of the house. Landscape efforts included the design and installation of a new brick garden in the front of the house and further improvements to the herb garden structure.
- Robert Kessler, President