Searching historic house stories:
In Bellport, NY on Long Island, there was once the estate of a
Brazilian instant coffee "inventor" George Washington. When he tried
to advertise his coffee under his name the US Federal government sued
him. He shortened it to G. Washington, a brand that survived through
the 20th century I think. One story my grandfather stated that in WWI
the Germans had instant coffee, a liquid, they used, but the "instant"
powder tasted better and worked better, and their product was found in
stores.
On the grounds, which once had an aviary (the local history reported
Mr. Washington often came to the dock where he kept a sailboat with a
pet monkey on his back) is a modest brick "mansion" with basement. I
was invited there as part of the archaeology program for the
alternative elementary school held there (once also a sleep- away
camp, Camp Rockaway. left to the Catholic Marists) which has many
ruins from the historic past, danger to some of the kids perhaps from
previous use. We located part of a cistern perhaps of barn that was
there. The kids went searching all through the house for clues to
construction after viewing some of the films from Williamsburg
available then around 1980, when a "local history" module became
mandatory in the elementary grades in New York State.
On the top floor, perhaps the last to have the finishing details
applied, i.e. moldings around door frames, etc., over the southwest
door entrance to the corner room facing the closest to the South
Country Road, toward the Great South Bay, was a date carved into the
molding onto the top of the "high" doorway (built in a high ceiling
style indoors) over the entrance was the date 1887, that one of the
kids found looking around. They also had just got a small grant and
were having insulation blown into the walls. One of the first modems I
ever saw was also in use as the kids "distance learned" with some
programs tied into the Brookhaven National Laboratory not to far away.
(I recall the rates for that service on a Pop10 computer and they were
astronomical with phone company once, if anywhere else but local, for
a neutron-activation of turquoise research experiment there, trace
element analyses in mathematical "hyperspace").
I didn't get a chance to verify the date on the molding with perhaps a
title search in Riverhead, NY as has been done for some other
properties. As a point of information, some of the records are in
books which I believe have not been indexed from the Revolutionary War
era. Rufus Langhans of the Town of Huntington (site of the capture of
Nathan Hale and Fort Golgotha) had all the records published which
never made it to Riverhead, the county seat, also, though they all do
today, so you sometimes have to look for them in the most peculiar
places, on a heating unit or on a shelf you have to know where they
are from that time.
George Myers
George Myers
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