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December 07, 2000 - Strolling up Skunk Lane8A • The Suffolk Times • December 7, 2000 Strolling u LAST WEEK WE STARTED UP SKUNK Lane and this week we will continue on our way. Lois Allen tells us of an old 1756 deed of Samuel Billard's that read, "land bounded on the west by Skunk Lane.` Although many think the lane was named for the group of men who lived on the lane and seined for bunkers on the cause- way to use as fertilizer on FOCUS their land, perhaps they originally took their name ON THE from the street. PAST They had a fish house (actually marked on a by Paul and very early map) made of Barbara stone and stucco that sat $toutenburgh on the north end of the causeway beach. When they no longer needed it, it was used by artists and we are told that John Burroughs, the natu- ralist, once stayed there. We knew he had Visit- ed Long Island but were surprised to find out he had stayed in the Skunk Lane Fish House. It later was moved to Nassau Point. The group of farmers who seined for fish aid had a fish house on the beach over on Indian Neck Lane were called the Crows. Barbara remembers seeing Phil Horton's grandfather dressed up like a crow riding on a float in a town parade about 60 years ago. Barbara says, "I remember living in the old farmhouse circa 1770 once owned by Mabel Richmond's parents. We did have skunks then. I still remember my sister Betty and I watching a skunk run around the yard with its head caught in a mason jar. It had escaped from the cellar where neighbor men were helping my father clear out a family of the unwelcome guests. "The barns on the farm were burned down. M} mother was up during the night nursing my sister Betty in 1927 when she looked toward the barns Skunk Lane A painting of Mabel Richmond at her store. and saw them ablaze and someone running away from them. She spent the rest of the night fixing food and drinks for the firemen. There had been a lot of barn burnings at that time. I can remember going with in arents late at night to a big barn fire on Oregon Road where there were lots of horses and machinery that were being emptied out of the burning buildings. "My mother sold milk from what we kids called "the muk house." We would wait on hot summer days for Frank Gloria, the ice man, to pull in with his green truck to deliver chunks of ice that he car- ried with his big iron ice tongs. We waited patiently for him to give us each a piece of ice to suck on. "When my dad decided to go into the insurance business, he simply moved the old'corn crib to the edge of the road, fixed it The 1770 Silleck farmhouse. Photo from Rosalind Case Newell's "Rose of the Nineties" Fishermen hauling seine at Nassau Point Beach. up a bit and hung out a sign: `Russell P. Silleck Agency,' Lottie Waraneski was the. secretary at that time. (Her family home farm near Manor Hill is the new North Fork office of the Peconic Land Trust.) -More about the insurance office later." Barbara can remember Mabel Richmond's store being the focal point for all the school kids from the lane to get the bus. I remem- ber a girl named Ginnie in my class who walked all the way from Nassau Point, where her father had a mink farm, to catch the bus. Barbara also remembers the big pot - bellied stove that drew the local farmers and coun- trymen who would sit and talk on the long bench while they waited for the mail to be sorted. Barbara said, "My grandparents told of taking their turn as everyone else'did carry- ing the big leather mail bag down to the Peconic Post Office in their horse and wagon to pick up the mail and bring it back for Mabel to sort into everyone's boxes. She was able to pretty much keep up with everything that was going on in the neighborhood." Mabel's was a landmark on the corner of Skunk Lane and Route 25: Today it's the Down Home Store. Barbara goes on, "Those of us in the neigh- borhood can remember if you needed some- thing at the store and Mabel wasn't there, you would just call to her and then walk through the store and into her kitchen where she was getting supper. She'd come out and get what you needed. I remember Campbell's soup was just a dime at that time." Across the street is where the school district divides. Adam Zaveski, one -time president of the East Cutchogue school board, lived there and it was the last house in that district. Then the house next east was where Philip Horton lived, and he attend- ed Peconic School. Just across the street from there his stepfather John Binns ran a garage. Today we all know it as Ted's Body Shop. We'll move west on Route 25 next week. 8A • The Suffolk Times • December 7, 2000 Strolling u LAST WEEK WE STARTED UP SKUNK Lane and this week we will continue on our way. Lois Allen tells us of an old 1756 deed of Samuel Billard's that read, "land bounded on the west by Skunk Lane.` Although many think the lane was named for the group of men who lived on the lane and seined for bunkers on the cause- way to use as fertilizer on FOCUS their land, perhaps they originally took their name ON THE from the street. PAST They had a fish house (actually marked on a by Paul and very early map) made of Barbara stone and stucco that sat $toutenburgh on the north end of the causeway beach. When they no longer needed it, it was used by artists and we are told that John Burroughs, the natu- ralist, once stayed there. We knew he had Visit- ed Long Island but were surprised to find out he had stayed in the Skunk Lane Fish House. It later was moved to Nassau Point. The group of farmers who seined for fish aid had a fish house on the beach over on Indian Neck Lane were called the Crows. Barbara remembers seeing Phil Horton's grandfather dressed up like a crow riding on a float in a town parade about 60 years ago. Barbara says, "I remember living in the old farmhouse circa 1770 once owned by Mabel Richmond's parents. We did have skunks then. I still remember my sister Betty and I watching a skunk run around the yard with its head caught in a mason jar. It had escaped from the cellar where neighbor men were helping my father clear out a family of the unwelcome guests. "The barns on the farm were burned down. M} mother was up during the night nursing my sister Betty in 1927 when she looked toward the barns Skunk Lane A painting of Mabel Richmond at her store. and saw them ablaze and someone running away from them. She spent the rest of the night fixing food and drinks for the firemen. There had been a lot of barn burnings at that time. I can remember going with in arents late at night to a big barn fire on Oregon Road where there were lots of horses and machinery that were being emptied out of the burning buildings. "My mother sold milk from what we kids called "the muk house." We would wait on hot summer days for Frank Gloria, the ice man, to pull in with his green truck to deliver chunks of ice that he car- ried with his big iron ice tongs. We waited patiently for him to give us each a piece of ice to suck on. "When my dad decided to go into the insurance business, he simply moved the old'corn crib to the edge of the road, fixed it The 1770 Silleck farmhouse. Photo from Rosalind Case Newell's "Rose of the Nineties" Fishermen hauling seine at Nassau Point Beach. up a bit and hung out a sign: `Russell P. Silleck Agency,' Lottie Waraneski was the. secretary at that time. (Her family home farm near Manor Hill is the new North Fork office of the Peconic Land Trust.) -More about the insurance office later." Barbara can remember Mabel Richmond's store being the focal point for all the school kids from the lane to get the bus. I remem- ber a girl named Ginnie in my class who walked all the way from Nassau Point, where her father had a mink farm, to catch the bus. Barbara also remembers the big pot - bellied stove that drew the local farmers and coun- trymen who would sit and talk on the long bench while they waited for the mail to be sorted. Barbara said, "My grandparents told of taking their turn as everyone else'did carry- ing the big leather mail bag down to the Peconic Post Office in their horse and wagon to pick up the mail and bring it back for Mabel to sort into everyone's boxes. She was able to pretty much keep up with everything that was going on in the neighborhood." Mabel's was a landmark on the corner of Skunk Lane and Route 25: Today it's the Down Home Store. Barbara goes on, "Those of us in the neigh- borhood can remember if you needed some- thing at the store and Mabel wasn't there, you would just call to her and then walk through the store and into her kitchen where she was getting supper. She'd come out and get what you needed. I remember Campbell's soup was just a dime at that time." Across the street is where the school district divides. Adam Zaveski, one -time president of the East Cutchogue school board, lived there and it was the last house in that district. Then the house next east was where Philip Horton lived, and he attend- ed Peconic School. Just across the street from there his stepfather John Binns ran a garage. Today we all know it as Ted's Body Shop. We'll move west on Route 25 next week. 8A • The Suffolk Times • December 7, 2000 Strolling u LAST WEEK WE STARTED UP SKUNK Lane and this week we will continue on our way. Lois Allen tells us of an old 1756 deed of Samuel Billard's that read, "land bounded on the west by Skunk Lane.` Although many think the lane was named for the group of men who lived on the lane and seined for bunkers on the cause- way to use as fertilizer on FOCUS their land, perhaps they originally took their name ON THE from the street. PAST They had a fish house (actually marked on a by Paul and very early map) made of Barbara stone and stucco that sat $toutenburgh on the north end of the causeway beach. When they no longer needed it, it was used by artists and we are told that John Burroughs, the natu- ralist, once stayed there. We knew he had Visit- ed Long Island but were surprised to find out he had stayed in the Skunk Lane Fish House. It later was moved to Nassau Point. The group of farmers who seined for fish aid had a fish house on the beach over on Indian Neck Lane were called the Crows. Barbara remembers seeing Phil Horton's grandfather dressed up like a crow riding on a float in a town parade about 60 years ago. Barbara says, "I remember living in the old farmhouse circa 1770 once owned by Mabel Richmond's parents. We did have skunks then. I still remember my sister Betty and I watching a skunk run around the yard with its head caught in a mason jar. It had escaped from the cellar where neighbor men were helping my father clear out a family of the unwelcome guests. "The barns on the farm were burned down. M} mother was up during the night nursing my sister Betty in 1927 when she looked toward the barns Skunk Lane A painting of Mabel Richmond at her store. and saw them ablaze and someone running away from them. She spent the rest of the night fixing food and drinks for the firemen. There had been a lot of barn burnings at that time. I can remember going with in arents late at night to a big barn fire on Oregon Road where there were lots of horses and machinery that were being emptied out of the burning buildings. "My mother sold milk from what we kids called "the muk house." We would wait on hot summer days for Frank Gloria, the ice man, to pull in with his green truck to deliver chunks of ice that he car- ried with his big iron ice tongs. We waited patiently for him to give us each a piece of ice to suck on. "When my dad decided to go into the insurance business, he simply moved the old'corn crib to the edge of the road, fixed it The 1770 Silleck farmhouse. Photo from Rosalind Case Newell's "Rose of the Nineties" Fishermen hauling seine at Nassau Point Beach. up a bit and hung out a sign: `Russell P. Silleck Agency,' Lottie Waraneski was the. secretary at that time. (Her family home farm near Manor Hill is the new North Fork office of the Peconic Land Trust.) -More about the insurance office later." Barbara can remember Mabel Richmond's store being the focal point for all the school kids from the lane to get the bus. I remem- ber a girl named Ginnie in my class who walked all the way from Nassau Point, where her father had a mink farm, to catch the bus. Barbara also remembers the big pot - bellied stove that drew the local farmers and coun- trymen who would sit and talk on the long bench while they waited for the mail to be sorted. Barbara said, "My grandparents told of taking their turn as everyone else'did carry- ing the big leather mail bag down to the Peconic Post Office in their horse and wagon to pick up the mail and bring it back for Mabel to sort into everyone's boxes. She was able to pretty much keep up with everything that was going on in the neighborhood." Mabel's was a landmark on the corner of Skunk Lane and Route 25: Today it's the Down Home Store. Barbara goes on, "Those of us in the neigh- borhood can remember if you needed some- thing at the store and Mabel wasn't there, you would just call to her and then walk through the store and into her kitchen where she was getting supper. She'd come out and get what you needed. I remember Campbell's soup was just a dime at that time." Across the street is where the school district divides. Adam Zaveski, one -time president of the East Cutchogue school board, lived there and it was the last house in that district. Then the house next east was where Philip Horton lived, and he attend- ed Peconic School. Just across the street from there his stepfather John Binns ran a garage. Today we all know it as Ted's Body Shop. We'll move west on Route 25 next week.