March 01, 2001 - And furthermore...March 1, 2001 • The Su#folk Times
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WHILE WRITING ABOUT OUR TRIP down Memory
Lane we received so many letters, calls and com-
ments we thought -it would-be fun to share some
with you. After the first article on Skunk Lane
appeared, Lois and Hayden Allen called to say,
"We found there was once a duck farm
on the lefthand side of the road going
toward Nassau Point just before the
causeway. It was in one of the houses
where the back yard goes down into
Little Creek, making it ideal for raising
ducks." Lois doesn't think it lasted very
long. Fortunate today for those in the
area not to have a big duck farm on
FOCUS
ON THE
PAST
by Paul
and Barbara
Stoutenburgh
It's important to say before we go any
further that we appreciated the help of the town
historian, Toni Booth, whenever we had a question
about our meanderings. She was always helpful
with any information she had to pass along. Bev
Christianson at the library went out of her way to
get some information we needed. Our thanks to
both of them.
When we returned the old map that actually
showed the "fish houses" on the beach at the cause-
way to Eugene Berger, he told us, "That old fish
house now sits on the east side of Nassau Point and
is being renovated. The interesting thing about it is
that the owners are interested in keeping as much
of the old fish house intact as possible." How great
to have such history saved for the future, not only
because it was used as a fish house, but
also because it was used by such well -
known people as John Burroughs.
When, Pret Tuthill's brother, Art, called
from Vermont after reading about
Barbara's seeing Philip Horton dressed as
a crow on a float in a parade years ago, he
said, "I built that float on my father's
plumbing truck and we even took it over
to Southampton where we were in anoth-
er parade." That float was titled "The Old
Crows Association 1840 - 1940" and it is
not known how long after that 1940 cele-
bration the group disbanded. Phil Horton
has a picture of that float and if he finds it,
you'll see it here.
Art Tuthill sent along a copy of the
Peconic Bay Shopper with a story about
the "Old Crows and Skunks" by Becky
from some friends
7ai
team with Albert Richmond as mascot.
was Southold Town Clerk Fat one time.
Terry. She said, "The best -known of these compa-
nies was the Old Crows, who first held their chow-
der meetings in a fish house near the present bay -
side home
a
of Philip G. Horton. Later this chowder
club met t Seagyan Club each Oct. 12 ... One
became a member of this select male
organization by invitation and'went
through humorous initiation rites.
Members came from Orient to
Riverhead and included local politicians,
bankers and businessmen. It was an all -
day affair with the feed committee arriv-
ing at the clubhouse by 6 a.m. to open .-
clams, peel onions and potatoes and set
the tables. The menu included oysters,
crabs, Manhattan -style clam chowder,
crac ers, cheese and apple pie and coffee ... the
best item of the day was the `Crow's Milk' concoct-
ed from a secret recipe. One year, because of pub-
licity about the Crows in The New York Times, twc
men came from Frankfort, Kentucky, with compli-
mentary Old Crow whiskey for the "mile" and witl"
a trained black crow to entertain the gathering."
Art Tuthill said, "At the time we met in the
Seagyan Club there was a gully there between the
club and the Redden house with a horse shed for
the men to keep their horses in while they were
there." Barbara got a kick out of seeing that her
Uncle "Brud" Albertson was in one of the photos
of the Old Crows.
One of our calls came from across our back lot
wnen rat Marco canea to say now mucn sne was
enjoying the articles and felt that it would be good
to document them in book or video form. Pat and
Phil were not originally from this area but were
enjoying reading about "what once was" and we
were glad to know that people other than those who
had grown up here were finding it interesting.
Bob Price sent a card saying he was enjoying
eaQig about the old days on Skunk Lane and was
ending them on to California to a brother -in -law
ho had spent many summers in Cutchogue. Bob
ived across from the skating pond on Skunk Lane
and Barbara spent a lot of time with his sister, Lois,
n the pond.
So many of you wrote and commented on the
rticles and said you were sending them on to fami-
ly and friends, to mention just a few places,— in
California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Connecticut,
North Carolina, Massachusetts — and I even heard
from a classmate of over 60 years ago out in
(Payson, Ariz., who was sending his articles on to his
wildlife biologist daughter serving with U.S. Fish
and Wildlife on Johnston Atoll. Thanks to all of
you for your letters and comments and calls.
The Certain Books store people were nice
enough to send us a postcard of "Harvesting
Famous Long Island Potatoes" from long ago. On
the back of the card was this: "Long Island grows
approximately 17 millions bushels of potatoes
annually and is one of the leading potato producing
areas in the United States. Long Island potatoes
are famous for their fine appearance and
quality."
And Anne MacKay of Orient recalls
when she was 12 years old and worked on
the Terry farm in Orient. One verse of a
poem she wrote at that time goes,
"Never forgot how we sang in the field
Five hours a day and a sandwich at ten,
All for thirty -five cents an hour.
For the farmers. For the war."
Only recently Jane Francke, with whom
Barbara went to school, called to say, "Do
I remember those fried eels at Al
Harker's Diner in Cutchogue! They were
so good!" I couldn't agree with her more.
There's nothing like fried eels. We just
had some the other day that we had
frozen from the last time we went fire -
lighting in the fall.
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