Historical holdup Colonial artifacts add strata of intrigue (and delay?) to Bank building
By Karen Forman	write the author
Courtesy Northport Historical Society October 09, 2008 | 11:23 AM In a contentious debate that town of Huntington resident Daniel Karpen called "more exciting than the presidential debates" that also aired the same night, the Northport Village board argued back and forth for an hour about the year-long archaeological excavation at the future home of Commerce Bank where Fort Salonga Road meets Main Street. Deputy Mayor Henry Tobin reported on a "fascinating report" he had received from the archaeologists that Commerce Bank had hired to dig 2- to 3-foot-deep trenches at the site of their future bank. Tobin said that while no Native American artifacts were found, the archaeologists discovered "over 6,000 items from the very earliest Colonial days of the 17th century, including white clay smoking pipes, pottery, glass and nails." "Based on the combined results of the Phase 1B and Phase II investigations," the report states, "the investigators conclude that the Scudder House Archaeological Site is eligible for National Register listing under Criterion D. The presence of intact subsurface deposits related to the earliest occupation of the house, and thus to early settlement in the community of Northport and this portion of Long Island, demonstrate that the site has the potential to yield information important to the study of history." Tobin said, "This is a complete slice of Northport history going back 300 years to its earliest settlements. What we find at that site will teach us how people lived in Northport from 1670 until today — the free whites and the slaves. This property was one of the original farms in the Town of Huntington. The first documented slave in the town was associated with that property." Northport resident Mimi Kail asked where the artifacts would go, to which Tobin glumly replied, "To the bank." Karpen suggested that the village talk to Commerce Bank about putting a museum exhibit in the front of the building, so that there would be a "permanent record of what was found in the excavation." Tobin replied that "This is premature. We're all getting ahead of ourselves." He explained that the next step would be to pass a resolution requesting the bank to allow the village and "other interested parties," including several historical societies, to go into the building to the excavated site, so that they could "determine what to salvage before the demolition of the building begins." That was when Trustee Tom Kehoe joined the discussion and the real argument began. "This has already been a very lengthy, protracted process," he said. "I'm not opposed to going in and inspecting the property but now we're adding further delay and more money. I want parameters on this: who is doing the looking, how long will it take and how much will it cost? This is a Pandora's box. We just can't do this without limits." After much debate between Tobin and Kehoe, Mayor George Doll spoke up: "The bank won't be demolishing the building any time soon. They still have a lot of permit process to go through, a process that is not up to us. They still need to get a permit from the Department of Labor and the Suffolk County Department of Health, among other things." Village attorney Jim Matthews agreed, stating that Commerce Bank had been in litigation until "three or four months ago." Then he added that the Architectural and Historical Review board in 2002 had deemed the building "was not worth saving, that it was not historically significant, that it was unsafe." This caused another flurry of debate between Kehoe and Tobin about the building's safety. Tobin's position was that the building was not in danger of collapsing and therefore not dangerous. Doll interjected, "I would like to walk through the building, too, but I think your resolution is scary, Henry. I don't think the bank will cooperate with this." Matthews came up with a solution: "Let the mayor draft a letter to the bank instead of this resolution." Doll concurred. "We will write a letter, circulate it among us and then send it to the bank in the next day or so," he said. Tobin said that it was fine with him and Kehoe liked the idea as well. "The mayor, in conjunction with Matthews and Tobin should craft a letter," Kehoe said. Trustee Jerry Maline added a concern to the mix. "Do we even know that the current owners even want to build a building on the site in this economy? Commerce Bank has new owners now — Canadian," he said. That put a halt to the discussion. TD Bank Financial Group of Toronto, or TD Banknorth, moved to acquire branches last October and completed the transaction in April. An attorney from Weber Law Group, which has been representing Commerce Bank on the matter of the Northport branch, could not be reached for comment by press time. Commerce Bank has been trying to build a branch at this location since 2002 at an intersection that is considered the eastern entrance to Northport Village. Some residents have been resistant to the idea of a corporate structure or drive-through at the location; others have opposed the destruction of the property's closed Cow Harbor Inn, which dates to the 18th century.

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