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A Sense of Time and Tools
MP-MS Historical Society shines light on early stages of settlement in our area
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February 26, 2009 | 12:28 PM
A new exhibit titled "A Sense of Time and Tools" is now on view at the Heritage Center in Mount Sinai.
Located on the grounds of the North Shore Heritage Park, the community center is operated by the Heritage Trust, a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to enhancing natural resources and the distinctive character of surrounding communities. To fulfill that mission, Fred Drewes, a member of the trust's board of directors, began assembling the exhibit about two years ago on the basis of historical photos. Starting last spring, Drewes mounted the items in the center's lobby, depicting the various historical stages of development that occurred in Mount Sinai and neighboring areas.
Drewes, a long-time Mount Sinai resident, said the display aims to instill an appreciation of what people did, who lived here before. It will also "give people a sense of time and a sense of place," he said, expressing his gratitude for the "very gracious donations" from organizations such as the Miller Place-Mount Sinai Historical Society, the Suffolk County Historic Society and North Shore Power Equipment.
Kicking off the display are pictures and tools representing the American Indian settlers from the precolonial days. Because the materials used in the building of those early homes have all decayed, according to Drewes, stone implements were the only remains found during an archeological dig on Harbor Hills Road. The second stage of the exhibit explores early settlement by the Europeans, who used local wood to manufacture tools. A picture from 1890 shows a captain and seven men loading cord wood onto a schooner for delivery. A chestnut wood post, brace and beam from a Mount Sinai home built in 1780 are also featured.
The third stage is what Drewes calls the "Harbor Harvest," which showcases the changes that have occurred at Mount Sinai Harbor over the years. In 1955, according to Drewes, the harbor, until then used mainly for harvesting purposes, became a place of more widespread recreational boating and fishing. Included in the display are an aerial view of the harbor in 1955 and various tools such as an eel spear, fishing reels and a cane fishing pole.
Next on the list is the "haying" stage when many farmers used oxen and horses during "pre-machinery, pre-tractor" times, Drewes said. Tools such as hay knives and scythes were used to gather salt- and field hay, which were fed to the draft animals. The ox was considered so valuable, he noted, that it eventually became the seal of Suffolk County. Horses also became instrumental during the potato farming stage, Drewes said. Long Island's 70,000 acres of potato farms during that period have since dwindled to about 5,000 acres. In recent months, the Prechtl family, who owned and operated a potato farm in Mount Sinai, donated a seed sower in memory of Walter and Frank Prechtl, who farmed here in the early 1930s, Drewes said.
In addition to potato farms, dairy farms in the area provided families with milk, butter and cheese. While there were several located on the North Shore, none lasted longer than Randall's Dairy Farm, which closed its doors in 1981. The Randalls milked 50 cows and bottled and sold milk on North Country Road west of the Mount Sinai firehouse. According to information provided by Drewes, Harry Randall of Randall Farms generously donated some tools, including a milk strainer and a mayonnaise and whip cream maker.
During the modern, post-World War II farming stage, tractors became more common and transportation links enabled cash crops to be produced for more distant suburban and urban areas, Drewes said. Soon sod farms and nurseries growing so-called landscape plants became important. Now in modern suburbia, local farms have been replaced by a variety of businesses and residential housing, according to Drewes, who pointed out that the Heritage Center is located on what used to be farmland.
On the east wall of the center's lobby, residents can also view an arrangement of equipment used by local farmers. The display consists of a horse-drawn fertilizer spreader circa 1930, a hand garden plow and cultivator, a hand garden seed sower, a hand field corn planter, an irrigation wheel 6.5 feet in diameter and a horse/human-drawn plow.
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