1912 - Titanic And Smithtown
By Rita Egan
All photos courtesy of the Smithtown Historical Society
With the recent re-release of the movie Titanic, the 1912 tragedy is brought to the big screen once again. With a storyline revolving around passengers from both the upper and lower social classes, movie goers can get a glimpse of what life was like a hundred years ago.
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James Clinch SmithTo get a sense of Smithtown and its residents in the early 1900s, one can look at the lives of Titanic victim, James Clinch Smith, and his sisters. Descendants of town founder, Richard Smythe, the siblings were prominent local citizens, and their lifestyles and homes brought a sense of high society to our area.
Children of Judge J. Lawrence Smith, James, Bessie, Cornelia, Kate and Ella all maintained homes in our township that still stand today. Despite their father’s career as a lawyer turned judge, the Smiths had a humble upbringing. In her;)
Bessie unpublished manuscript written in May of 1926, Bessie described their post-Civil War childhood as being a poor one. Like many during that era, they experienced rations where meat could only be eaten on Sunday and most of their food came from the farm.
However, in 1886, the Smith siblings and their mother Sarah inherited a significant amount of money from Sarah’s aunt. According to a November 2, 1886 The New York Times article, their Aunt Cornelia was the widow of the wealthy A.T. Stewart, who was the owner of the first department store in New York City. Besides being the recipients of the generous inheritance, the Smiths married impressive spouses.
James Clinch, a lawyer like his father, married a musician and composer, Bertha Ludington Barnes, in 1895. According to Portrait and Biographical Record of Suffolk County, (Long Island) New York, Bertha worked primarily in Paris, France, and James would travel regularly between Europe and New York. The young Smith inherited his father’s homestead in 1889 and was on the Titanic to return to Smithtown and prepare the home for the couple’s return to the states. This structure remains today in its original location on the property of the Smithtown Historical Society.
Smithtown Historian, Brad Harris, said James had a great interest in horses. He owned the St. James Driving Park, a horse racetrack that was located at Edgewood Avenue and Fifty Acre Road from 1888 to 1905, and he was a member of the Smithtown Hunt Club, which was established in 1900. James and his wife also enjoyed the lifestyle of high society in New York City. The resident of Smithtown was well liked by many and was remembered fondly in the Book The Truth About the Titanic written by his friend Archibald Gracie.
Gracie, who watched helplessly as James was engulfed by a wave on the ship, wrote of his friend, “He never showed the slightest sign of fear, but manifested the same quiet imperturbable manners so well known to all of his friends.”
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Bessie’s HouseWhile James may have added the spirit of horse racing and the hunt to our area, the Smith sisters added the feel of the Long Island Gold Coast with their country estates. This was mostly due to Bessie’s marriage to prominent architect Stanford White in 1884. To this day, all of the sisters’ homes exist in Head of the Harbor as private residences.
In her manuscript, Bessie wrote of the couple’s home at Box Hill. It was the spot that she and her sisters would pass on their way to the beach at the harbor when they were younger. Whenever their buggy would reach the hill, the young Bessie would get out and run across the fields to take in the view.
The Whites acquired Box Hill in 1892 and quickly expanded the once simple Carman’s farmhouse. According to the AIA Architectural Guide to Nassau and Suffolk Counties, Long Island, White added many personal touches to the home. The structure features walls covered with split bamboo, a staircase of green tiles and 16h century Italian spiral pillars. Box Hill is also known for its pebble-dashed exterior that was accomplished by submerging pebbles in wet cement.
When the Whites moved to Head of the Harbor, Cornelia Stewart and her husband, lawyer Prescott Hall Butler, already owned the estate By-the-Harbor. According to Images of America: St. James, White’s architecture team of McKim, Mead and White designed the casino and playhouse on the property that is now used as a private residence. The structure included a large ballroom where the Smithtown Hunt Balls were held and also a squash court in the north wing.
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The Butler property was once the spot of the highest wooden windmill. According to Colonel Rockwell’s Scrap-Book, the four-sided structure was 28’ in diameter and 150’ above the bluffs. Overlooking Stony Brook Harbor, the windmill was designed by White in 1893 and completed in 1895. The windmill that once supplied spring water to the houses on the property burned down in 1964.
Sister Kate also chose to live in the Head of the Harbor right by Bessie and Cornelia;)
Kate’s Home in a home designed by White. According to Noel Gish’s Smithtown, New York, 1660 – 1929: Looking back Through the Lens, Kate moved back to our area when her husband Reverend J.B. Wetherill passed away. The Wetherill Mansion was completed in 1895, and is described by the AIA Architectural Guide to Nassau and Suffolk Counties, Long Island, as octagon in shape. With the look of Maltese Cross, each face of the structure is surrounded by a gable with alternating round-headed Palladian windows.
Ella lived in the old family homestead of Sherrewogue on Harbor Road with her husband noted golf architect Devereux Emmet. White also worked on the design;)
Ella of Ella’s home to convert it into a country estate, and by 1912 she had acquired 600 acres of land in the area. According to Colonel Rockwell’s Scrap-Book, Sherrewogue most likely was built before 1688, and due to Ella, it remained in the family until 1935.
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Ella’s HomeThe Smith sisters not only contributed beautiful estates to the area. Visitors to St. James Episcopal will find the family’s involvements in the early days led to White designing three of the stained glass windows in the church. According to the church’s brochure, oak choir stalls were donated by Bessie in 1901.
According to the website Antiques and the Arts Online, the family also contributed to the Episcopal chapel in Stony Brook that is now All Souls Church. The original baptismal font and communion service were donated by Cornelia and Kate, while White contributed architectural plans as well as the gold leaf in the ceiling decoration.
Harris said it was Cornelia who contributed the most to our town. Among her financial backings were a school in St. James in 1880 and the first permanent library structure in Smithtown. In 1911 Cornelia donated property for the building. Located on the north side of Middle Country Road where we find Route 111 today, the town’s first library was designed by Cornelia’s son, Lawrence. The building was moved across the street in 1950, and the original structure has remained as the children’s wing.
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Taking a closer look around town, present residents can feel the effects of the lives and contributions of the Smith siblings; their influences allowing a bit of the early 20th century to be carried into modern times in Smithtown.