Richard Smythe acquires Smithtown from Lyon Gardiner in 1663….

By Bradley Harris

    Legend has it that Richard Smythe rode a bull on a jaunt around the boundaries of Smithtown when he staked out his claim to the land.  To ride this bull a distance of some 35 miles through an untracked wilderness, in one day’s time, would have required a superhuman effort on the part of Richard Smythe, to say nothing of what would have been required of the bull. The most ardent supporters of the legendary ride look for ways in which Richard Smythe could have accomplished such a superhuman feat.  Some say Richard Smythe wisely chose the longest day of the year, carefully plotted his course, trained his bull, built up his endurance and then made his mad dash.  But the legendary account never provides an explanation of how ownership of the land passed from the Nesaquakes to Richard Smythe.  For that explanation one has to look at the historical record.

            The historical record of deeds and conveyances involving the Nesaquake lands show that Richard Smythe went through an involved and protracted struggle to legally acquire the land that is Smithtown today.  His struggle began when he approached Lyon Gardiner about buying land that Gardiner had been given by the Montauk Chieftain Wyandanch.  That land was owned by the Nesaquake Indians who lived along both banks of the Nissequogue River.  Sometime in 1663, Richard Smythe got a conveyance for the Nesaquake lands along the Nissequogue River from Lyon Gardiner.  Unfortunately we don’t know what this deed said because the deed has been lost.  But we do know how Lyon Gardiner came into the possession of the Smithtown lands.

            Lyon Gardiner of Gardiner’s Island fame, was the first Englishman to settle on eastern Long Island in 1639, and he was given the lands along the river as a gift from the Montauk chieftain Wyandanch.  As the chief or sachem of the Montauks, the largest tribe of Indians on Long Island, Wyandanch was recognized as “the acknowledged ruler of all other sachems on the east end of Long Island.  All the smaller tribes paid tribute to him, and it was generally understood that no conveyance of land was valid without his concurrence. In many instances, he held title to the lands by gift or purchase from the subordinate chief, and conveyed those lands to whites in his own name.”  In 1659, Wyandanch did this with the Nesaquake lands when he presented them to Gardiner as a gift.  Why he chose to do this is interesting.  (William S. Pelletreau, A History of Long Island, New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1903, p. 200.)

            According to William Pelletreau, after settling on Gardiner’s Island in 1639, Lyon Gardiner had been a friend to Wyandanch and the Montauks and had served as a “counselor in all their troubles.”  (Pelletreau, op.cit., p. 201.)  One of the troubles that the Montauk tribe encountered happened in 1653 when Narragansett Indians paddled across Long Island Sound in their war canoes to attack the Montauks.  The Montauks were celebrating the marriage of Wyandanch’s daughter, Princess Momone – the “Heather Flower” – to a Shinnecock Indian chief and were not prepared for the vicious attack that followed.  In the ensuing battle that took place in “Massacre Valley” in the hills north of Fort Pond Bay in Montauk, half the Montauk tribe, estimated to have been about 1000 Indians, were killed and Wyandance’s daughter,  the “Heather Flower,” was kidnapped and taken across the Sound.  Wyandance sought Lyon Gardiner’s help in getting his daughter back from the Narragansett Indians.

            Lyon Gardiner appealed to the “British to pressure the Narragansetts into returning the Princess Momone.  The Narragansett chief ‘Ninigret’ agreed to release the Heather Flower … in exchange for a huge pile of wampum.”  Lyon Gardiner helped Wyandance gather the required wampum.  (Barbara Marhoefer, Witches, Whales, Petticoats, and Sails, Port Washington, New York: Ira J. Friedman Division of Kennikat Press, 1971, pgs. 7-9.)  The “ransom was sent to Ninigret in Montauk war canoes” only to be intercepted by agents of John Winthrop, governor of the Connecticut colonies.”  Again Wyandanch appealed to Lyon Gardiner to intercede on his behalf and Lyon “intervened with Winthrop” who “saw to it that the wampum was delivered to Ninigret.”  (Barbara Marhoefer, op. cit., pgs. 7-9.)  The Heather Flower was finally released by Ninigret and “tradition has it that the restoration of Wyandanch’s daughter to her father … took place at “Richard Smythe’s residence at Setauket.”  (Frederick Kinsman Smith, The Family of Richard Smith of Smithtown, L.I., Smithtown, New York: Smithtown Historical Society, 1967, p. 21.)

            A grateful father and sachem then decided to give Lyon Gardiner a token of his appreciation for all that Lyon Gardiner had done for him.  At East Hampton on July 14, 1659, in a very unique deed called the “deed of friendship” that has a unique drawing of two stick figures shaking hands, Wyandanch conveyed the Nesaquake lands along the Nissequogue River to  Lyon Gardiner.  What is interesting about this particular deed is that Richard Smythe’s name appears on this document as a witness to the deed.  And four years later, Lyon Gardiner sold these very same lands to Richard Smythe.

            The question that arises is whether Richard Smythe’s interest in the Nesaquake lands was awakened by his witnessing the signing of this deed or whether “he may have had something to do with bringing about the transaction” in the first place.  (Frederick Kinsman Smith, op. cit., pg. 11.)  William Pelletreau felt that there was “little doubt but that the whole affair had been prearranged between Gardiner and Smith.”  (Pelletreau, A History of Long Island, op. cit., p. 201.)  

            So it would seem that Richard Smythe may have been the instigator of the famous “deed of friendship” between Wyandanch and Lyon Gardiner and that his interest in the whole affair was to gain title to the Nesaquake lands from Lyon Gardiner.  When the Nesaquake lands were conveyed to Richard Smythe by Lyon Gardiner in 1663, Richard Smythe set about securing undisputed possession of the land.  This was to take him the next 12 years of his life.  More about Richard Smythe’s struggle to secure the Nesaquake lands as his own next time….

NYS Parks To Remain Open

"The Nissequogue River State Park(NRSP) is now open! The Governor and the state legislature have come to an agreement that will keep all of our state parks open."  That was the message Mike Rosato, Chair of the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation, sent to foundation members  upon hearing the news that funding for NRSP and other parks closed due to budget constraints would reopen and remain open.

Earlier in the day Governor David A. Paterson's office announced that an agreement had been reached with the Legislature to ensure there are sufficient revenues to maintain operations at all New York State parks and historic sites, including all Department of Environmental Conservation campgrounds in the Adirondacks and Catskills. The agreement results in a $74 million in State General Fund savings and contains Governor Paterson's E-waste Program Bill.

 

"I am pleased that an agreement has been reached to reopen the 55 State parks and historic sites that were closed earlier this month. In addition, we are providing critical funding for clean air and water programs and implementing a new program to better manage the disposal of E-waste that I proposed and have fought for," Governor Paterson said. "We still have much work ahead of us, however, as we continue our effort to reduce spending and address the deficit through a responsible enacted State budget." 

Assemblyman Steve Englebright said: "As Chair of the Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development, I feel very strongly that these parks are vital to the livelihood of our State. They provide countless summer activities for New Yorkers, and they help promote tourism within the State, which is especially important given the current fiscal uncertainty. I applaud my colleagues for recognizing the devastation that would ensue if State parks were closed for the summer."

MAPLE AVENUE SIDEWALK “POLARIZATION.”

The Maple Avenue Sidewalk Repair Project, for two years in its planning and development stages was implemented just a few short months ago.  While the intent was to fix sidewalks, provide adequate drainage systems and widen one of Smithtown’s main thoroughfares, it is a classic case of government munificence and that of applying quick, misguided fixes to alleviate one problem while causing a multitude of others.  To begin with, what mind-less, middling, mid-management level bureaucratic planner decided to preserve the old, outdated, rotting wood telephone poles and maintain them smack-dab in the middle of the brand spanking new, masterfully graded and expertly installed sidewalks?  Next, the driveways, in most of those I personally inspected, will have to be either re-graded or replaced at the homeowners’ own expense.  Finally, and this is certainly analogous to the mythical “the sword in the stone” fairy-tale, you now have to remove the telephone poles encased in cement in the middle of the sidewalks, so that pedestrians can safely navigate the pristine walkways. 

 These newly installed sidewalks are impassable and where necessary, must be ripped-up, re-done and replaced.  What a waste of scare government resources while causing further and unexpected delays to the project's overdue completion.  Now, I am not an engineer or an attorney.  However, if I were either one, I would have repositioned the telephone poles in a less obtrusive location and then would initiate a class action lawsuit against the inept governmental party(s) having jurisdiction.  One cannot saunter, jog, bike-ride, stroll a baby carriage or walk a dog down these pathways without bashing into a “deadwood” telephone pole.  Adding insult to a soon-to-be injury, these telephone poles are tethered to the sidewalks with steel cables, that are either frayed at the bottom (which could cause a mean gash on an inattentive walker) or without safety guards (can decapitate one’s head) if an unobservant jogger races into it.   Similarly, these obtrusive cables are anchored and cemented into the middle of the sidewalk, further constricting a pedestrian’s unobstructed right-of-wayThese conditions must be rectified immediately, before a serious and fatal accident occurs.

This government morass (a frustrating, confusing, or unmanageable situation that impedes or prevents progress) is indicative of the way things seem to get accomplished here in Smithtown, these days.  A common sense solution to “Fixing What’s Wrong in Smithtown,” is to sit everybody down in one room, together, and coordinate with utility representatives, public safety personnel, contractors and government officials to access overall project implementation and design the best and appropriate course of action to achieve maximum efficiency of the repair project.  Then, this team must determine what other problems may arise from fixing one problem while trying to prevent other problems from popping up, “in the middle of a sidewalk!”  Thank you.

Richard S. Macellaro

Batting A 1,000 Watts

 Flynn Park, Kings Park

By Erica Jackson

As the sun starts to set over Flynn Park in Kings Park on Tuesday evening, the children’s league players finish up their last innings and clear the softball fields. Next up at bat is the 40 and over Men's league.  They’re stretched and ready to play. The only problem  — they can’t see the ball.

“At first I thought I was getting older and my eyes were going,” said Thomas Morissey, of Commack, but then he said he realized that the younger guys couldn’t see the ball either.  “We would just be looking at each other, trying to see where the ball went,” he said.

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Batting 1,000 Watts  

By Erica Jackson

As the sun starts to set over Flynn Park in Kings Park on Tuesday evening, the children’s league players finish up their last innings and clear the softball fields. Next up at bat is the 40 and over Men's league.  They’re stretched and ready to play. The only problem  — they can’t see the ball.

“At first I thought I was getting older and my eyes were going,” said Thomas Morissey, of Commack, but then he said he realized that the younger guys couldn’t see the ball either.  “We would just be looking at each other, trying to see where the ball went,” he said.

Pat Ahearn, of Commack, also thought his eyes were starting to go until he realized the problem wasn’t his eyes, but the field lights, which he says are too dim and angled incorrectly.

“The lights should be higher,” said John Telep of Ronkonkoma.  “I worry that someone can get hurt, if we can’t see the ball.”

And the problem isn’t just at Flynn Park, said Morissey, who has been playing softball in Smithtown for the past 28 years.  “It’s always been an issue at all the parks, but it’s becoming more dangerous.  We can’t see the ball.”

The players all understand that with games sometimes going on until 11:30 p.m. the lights could be a nuisance to neighboring homes, but Telep offered:  “Perhaps the town could put up some gates with screening that could block the lights.”

Morissey, Ahearn, and Telep all play for the Bombers, a Tuesday evening team that is part of the Smithtown Softball 40 and over Master’s League.  The league is run by Al Chandler in conjunction with the Town of Smithtown Recreation Department.

Chandler,who has overseen the softball program for the past 15 years, says the 40 and over league is the largest growing segment of the program.  “They’ve been playing for so long, that now they are just getting older,” said Chandler.  “We have more forty and over teams than ever before.”

In fact, Chandler said, this season, he had to create two leagues and 17 teams to accommodate all the 40 and over players.  There are 9 leagues and 70 teams all together in the program, which kicks off every April.

Morissey said the players have all spoken Chandler about the light problem. He said, “The people that run the league have gone to the town, but nothing has been done.”

Chandler confirmed that he has been to the town and struck out.  “We have been going through this since we’ve been running the league. The lights at all the parks are not high enough. They need to be at least fifteen feet higher.”

Chuck Barrett, assistant parks director for the Town of Smithtown, says that he has not been made aware of the problem with the lights.  He said, “We have not received any complaints to my knowledge.”

But despite “not receiving any complaints,” he said the town put new lamps in at Flynn park three years ago, which he says are more energy efficient.  “I believe they use the same wattage as the lamps at the other parks, which have been there for thirty years.”  He added that the1,000 watt bulbs on all the lamps are replaced frequently. 

Barrett offered to help work out a solution, possibly by repositioning the lights at Flynn Park.  “They should call the parks department and we could come down there one evening and make some readjustments.”