We hear a great deal about local and national issues before Election Day, but that is hardly the end of the story. Recently, quick action by Ketcham Inn Foundation president Bert Seides and members of the Historic District Advisory Committee helped stop the demolition of the 296-year-old-Howell-Smith-Osborn-Diamond-Geiger House in East Moriches. Theirs is just one example of the importance of local civic engagement that helps preserve both historic properties and our quality of life here in the Moriches.
In a typical example of how this process works, Seides explained how his near 40 years’ experience at the Ketcham Inn made this short window of time—two weeks—sufficient to secure reversal of an already requested demolition permit.
“We invited current members [of the HDAC] to the inn and provided an example of how ‘adaptive reuse’ works,” he said.
The goal, he explained, is to recycle instead of demolish these properties.
Other community members of the Moriches Bay area and beyond had appealed to the town board to stop the demolition as well. As Seides observed, “This was the best-case scenario—local involvement that supports the HDAC and the town board.”
At the site, HDAC members were handed a detailed study to further evaluate their observations. Prepared in just two weeks, it included extensive documentation that proved the home’s historical significance. It included maps from 1838 and 1858 that show the 500-acre property once extended from the bay to Head of the Neck Road in Manorville, as well as a genealogy showing the family’s connection to many prominent local families still present in the community.
“We obtained photographs and presented thorough research by experts to create a mature product,” Seides explained. “For example, we have documentation that there were slaves present at the house. Photocopies of manumission documents obtained from the East Hampton Library show the release of Reuben in 1825.”
Their objective was to establish the historic significance of the property, securing its future. To accomplish this reversal, Seides was drawing on decades of experience, some of it initiated by the extensive work of Van and Mary Field.
“Van and Mary were trying to preserve the history of the area. We started a group and began with Woodlawn Avenue, which once led to Anna—sister of William—Floyd’s house.”
In the beginning, they met at Seides’s house. They chose to lean into the already existing historic districts in Yaphank and Fireplace in Brookhaven Hamlet for guidelines and to show local interest in preservation. From Woodlawn, they extended their efforts to side streets.
“Old-timers wanted to preserve their old houses. The Historic Resources Survey, an inventory of Moriches, East Moriches, Center Moriches and Eastport, was used as reconnaissance to help secure the current historic district.” It was a 10-year effort, accomplished without outside funding.
Now that the owner has voluntarily withdrawn the request for demolition, the future of the Osborn house is still an open question. Seides noted that preservation generally includes only the exterior of the house or building.
He is also concerned about proposed changes to regulations of the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act—known as Section 106—currently under review in Congress. These changes could drastically weaken the laws that set boundaries and established protocols for review that must be followed when alterations to, or destruction of, historic places are proposed.
The current administration and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation have sought major revisions to the existing law. If approved, these changes would weaken protections to historic architecture, neighborhoods, or lands—like the Grand Canyon—and would end notification to state and local governments of potential federal agency projects that could damage or destroy historic sites within their jurisdiction, and end the public’s opportunities to comment on these projects. It would also impact development on tribal lands and threaten tribal sovereignty.
It is an opportunity for people who care about historic preservation to voice their opinion to Congress.
Locally, he hopes there is enough community interest to help improve our Main Street commercial districts and preserve other significant structures.
“It needs a master plan that can be presented to Brookhaven Town,” he said. “We need cohesion, something to attract pedestrians to a defined one to two blocks where there are plantings, lighting, materials consistent with the period feel to preserve the area’s aesthetic.”
For more information: “Before It’s Gone—106 Strong,” Cultural Heritage Partners, youtube.com.
Ketcham Inn Foundation Inc, ketchaminnfoundation.org, (631) 878-1855.
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