Who Were These People on the Porch?

By Rhoda Amon | Staff Writer

This mystery photo shows men, women and children in front of a large frame house, probably around the turn of the century. (Long Island Maritime Museum)

SERENE IN their Sunday best, the group above gathered on the porch of a frame building and faced the camera squarely. The well-behaved children sat on the grass and focused on photographer Benjamin West of Bay Shore. A nun waited patiently in the wagon.

Group photography was serious business in the late 1800s. Or was it the early 1900s? And who were these people and why were they there? Was it a church outing? A large family reunion? Could they have been the residents and staff of an orphanage? Could the building have been somebody's farmhouse? Or a public gathering place of some sort?

The tall man in the felt hat in the lower photo poses another mystery. He's apparently parked the shiny Chevy with the 1937 license plate. The sign says, "UNITED STATES CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION STOP REPORT." Where was he and what has become of the site?