Brightwaters

4,000-Foot Canal Led to a Community

Beginnings: For two centuries after John Mowbray was given a royal patent in 1708 for the tract that included Brightwaters, nothing much disturbed the bucolic section of saltwater swamps, freshwater lakes and woods adjacent to Bay Shore. Real estate developer Thomas Benton Ackerson changed all that. He bought the Charles E. Phelps estate of several hundred acres to start a planned community.

Turning Point: From 1908 to 1918, Ackerson and his three brothers filled the swamps, dug a 4,000-foot boat canal from Great South Bay to Montauk Highway, created a model community of 100 homes priced from $3,500 bungalows to $20,000 mini-mansions - then went broke. The Ackersons' financial woes worried the new homeowners, who banded together and won incorporation as a village in 1916. The first president - mayors came later - was none other than Thomas Benton Ackerson. To solve his financial problems, he made an outright gift of the boat canal, lakes and park area to the new village, which has thrived as a quiet residential enclave with only a small business district.

Whence the Name: It was taken from the Indian name Wohseepee, which roughly meant ``sunlit ponds'' or ``bright waters,'' alluding to the five lakes north of Montauk Highway. Ackerson named one of the lakes in his development Nosrekca - Ackerson spelled backward.

Brush With Fame: For about a year, even as the Ackerson firm fought to survive, Brightwaters earned some celebrity as a hangout for stars of silent movies. Vitagraph Studio of Brooklyn opened a branch in Bay Shore in 1915, and gawkers on the streets of Bay Shore and Brightwaters could spot such entertainers as Marie Dressler, Fatty Arbuckle and Norma Talmadge. The stargazing lasted about a year before Vitagraph moved to Hollywood.

Where to Find More: ``A Local History of Brightwaters From Colonial Times to the Present,'' by Fred M. Monner, research paper, 1964; ``Brightwaters - A Profile,'' by Gene Gleason, New York Herald Tribune article, 1964; at Bay Shore-Brightwaters Public Library.