Baiting Hollow

You Name It, And Farmers Tried to Grow It

Beginnings: Though this section of the original Aquebogue purchase was divvied into 60 lots as early as 1660, there was not much activity there until the late 18th Century. That is, except for the building of a cart path through the ``Great Woods'' in 1702, easing travel from Southold to Brookhaven Town. Today's Sound Avenue mirrors the course of the old path. Early travelers actually inspired the name Baiting Hollow, referring to a pond where they ``baited'' or watered their horses. The 1825 census listed just 261 inhabitants, really not a sharp contrast from today's population of 1,037.

Turning Point: Corn, potatoes, cauliflower, mulberry trees, even daffodils - you name it and Baiting Hollow farmers tried growing it. So much so that Baiting Hollow developed a reputation for experimental farming and drew agricultural specialists interested in studying plant diseases and pesky insects. In 1923, New York State bought the old Homan farm on Sound Avenue and established a research farm that is still operating.

Brush With Fame: After visiting the Baiting Hollow mansion of Wall Street tycoon J.G. Robin in 1907, Theodore Dreiser, author of ``An American Tragedy'' and ``Sister Carrie,'' used the Long Island setting in a short story titled ``Vanity, Vanity.'' Calling Robin's home ``unpretentiously pretentious,'' Dreiser later talked about what struck him: ``It was ... so really grand in a limited and yet poetic way.'' The manor, on the north side of Sound Avenue just east of Fresh Pond Avenue, was torn down in the 1980s and the property now is part of Wildwood State Park. The only remnants are the manor's carriage house and a concrete boundary wall that still runs along a portion of Sound Avenue.

Where to Find More: ``Dreiser and Driftwood Manor,'' Long Island Forum, December, 1961. ``The Story of Riverhead,'' by Evelyn Rowley Meier, at the Riverhead Free Library.