Head of the Harbor

Keeping in Touch With the 19th Century

Beginnings: These three communities have shared their histories for three centuries. European activity in the area dates to 1677, when Smithtown founder Richard Smith began deeding land on Stony Brook Neck - in what is now Head of the Harbor - to one of his sons, Adam. Adam Smith constructed the first house on the east side of Three Sisters Harbor, now known as Stony Brook Harbor. Starting in the 1690s, Richard Smith deeded land in what is now Nissequogue to his other children and they established farms.

Turning Points: There were only a few homes in the area by the 1850s. They were centered around the intersection of North Country and Moriches Roads. In 1856 the area around the intersection developed its own identity as Saint James. This occurred because Episcopalians, who had been worshiping in Setauket or Islip, decided they needed their own church closer to home. The U.S. Postal Service established a post office and named it Saint James after the church that had been completed in 1854. The new hamlet experienced a development boom through the turn of the century, giving the area south of North Country Road the nickname Boomertown. Saint James grew even faster after the Long Island Rail Road arrived in 1872, bringing tourists to occupy newly built hotels.

Nissequogue and Head of the Harbor residents were appalled by the uncontrolled sprawl and sought to distance and protect themselves from it. This was accomplished when Nissequogue incorporated as a village in 1926, followed two years later by Head of the Harbor. The new villages passed zoning regulations to maintain their historical appearance.

Claims to Fame: The most prominent resident of the area was architect Stanford White, who with his wife, Bessie Smith, purchased the Carman Farm in Head of the Harbor in 1884. They remodeled it and renamed it Box Hill. White is buried in the Saint James Episcopal Church cemetery. The Saint James-Head of the Harbor area is now known for a large historic district that includes the Saint James Long Island Rail Road Station, Saint James General Store and Deepwells, an 1845 Victorian estate that at the turn of the century was the home of state Supreme Court justice and later New York City mayor William Gaynor. Early in this century prominent theatrical actor Willie Collier built two homes in Saint James, and an actors colony evolved, attracting John, Lionel and Ethel Barrymore.

Noble Experiment: In 1906 the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum, which had been founded in Brooklyn in 1866, purchased property in Saint James in an attempt to teach farming skills to blacks. In 1910 the group shifted its activities to Kings Park.

The Beast: Easily its most bizarre episode was recorded in 1918. Residents spent a good part of the summer hunting or trying to avoid ``The Wild Ape.'' Witnesses reported encounters with a large beast that threw stones with great accuracy and killed stray dogs and attacked humans. Finally, William Clark shot and killed the creature in the Long Beach area of Nissequogue. It weighed 90 pounds and is believed to have been a chimpanzee or an orangutan that likely escaped from a ship docked in Port Jefferson. Clark was paid $16.90 by the town as a bounty.

Where to Find More: ``Smithtown, New York 1660-1929'' by Noel J. Gish, at Smithtown Public Library branches.