IT HAPPENED TODAY IN MASTIC, NY
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1969
"MOSS LOTS" IN 1961
IT HAPPENED TODAY IN MASTIC, NY
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1969
"MOSS LOTS" IN 1961
The lady with her back to the camera is Cornelia Floyd Nichols, the last Floyd to live on the Floyd Estate and the one who deeded it to the National Park Service, She has driven Dr. John Atkinson (who is standing with her) and his family over to see "Moss Lots", the homestead of the Dana Estate which at one time was also part of the full Floyd Estate, that consisted of the homesteads of William, Nichol, and Augustus Floyd and Katherine Floyd (Mrs. William B. Dana )
Dr. Atkinsons wife, Dr. Ethel Atkinson may already be inside looking around at the home she grew up in with her two sisters Doris and Leora, for you see Ethel was the oldest child of Alberta B. and William S. Dana. You can see the entire original William S. Dana family in home movies taken in the 1920's located in the links below.
Speaking Of Movies : This item appeared 50 years ago in the Patchogue paper. "Kings Go Forth" was a WW 2 Pic and starred Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood & Tony Curtis. I first saw Leora Dana at the Shirley Drive In, a year earlier in the western "3:10 To Yuma" with Glenn Ford & Van Heflin. A" local summer resident"is no quite accurate seeing that the Dana family had roots in Mastic for over 50 years before it was even a town and 300 years if you trace their maternal side back to the Floyds.
The Atkinson's lived in California then. Their son John Atkinson took that snapshot with his Brownie along with many others of the interior and are posted in the link Visit Moss Lots. It was the first and last time he ever got to see his mothers's childhood home, that dated back to the the 1880's standing proudly on the banks of the Forge River in Mastic, NY.
According to the Mastic Fire Department's 50th Anniversary Book, published in 1976, it was 39 years ago today, on Friday September 5, 1969 that a person or persons unknown set Moss Lots ablaze and it burned to the ground and another piece of Mastic area history was lost.
YOU CAN LEARN AND SEE A LOT MORE ABOUT
MOSS LOTS & THE DANA'S BY VISITING THE LINKS BELOW
KATHERINE FLOYD DANA'S PAINTINGS OF MASTIC IN THE 19th CENTURY