This Page Was Originally Added To The Web Site In Feb of 2002.

It has been updated as of April 2007 

 

Welcome To
"CLAIREDALE"

aka

Red Cedar Pond, Hampton Bays, NY.

 

It really couldn't of looked too much different in the 1930's when Claire & Willis bought the Barrett estate and first arrived here. These photos were taken in 2002. Located on Red Cedar Point on the Peconic Bay , it had to be a great place to raise a small family & a lot of dogs.

1890's Knapp Trade Card

A 2002 Map. Notice All The Duck Names Too.

Was Her Dad Involved With That?

Today this home on Clairdale Drive faces Red Cedar Pond. Was it one of the Penney's?

It is located at the X on the map below. I think they may of had several homes out here.

There certainly was room for them.

 

Phone book lists their address as Red Cedar Pond

 

This 1890's Knapp Print Kind Of Foretells Life On Red Cedar Pond.

For it was the dogs that put this place on the map.

 

One of Claire's daughters recalled in a newspaper article from 1997 recieving her first puppy at 3 and growing up with 75 Terrier dogs. She pursued the kennel buisness and her sister real estate. Momma Claire had some strong influences no doubt. Here is a piece from the Riverhead News in 1936 that appeared after "Margaret Magnificent " won The Big Show at The Garden

 

This Article which I found in the Suffolk County Historical Society mentions the Penney's building a large Southern Colonial house. It may well still be out there.

 

This cartoon drawn in the '30's by James Montgomery Flagg an old friend of my grandfather, under the pen name of Zito, seems to be a good segue to the next Knapp to show up in in Hampton Bays.

" HEY GUESS WHO? "

About ten years after Claire settled in Hampton Bays, Her brother Dodi shows up setting up his summer residence on the opposite shore. There are two different bays in Hampton Bays hence the name. Did he move there to be near his big sister, his pal Willis or both?

 

C & D

Though Dodi Knapp, lived in three different locations around Tiana Bay from 1941 - 52

I could not help but notice his last move lines up directly due south from his sister.

 

The early 1940's Lists him on West Tiana Drive

Then in 1947 He's Located On

CORWIN LANE

Notice The Phone Number

Hampton Bays 1

 

This is what is out on Corwin Lane Today

A driveway that led to what was most likely a Large House On A Hill. There's a modern contemporary home there now. Both columns once had light fixtures on them and are very similar to his winter house in Ft. Lauderdale. At the bottom of this property to the left, are two cottages that date back to the 30's. You can tell it was all one piece once upon a time. That's Kenny V behind the wheel of the "Vintage Volare"

 

THE FRONT DOOR WAS WIDE OPEN SO I STUCK MY CAMERA INSIDE IT WITH MY FEET STILL ON THE
FRONT STEPS AND SNAPPED THIS NEXT ONE

Whether or not he lived in either of the cottages or the big house that must of stood behind them. One thing for sure was....He Had A Million Dollar View

 

 

TIANA BAY

UPDATE APRIL 2007 :

I received this very interesting e mail the other day from one Barry McConnell that said :

I stumbled on your site while looking for info on my maternal relatives surnamed Penny. I'm amazed at the time and effort you must have put into tracing the Knapps. I grew up in Hampton bays (H.B.H.S. Class of '65). You will no doubt be interested to know that my great-aunt, Elizabeth Lesster, owned the house on Corwin Lane that Joe Knapp rented for years. Elizabeth was my mother's aunt and knew Joe and his wife well. My mother didn't know either of them but said that Joe's wife was quite attractive. Elizabeth's son, William C. Lesster Jr. was best friends with Bradley Newcombe, who married one of Joe's nieces.

Subsequent e mails with Barry revealed that this cottage, I photographed in 2002 was indeed the home Joe & Marion Knapp rented prior to buying their next and last home that follows below. Back in 2002, I assumed the Knapps probably lived in the Big House on the Hill (That belonged to the Lessters) but experience has taught me never assume anything about the Knapps. However as you can tell by the text written in 2002 I just had a feeling about this one cottage over the second one that was next to it. I only took one photo of the other cottage. Today both might still be standing but not for long as there are going be new condos or something of that nature built there. I also discovered that Barry was a frequenter of the Palm Terrace night club in Riverhead during the mid 60's when my band the Continentals was playing there. And if that wasn't all .... he told me that he and Doug Percoco the bass player in The Continentals both dated the same girl back then!!!

Mr. Brad Newcombe btw was the husband of the late Margaret Penney Newcombe (Claire Knapp's eldest daughter) when Margaret won Best In Show at Westminster with "Ricky" her prized whippet in 1964.

Dodi Knapps last move would occur in 1949, when he and Marion bought a home on Hampton Harbor Road.

The house and property take up the north side of Hampton Harbor Road. That's a garage behind the hedge

 

 

 

The property goes from Rampasture Dr to the waterfront. The curved verandah must offer a great view of Smith's Creek & Shinnecock Bay

 

A 1951 Suffolk Phone Book

CONTINUED