In western Suffolk County there is a road known as Straight Path. It runs from Rt 110, in Amityville on the south shore east to Copaigue then north easterly to the middle of the Island, ending up at Deer Park Avenue near Dix Hills. For the most part it is a very straight road living up to it's name and runs straight through the town of Wyandanch. Wyandanch is named for the Indian Sachem, Wyandance that sold Mastic Meadows to the colonists in 1657. I only mention this because in a convoluted way it applies to this next story.

When Warren and Arthur Smadbeck had the chance to buy the J. B. Lawrence Estate in 1926 they probably didn't hesitate. They were already very astute real estate business men. They formed their Home Guardian Corp in 1917 and since 1922 they had been developing and selling land in Mastic Park near the Poospatuck Reservation about 3 or 4 miles north of the Lawrence place.

In the real estate game they say the three elements for success are location, location and location. Well the Lawrence Estate was in great location being on the bay and all, and by calling it Mastic Beach they could tie it into an already successful development. There was just one small problem. The long and winding roads you would have to take to get to it. And the bit of a hassle with detouring around the private estates most notably Knapp's, that blocked direct access to it.

Their problem was solved by a little transaction that Warren Smadbeck made with the then 81 year old "Gus" Floyd. This next deed is for land that would cut across Floyd's estate wide enough to construct a road and grant egress to to the gate of the Lawrence Estate. It later became known as The Fork and it was aptly called Mastic Beach Road.