A Few

HIGHLIGHTS OF NY VISIT

Oct 22 - Nov 1st 2003

 

Some unexpected "mailbox money" which is what songwriters call royalties, came my way this past autumn. So with a little prompting from Kenny "When Ya Comin' Back Up?" Vitellaro, I booked a flight to Long Island and spent a little quality time covering NY from Manhattan to Southampton. And as always I was digging up more stuff both Knapp & Mastic Beach related. Here are a few glimpses at what I found. It was a very good trip with both stuff & info flying at me from all directions. I returned with about 500+ photos & documents All this stuff and more will be appearing in much greater detail in the months ahead.

 

All Things Knapp

1. 1896 Map to the 200 acre Lawrence Estate which Joseph F. and his sister Claire A. Knapp purchased in October 1916. It shows all the dwellings & out buildings and has lots of notations including an excerpt from Charles Jeffrey Smith's will. Just as important to me is what was not there until the Knapps lived on the land.

2. Knapp Estate Barns in Mastic Beach circa 1954. The one in the distance is where we kids found all the wireless equipment, most likely left over from the Knapp WW1 aeroplane station. I would bet that Claire kept her horses like Zulal in it. It was located at Dogwood & Jefferson, we called it "Schulte's Barn" as it belonged to Paul Schulte then. The one in the foreground is 19th century and was built by either C. J. Smith or the Lawrences. It is located on Ramshorn & Jefferson and called "Mr.Clark's Barn" for Herbert Clark who lived in it from 1940-53. When the Knapps owned the estate, it was their machine shop. The 1920's Bonney Gull experimental airplane was most likely built there.

3. The entrance to Knapp's Dock on Narrow Bay. Marty Van Lith, newly found kindred spirit and former classmate from the Floyd Class of '64 took me out on his boat and we covered most of the creeks & rivers located in Mastic & Shirley. This is the entrance to where Dodi & Claire kept their boats Miss Demure, Storm King, Lady Claire and probably many more. The Knapps were sea dogs & salts for sure.

4. Claire Antoinette Knapp circa 1930. She was the first lady of the Knapp Estate and definitely a ringer for her Daddy Joseph P. Knapp. I visited Claire & Joseph's grave site on Thursday October 23rd. It was Claire's birthday. She would of been 114 and most likely still taking blue ribbons at the dog shows. It was also the exact day her brother "Dodi" passed away in 1952. I brought along a portable CD Player and played several versions of "Blessed Assurance" written by their composer Grandmother Phoebe Palmer Knapp and Fanny Crosby in the 1800's. It started snowing when I first got there but stopped as soon as the music started!

 

5. A MYSTERY PHOTO ????

 

6. Knapp Mansion "SAGE" Brick. most likely from one of the chimneys or possibly from the basement. On my last day there I visted the residences of Edie Padilla & Will St. George on Ramshorn Rd.and their neighbors Ed & Marilyn Albano on Monroe Dr.. Both of these very fine homes now sit on the land I call Knapp Ground Zero. It is the actual 3.5 acres where the Knapps built their very fine 22 room residence. This last stop was a major highlight for me and I'm happy to say the property is in very good hands. These people were extremely gracious in allowing me to tour their property and I found a suprising amount of remnants of the mansion that vanished in a ball of fire almost 44 years ago. Look for an entire page dedicated to this in the very near future.

 

7. NO CAPTION NEEDED .. THE EAST FACE AS SEEN FROM TWO BLOCKS AWAY LOOMING OVER THE LANDSCAPE

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