History

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A History of the Incorporated

Village

of

Plandome Heights

Researched and written by

ARLENE HINKEMEYER VILLAGE HISTORIAN 1978–1996

Updated by ELEANOR M. IMPERATO

VILLAGE HISTORIAN

Artwork by JOHN S. ALLEN

 

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Photograph

courtesy of the Manhasset Public Library

Big Rock

Mr. Tom Hemphill of 89 Shore Road remembers. . .

as a young boy summering in

their house on Shore Road during the 1920s and after. There were only

about two other children then in the neighborhood. They sailed and swam;

he and Esther Morse had bike races through the bulrushes between Shore

Road and the Bay; they climbed on “Big Rock” which was a large glacial

deposit up on the hill above what was then the end of Shore Road.

A Brief Summary and Dateline of Manhasset

History

To start at the beginning and

to put the history of Plandome Heights in perspective:

Perhaps about 20,000 years ago

during the Ice Age. . . the beautiful hilly and stony terrain of

Manhasset and Plandome Heights was formed by the receding mass of glacial

ice.

By about 5000 B.C. there may

have been early Indians living on Long Island.

By 1500 we know from remains

uncovered in the location of the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club, that the

Matinecock Indians peopled the bay area, which they called Sint Sink (

possibly meaning “stone upon stone”). The Matinecock (which may mean

“hilly land”) were one of 12 Long Island Indian tribes.

In 1614 Adrian Block,

following up on Henry Hudson’s voyage to the New World in 1609, was sent

by the Dutch West India Company to explore the area for possible fur

trading sites. Block’s ship probably did sail into Schout’s (the Dutch

name for it) Bay, because a rough map of Long Island was drawn, but the

Dutch never settled the area.

In 1640 the first settlers

arrived. Captain Daniel Howe brought some emigrants from Lynn, Massachusetts

in a small ship and landed near the southern end of the bay in what is

now Manhasset. The settlers said they had a land grant from the British

Lord Sterling, but the Dutch, who claimed prior possession, imprisoned

them for a time in New Amsterdam (New York City), and then let them go;

whereupon they sailed farther out on Long Island and founded the

settlement of Southampton.

In 1643 Robert Fordham and

John Carmen, two English leaders of a religious sect in Connecticut,

bought a strip of Long Island from the Indians and called it “Hempstead.”

The price was some large and small kettles, some wampum and cloth, a

broadax, knives, gunpowder, lead, and a shirt for the chief. This they

paid for all the land running from the North to the South Shore that now

includes Hempstead and North Hempstead.

In 1644 Fordham and Carmen

confirmed their purchase with the Dutch governor William Kieft (who by

this time had decided to encourage British settlement as a hedge against

the Indians) and brought about 30 families from Connecticut to settle.

These settlers lived in Hempstead and used the Port Washington peninsula

as a pasture for their cows, calling it “Cow Neck.” The southern portion

(now Manhasset) was later called “Little Cow Neck,” and the bay “Cow

Bay.”

By about 1658 part of the

now-famous, elusively-situated “cow fence” had been built across the

peninsula. Each settler was allowed to pasture a number of cattle in

proportion to the number of post-and-rail fence “pannels” he had built.

According to records, there were at this time 60 participants in the

common pasturelands project, 526 “panels,” and over 300 beef and dairy

cows roaming the hilly ground. Was Plandome Heights part of the

enclosure? Probably not, since most historians place the fence at a line

running southeast from Leeds Pond, although it could also have been as

far south as what is now Northern Boulevard.

In 1664 the British captured

New Amsterdam from the Dutch. King Charles II granted Long Island to his

brother James, the Duke of York.

In 1674 the former common

pasture in Cow Neck was divided among the settlers, also according to the

number of fence “panels” each had built, except that 200 acres were given

to Captain Matthias Nicoll to defend their common rights. Nicoll was

speaker of the first colonial assembly and secretary of the colony. He

had already bought much of the present-day Plandome area in 1670 and at

his death in 1690 owned 600 acres in the area. He built a home on the

land and it may have been during his ownership that the area acquired the

name “Plandome”, probably from the Latin words meaning “plain home.” It

was probably in 1693 that Joseph Latham built the Plandome grist mill at

Leeds Pond on Nicoll’s property. By 1718 Latham was able to buy Nicoll’s

land, and the mill was known as Latham’s mill.

In 1675 Richard Cornwell

obtained a grant of land in Cow Neck (in present-day Sands Point) and

became its first settler. However, Fordham’s group which lived in

Hempstead and used Cow Neck for pasturage objected to his being there.

One night they tried to demolish his home. Cornwell brought them to

trial, where they were fined and his land grant was upheld.

In 1680 was the date chosen

for Manhasset’s founding, based upon the belief that this was the year

the Willets Court area and north Plandome were first settled.

In 1683 the New York State

counties were formed. Hempstead (including North Hempstead) was included

in Queens County.

In 1720 the Society of Friends

(Quakers) opened the first school and meeting house in the area, on what

is now Northern Boulevard. It was rebuilt in 1812, after being burned by

the Hessians.

In 1775 North Hempstead

(mainly on the Whig or the Patriot side in the Revolutionary War) seceded

from Hempstead Town (mainly Loyalist or Tory) when the latter passed a

resolution supporting George III. After the war, the New York state

legislature officially recorded the secession and in 1784 the first North

Hempstead town meeting was held.

In 1801 North Hempstead

Turnpike (now Northern Boulevard and formerly an old Indian trail) was

opened as a toll road. Plandome Road was a country lane. Most of the

shops in Manhasset were clustered in the valley at the head of the Bay.

The main street was called Valley Road.

In 1802 Christ Episcopal

Church was founded and rebuilt in 1913 after being struck by lightning.

In 1815 the Dutch Reformed Church was built, and then rebuilt in 1898

after a fire. St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church was dedicated in 1857 on

Plandome Road. The present St. Mary’s on Northern Boulevard was built in

1917.

In 1826 the one-room Manhasset

Valley common school was built and used until 1868.

In 1840 the name “Manhasset”

was adopted, although no one knows for sure why. It may have come from

the name of the “Manhansett” Indians (meaning “island neighborhood”) who

lived in the neighborhood of Shelter Island. In 1857 the community of Cow

Bay also changed its name to Port Washington.

In 1846 the first local

newspaper was published, The North Hempstead Gazette.

In 1868 the 5-room Plandome Road

wooden school was built. It was later torn down in 1914 and a larger red

brick school was built on the same site in 1915. This was torn down in

1972 and replaced by the Manhasset Village Green.

In 1898 the Long Island Rail

Road reached Manhasset and Port Washington. The building of the railroad

brought a boom in the growth of Manhasset.

In 1899 Nassau County was

created as a separate county out of Queens.

After 1900 several shops

started opening up on Plandome Road, which would replace Valley Road as

the main street.

In 1907 Town Hall opened on

Plandome Road and Manhasset became the permanent seat of North Hempstead

Town’s government.

In 1911 Plandome became an

incorporated village.

In 1927 the Manhasset Mail was

first published.

In 1928 Munsey Park began to

be developed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art; many of its streets were

named after American artists.

In 1929 Plandome Heights

became an incorporated village.

During the 1930s much of

Manhasset was built by housing developers: Munsey Park, North Strathmore,

South Strathmore, Shorehaven, Norgate, Strathmore Vanderbilt, Chester

Hill (the Bournedale area), and some of Flower Hill.

In 1934 the Manhasset Press

was first published.

In 1935 Manhasset High School

opened, built on the Henry F. Thompson estate as a Public Works Project

during the Depression.

In 1936 Nassau became the

first county in New York State to adopt a county charter. It went into

effect in 1938.

In 1939 Munsey Park Elementary

School was built.

In 1941 the development of the

“Miracle Mile” on Northern Boulevard began and was continued after World

War II. During the 1940s Strathmore Village and Manhasset Cove were built

by housing developers.

In 1946 Manhasset’s first

public library opened in a rented storefront on Plandome Road.

In 1952 the present Manhasset

Public Library opened on Onderdonk Avenue. Also in 1946, the Church of

Our Savior Lutheran was built on Northern Boulevard.

In 1949 the Congregational Church

was built on Northern Boulevard, and the present Post Office on Maple

Place was built.

In 1951 much of Flower Hill

was built.

In 1953 the construction of

North Shore Hospital began.

In 1959 Temple Judea was built

on Searington Road. In 1968 Shelter Rock Elementary School was built.

In 1979 Plandome Heights

celebrated its 50th Anniversary of incorporation.

In 1980 Manhasset celebrated

its 300th birthday. A history of the Manhasset area, Manhasset—The First

300 Years, was published to commemorate the event.

In 1984 a 19.7 million dollar

bond referendum was passed to expand and renovate the three public school

buildings.

In 1985 hurricane Gloria hit

Manhasset. There were widespread power outages and fallen trees. Plandome

Heights residents of lower Shore Road, The Beachway, and the Tideway were

evacuated because of flooding. Also in 1985, the Town of North Hempstead

had a Bicentennial Celebration featuring a carnival, a parade, and a

fireworks display.

In 1989 a gazebo was built on

the site of Manhasset Green which was subsequently renamed Mary Jane

Davies Park in honor of this long time community activist.

In 1995 the Manhasset Public

Library celebrated its 50th Anniversary.

In 1996 a 21.5 million dollar

bond referendum was passed to improve the three public school building

systems, to increase instructional space at the Munsey Park School and at

the Shelter Rock School, to provide technology for instructional

improvement, and to provide the means for compliance with the Americans

with Disabilities Act.

In 1997 Leeds Pond was dredged

and cleaned up of accumulated silt due to rainwater and storm water

runoff.

In 1998 the historic 17th

Century Nicoll House in Plandome Manor was demolished.

In 1999 Plandome Heights

celebrated its 70th Anniversary of incorporation.

In 2000 major renovations to

the Manhasset Station of the Long Island Railroad were completed two

years after the 100th Anniversary of its first operation to Manhasset.

In 2001 the Plandome Heights

Women’s Club celebrated its 25th Anniversary.

Early Plandome Heights 1680-1920

The history of the entire

Manhasset area in the 1600s, 1700s, and early 1800s is sketchy. There are

few major primary sources available from the period other than the

8-volume Records of the Towns of North and South Hempstead. Researching

early land ownership is greatly complicated by the fact that the early

land grants and deeds describe property boundaries by the cow fence, by

some landmark such as a brook, tree, or rock, or by the edge of another

man’s property, and the location of these markers is not now known.

Research into the period is also greatly confounded by the fact that

recent publications on Manhasset history, few as they are, are full of

conflicting facts and dates.

Nevertheless, the area we now

call Plandome Heights seems to have a rather surprisingly distinguished,

though previously unrecognized, history and may also have been the site

of one of the earliest homes on Cow Neck.

The Cow Neck Historical

Society’s Sketchbook of Historic Homes (1963) lists one historic home in

Plandome Heights that was once owned by Mrs. Howard Morse of 69 Shore

Road. Unfortunately the home was burned in a fire in 1965, but the

Sketchbook describes it as being built about 1710 on land granted to one

Nathaniel Pearsall as early as 1686. The earliest known owner, then, of

the land that became Plandome Heights was Nathaniel Pearsall.

The

Pearsall Family

The Pearsall family was one of

the most prominent early families in the town. Henry Pearsall, the father

of Nathaniel, had come to Long Island from the colony of Virginia where

his father Thomas Pearsall was a leader of the tobacco traders in the

Chesapeake Bay area. Henry Pearsall became one of the 50 original

proprietors of the Town of Hempstead. He was one of the group mentioned

earlier, headed by Fordham and Carmen, which had bought a strip of Long

Island from the Indians in 1643, had confirmed it with the Dutch governor

Kieft in 1644, had settled in Hempstead, and used Cow Neck for pasturage.

Henry Pearsall himself is recorded in the town records of 1657 or 1658 as

having 12 “gattes” of the cow fence and 12 head of cattle on Cow Neck.

The 3-volume History and Genealogy of the Pearsall Family in England and

America states that Henry Pearsall was the sixth largest landholder in

the town.

If the Sketchbook is accurate,

Nathaniel Pearsall (1649–1703), the eldest of Henry’s four sons, was

granted a piece of land in present-day Plandome Heights by the town

proprietors in 1686, under the British governor Dongan’s patent. Nathaniel

must have been a capable man because from 1672 (when only 23 years old)

to 1682 he was voted the clerk of the Town of Hempstead, recording all

the town business, and in later years held other important positions as

well, such as town assessor and town supervisor. For more than 30 years

he was one of Hempstead’s foremost leaders and represented the town in

controversies with the governor and with neighboring towns.

As the eldest son, Nathaniel

was given the responsibility of dividing his family’s considerable

property among himself and his brothers Daniel, George, and Thomas.

Although it is not known for certain who the next owner of the Plandome

Heights area was, it seems highly likely that it passed down through his

brother Thomas’s family. In 1692 it is recorded that as part of the

division of the family’s lands, Nathaniel Pearsall gave to his brother

Thomas Pearsall “one third part of my wright on Cow Neck.”

If Thomas Pearsall was the

next owner of the Plandome Heights land, it is possible that he was the

one who built the farmhouse on the land around 1710. It must have been a

beautiful spot: a lush green level area right on Manhasset Bay with a

bubbling fresh-water spring nearby, perfect for watering cattle. The

house could be reached either by boat or by horseback. A steep sandy

bluff rose up from the Bay to the east of the house, making it a

sheltered and secluded spot.

The home had massive open

beams that ran the length of the living and dining rooms and were made of

hand-hewn red oak. The oak, also used on the exterior, came from the

sturdy red oaks which lined Long Island’s harbors. When Howard and Reba

Morse moved into the home in 1923 it still had the original handmade

nails and many of the original panes of hand-blown glass.

We do not know how much of the

Plandome Heights lands the Pearsall family might have owned. All of the

village today only totals about 220 acres. We do know that farms in the

North Hempstead area generally varied in size from 70 to 300 acres. We

also know that during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, farming

in the area was of the subsistence type. Settlers provided practically

all of their own needs for food, shelter, and clothing.

By the beginning of the nineteenth

century, however, farmers began to produce some cash crops— such as

apples, potatoes, grains, and milk—for consumption by the local markets

and by New York City. From what we know of the Plandome Heights terrain –

that it included level stretches and sloping areas and had fresh water

springs and streams – we can induce that part of the area may have been

more conducive to farming, part to grazing cattle, and part (the sandy

bluff) to neither use.

Sometime around 1800 a barn

was built on the property and probably functioned as the barn for the

Morse farmhouse. It is now the oldest surviving structure in Plandome

Heights and is located at 62 Shore Road. More will be said about the

history of this house later.

In reading through the town

records for the early 1800s we learn a few more facts about the area. In

1819 the Town of North Hempstead (it had seceded from Hempstead in 1775)

laid out nine school districts. What is now Plandome Heights was included

in District No. 6 which was called the “Head of Cow Neck.” In 1831, when

the town changed its road districts from names (our area was called the

“head of Cow Neck, western district”) to numbers, what is now Plandome

Heights was included in district No. 7. The only real significance of

this is that in 1843 it is recorded that Charles W. Pearsall was elected

the overseer of highways for district No. 7, which proves that the

Pearsall family still owned land in our area. This Charles Willets

Pearsall (1802-1861), by the way, whose mother was a Willets, was also

the great, great grandson of the previously mentioned Thomas Pearsall,

the brother of Nathaniel.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_08.jpgThis

brings us up to the 1850s after which tracing land ownership is much

easier, mainly because of the presence of actual maps. There are maps of

Long Island which show the Plandome Heights area in 1797 and in 1852, but

the first map available which shows actual land ownership is the Walling

map of 1859.

Here we see that the Willets

family owned the farmlands directly to the north of what is now Plandome

Heights in the present vicinity of Willets Lane. Isaac Sherwood owned the

farm directly south, his drive becoming what is now Colonial Parkway.

Colonel Andrew A. Bremner owned the farm and home directly south, to the

east, mainly in Flower Hill, although his property also included what is

now the Bournedale area.

This leaves Charles W.

Pearsall and William Haviland as the two main property owners of Plandome

Heights in the mid 1800s. It is not known exactly when Haviland first

acquired property in the area. It is known that he was elected highway

overseer for district No. 7 for the years 1859, 1860, and 1861 and is

listed on the 1859 Walling map, so he obviously owned the property before

1859. He may have inherited it when his father Roe Haviland died in 1844.

 

Charles Willets Pearsall, we

know, owned the Plandome Heights lands until his death on May 18, 1861 at

which time the property passed to his brother Thomas W. Pearsall

(1795-1866). Then it is recorded that a month later on June 26, 1861

Thomas W. Pearsall and his wife Mary Leggett (they were married at the

Dutch Reformed Church in Manhasset but lived on a farm in Westchester

County) deeded two parcels of land to William Haviland of Manhasset. One

was a 29-acre parcel north of Sherwood’s property and one was a 15 ½-acre

parcel across Plandome Road where Plandome Court is now. Both parcels

were probably contiguous to the land Haviland already owned in the

Plandome Heights area.

This seems to mark the end of

the Pearsall family’s ownership in Plandome Heights because a Walling map

from 1863 shows only William Haviland as a landowner. So for the next few

decades the history of Plandome Heights becomes the story of the Haviland

family and its descendant Bloodgood Cutter.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_10.jpgThe

Haviland Family

The Haviland family, like the

Pearsall family, was an old landed Long Island family with many branches.

It could trace its American roots back to 1653. The main branch of the

Haviland family in North Hempstead lived in what is now Little Neck.

William Haviland inherited a

great deal of land in North Hempstead when his father Roe Haviland died

in 1844. He then engaged in a considerable amount of buying and selling

of property. It could be noted here that most of the early landed

families did. They may have owned certain lands that stayed in their

families over a long period, but other parcels were continuously being

bought and sold, which makes research very difficult.

In any case, during the 1840s,

1850s, and 1860s William Haviland and his relatives sold one parcel after

another, perhaps because of declining family fortunes. During the time

Haviland owned the Plandome Heights properties he and his wife Grace may

have lived in the farmhouse on the Bay. As seen in the 1859 and 1863

Walling maps, the approach to the house and barn was a curving road along

the approximate route of the present Bay Driveway and Shore Road.

While William Haviland was

selling numerous parcels, Bloodgood Haviland Cutter was buying. However,

Haviland also willed some property to Cutter, including the Plandome

Heights lands pictured in this Beers map of 1873. It is not known exactly

how Haviland was related to Cutter, but they must have had a fairly close

relationship for Haviland to have included Cutter in his will. In age, if

not in fact, Haviland was probably something like an uncle to Bloodgood.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_12.jpgBloodgood

Haviland Cutter

The man with the awesome name

of Bloodgood Cutter was certainly one of the most colorful figures in

Plandome Heights’ past. He was born on August 5, 1817 in Little Neck in his

grandfather Roe Haviland’s house (which later became the “Homestead Inn”

on Northern Boulevard) and lived there until his marriage. He had only a

limited education, mainly from the Bible, at a small school in Lakeville,

for his grandfather who raised him thought farm work was more important.

His parentage is unclear, for his father is never mentioned; his mother’s

maiden name is given as Mary Bloodgood of Flushing. One source reports

that his parents died when he was young.

However unclear his roots, he

managed to marry well. On November 12, 1840 at the age of 23 he eloped

with Miss Emeline Allen, then 16 years old, by putting the proverbial

ladder under her window. Her father was opposed to the match. The Allen

family owned a great deal of property and a mill in Great Neck. Cutter

later acquired the mill, after which Cutter Mill Road is named.

Cutter’s grandfather Roe

Haviland died in 1844, leaving him the Prospect Hill farm in Great Neck

where he and his wife went to live. During the next few decades Cutter

bought much of the Haviland property at auction and many other parcels

besides. He acquired his birthplace and several Manhasset properties

fronting on Plandome Road. The Plandome Heights properties were willed to

him by William Haviland. Then, fulfilling a longtime desire, he booked

passage on the steamer Quaker City for a trip to the Holy Land from June

to October of 1867.

Bloodgood by this time was 50

years old and well established as a “character.” He had an Irish face, it

is said, wore old-fashioned clothes, spoke with a country accent, and was

always writing poetry (“doggerel” they called it)! He wrote Bloodgood

Haviland Cutter poems for every conceivable occasion: for the Flushing

County Fair in 1861, for the laying of the cornerstone of the Flushing

Town Hall, for the Quaker barn dance, for the burning of his mill, for

the death of William Cullen Bryant, and for many other events.

He wrote poems to numerous

ladies on board the ship (his wife did not accompany him on the trip) and

a long 130-page poem detailing the entire journey. It so happened that

Mark Twain was also aboard the ship and Bloodgood Cutter, with his

eccentric ways, became the character the “Poet Lariat” in Twain’s book

Innocents Abroad.

This is how Twain described

Cutter in his notes for the book:

He is 50 years old, and small

for his age. He dresses in homespun, and is a simple-minded, honest,

old-fashioned farmer with a strange proclivity for writing rhymes. He

writes them on all possible subjects and gets them printed on slips of

paper with his portrait at the head. These he will give to any man that

comes along, whether he has anything against him or not.

And this is the character, the

“Poet Lariat,” that Mark Twain created, as quoted from his book Innocents

Abroad:

. . .but we have a poet and a

good-natured enterprising idiot on board and they do distress the

company. The one gives copies of his verses to consuls, commanders,

hotel-keepers, Arabs, Dutch, — to anybody, in fact, who will submit to a

grievous infliction most kindly meant. His poetry is all very well on

shipboard, notwithstanding when he wrote an “Ode to the Ocean in a

Storm,” in one-half hour, and an “Apostrophe to the Rooster in the Waist

of the Ship” in the next, the transition was considered to be rather abrupt;

but when he sends an invoice of rhymes to the Governor of Fayaland

another to the commander-in-chief and other dignitaries in Gibraltar,

with the compliments of the Laureate of the Ship, it is not popular with

the passengers.

Twain’s evaluation of Cutter

seems to have been accurate: that his poetry was atrocious, but that he

was a kindly, well-meaning soul. In fact, Cutter was well regarded at

home, with a reputation for great honesty and business acumen. Cutter was

not at all insulted by the passage. In fact, he was delighted, and for

the rest of his life loved to be referred to as the “farmer-poet” and the

“Poet Lariat.”

Cutter was such a colorful

character that he frequently found himself in the news. In 1880 he took a

trip to Ireland, Scotland, England, and France with his wife. On August

9, 1880 on the New York Times obituary page, no less, a short item

appeared stating: “The report that Bloodgood Cutter, the distinguished

Long Island farmer and ‘Poet Lariat’ in Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad, had

died in London, is untrue. He is in Scotland with his wife.”

Unfortunately, a death was

imminent. On March 24, 1881 his wife Emeline had died. Cutter never

remarried. Once in 1893 it was rumored that he had eloped and remarried,

and a reporter from the Brooklyn Eagle hastened to his home. Cutter

squashed the rumor with the quotable reply that “his only bride was his

muse and that he had no intention of committing bigamy.”

Probably one of Bloodgood’s

proudest moments came in 1886 when his book, entitled The Long Island

Farmer’s Poems was published by N. Tibbals and Sons of New York “for the

author,” meaning it was a vanity press. The book contains 500 pages of

his poetry, including the long poem “The ‘Quaker City’ Excursion” about

his trip to the Holy Land. A small, humorous to the reader, portion of

this poem appears below.

Seven doctors I found on board,

Very clever, and men of wealth;

They gave us pilgrims good advice,

So that we could preserve our health.

Of clergymen there were just three;

On board they used to pray and preach;

Of different creeds they all were,

Yet still they did sour’d doctrine teach.

Lawyers and judges too were there,

Captains, and four colonels too;

Correspondents, writing here and there,

In the saloon our voyage through.

One droll person there was on board,

The passengers called him “Mark Twain;”

He’d talk and write all sort of stuff,

In his queer way, would it explain.

About twenty ladies were on board,

Most of them very pleasant too;

And they were all so well informed,

Could converse on subjects old and new.

And very friendly too they were,

Especially if one was sick;

They would get things for your relief,

Their nursing would restore you quick. . . .

It made me feel, though, very queer,

To see Long Island disappear;

As we steamed on it seemed quite small,

Before night could not see it at all.

At two the dinner gong did sound,

In the saloon we gathered round;

The table was pleasing to my view,

With poultry, meats, and puddings too.

The sea makes keen my appetite,

I eat my food with great delight;

When done I go upon the deck,

To enjoy there the grand prospect.

Some up and down the deck do walk

Some sit in groups, and then do talk;

Some sit and read, others do sleep,

And some stand gazing on the deep.

At six o’clock we have our tea,

Then go on deck to view the sea;

At nine o’clock the gong does ring,

To call us then to pray and sing.

Most of the pilgrims did attend,

Thus pleasantly the evenings spend;

Some did not heed religious ways,

But spent their time in idle plays.

About ten retire to my berth,

To bid adieu to scenes of earth;

And as the ship does plunge and roll,

It rocks to sleep my weary soul.

 

Mrs. Howard Morse of 69 Shore Road remembers . . .

when she was a young girl, she and her mother once visited Bloodgood

Cutter in the farmhouse that her parents would later buy. She said the

home was full of antique English furniture that Cutter collected. He

talked quite a bit about knowing Mark Twain, she recalled.

Bloodgood Cutter died

peacefully on September 26, 1906 at the age of 89 and was buried at

Zion’s Episcopal Church on Northern Boulevard in Douglaston in the

Haviland family’s plot. Cutter left the estate of about $500,000, much of

which, including the Plandome Heights lands, he willed to the American

Bible Society. A three-day auction was held to dispose of his large

collection of antiques and books. Ten years later $150,000 in cash and

securities were found in a home safe, along with many unpublished poems.

A newspaper account stated about the latter that “the executors were not

worried about treasure seekers molesting them.”

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_13.jpgThe

E. Belcher Hyde’s map shows that what the Plandome Heights area looked

like in 1906 at Cutter’s death. The maps from 1886 and 1896 show little

property change in the immediate area from the previously shown 1873 map,

except that at the death of Charles H. Smith, a lawyer, the property

which he had bought from Col. Bremner passed to his wife.

This 1906 map is the first map

which clearly shows property boundaries and the locations of buildings.

In 1906 the Willets estate still lay to the north, and the Sherwood

property to the south. Cutter, as you can see, owned all of what would in

1929 become the Incorporated Village of Plandome Heights. For until

December 1904, he even owned what is listed on the map as the Gallagher

property.

When the Gallagher family

bought the land in January of 1905 (another person owned the property for

a month) it was level with Plandome Road at the top and then dropped into

a steep sandy bluff down to the Bay. For several years the Gallagher

Company sand-mined the area. Small barges on the Bay removed the mined

sand, and as legend goes, carried it to Manhattan to build the sidewalks

of New York.

M. Douglas Neier of Manhasset remembers. . .

how the sand mining was done

on the Plandome Heights sand bank. There was a short railroad track at

the bottom of the sandy hill in our village. The mined sand from the hill

was loaded onto sand cars and an engine pulled them onto a trestle

located where The Beachway is now. Then from the trestle, the sand was

poured down chutes into the scows or small flat-bottomed barges docked

there on the Bay.

The company used Bloodgood

Cutter’s farmhouse on the property as an office. After the sand gave out,

(and before Plandome Road collapsed, which some people had feared)

Gallagher sold the land to the Manhasset Hill Realty Company. It should

be added that most of the Gallagher family’s holdings (there were at

least two generations of Gallagher brothers in the business) were

concentrated in the Port Washington sand pits. By the 1920s they had

formed the Goodwin and Gallagher Sand & Gravel Company.

The 1906 map also shows that

Mrs. Charles H. Smith’s property had been bought by Alice Grace D’Oench

in the early 1900s. She, like Cutter, would figure prominently in

Plandome Heights history, even though the area she owned west of the

railroad tracks would not be annexed to the village until 1949.

Alice

Grade D’Oench

Alice Grace was the oldest of

eleven children born to Lillius and William Russell Grace. William Grace,

born in Ireland, was the famous international merchant and ship-owner,

perhaps best known for the Grace Lines, who controlled most of the trade

between the United States and South America in the last quarter of the

19th century. He was also elected the first Roman Catholic mayor of New

York City in 1880, and was reelected in 1884. In 1897 he and his brother

established the Grace Institute in New York City to educate young women

in the domestic sciences, stenography, and dressmaking. In 1933 William’s

son, Joseph P. Grace, built a branch of this same Grace Institute on

Northern Boulevard a little west of Plandome Road. William Grace owned a

residence in New York City as well as the beautiful home called

“Gracefields,” and property in Great Neck, much of it concentrated around

the present-day Grace Avenue. He died in 1904, but his company W. R.

Grace and Company has been continued and expanded by his descendants.

Alice Grace, his daughter, was

first married to William E. Holloway, and on January 10, 1901, to Albert

F. D’Oench, an architect. D’Oench was appointed superintendent of

buildings in Mayor Grace’s second administration but resigned in 1889 to

continue his independent practice as an architect. Alice and Albert

D’Oench had one child, Russell Grace D’Oench. On Flower Hill they built a

beautiful English-style estate which was famous for its 150-year old

trees and formal gardens. Albert D’Oench died in Manhasset on July 20,

1918 but his wife lived until 1932.

The Long

Island Railroad Reaches Manhasset – 1898

At this point, the importance

of the Long Island Railroad in Plandome Heights’ developments should be

emphasized. The Manhasset area was definitely rural in the 19th century.

Then the railroad was extended to Manhasset and Port Washington in 1898.

Suddenly, wealthy people such as the Paysons, Whitneys, Munsons, and

Masons from New York City had easy access to the beauty of the North Shore,

purchased the farmlands, and built magnificent estates. During the first

quarter of the 20th century, parts of Manhasset and Plandome Heights,

too, became exclusive areas.

In the Plandome Heights

locale, the D’Oench estate lay to the east. Plandome, which was

incorporated in 1911 to preserve its home rule, lay to the north. In 1909

Benjamin N. Duke of the Duke tobacco family purchased Cutter’s property

from the American Bible Society to whom Cutter had willed it. Duke bought

the heights – the high level lands to the east and west of Plandome Road

– in the name of the “Plandome Heights” Company, and Plandome Heights as

a distinct area was born.

Benjamin

N. Duke

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_17.jpgBenjamin

Newton Duke (1855-1929) and his younger brother James Buchanan Duke

(1856-1925) were born on a tobacco farm near Durham, North Carolina, to

Washington and Artelia Duke. Their father built a factory in Durham in

1874, which became the basis of the family fortune. James later started

the manufacturing of cigarettes by machine, which developed the Duke

fortunes into one of the largest in the country. By 1890 the Duke

brothers had formed the giant American Tobacco Company with James as

president and Benjamin as one of the directors. James Duke’s strength was

in business organization, while Benjamin Duke was more interested in

education and philanthropy. Due to Benjamin’s influence, the Duke family

was estimated to have eventually contributed from $90 –$100 million to

hundreds of institutions including colleges, hospitals, orphanages,

churches, and various charities. Benjamin N. Duke

In 1911, after five years of

litigation, the Supreme Court ruled that the American Tobacco Company

should be dissolved as a combination in restraint of trade. Benjamin Duke

had already begun to divert his capital to other enterprises such as

cotton mills, banks, railroads, and hydroelectric power plants in the

South, and to real estate in New York and New Jersey. After 1911 he

devoted himself exclusively to these enterprises and to his many

philanthropic endeavors.

The Plandome Heights Company

was one of Benjamin Duke’s real estate ventures. It was rumored within

the village that Duke became disenchanted with the community at Tuxedo

Park, New York, so he decided to create his own social environment in

Plandome Heights.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_18.jpg1910

the Great Neck civil engineering firm of J. W. Jacobus surveyed and

plotted the area. Plandome Court was laid out and called the first

section of Plandome Heights. Summit Driveway, Summit Place, Grandview

Circle, Bay Driveway, and Bayview Circle were laid out and called the

second section of Plandome Heights. The names of these streets, one can

reasonably surmise, came from their location. Summit Place and Driveway

were on the summit of the hill; Grandview Circle was a circular drive

with a “grand view” of the Bay; Bay Driveway was the drive running down

to the Bay; and Bayview Circle was a circular road giving a close view of

the Bay.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_19.jpgOver

the next few years several Spanish-style homes, which was a popular style

in the early 1900s, were built with white stucco exteriors and red-tiled

roofs. A walk through Plandome Heights reveals which of the homes, which

villagers now call the “tobacco houses,” must have been part of the

originally planned Duke community. On the east side of Plandome Road

there are four such homes: one supposedly set aside for the Dukes at 64

Plandome Court; one at 164 Plandome Court; and two side-by-side at 808

and 832 Plandome Road. On the west side of Plandome Road these Spanish-style

homes are located at 665 Plandome Road, at 66 and 90 Summit Drive, and at

5, 20 and 33 Grandview Circle. One Duke home, at the entrance to Summit

Drive, has since been torn down.

Benjamin Duke never actually

lived in Plandome Heights. His home for a few decades, until his death,

was at East 89th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Perhaps he had

developed the community purely as a real estate investment. Or perhaps he

had originally planned to summer here with his friends and then changed

his mind. In any case, the Plandome Heights Company retained its

investment in the area through 1920, although Duke did not remain its

president during that entire period.

Benjamin Duke died in January

of 1929, the year that the community he planned became an incorporated

village. He was survived by his wife, the former Sarah Pearson Angier of

Durham, North Carolina; his daughter Mary Duke Biddle; and four

grandchildren. One of his two sons died in childhood; the other, Angier

B. Duke, died in 1923. Doris Duke, the well-known tobacco heiress, was

his niece, being the only child of his brother James B. Duke.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_21.jpgThe

Belcher-Hyde map below shows what the Plandome Heights community looked

like in 1914. You will notice, however, that the scale is inaccurate: the

Plandome Court area is too large, and the undeveloped section is too

small.

The Spanish-style home at 64

Plandome Court was owned by George Klackner. The other “tobacco houses”

are shown to be owned by Clifford Barber, John J. Hoff, Mrs. Nugent,

Helen Weinberg, A.C. Gwymere, F.C. Gilsey, and the Navahoe Realty

Company.

You will also notice that

there are two connecting lanes on the map between Summit Driveway and Bay

Driveway. These may have originally been planned as beach easements so

summer residents could reach the popular beach at the foot of Bay

Driveway. Even though these streets were never built, they still appear

on Nassau County maps today.

Another Belcher-Hyde map from

1914 shows the entire Manhasset area. The scale of Plandome Court in

relation to the undeveloped area is still inaccurate.

Here it can be seen that part

of Cutter’s former holdings were still listed in his name and part of his

former property was owned by Manhasset Hill Realty Company, which had

bought it from the Gallaghers.

The Manhasset Hill Realty

Company was owned by Henry F. Thompson who acquired a considerable amount

of property in Manhasset. Eventually his estate included the large parcel

south of the railroad, where Manhasset High School was built; large

parcels just north of the railroad by Thompson Shore Road (named after

him) and running to the Bay; as well as the entire Manhasset Cove area in

Plandome Heights. This latter section included all the land that would

later become the Cove-Waterway-Neck-Shore Road area. That story doesn’t

start until the 1930s.

In summary, Plandome Heights

in the 1920s was a small, exclusive community with probably less than 20

homes, all with spacious interiors and gardens.

In the 1920s this exclusive

aim was modified when a limited number of building lots became available.

According to Gottfried and Agnes Steigmann who built their home at 115

Plandome Court in 1925, Plandome Heights then had only about 40 homes,

but by 1929 the number of homes had approximately doubled. All of this

building activity occurred, of course, in the Plandome Court-Plandome

Road-Bay Driveway- Summit-Grandview Circle area. Mrs. Steigmann recalls

how her children would walk to the Plandome Village Hall school for the

early elementary grades, and how much they enjoyed walking down to the

Bay in the summertime to go swimming. The Plandome Court roadway was in

such bad shape that it became a virtual pond in rainy weather. Seagulls

would come in for landings and children sailed their toy boats.

Life in early Plandome Heights

sounds idyllic, but in 1929, of course, there were forces on the local

scene which caused the peaceful community of Plandome Heights to

incorporate in June, and forces on the national scene which brought the

Great Crash in October

Plandome

Heights Becomes an Incorporated Village – June 11, 1929

The main impetus for the

incorporation of most areas has been the desire for home rule, and

especially for the power to set local zoning laws. In 1929 when Plandome

Heights incorporated, villages still had zoning powers. But the 1938

Nassau County Charter changed this. It stipulated that all existing

villages could retain zoning powers but denied the rights to any area

that might incorporate in the future. It is significant that since 1938

there has been only one new village in Nassau County.

The general reason Plandome

Heights drew up incorporation papers in June 1929 can also be said to be

the desire for home rule and the desire to keep taxes low. But

specifically there seem to be two main issues which instigated the incorporation.

 

The first issue involved the

zoning of a piece of land just north of Colonial Parkway and Webster

Avenue. In the September 27, 1928 issue of Manhasset Mail it was reported

that the owners of that property protested the Town Planning Board and Zoning

Commission’s suggestion to change it to Class A residential for single

family homes. They wanted to build garden apartments on their property

instead.

Some Plandome Heights

residents organized to protest. The first Plandome Heights Association

was formed, with John S. Olney, who lived on Plandome Road, as president

and John M. Isaacs of 95 Bay Driveway as secretary. The Association was

effective. The Town Board held its final hearing on the matter on

February 27, 1929 and ruled that the piece of land in question would be

zoned Class A residential. The issue caused some controversy in Plandome

Heights, however. Two residents who lived on Plandome Road testified for

the apartment houses and were “vigorously opposed” by the Association at

the hearing.

The Plandome Heights

Association was already geared for action when a second controversial

issue appeared: the ever-popular issue of sewers. The Town Board, with

the Manhasset Civic Association’s approval, was proceeding early in 1929

to form a sewer district in Manhasset. The only area which protested was

Plandome Heights. The Plandome Heights Association circulated a petition

against the proposed sewers and this was submitted to the Town Board in

March by John Isaacs. “We have no objections to a sewer for Manhasset

proper,” said Mr. Isaacs, “so long as it does not include the property of

the signers of the Plandome Heights Association petition against it.” Mr.

Isaacs also said that if the Town Board agreed to the proposed sewer

district, the Plandome Heights Association would move for annexation to

the Village of Plandome.

The March 28, 1929 issue of

the Manhasset Mail included a letter from Summit Drive resident George

Oestreich explaining Plandome Heights’ position:

Plandome Heights is restricted

to one-family dwellings and it is our good fortune that our terrain is

especially well adapted to the proper functioning of cesspools and septic

tanks, due to the subsoil of sand which extends to a depth of 14 ft. and

beyond this coarse gravel exists, with the result that we experience no

trouble whatever with our present system of disposal. In view of these

conditions, surely it would be violating the simplest laws of economy

were we to invite additional unnecessary taxation which a sewage system

would obviously bring about. On the other hand, should the business

section of Manhasset, which has shown such a remarkable development in

recent years, require and desire a comprehensive sewer system, we wish

them good luck in their undertaking, as most certainly such a decision

must be reached before long.

The Manhasset Civic

Association met on the evening of April 1. John Isaacs said again that if

Plandome Heights was included in the sewer district, it was going to

incorporate at once.

On April 8 the Town Board met

and voted to form Manhasset’s million dollar sewer district over a

minority protest from the Plandome Heights Association. John Isaacs and

Plandome Court resident George F. Weimann voiced the Association’s

feelings. Weimann said, “Sewers would throw the community wide open for

apartment houses,” and “We should put the sewer money into a hospital for

this locality.”

After the Town Board’s action,

Plandome Heights proceeded with its plans to incorporate. It was

discovered that Plandome Heights could not annex itself to the

Incorporated Village of Plandome, because the consent of both Plandome

and the Town Board were necessary. It seemed unlikely that the Town Board

would consent, regardless of how Plandome felt. So Plandome Heights

decided to incorporate by itself. Ernest Strong, counsel for Plandome and

Plandome Heights, detailed the procedure:

  • Peights Association submits to the TownSupervisor a proposition signed by 25 adult freeholders in the

    village, describing the territory to be incorporated, and

    enumerating the population. (To incorporate, a village must have 250

    people residing within a 3-mile radius.)

  • The Association submits to the Town Supervisor aconsent form signed by property owners constituting at least

    one-third of the value of real property in the village, as assessed

    at the last town assessment.

  • The Supervisor holds a hearing on the subject ofwhether or not the above-filed papers comply with the law.
  • The village holds an election on the question ofincorporating. Voters must have owned property in the village for at

    least 60 days before the election.

  • The village then is incorporated when theelection certificate is signed by the election inspectors and

    delivered to the Secretary of State, the Tax Commissioner, the

    County Clerk, and County Treasurer; and when the village map is

    certified as correct by the Town Supervisor and filed with the

    Secretary of State.

  • Then the Town Clerk appoints a temporary VillageClerk and 3 electors to serve as inspectors. The Village Clerk

    within 5 days gives notice of an election of officers. An election

    is held to choose a Mayor and four trustees. Within five business

    days after the election, the Mayor and trustees meet, and appoint a

    clerk and treasurer.

It was quite an involved

procedure. Someone, perhaps the Town, circulated a sheet addressed to

“Mr. Taxpayer of Plandome Heights” asking “Have you carefully and

seriously studied the question of incorporation upon which you are to

vote on Tuesday, the 11th. Do you not know that this is a matter of such

grave importance that it should not be acted upon hastily or without

thorough knowledge of the responsibilities?” Then it discussed three main

issues: 1. Taxation and home rule: “Are you ready to pay increased taxes

without increased benefits?” 2. Sewers: “Sewers are bound to come. Do you

prefer to have them installed by a local commission . . . or . . . by a

general commission, over which you will have no control?” 3. Zoning: Do

you not know that if you form a village and propose to adopt zoning

ordinances, that you must provide a business district in the most

reasonable and logical place?” The broadside ended by exhorting the

villagers to “VOTE ‘NO’ upon the proposition to incorporate your

territory into a village.”

On June 11, 1929 the election

on the question of incorporation was held at the residence of John

Isaacs, 95 Bay Driveway. The outcome was 35 ballots for incorporation and

17 against. Plandome Heights was now an incorporated village.

The next month on July 17,

Plandome Heights villagers held an election to choose their first Mayor

and Board of Trustees. Those elected were: Mayor, John Olney; and

Trustees, John Isaacs, Frank Haley, W. W. Lancaster, and Gottfried

Steigmann.

In concluding the story of how

Plandome Heights became incorporated, it must be said that Plandome

Heights can take some of the responsibility (either praise or blame,

depending on how you look at it) for the fact that Manhasset was never

sewered. It was the first area which voiced strong opposition and

“seceded” from the Town to escape inclusion in the sewer district.

In October of 1929, however,

the Manhasset Board of Sewer Commissioners issued a report showing that

the sewer system would cost considerably more than $1 million or $.50 a

front foot per year. A month later Munsey Park also decided to

incorporate, to avoid higher taxes with the coming of the sewers.

With the loss of both Plandome

Heights and Munsey Park which together totaled over one-fourth of the

district’s assessed property valuation, the Town Board recommended in

January of 1930 that the Manhasset Sewer District be dissolved.

Besides, the Depression had

also come.

Plandome

Heights Develops – 1930-2001

During the 1930s there was

little growth or construction in Plandome Heights because of the

Depression. Oddly enough, this is when many of the other residential

areas in Manhasset were being developed. The 1930 census listed the

village population as 265; by 1940 it had only risen to 317. One of the

first acts of the village leaders was to pass a new building restriction

ordinance since the old one was due to expire on January 1, 1930. So the

village trustees held hearings and adopted a Village Building Zone

Restriction Ordinance on November 19, 1929. Some of the basic provisions

were: a minimum lot area of 9000 square feet, a minimum frontage of 60

feet, a building area not to exceed ¼ of the lot area, and total side

yards not less than 30 feet. Only single family detached dwellings would

be permitted. These restrictions meant, of course, that apartments could

not be built in Plandome Heights, the fear of which had been one of the

reasons for incorporation.

A second major task the

village leaders tackled was to resurface the roads, which were said to be

“in deplorable condition.” Bay Driveway had been paved by the Town early

in 1928 and sidewalks had been added later that year. But the other

streets needed paving. So a $30,000 bond issue was voted for the work,

and during the summer of 1930 Plandome Court, Summit Driveway, Summit

Place, and Grandview Circle were paved with concrete and given concrete

curbs.

In 1931 the village held an

election and John ( Jack) Isaacs became Mayor, a position he ably held

until 1945. His wife Edith Wiles Isaacs became Village Clerk. Both were

dedicated and active members of the Manhasset and Plandome Heights

communities and offered their home at 95 Bay Driveway for village

elections and meetings.

During the years of the

Isaacs’ term of office most of the village business, as we shall see,

concerned the residential planning and development of the area. But there

were a few other issues that did surface.

In the fall of 1939 a rat

problem was noticed. Mrs. Isaacs sent a postal card to all residents

asking them to report the incidence of any rats. A number of residents

sent back affirmative replies. Some acknowledged the presence of rats in

their own cellars or greenhouses. Some reported the presence of rats in

their neighbors’ yards. One resident, a rather humorous member of the New

York Stock Exchange, reported that “ I have seen several of the human

species from time to time on my property but no low animal life.” The

most clever response was from a lawyer on Bay Driveway who wrote a

one-page play in the form of a “deposition.” Under strict questioning the

“examiner” was able to learn that the “deponent” had seen not millions of

rats, or even thousands of rats, but only two rats, or possibly even the

same rat twice. The deponent stated his excitement that there would be a

“a war against rats in Plandome Heights, just like the war against the

Rat over in Europe.” The “rat war” seems like a humorous issue today, but

it was handled seriously by the village and “won.”

In July of 1941 the Village

Board of Trustees passed a resolution opposing the building of a huge two

million gallon oil storage tank in Great Neck on the Bay. The Board’s

reasoning was that it would have a deteriorating effect on property

values in the village and would be a serious fire hazard to the

community. The storage tank, however, was built.

Bernie Gutman of 15 Bay Driveway remembers. . .

during world War II when gas

was rationed and people couldn’t go out driving on the weekends, the

village organized cookouts at the end of Bay Driveway.

These were some of the local

issues that the village leaders had to contend with during the 1930s and

early 1940s. But probably the biggest responsibility was in guiding the

development of the undeveloped acres in the village north of the Bay

Driveway homes.

The

Development of Manhasset Cove

As was mentioned earlier, the

undeveloped section north of Bay Driveway between Plandome Road and the

Bay was owned by the Manhasset Hill Realty Company, and was part of the

estate of Henry F. Thompson (hence the reason for the property often

being called the “Thompson property”).

During the 1920s the Manhasset

Hill Realty Company sold several parcels along Shore Road to Alice

Hemphill, Howard M. Morse, Lewis Howland Brown, and Richard Snowden

Andrews. The approximate location of their properties was as follows:

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_29.jpg

Alice Hemphill was the first

to own land in this location. In February 1922 her father, Charles Dayton

Silleck, bought her the large parcel extending east from the Bay, and in

1934 purchased another contiguous parcel. The Hemphills built a

summerhouse on the property at the point where Shore Road then ended. Two

brick gateposts stood at the entrance of the circular drive in front of

their home. The Hemphills owned this parcel until 1968–69 when they sold

most of their land to a developer who tore down the house. On the plot

they retained overlooking the Bay, they built a lovely home at 89 Shore

Road.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_30.jpgHoward

M. Morse, a patent attorney in New York City, and his wife Reba purchased

two waterfront parcels in November 1922. Their land included the historic

Plandome Heights home discussed earlier which was built on the Pearsall

property about 1710. To recapitulate, the home was later owned by

Bloodgood Cutter, became an office for the Gallagher sand company, and

then was sold to Henry F. Thompson. Thompson partially rebuilt the house

but never lived there. The Morses modernized the house by adding electricity,

plumbing, and other conveniences. The exterior was painted white with

butter yellow shutters. Photographs of the home reveal the lovely setting

in a lush green open spot on the Bay with natural springs of pure water

nearby. Unfortunately the home burned in a fire in 1965 and another home

was built in its place at 69 Shore Road.

Howland Brown, a member of the

New York Stock Exchange, purchased both waterfront and upland parcels in

1924 and 1929. On the waterfront parcel he built a dock for his large

yacht. Manhasset Bay was deeper and wider then. His upland property

included a gardener’s cottage (where during the 1920s a man by the name

of John Dietz made his living by hiring out horses) and a large barn

which dated from about 1800. The barn and the Morse farmhouse were

probably all part of the farm owned in the 1800s by the Pearsalls and

then by William Haviland and by Bloodgood Cutter. This structure is now

the oldest surviving building in Plandome Heights. A spicy bit of news is

that during the Prohibition era in the 1920s and early 1930s the barn was

used to store liquor that was smuggled in from the Bay. The “speakeasy,”

which still exists, even had two slot machines. Entrance to the

underground room, which may have originally been a root cellar, was probably

gained through a trap door.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_31.jpgMr.

Brown eventually converted the barn into a large white-pillared home and

also expanded the cottage. Both still have a commanding view of the Bay

tucked in behind new homes at 62 and 66 Shore Road.

Snowden Andrews bought his

parcel in December of 1928 from the Manhasset Hill Realty Company. He

built a home in the southern colonial style with tall white pillars

similar to Brown’s, on the hill where Willow Court is now. The developers

who bought his land in 1966 razed it when they built the Willow Court

homes.

By 1931 the executors of the

Thompson estate who controlled the Manhasset Hill Realty Company were

planning to dispose of their remaining property in Plandome Heights. They

printed a folder, improved the rather steep bluff east of Shore Road by

grading, and set the price from the remaining 20 acres of waterfront and

upland property at $350,000, plus $25,000 for Thompson’s son’s home on

the corner of Bay Driveway and Shore Road. It seems that the property was

not sold because it remained in the hands of the Manhasset Hill Realty

Company during the 1930s and eventually was partially developed by them.

As early as 1931, however,

when the Village Planning Board heard that the property was on the

market, it was poised for its coming responsibility. In 1937 the

Manhasset Hill Realty Company submitted a proposed subdivision map of the

area to the Planning Board. The plot plan showed a rather congested

number of homes on three streets: Wayside Run, Littleworthe Lane and Dedham

Byway. The plan was not approved.

By 1939 the Planning Board was

chaired by Walter Burr and included Ada Carleton, R. Snowden Andrews,

Leonard Wickenden, and Edward Breen. They began to meet almost weekly.

They faced an awesome responsibility in guiding the village’s development

and their story is recounted below.

On January 12, 1939 the Board

rejected another proposed development submitted by the Manhasset Hill

Realty Company. This plan included over 92 plots and did not comply with

the Village Zoning Ordinance requiring a minimum plot size of 9000 square

feet, and concrete roads and sidewalks. On January 18 Mr. N. Boyce

Jenkins of Sands Point, the builder, submitted another plot plan, which

was also rejected because it didn’t even present a true outline of the

property.

Then John Isaacs, the mayor,

had a plot plan prepared by the Manhasset Civil Engineers and submitted

it to the Planning Board on January 24. This plan called for two parallel

curved streets leading down to Shore Road, with concrete pavements,

curbs, and sidewalks. It was approved.

However, not for long. On

February 11, the Village Planning Board denied building permits to the

Manhasset Hill Realty Company for the first 13 lots. On February 14 some

board members resigned, and John Isaacs and W. Arthur Lee were appointed

in their place. A resolution was passed not to file the January 24 plan.

Another resolution was passed, strictly enumerating village building

requirements for streets, curbs, sidewalks, and storm basins.

On February 28 Mr. Jenkins

submitted a tentative plot plan, just for the Cove Drive area, and agreed

to conform with village requirements for streets, lights, and drainage.

On March 16, he returned with the final map entitled Manhasset Cove. The

Planning Board passed a resolution that since the plan generally met the

Board’s requirements, a public hearing would be held on March 27.

At the hearing the information

was released that the property would be developed by the Jan Rock

Corporation, whose main incorporators were Harold E. Rounds of Kings

Point and N. Boyce Jenkins of Sands Point. The development would be

called Manhasset Cove; colonial homes would be built on lots of at least

9000 square feet in four sections. Immediately after the hearing the

Planning Board met and approved the plan. The next month in April 1939,

the Jan Rock Corporation was changed to the Manhasset Cove Corporation,

and the building of the first eleven homes on Cove Drive began. The

article below, detailing the development, appeared in a New York

newspaper.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_32.jpgAs

it turned out, the Manhasset Cove Corporation never realized its rather

grandiose plans. Either because of financial conditions or because of

World War II, it was able to build only the first eleven homes on Cove

Drive. During the years 1940–43, the Manufacturers Trust Company held a

lien on the Corporation’s property, and the village taxes were unpaid.

As a result, in March of 1944

a land auction was held at Mayor Isaacs’ home. Patrick and Cecilia Callan

succeeded in buying all of the undeveloped portion of Manhasset Cove.

However, the layout of the area had to be replanned since in February

1940, R. Snowden Andrews had bought two strips of land abutting his

property, which cut into a proposed street on the 1939 plot plan. So

during 1944, 1945, and 1946 the area was surveyed again and replanned.

Instead of two parallel streets running down to Shore Road, the present

street layout was designed, with The Neck and The Waterway joining Cove

Drive.

After World War II, when

building materials were plentiful again, Callan Builders Inc. built the

brick homes on The Waterway, The Neck, and lower Cove Drive. Some of the

interior designs were similar to the original Manhasset Cove homes on

upper Cove Drive.

Then in 1948 the Planning

Board approved the layout of another pocket of homes near Shore Road. The

street was at first called Andrews Place in honor of R. Snowden Andrews

but then, in keeping with the unofficial village policy of naming a

street after its geographical area, was named The Beachway. A narrow

strip of land at the end of the Beachway was set aside to provide public

access to the beach. Callan Builders built these 10 homes on The Beachway

and Shore Road during 1948.

Edna Cooper of 2 The Beachway remembers. . .

the wonderful Fourth of July

celebrations the Beachway residents used to enjoy. They closed off the

top of the street with sawhorses and had a block party on the circle.

Bridge tables were set up, everyone brought food, and there was music,

singing and fireworks for the children.

The Beachway residents were a

cohesive group. They even formed their own organization called “The

Beachway Folk” and had a letterhead printed. John Mezey of 15 The

Beachway was President; “Hap” Lyons of 9 The Beachway was Vice-President;

and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Pickles were Treasurer and Secretary,

respectively. Another resident was Cecilia Callan who moved to 23 The

Beachway from Munsey Park after her husband, the builder of Manhasset

Cove, died in 1949. In 1953 when the roadwork and drainage work on the street

was completed, the Beachway residents petitioned the Planning Board to be

recognized as part of the Incorporated Village of Plandome Heights. They

joined the village that year.

The

Development and Annexation of Chester Hill

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_34.jpgIn

1949, the year of the 20th Anniversary of the incorporation of the

village of Plandome Heights, the village was greatly enlarged by the

annexation of an area called Chester Hill.

No one seems to know for sure

why this area, leading up to Flower Hill, was called Chester Hill. It may

have been named after a Manhasset landowner named John Chester. Since the

early 1900s the land had been part of the Alice Grace D’Oench estate. It

was a lovely grassy plain with a brook and pond on the eastern end. In

March of 1932, when Mrs. D’Oench died, the property went in trust to

Joseph T. Grace, William R. Grace, and Adolf Garni. Then in 1937 these

trustees sold the land to a development company called Chester Hill

Manhasset Inc. The area, almost 32 acres, was surveyed, and the plot plans

were approved by the Town of North Hempstead’s Planning Board.

It was divided into three

vertical sections. Sections A and B were developed in 1938-40; as it

turned out Section C was not developed until the 1950s. The meandering

brook at the eastern end of the property was relocated within a 12-foot

reserved strip. Another strip of land, here labeled the D’Oench Estate

Chester

Hill Development Plan

Right of Way, was reserved for

a road going over the railroad tracks to Flower Hill. Originally a road

called Lake Side Drive was planned around the lake, but this never

materialized. The new streets were called Bournedale Road North,

Bournedale Road South, Chester Drive, Winthrope Road, and Brookwold

Drive. Chester Drive undoubtedly was named after Chester Hill. The

Bournedales were probably named after the beautiful words “bourn(e)” and

“dale” meaning “a stream” in “a vale.” Likewise, Brookwold Drive seems to

have been named after its geographic area: “brookwold” means “a brook” on

“an unwooded plain.” Webster Drive had already been built in the late

1920s as part of a section called Manhasset Gardens, which comprised the

streets of Lindbergh, Gaynor, Vanderbilt, and Webster. These streets were

named after famous people who either visited or had relatives living

here, Webster being named after Daniel Webster.

Oleg Gaydebouroff of 164 Plandome Court remembers. . .

that growing up in Plandome

Heights in the 1930s was something special. He used to play Indian by

making bows and arrows with real arrowheads that he found on the area

that became Cove Drive. He found horseshoes buried on his own property.

He and his friends would also play on D’Oench’s farm, teasing the bulls

and cows, catching sunfish and pollywogs in the pond, and playing “donkey

baseball” on the field by the railroad track. This game consisted of

hitting the ball, then jumping on a donkey and trying to get it to run

the bases before being tagged out!

In 1949 most of Chester Hill,

except for Section C, had been developed. In that year as a result of a

Manhasset Civic Liaison Committee’s report, all of the unincorporated

areas adjoining the Plandome Road business district began to discuss

incorporation. This included Norgate, Shorehaven, and Chester Hill. At

first they discussed incorporating as separate villages. On May 10, 1949,

at a meeting held at Manhasset High School, they discussed incorporating

as one village. After the meeting Plandome Heights Mayor W. Arthur Lee

discussed annexing Chester Hill to Plandome Heights.

On May 17 nearly 150 people

attended a mass meeting of Chester Hill residents to discuss the proposed

annexation. At the meeting’s end they unanimously approved a resolution

to petition the Town Board to join Plandome Heights. At a meeting the

same night Shorehaven residents also voted unanimously to petition to

join Plandome Heights. However, the latter annexation movement did not

proceed because the village law was interpreted to exclude the annexation

of another unincorporated area which was not contiguous to the village.

Over 90% of the eligible

voters of Chester Hill who represented over 90% of the assessed property

signed the petition for annexation. On July 26 a majority of the Town

Board consented to the annexation. Now it was up to the residents of

Plandome Heights.

The Plandome Heights Civic

Association, whose president was W.E. Himsworth, issued a 2-page letter

on the question. Reasons given in support of annexation were:

  1. It would improve our chances of zoning control onthe vacant property on the east side of Plandome Road just north of

    Webster Avenue.

  2. We would be able to control parking on PlandomeRoad at this point.
  3. It would strengthen our position as a village byincreasing its size and spreading our community of interest.

In fact, it was pointed out,

the annexation of Chester Hill would increase both the population and the

assessed value of the village by almost exactly 50%. Chester Hill had a

population of 311; Plandome Heights had 628. Chester Hill had 92 homes

with a total property assessment of $902,000; Plandome Heights had 157

homes with $1,804,000 worth of property.

The Plandome Heights

permissive referendum to annex Chester Hill was held on September 7, 1949

at Mayor Lee’s house at 101 Summit Drive. It passed and by September 14,

when all the necessary papers had been filed, Chester Hill officially

became part of the Incorporated Village of Plandome Heights.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_35.jpgDuring

the 1950s the rest of Chester Hill was developed. The western end,

Section C on the plot plan, was an empty lot fronting on Plandome Road

and for many years had been a source of irritation to neighbors because

some people used it for parking or for dumping rubbish and grass

cuttings. So in 1952 plans were drawn and approved for a subdivision of

10 homes called Manhasset Grove, which would be built by the P.C.R.

Development Corporation. Also that year, Reverend Donald Weymouth, pastor

of the Manhasset Baptist Church, made plans to purchase the southern part

of the lot. His church had formerly held services at the Onderdonk House

in Manhasset but now needed a larger building. Rev. Weymouth felt that

his church would also provide a good buffer between the Plandome Road

stores and the residential village of Plandome Heights. In 1953–54 the

church launched a building fund campaign, and soon after the new church

was built.

The last remaining section of

Chester Hill to be developed was the extreme eastern end. Lake Side Drive

and the homes around it were not built as originally planned. Instead, in

the late 1950s Nassau County acquired the property for a water recharge

basin and then, after protestations by Chester Hill residents, built a

lovely park around the pond to cover up the necessary pipes.

 

Land

Development 1950-2001

In 1954 Homestead Properties

purchased the Bayview Circle area and proceeded to build and sell homes

there in 1955–56. In April of 1956 the company sold the remaining land to

Otruba Homes, Inc.

In the 1960s the large parcels

fronting on Shore Road were developed in two sections. First Snowden

Andrews sold his 2-acre plot in 1966 to the Lyneti Construction Company

of Albertson. His lovely white-pillared home on the hill was razed and

the Tivel Construction Corporation built the large Willow Court homes.

The name of this development was Heritage at Plandome Heights.

Then in 1968 the Paddons and

Hemphills sold their plots, which totaled 5 acres, to another developer

who sold the land to the Plandome Heights Development Corporation, which

built the large Country Estates homes on upper Shore Road. In the process

the Hemphill’s summer home was razed, and a new one was built overlooking

the Bay at 89 Shore Road. The Paddon’s home at 62 Shore Road, formerly

owned by Howland Brown, was preserved, as was the home next to it at 66

Shore Road.

It could be added that in 1969

the tiny triangle of land on Plandome Road at the northern entrance of

Plandome Court was also “developed.” In June of that year Plandome

Heights celebrated its 40th year of incorporation by dedicating a

flagpole on Flag Day to Jack Isaacs. A large rock and plaque at the base

of the flagpole mark the occasion. At the dedication ceremonies Jay

Boyle, President of the Civic Association, made the presentation of the

flag; Ray Kremer, Mayor of Plandome Heights, dedicated the flag pole; and

Robert Meade, Supervisor of the Town of North Hempstead, presented a

proclamation. In the proclamation Jack Isaacs was recognized for having

served the community well for 40 years. For fifteen years he had served

as Mayor of Plandome Heights; for twelve years he had served as Manhasset

Park District Commissioner; and for seventeen years he had served as

member of the Town of North Hempstead’s Board of Zoning and Appeals. In

addition to his community involvement, Isaacs was also cited for his

personal integrity and high principles.

By the 1970s there were no

large areas of undeveloped land remaining in Plandome Heights, just a few

plots here and there. During the 1970s new homes were built on

practically all of these individual plots. These included four new homes

on Grandview Circle, one at the top of Bay Driveway, one on Bayview

Circle, two on Plandome Court, one on Bournedale Road North, and one on

upper Shore Road.

In 1979 the Village Planning

Board held hearings on the development of a 3-acre parcel known as the

Otruba property, which lies at the foot of Bayview Circle overlooking

Manhasset Bay. The Otruba Builders’ plan called for building three homes

on a private road on this parcel and for deeding the remaining two acres

of waterfront property to the village for a park. The Planning Board granted

final approval on May 19, 1979. The three houses, located at numbers 2,

4, and 6 Waterside Lane, were built in the mid 1980s. The village

acquired title to the two waterfront acres by deed dated June 20, 1980.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_37.jpgIt

should be noted that in 1949 the village was considering this same parcel

for a pool and tennis club and even circulated a flyer and postal card on

the matter. Plans called for building a swimming and wading pool, a

clubhouse which could double as a village hall, plus later if desired, four

tennis courts, a children’s playground, and a barbecue pit. The Club

would have been financed, owned and operated by its members and run as a

nonprofit corporation. Other plans for a club or park were also proposed

to village residents in the 1950s and in the 1960s by the Plandome

Heights Civic Association, but they never materialized.

Building activities for new

structures in the 1990s numbered only three. In 1994 two houses were

built: one on Bay Driveway and another on Grandview Circle. The other

major project in the village concerned the Manhasset Baptist Church,

which is located on the corner of Plandome Road and Webster Avenue. The

Baptist Church, a Manhasset fixture since 1943, has experienced

remarkable growth during the last two decades. As a result, in 1992,

church leaders decided to expanded its facilities.

Other than improvements to

existing housing stock, there has been no further development in the

village. However, in order to protect the character and beauty of

Plandome Heights and still allow for improvement, the Mayor and the Board

of Trustees undertook one of the most important legislative actions in

the year 2000. The enactment of the Architectural Review Board (ARB) was

finalized after many months of thoughtful deliberation. Its stated

purpose is “… to preserve and promote the character and appearance, and

conserve the property values of the village by providing procedures for

an architectural review of buildings and structures henceforth erected,

reconstructed or altered in the village, and thereby to encourage good

qualities of exterior building, design, and good appearances and to

relate such design and appearances to existing buildings and structures.

… ”

 

The

Village Celebrates Its Anniversaries

Over the years, the Village of

Plandome Heights has marked its incorporation with special celebrations.

For its 40th Anniversary, the village dedicated a flagpole at Plandome

Court North and Plandome Road on June 14, 1969 in honor of Jack Isaacs,

Plandome Heights Mayor from 1931 to 1945.

The 50th Anniversary

celebration was a joint effort of Plandome Heights officials and the

Plandome Heights Women’s Club. Carolee Brown, Village Trustee, and

co-chairpersons Dollie Boyle and Ursula Kenny organized a dinner-dance

for June 2, 1979 at North Hempstead Country Club. In conjunction with the

celebration, the first edition of A History of the Incorporated Village

of Plandome Heights was published. Village Historian Arlene Hinkemeyer,

who served from 1978 until 1996, researched and wrote the history.

On Saturday, June 12, 1999,

village officials, residents and honored guests Thomas Gulotta, Nassau

County Executive, and Town of North Hempstead Supervisor May Newburger

gathered to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the incorporation of

Plandome Heights. A dinner-dance took place at the Port Washington Yacht

Club with music by Ron James. The Anniversary Committee was chaired by

Trustee Marion Endrizzi and co-chaired by Susan Brown and Patricia Burch.

 

A

Profile of Plandome Heights Today

The Village of Plandome

Heights encompasses an area of approximately 220 acres with 3.3 miles of

village roads and has an ideal location. The village is a secluded,

quiet, and entirely residential area. Yet it is conveniently situated

within walking distance of Plandome Road shops, both public and parochial

schools, a variety of houses of worship, the Long Island Railroad train

station, and also Manhasset Bay.

Though previously

unrecognized, its recorded history is long and distinguished, dating from

1686. It includes such prominent local figures as Nathaniel Pearsall,

William Haviland, Bloodgood Cutter, Benjamin Duke, Henry F. Thompson, and

Alice Grace D’Oench.

There are 326 homes in the

village. They are well constructed, and are an interesting blend of old

and new architectural styles. The population of Plandome Heights has

grown steadily through the decades, but it has since stabilized.

The residents of Plandome

Heights include members of many nationalities and religions, a good representation

of both major political parties, and a good mixture of both older or

retired families, and younger families with school-age children. The

people of Plandome Heights are friendly and have come to know each other

well, due to organizations like the Plandome Heights Civic Association

and the Plandome Heights Women’s Club. Many village members are also

active in the greater Manhasset community.

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_41.jpg

Village

Government

Plandome Heights, located

between the territorial limits of Manhasset proper and the Incorporated

Village of Plandome, is one of the 31 incorporated villages in the Town

of North Hempstead.

The Village Government

includes the following officials:

Elected

Officials:

  • Mayor—elected to office for a two year term. TheMayor presides at the meetings of Board of Trustees, serves as

    budget officer, and is responsible for the execution of contracts in

    the name of the village. The Mayor appoints all members to the

    various village boards, non-elected officials, and employees. These

    appointments are subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees.

    The Mayor also provides for the enforcement of all laws, rules, and

    regulations.

  • Board of Trustees—six officials elected to officefor two-year staggered terms. The Mayor appoints one trustee to be

    Deputy Mayor. The function of this official is to assist the Mayor

    and act for the Mayor in his/her absence.

  • Village Justice—elected to office for a four-yearterm. The function of this official is to administer and interpret

    the village laws and to preside over the Village Court.

The Mayor and Board of

Trustees serve the village in both executive and legislative

capacities.  All village meetings are subject to Open Meetings Law

and open to the public.  “Executive Sessions” may be held

by the Board of Trustees only, to discuss specific topics related to

litigation, real estate transactions and personnel matters, and are

closed to the public.  Any actions resulting from an Executive

Session, however, is public and reflected in the Minutes.

Appointed

Officials

The Mayor appoints candidates

for the following positions subject to the approval of the Board of

Trustees:

  • Architectural Review Board—five members and onealternate member—provides oversight on all architectural alterations

    or construction

  • Planning Board—five members—approves mapsubdivisions
  • Technology Advisory Board—three members—advisesMayor on all technology equipment and IT issues
  • Zoning and Appeals Board —five members—hears andrules on appeals for variances from the village building and zoning

    codes

  • Village Attorney—provides legal advice as neededby any village board
  • Acting Village Justice—performs the duties of theVillage Justice in his/her absence
  • Historian—records the history of the village andrepresents the village in the New York State Historical Society
  • Treasurer—chief fiscal officer, collects taxes,and records all receipts and expenditures of village funds
  • Clerk—maintains all records pertaining to thevillage; records the minutes of all board meetings; issues building

    permits, certificates of occupancy; and is responsible for all

    correspondence and reports of the various boards. This official also

    serves as clerk of the Planning and Zoning and Appeals Boards

  • Deputy Clerk—assists the Village Clerk
  • Court Clerk—assists the Village Justice
  • Building Inspector— approves all building plansand inspects all construction within the village to ensure that it

    adheres to the village building code

  • Storm Water Management Officer— ensurescompliance to New York State MS4 requirements; monitors all

    water-related problems with VPH that may negatively affect Manhasset

    Bay

  • Village Engineer—provides engineering advice asneeded by the village

Voter

Information

Village elections are held the

third Tuesday in March, except in 2009 when elections will be held on

Wednesday March 18th.

The qualifications for voting

are: a voter must have been a citizen of the United States for ninety

days; must be eighteen years of age; must have lived in the state for one

year, in the county for the past four months, and in the village for the

past thirty days.

Services

rendered to Plandome Heights residents by the village via contract

  • maintenance of village roads and drainage system
  • snow removal
  • lighting of village roads
  • refuse collection

Services

rendered to Plandome Heights residents by wider districts:

  • police protection—Nassau County Police Department
  • fire protection—Manhasset-Lakeville FireDepartment
  • water—Manhasset-Lakeville Water District
  • public education—Manhasset Union Free SchoolDistrict
  • library—Manhasset Public Library System and theNassau Library System
  • parks and parking lots—by the Manhasset, the Townof North Hempstead, and the Nassau County Park Districts

The

Plandome Heights Civic Association

Complete records of the history of the Plandome Heights Civic Association do not exist. What is known is that the organization was incorporated in New York State on July 10, 1943 by seven Plandome Heights residents: Frank Rhatigan, Hugh Maher, and Charles E. Nylund of Cove Drive; E.B. Breen and R.M. Giles of Bay Driveway; and Winston E. Himsworth and E.B. Lipsett of Plandome Court. Frank Rhatigan was the Civic Association’s first President. It is thought that the reason for the Civic Association’s origin at this time was to promote the beach at the end of Bay Driveway and to unify the village during the World War II years.

During the 1940s and the 1950s the Association was very active and promoted the social cohesiveness of the village by arranging numerous beach cookouts and dinner dances. However, during the subsequent decades the group faded in and out of existence several times.

After a period of inactivity, the Civic Association was reactivated in 2010 by a group of former Village Officials and concerned residents including Marion Endrizzi, Paula Abate, Mike and Jayne Knox, Roxanne Fitzig and Dan Cataldo.  The current goals of the Civic Association are to:

  • Promote the welfare of our members through civic activities

  • Advocate transparent and accountable government that is responsive to our residents

  • Encourage the wise and efficient use of taxpayer dollars

  • Work actively with The Council of Greater Manhasset Civic Associations

  • Provide pertinent information and encourage public participation

  • Support reforms necessary to achieve the purposed stated.

The

Mayors of Plandome Heights

 

 

 

John S. Olney, 1929-1931

John F. Isaacs, 1931-1945

Gottfried Steigmann, 1945-1949

W. Arthur Lee, 1949-1953

Charles S. Vaccaro, 1953-1960

Richard Wallover, 1960-1962

Thomas V. Sheehy, 1962-1963

Burton R. Buck, 1963-1965

Edward F. Pardee, 1965-1968

Ray H. Kremer, 1968-1972

H. William Galland, 1972-1974

Arthur J. McGee, 1974-1980

Thomas N. Clancy, 1980-1986

Paula Abate, 1986-1988

John F. Keitz, 1988-1998

Paula Abate, 1998-2002

George Ferman, 2002-2003

Sandi Gabriele, 2004-2005

Marion Endrizzi, 2005-2006

Gene Woo, 2006-2008

Diana Merenda, 2008-2012

Kenneth C. Riscica, 2012-present

 

 

 

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_54.jpg

At the 70th Anniversary of the

incorporation of Plandome Heights on June 12, 1999, Nassau County

Executive Thomas Gulotta presented the village with a Nassau County Flag.

From left to right: Bart Giusto, Trustee; Alan Zaremba, Deputy Mayor;

Thomas Gulotta, Nassau County Executive; Paula Abate, Mayor; George

Ferman, Trustee; Marion Endrizzi, Trustee; James Hills, Trustee.

 

http://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_58.jpghttp://www.plandomeheights-ny.gov/images/PlandomeHistory2_img_59.jpg

Acknowledgments

Arlene

Hinkemeyer extends special thanks to the

following people who provided significant and much appreciated assistance

during the various stages of researching this history: Leila Mattson,

Arthur J. McGee, William Miller, Reba Morse, Esther Morse, Frank J.

Pistone, Gottfried and Agnes Steigmann.

 

Thanks are also extended to

the following organizations and people who enthusiastically and

generously contributed assistance, time and information for this booklet:

John and Mary Allen, American Title Insurance Company, Henry Anderson,

Dr. A. Avata, June Bartlett, Jay and Betty Boyle, John and Dollie Boyle,

Lyman and Carolee Brown, Burton Buck, Bryant Library Staff, John and Pat

Bruderman, Tom Conway, Harry and Edna Cooper, Bill and Barbara Curran,

Ann D’Aguanno, Monty Davis, Henry and Sally DeMeli, Beverly Draves, Joan

Eigo, First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Port Washington,

Allan and Judy Flynn, Bill and Rachel Galland, Oleg Gaydebouroff, Ken

Gorman, Donald Gray, Great Neck Public Library, Bernie Gutmann, Tom

Hemphill, Ralph Keesing, Ursula Kenny, Bernice Lee, Thomas LeViness, Dr.

Myron Luke, Emma Lou Lyons, Manhasset Public Library Staff, Mary Mezey,

Frank Modica,

M. Douglas Neier, Karl

Prewein, Florence Rhatigan, Dwight and Virginia Rollins, James Schwabe,

Norma Sobeck, Marcelle Stratton, Town of North Hempstead Historical

Society, Charles and Mildred Vaccaro, Charles Vaughn, Ruth Walker, Waldo

and Loretta White, and Charles Young.

Eleanor M.

Imperato wishes to thank the following

people for their gracious assistance in updating this history: Paula

Abate, Fran Bourguet, Eileen Brennan and the staff of the Manhasset

Press, Barbara Curran, Camille Dee, Marion Endrizzi, George and Aida

Ferman, Bart Giusto, Dr. Pascal James Imperato, Alison M. Imperato, Gavin

H. Imperato, Austin C. Imperato, Maggie Kennedy, Brigid McCarthy,

Manhasset Public Library, Esther Morse, Felipe Pardo, and Florine Polner.

 

Bibliography

of Main Stories

Books and

Periodicals

Cow Neck Historical Society.

Sketchbook of Historic Homes. Port Washington: 1963.

Cutter, Bloodgood H. The Long

Island Farmer’s Poems. New York: N. Tibbals & Sons, 1886.

Hicks, Benjamin D., ed.

Records of the Towns of North and South Hempstead. Vol. I–VIII, Jamaica,

New York: 1896.

History of Little Neck. Wm.

James & Co., 1952.

Johnson, Allen, and Malone,

Dumas, eds. Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles

Scribner’s Sons, 1930, 1931.

Vol. III (pp. 496-98), Vol. IV (p. 463).

League of Women Voters of Port

Washington-Manhasset. This is Manhasset. 1974.

Manhasset Mail. Manhasset

Press.McDermott, Charles J. Mark Twain’s L.I. Poet “Lariat,” Long Island

Forum. December, 1958, p. 229+.

National Cyclopedia of

American Biography. New York: James T. White & Co., 1939, 1950, 1960.

Vol. XXI (pp. 11–12), Vol.

XXVII (p. 109), Vol. XXXVI (p. 303), Current Vol. I (p. 66).

The New York Times.

Nowacek, Mary L. The Heritage

of Manhasset. Manhasset: Octava Ventures Group, 1975.

O’Shea, John E. History of the

Town of North Hempstead. 1968.

Pearsall, Clarence E., ed.

History and Genealogy of the Pearsall Family in England and America,

3 vols. San Francisco: H.S.

Crocker Co., 1928.

Pelletreau, William S. A

History of Long Island, Vol. III. New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1903.

Sutherland, Claire, compiler.

The Plandome Story, 1911–1965. 1965.

Thompson, Benjamin F. History

of Long Island. New York: Gould, Banks & Co., 1843.

Files and

records

Birth, death, historical, and genealogical

records of Zion Episcopal Church, Douglaston, New York.

Historical files of the

Village of Plandome Heights, Village Clerk’s office.

Local history files of the

Manhasset, Great Neck, Port Washington, and Roslyn Public Libraries, and

the Eisenhower Park Museum.

Nineteenth and twentieth

century deeds to Plandome Heights lands, Nassau County Clerk’s office,

Mineola.

Historical

Maps

William M. Stewart, Map of the

Town of North Hempstead, 1797.

J. Calvin Smith, Map of Long

Island, New York, 1852.

H.F. Walling maps, 1859, 1863.

Beers, Comstock & Cline.

Atlas of Long Island, New York, 1873.

Map of Nassau County, 1886.

Hyde & Co., Map of Long

Island, 1896.

E. Belcher Hyde. Atlas of

Nassau County, Brooklyn, 1906.

E. Belcher Hyde, Atlas of

Nassau County, New York, 1914.

E. Belcher Hyde, Inc., Map of

Nassau County, 1923.

Dolph & Stewart, Map of

Nassau County, N.Y., 1932.

Interviews

See listings on

Acknowledgments page.