Please Join Us!

A Decade of Progress 2003 -2013

Tenth Anniversary Party

&

Annual Members Meeting

2012 Annual Report & Plans for 2013

       Wednesday, March 13, 2013 @ 7:30 p.m.

 Setauket Neighborhood House

The Board Room, 95 Main Street, Setauket, NY 11733

Wine & Cheese will be served

                                                                                              February 22, 2013

Dear Members and Supporters:

Interested in learning about the oldest house in Stony Brook?  Want to know more about the life of early immigrants living in the Rubber Factory Houses?  Like an update on the Setauket-Port Jefferson Greenway extension?   Looking for information about the future of the iconic Gamecock Cottage?

 Hear about these important, historic properties and projects – and much more – at the Three Village Community Trust’s “A Decade of Progress,” Wednesday March 13, at 7:30 p.m., at the Setauket Neighborhood House.  All are invited to this Annual Meeting and Celebration marking the Trust’s accomplishments in the 10 years since its incorporation as a tax-exempt charitable organization in 2003.  And refreshments will be served!

 “We started out as a small group of residents who saw the need for an organization dedicated to the permanent preservation of land and landmarks in the Three Village Area, as part of the nationwide land-trust movement,” said President Cynthia Barnes, “and in the past decade have gone from that small group, meeting around different people’s dining room tables, to an organization owning its own headquarters building on Main Street, Setauket, with a membership of over 300, and assets that will total more than $1.5 million dollars by the end of this year, when we complete an acquisition now in its final stages – and we’re just revving up to speed.”

 The evening will include a brief slide-show reviewing the Trust’s major activities related to the Rubber Factory Houses, the Gamecock Cottage, the Bruce House, the Steven D. Mathews Preserve, the Setauket-to-Port Jefferson Greenway Trail, the Amos-Smith Tyler Homestead, Patriots Rock, and the Hawkins Homestead.

 The Trust will also present awards to several of our “local heroes” – business owners and contractors who have been particularly generous in supporting various Trust projects with donations of time, equipment, materials, and labor.

 The meeting will conclude with a wine and cheese party to celebrate the Trust’s first decade.

 We want to hear from you and we need your help and support.  We hope you will join us  on March 13^th! And bring a friend.

                                                                                     Sincerely,

                                                                                     The Board of Trustees

 RSVP

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Town Planning Commissioner is Guest Speaker at the Trust’s 8th Annual Celebration.

 ”Recapturing the American Spirit,” a presentation by Tullio Bertoli, Brookhaven Town’s commissioner of planning, will highlight the Three Village Community Trust’s annual fundraiser on Thursday, November 14 at 7:30 pm at the Setauket Neighborhood House. The presentation will focus on defining the “new suburbia.”

 The old suburban model embraced the automobile and has resulted in urban sprawl and isolating people by class, income and ethnicity, according to Bertoli. Now, generation Y (born early 1980s to early 2000) and downsizing baby boomers comprise 50 percent of our population, and they favor mixed-use multifamily housing and lively downtowns near transit hubs and jobs. Planning for the new suburbia should include maintaining an intricate balance with nature, managing growth, creating neighborhoods and a sense of place, and balancing local and regional concerns. This will require incremental planning and flexible zoning.

 Bertoli has been commissioner of planning since May of 2009. Prior to that, he was director of acquisitions, design and development for a company in Glen Cove that developed residential projects along the entire east coast, including in Patchogue and Roslyn. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Architecture and was a Fulbright Scholar in planning. He oversees a staff of 100 in Brookhaven Town and has introduced code revisions that focus on growth management, traditional neighborhood development and LEED green building philosophies.

 The fundraiser will include wine, hors d’oeuvres and desserts. There will be prizes, and an oil painting by Al Candia, “Barn Door, Setauket,” will be raffled off. Tickets (only 200) for the painting are on sale now for $25. The cost to attend is $30 per person or $50 for two. For information, call 689-0225 or visit www.threevillagecommunitytrust.org.

 The Three Village Community Trust is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting the unique character of the community through the acquisition of diverse properties, either through gift or purchase the organization seeks to preserve both the natural resources and the local heritage.

 The Trust has begun the restoration of the historic Rubber Factory houses, located behind Trust headquarters on Main Street in Setauket, and acts as steward of Patriot’s Rock and the historic circa 1740 house on the property next door to the Neighborhood House, also of the Gamecock Cottage at West Meadow Beach, the Setauket-Port Jefferson Greenway Trail and the Steven D. Matthews Nature Preserve in Poquott. The Trust recently has undertaken the purchase of the Zachariah Hawkins homestead in Stony Brook, a part of which may date to 1660. 

 Trustees are Cynthia Barnes, Tom Belleau, Alice D’Amico, Robert deZafra, Katherine Downs, Kathleen Matthews, Herb Mones, Robert Reuter, Michael Schaefer and Norma Watson.

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At its September 20th meeting, the Brookhaven Town Council passed a resolution sponsored by Three Village Councilman Steve-Fiore-Rosenfeld, awarding Landmark Status to the historic Rubber Factory Worker Houses. “This long awaited decision will enhance our grant funding opportunities for the next phase of restoring these circa 1880’s houses for adaptive use,” said Cynthia Barnes, President of the Three Village Community Trust.

After years of planning, fundraising, and permitting, a Trust team relocated the three structures on December 14, 2011, in an exciting parade along Setauket streets lined by community members. The team consisted of architect John Cunniffe, general contractor John Schoendorf (Long Hill Carpentry), Stan Kazel (Dawn House Movers), Joe Troffa (Troffa Landscape and Masonry Supply), Lou Bove (Bove Industries), Docherty Tree Experts, Norse Tree Experts, LIPA, National Grid, Verizon, Cablevision, NYS DOT, Suffolk County Police – Traffic Safety Division, Setauket Fire District, Town of Brookhaven Planning and Building Departments, its Highway Department as well as the all-volunteer “staff” of the Three Village Community Trust.

The Houses are now on their permanent foundation, in the same configuration as they were on Old Town Road for over seventy years. Research by the Trust and the Three Village Historical Society’s Rhodes Committee indicates that the houses were moved to Old Town Road from their original location on August Street sometime between 1909 and 1917 – probably in 1912. “From the history and from what the structures themselves are telling us,” said Barnes, “ the middle one might have been built at the Old Town Road site from materials salvaged from Golden’s Tavern across the street which had recently burned. In those days, folks didn’t waste materials that could be used again!”

The Three Village Community Trust will complete exterior restoration while continuing to plan the final phase – the interior renovation and restoration to make the three structures useful and productive. “Our mission is for historic structures to be used – not as house museums—but as integral to the fabric of the community, connecting us to our heritage even as we move into the future. Planning for this phase will require additional approvals and permits,” Barnes explained, “and we will seek the advice of the Town’s Historic District Advisory Committee, the staffs of the Planning and Building Departments, as well as relevant Suffolk County agencies.”

Major funding for the Relocation and exterior restoration was secured by State Assemblyman Steve Englebright. Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld also secured Town of Brookhaven Community Enhancement Funds for the project. Further support came from community members and generous “in-kind” services and materials donated by local businesses, including those listed above. The Trust has established an Acquisition and Restoration Fund to help raise funds for this and other preservation projects, and it will seek grants from both private and public sources. Landmark status will enhance those opportunities.

(Click here for more information)

Bev Tyler Guest Speaker at Annual Celebration

“Building a Community: Patriot’s Rock and 400 Years of Change,” a talk by local historian Beverly C. Tyler, will highlight the Three Village Community Trust’s annual fundraiser on Thursday, November 10 at 7:30 pm at the Setauket Neighborhood House. Tyler, the noted writer and lecturer, will discuss the history of the area surrounding Patriots’ Rock, the center of Patriot resistance to British troops in the 1777 Battle of Setauket.

 Tyler’s presentation will begin with the Native Americans, who settled the area 400 years ago, and continue to the present. The Community Trust acquired Patriot’s Rock and the historic circa 1740 house on the property last year, thanks in part to the generosity of Blanche Tyler-Davis. The house, built by farmer Amos Smith, eventually belonged to the Tyler family, who ran a general store in the front of the building until the 1920s.

Beverly Tyler is well known for leading walking tours as Revolutionary War farmer and spy Abraham Woodhull and as a 19th-century ship captain. He appeared on the History Channel production “Spies of the Revolutionary War,” and over the past 30 years, he has written more than 800 columns in the Village Times Herald and other regional publications. He is the author of “Village Green Program, A Teacher’s Guide” and “Discover Setauket- Brookhaven’s Original Settlement,” which is used in all Three Village School District’s 4th-grade classes. His most recent book is the Three Village Historical Society’s “Walk Through History: A Guided Walking Tour of Brookhaven’s Original Settlement in Setauket.”

The event will include wine, hors d’oeuvres and desserts. There will be prizes, and an oil painting by Cynthia Crowell “Scott’s Cove Skiffs, Setauket Harbor,” will be raffled off. Tickets (only 200) for the painting are on sale now for $25. The cost to attend is $30 per person or $50 for two. For information, call 689-0225 or visit www.threevillagecommunitytrust.org.

The Three Village Community Trust is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting the unique character of the community through the acquisition of diverse properties, either through gift or purchase The Trust seeks to preserve both the natural resources and the local heritage. In addition to its acquisition of the Patriot’s Rock, the Trust acts as steward of the Rubber Factory Houses, (to be moved to a location behind the Trust headquarters on Main Street in Setauket), also of the Gamecock Cottage at West Meadow Beach, the Setauket-Port Jefferson Greenway Trail and the Steven D. Matthews Nature Preserve in Poquott.

Trustees are:  Cynthia Barnes, Alice D’Amico, Robert de Zafra, Katherine Downs, Kathleen Matthews, Herb Mones, John Morris, Joe Pierro, Robert Reuter, Michael Schaefer and Norma Watson.

And the Matthews Preserve is on the Town’s designated list for pick-up of as much brush, litter, and anything else we can haul out. Last year we hauled out a derelict 15 Ft. boat from the woods by the beach! We’re giving away free firewood if you want to cut it up and haul it away.

We’ll be working from 9am to 3pm.

Dress for poison ivy–we’ll provide the TECHNU.

Bring saws, weed whackers, shovels, or just your energy and desire to do your part for the environment. We’ll be working along Washington St. in Poquott and down by the beach end of the Preserve. Come for an hour or all day.

Clean up at the S. D. Matthews Preserve