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FARMINGDALE OBSERVER
Whitman's "Paumonok"
A Short Historic Review of Long Island
Thursday, July 1,1971
July 4, 1850
in Old Bethpage
"Paumonok" Walt Whitman called it, the fish-shaped island, and
fish-shaped it most certainly is. Like some monstrous creature of the
sea that washes its southern shore, it stretches great flukes out into
Although this upcoming
the Atlantic. Orient Point tips the northern fluke; and famous
July 4th is the 195th anMontauk Point, the southern.
niversary of the signing of the
The colonizing Dutch had given adopted a coat of arms and seal.
Declaration of Independence,
stolid survey to its 120- mile Displaying the golden lion of
the Old Bethpage village
length and prosaically named it Flanders rampant on a field of
restoration will celebrate
"Lange Eylandt." Later, British azure encircled by seven gold
Independence Day as if it was
settler preempted the lands and bars or billets, the seal was an
the 75th observance of our
underscored the laconic Dutch adaption of the Duchy of Nassau
country's freedom.
observation
by
simply coat of arms. "Nassau" was
Anglicizing the name. "Long deemed an appropriate- and
The ceremony, circa 1850,
Island" it is today.
unifying name for the county
will include political speeches
Along the beaches steep dunes because William III. Duke of
culled from texts of the 1850's,
rise, capped by coarse and sturdy Nassau in the Netherlands,
a humorous temperance poem
growth of grass and scrub like a ascended to the British throne
reading, afnd a patriotic
schoolboy's unkempt hair, and upon marriage to Mary Stuart.
parade in which visitors are
invited to participate.
this is one of the Islands called Since the population was
"Long."
predominantly Dutch
and
The program will be held on
Between the north and south English, the name Nassau
both Sunday and Monday,
forks nestles Gardiner's Island, received the most approval.
July 4 and 5, at 1:30 PM.
last hereditary fieldom in North
At the turn of the century,
America. This Island was Nassau had a population of
The Old Bethpage village
granted by the British Crown to 55,448. The number of residents
restoration
is located on 298
the ancestor of its present owner, more than doubled in the first 20
acres off Round Swamp Road
and it has remained in possession years of the century and was to
in Old Bethpage. Admission
of the Gardiner family ever since double again in the next decade.
INDEPENDENCE DAY: The Hewlett Farm in the Old Bethpage
fees are $1.50 for adults and
private, secluded, and romantic. According to 1970 preliminary
village restoration could be regarded as an eloquent symbol of in$.75 for children under 15.
Another is the Island of F. Scott census figures, the population
dependence in the vision of our forefathers.
Fitzgerald, the North Shore today is 1,425,021.
homes
of
millionaires,
magnificent estates given over to
horse breeding and to the
pleasures of an affluent life.
"East Egg" and "West Egg" are
fictitious creations of Fitzgerald's imagination, but they
are accurate descriptions of the
way of life on the Island's North
Shore in the 1920s. And that's
another Island called "Long."
It was in those years that
%
c
. EFFECTIVE
"Lindy" climbed into the cockpit
ANNUAL YIELD
of a single-seat airplane and
roared off from Roosevelt Field
in central Nassau County. The
It's fun to bet a couple of dollars on a horse, but ifs
deposit of $100. Both ways you get 5.75% interest comfield is a gigantic shopping center
pounded daily; which comes out to a 5.92% effective
even more fun to know you have something that can't
now, one of the many modern,
annual yield.
lose.
enclosed shopping paragons that
You can purchase new bonds or add at least $25
When you put your money in Security National
mark the population centers of
to
the
passbook up to two years prior to maturity. Select
Bank's Bonanza Savings Plans, they always pay off big.
Nassau and Suffolk counties.
a maturity 4i»m 2 to 10 years. *
There are two ways to do itThe first attempt to establish a
If it's about time you had a winner, send thiscoupon
Purchase Bonanza Bonds at a minimum of $500
county separate from Queens
to
your
Security Money Man.
each, or start a Bonanza Passbook with a minimum
was made in 1869,. With strong
support of Hempstead Town
Supervisor Carmen Cornelius, a
bill was proposed in the state
legislature to separate Oyster
Bay, Hempstead, and North
Hempstead Towns from Queens.
It was not until January 1899,
however, that the legislature
approved a similar proposal and,
the county of Nassau came into
being.
The truck house of the Mineola
Hook and Ladder Company was
selected as the temporary home
of the new county at the first
meeting of the Board of Supervisors. On July 13, 1900, a noted
Oyster Bay resident, Governor
Theodore Roosevelt laid the
cornerstone to the new Nassau
Courthouse, which is known as
the "Old Courthouse."
The Board of Supervisors
designated orange and blue for
the county flag colors and
If you're not sure which is the fastest animal
in the world, put your money on a sure thing.
Bonanza Savings Plan.5*75 o°xr"™°5*92
Pump Replica and
Poem Lost Forever?
In the 1880's the Massapequas
were known for bicycle enthusiasts. A pump and water
trough was placed there for that
purpose. On Merrick Road,
opposite the high school, George
Stanton Floyd-Jones offered a
wooden canopy and water and on
a stone tablet at the foot of the
pump was a poem-written by Mr.
Floyd- Jones:
Stay weary traveler, rest
awhile,
No banquet this or merry feast.
But here will flow at thy desire
Pure water for both man and
beast.
A restoration of the stone and a
replica of the pump was made by
the Bar Harbour merchants and
a ceremony was held in the 1950's
by your historian. However, it
since disappeared. Anyone
knowing of the whereabouts-in
particular the bronze plaque with
the poem should contact The
Ohserver" at 799-1150.
Mi'mbt'i I UK. liunc hi" (hiiHJghou! long Isljod Mjinull'i-i- HuOlillglon NY