The Friends of Connetquot State Park Preserve have an exciting next couple of months.

On Thursday, May 26, bids will be received by the Jan Hird Pokorny Associates Inc. on behalf of Friends of Connetquot for the tin ceiling restoration of the BOCES room at the South Side Sportsmen’s Club. The project consists of complete restoration of the historic tin ceiling including selective demolition, removals and salvage, new formed sheet metal ceiling panels, new formed sheet metal crown moldings, new formed sheet metal moldings, skylight restoration, painting and new light fixtures and related wiring.

The Friends of Connetquot received a $46,651 New York State Regional Economic Grant earlier in the year to go towards the project.

The fish prep room is an original feature of the South Side Sportsmen’s Clubhouse, a luxury outdoors club for the East Coast elite in the late 1800s. The South Side Sportsmen’s Club was formed in 1866 and was the property’s caretaker until 1973 when it became a state park preserve—the first park preserve in New York State.  Presidents Arthur, Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Cleveland and Hoover were just a few of the prestigious sportsmen that visited the club to hunt or fish.  The clubhouse is on the National Registry of Historic Places, and sections of the building date from the 1820s.  The fish prep room is adjacent to the locker room, where club members stored their equipment. At the time of the club, the room sported a half wall that separated the members’ lockers from the other half of the room. This other half is where the game that members caught was prepared and wrapped up for the trip back to the city.

The room is currently used by BOCES students, as well as the Trout Unlimited Art Flick Chapter. The room can also be seen on tours of the South Side Sportsmen’s Club.

President of the Friends of Connetquot, Janet Soley, said it was first noticed that the tin roof was leaking and that there was discoloration on the ceiling about 10 years ago. The skylight in the ceiling is also in need of new glass and flashing. Soley said she could envision the room being used to hold small lectures once the work is completed.

Coming up on Sunday, May 22, the Friends will be hosting an open house for local historical societies, and libraries. Soley said the open house will allow the Friends to show other organizations what historical artifacts they have that may pertain to them. She noted that the organization has lots of items that other groups would love to see or have. The Friends are also working on their South Shore Memories Project for which they were awarded a $4,000 grant from The Long Island Library Resources Council (LILRC). The project will allow Friends of Connetquot to work with local historical societies to document and record the stories of people who have memories about Connetquot River State Park or the South Side Sportsmen’s Club.

Soley said that in the last two weeks, the group found a photo of a chef who worked at the club and they were able to connect with a relative of the chef to talk about the club for the project.   

Coming up for the group will be a lecture on “Idle Hour: Home of the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians” on Sunday, June 12 at 1 p.m.  Join us to learn about the history of Peace Haven, Oakdale, N.Y. In 1938, James B. Schafer purchased Idle Hour from the Vanderbilt Estate. He renamed it Peace Haven and began the task of revitalization after nine years of neglect. July 4, 1938 was the grand opening of Peace Haven and it became home to the Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians. The group believed that thought could manifest material outcomes and believed immortality was achievable. To attain that end, Baby Jean became an experiment in eternal life. Peace Haven operated as a faith center, retreat center, learning center, an upscale hotel and youth camp. The Royal Fraternity of Master Metaphysicians at its peak had 2,000 members. Yet, neither the founder nor the place achieved immortality. Lectures are free for members of Friends of Connetquot. Non-members pay $5/person at the door.