Brecknock Hall

Brecknock Hall, a handsome 150-year-old stone private manor house undergoing restoration under the loving care of the Brecknock Hall Foundation (BHF), was the scene earlier this month of a joyous community gala put on by the East End Arts Council in honor of eight "extraordinary" supporters, promoters and advocates of the arts on Long Island. For the Council, celebrating its 35th anniversary, the occasion was the first in what Executive Director Pat Snyder indicated would be an annual "Evening of Thanks." What a delicious inaugural, not just because it included tastings of "prestigious East End food and wine specialities," but because it also provided a fine flavor, by way of tours, of Brecknock Hall, listed on both the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places. Despite the ravages of time and the 1938 hurricane (which destroyed the original tin roof), BH still exemplifies much about Victorian Italianate architecture.

David Gelston Floyd

Did you know that a belvedere and a widow's walk are not the same? Phil Bellomo, one of several BHF tour guides, is eager to explain. "I love to talk about the House," he says. In fact, he confesses that he's been "having an affair with her" for the last couple of years he's been involved in helping out with the restoration. About the belvedere – we climb, he points - "Do you see how they could see the masts from here?" By "they" he means women, wealthy women, wives who could afford a "belvedere," (from Italian "fair view"), an enclosed lookout perch with windows on all sides. And indeed, though the views have changed, the belvedere provides on this cool and rainy day a fair sighting through the trees of Peconic Landing and across the Bay, a glimpse of Greenport.

BHF, a not-for-profit, established in 2004, is dedicated to "conserve, maintain and make the Hall accessible to the community for generations to come." BH, one of the largest mid-19th century houses on Long Island, was constructed between 1851 and 1857 as a family residence for David Gelston Floyd (yes, of the parkway!) and named for the Floyd ancestral home in Brecknockshire, Wales. Floyd, whose grandfather was the only LI signer of The Declaration of Independence, would seem to have inherited the family's adventurous spirit. He became a whaling entrepreneur and shrewd businessman, sensing possibilities on the North Fork once the LIRR reached Greenport in 1844. He married Lydia Smith (yes, of the town), and eventually they and their four daughters took up residence in the manor house that, reportedly, at that time, cost $30,000 (go figure).

Bellomo, who works professionally as a wallpaper expert, assisting designers on estate restorations, hardly restricts himself to pointing out the historical significance of the floral style wallpaper in the BH dining room, or the suitability of using light yellow pastel paint in other rooms. Each floor, from cellar to attic, has delights for him, and he is keen on noting details likely to be missed by a casual visitor, such as the mahogany spindle work on the swirling four-story staircase, restored by Tony Matteoni; the concave "coffin niche" at the foot of the stairs for, well, you know – undertakers didn't just pop around when called; the extensive lattice-work wooden door in the upstairs storage room; the still-working folding handmade shuttered windows throughout the house; the house's one bathroom; and the use of pot-belly stoves, not fireplaces, for warmth. He's also intent on having visitors see what BHF has done with lighting fixtures in keeping with the spirit of the house.

William Floyd

As the afternoon moved into twilight, and musicians Michelle LaPorte, flutist, and Gerry Saulter on guitar kept up a lively competition with the growing crowd, Snyder assembled attendees in the Hall's grand Center Reception Area and turned the microphone over to MC Bonnie Grice, WLIU's effervescent music director, ardent art advocate, and recipient of EEAC's Spokesperson for the Arts award, who noted the appropriateness of the event in a "season of thanksgiving." Moving by decade, Grice gave gracious thanks to awardees: sculptor Bob Berks (Lifetime Arts Achievement), jazz pianist Ranny Reeve (Inspirational Arts Educator), Riverhead Building Supply chief executive Edgar Goodale (Business for the Arts), pharmacy owner Barry Barth (Business Person for the Arts), Times Review Newspapers publisher Troy Gustavson (Promoter of the Arts), and NY State Assemblyman Fred Thiele (Public Official Friend of the Arts) who also picked up the award for NY State Senator Ken LaValle (Public Official for the Arts).

Net proceeds from Evening of Thanks will go to EEAC Carriage House Programs. Brecknock Hall, open to the general public for tours and private and public events, is located at 1500 Brecknock Road, Greenport (on the north side of Route 25 on the grounds of Peconic Landing), 631-477-0698, www.brecknock.org. The history pages on the BH website refer to the mansion as "noble, if reticent," but if more support can be found for BHF preservation efforts, the great stone edifice will surely have more to say.

All images courtesy of Brecknock Hall Foundation