Henry Shea 1910-1999
Henry has lived in Commack all his life, and is now 86. His family came here the 1880's. Mrs. Shea took a great interest in local history, and was considered a very good source. Mrs. Shea, and Henry, have collected many photos of the area, some originals dating back more then a hundred years. Mrs. Mae Shea is also remembered by everyone for the many years that she taught Sunday School at the Methodist church.
Q. Describe the family farm you grew up on.
A. Well the family farm that I grew up on was about forty acres in total area. It was located on the west side of Larkfield Road and Jericho Turnpike. We actually owned about eight acres on the corner, the rest belonged to my grandparents. My father rented the rest from them, and farmed that, as well as doing his contracting work on the outside. He raised corn, that was cattle corn not sweet corn, potatoes, and a little bit of hay. It was a general farm, not a vegetable farm, that he worked up until his death in 1919. After that we leased, or rented, the farm to different farmers in the area. There was also about four acres of wood land involved in the whole forty acres.
Q. What about the plowing, was that all done with horses?
A. Yes that was all done by horse in those days. I can't recall a single farmer in all of Commack that had a tractor. Everything was done by horse, plowing, harrowing, what ever was involved, or needed to be done on the farm, had to be done with horses. It was just beyond or earlier then the gasoline age.
Q. Tell me the story about riding to the Blydenburgh mill
A. I'm almost certain, it was the winter of 1916 that I went with my father with a wagon load of corn, that was corn on the cob, that had to be ground at the Blydenburgh mill on Mill Pond. It was a very clear day, I can remember that, yet it was a very cold day. We went to the mill, and I can still remember standing in the millers office looking out the window that was practically on the third floor of the building, and looking down at the stream that was in the back. It was quite an experience for a kid of seven, or eight, You could see and experience all the machinery in the mill in operation, and loading the wagon outside with the milled corn. Then coming home pretty late in the day, I remember it was after sunset.
Q. You waited for the corn to be milled, or you came back?
A. Yes we waited for it to be milled, or ground. It took about an hour, two hours the most, it wasn't that much of a volume that we had, but a matter of the time involved. It was a very memorable experience, one I wouldn't miss. It was probably, I guess, my first trip to Blydenburgh mill. I’ve been there hundreds of times since to the area, and with that in my mind, always, every time I went there. I always had that first trip in the background of my mind.
Q. What about Brindley Field?
A. Well the Brindley Field was another highlight experience too. The first thing we knew of Brindley Field, or any activity of it occurring there, was in June 1918. The first sight of any of this activity was a long line of army trucks coming up the old Jericho Turnpike with soldiers in them. To see a truck of any kind was a unique experience in those days. They just didn't exist in Commack. And they came around the corner into Larkfield Road, or it was known as Larkfield Avenue in those days, and pulled right into the gates of the property on the north east corner of Jericho Turnpike and Larkfield Avenue. Then we learned, or I did, that it was to become a training field for aviators to be sent to France during W.W.I to be fighter pilots.
The field itself consisted of ninety acres of land, with the buildings, and barns, one large barn, and several other storage barns of a smaller size, and other out buildings. Ana a main house which they immediately established as a headquarters for the field. From that time on, for the next month or so, the place blossomed out into a tent city. I'd say up until the middle of July it was a tent city, with all the troops stationed there.
The first thing I remember being built in there, in the way of buildings, was the mess halls where the soldiers had to go to eat their meals. The next permanent buildings being built were the barracks for the men to sleep in. In the beginning the tent city was used as their sleeping quarters. I also remember the set up of officers tents, and the medical center in a tent.
The army provided medical officers there to take care of the troops health. One we knew, and became quite friendly with, an older army officer, a Lieutenant Frachs who came from Missouri, a real old timer, a real army man. We became friends with a number of others in the period of three to four months that the field was in real full operation.
Then about the first of August they built quite a number of barracks. I think all together about sixteen or twenty of them all together. They were built along the north side of Jericho. The nearest barrack was just inside the fence line on the pike.
Speaking of the barracks, the first electricity to reach Commack was brought to Brindley Field purposely to light up the barracks. That was a line that ran down Larkfield Ave. The problem there was these high-tension lines were right in the path of some of the take off points of the planes. The government got Lilco to move the high-tension lines back west a thousand feet off the main road and that cleared the way for there take off. When the wind was to the west they had to take off in that direction and it wasn’t safe with the wires there. Those lines ran right down to the barracks. What a sight to see thousands of lights all concentrated in one area! It was quite a shocker so to speak. Up to that time we were using oil lamps for light.
The field was protected everyday by guards who would walk the parameter of the field. After July there were no more visitors allowed inside the camp. I had some access in the beginning being a kid, but they gradually phased me out.
Towards the end of that summer they found they needed more space so the rented some more land to the east. In one case they had to condemn the land from the owner, but only temporarily. They did some considerable clearing of woodland in the north east corner of the property. They cleared that area of trees entirely. They cut them down, removed the stumps, and graded it off. That was quite a project. Then they felt they had enough safe room to feel satisfied with.
In September of 1918 the war was coming quite rapidly to a close and I can remember the newspapers with the headlines and photo’s of who’s where, and what the army did. At this time in September some people rented land from us on the west of Larkfield Ave. across from the camp to open up an eatery for when the soldiers were off duty. They had a little building and sold food and drinks, and along with that newspapers.
In August of 1918 they started to build five big steel hangers, the nearest one was about one hundred and fifty feet from Larkfield Ave. They stood in a line behind the original hay barn that had been used to hold airplane parts at that time. They were for what we called Jenny planes at the time.
This field was a satellite field of Mitchell Field in Mineola and was the last training field for flyers before they went to France. It was a very important field at the time and sometimes other planes would fly in for a few days Some were the DH-4 with the most powerful engine at the time. It was designed in 1918 by these five guys hired to make the best engine they could for the war.
In the last days of the war the newspapers had more headlines of what had been accomplished. Then came the Armistice in November and the people were quite happy.
Q. What happened with the plane crash?
A. They had dog fights in their training over the field and surrounding areas. One of the most serious accidents happened while they were having dog fights over the Havemeyer property east of Townline Road. Two pilots were killed when their plane crashed into the ground after loosing control. What happened was one of the wings crumbled. It as the only death during all that flying time.
I can actually remember when the accident happened because someone had come over to our house and told us that there had been a crash over in east Commack. In the medic's hurry to get there they tried to go straight instead of taking the roads and that was a mistake because they ran into hedgerows and had to take down fences. But it was no use to save them because they were both killed outright.
There was quite a service held for the two pilots at Mitchell Field, and then they were shipped by train one to California, and one to Pennsylvania
Q. What’s your earliest memories of the Commack store?
A. I can remember driving up to the side door in 1917 to buy gasoline for our car. You didn’t get gas from a pump, at that time they had it at the store in fifty gallon drums. You poured it in measures and then strained it with a cloth into your gas tank to keep anything out of the tank, or fuel lines.
They had a post office and we had a Huntington post office box but sometimes things would be sent for us there. You would go down there to meet kids also because there were not that many up this way, you had to go down there.
There was this one thing I remember, and I can’t find a photo or old postcard of it. It was a silent policeman that was in the center of the intersection. It was a concrete stand with a blinking red light on top. It warned people coming to the intersection to slow down. It was put there about 1920 and was removed in 1928 or 30. After that there was a light there.
Q. What do you remember of the Burr race tracks?
A. The Burr one mile track was known for horse racing, and training, during the 1870’s, 80’s, and up into the 90’s. By the end of the nineties it became the focus of bicycle racing by people caught up in the bicycle craze from 1895 to 1910. In the summer of 1920 they had motorcycle races there, but I think that was the only year they did that.
They made a lot of noise and raised all this dust that the people didn’t like and I think that was it. I drove on it my self when I got my first car just to see how fast I could go on the track. It was just a dirt track and pretty deteriorating at that time. There were two high banked corners on the west end. Then it was turned into a little farm land which grew into dwarf cedars. In 1935 a nursery was established there and raised nursery stock for quite a few years. then the property was sold to the school district and the track was leveled out completely.
Q. Do you remember the half mile track?
A. That was located close by, about one hundred feet from here. (Henry lives in a development just west of the Burr property). That was principly just for training the trotters. They had horse barns along the easterly side of the track and they had hay barns to feed the horses. There was a time keepers stand on the easterly side of the track.
It was used for that purpose up until about 1930. One of the big hay barns burned around 1930 and was torn down. It was interesting because there was a great big windmill on the property and it was all wooden framed. The half mile track was also the only one to have two little grandstands.