HuntingtonCC_Single

Huntington Country Club
A Centennial History

Written by William L. Quirin

© 2011 by Huntington Country Club
All rights reserved. Published 2011

Printed and bound in China

ISBN 9 78-1-931169-09-7

Q Publishing, LLC
Franklin,Virginia 23851
[email protected]

Design by Kristin Kernan



vi

table of contents

Prologue........................................................................................ ix Part II: Club Golf
Letter from the President.................................................................. xi
Chapter 15  Men’s Golf......................................................................... 108
Part I: The Chronological History Chapter 16  Women’s Golf...................................................................... 124
Chapter 17  Regional Championships..........................................................132
Chapter 1  Early Huntington................................................................... 2 Chapter 18  The Great Exhibition Match...................................................... 136
Chapter 2  The Oyster Bay Golf Club.......................................................... 6 Chapter 19  The Golf Professionals............................................................. 138
Chapter 3  The Land Is Purchased, The Club Is Born......................................... 8
Chapter 4  The First Decade.................................................................... 16 Part III: The Golf Course
Chapter 5  The Founders........................................................................ 20
Chapter 6  The Original Golf Course.......................................................... 30 Part IV: The Country Club Activities
Chapter 7  The Original Clubhouse............................................................ 36
Chapter 8  The Roarin’ Twenties............................................................... 40 Chapter 20  Tennis.............................................................................. 184
Chapter 9  The Depression and War Years..................................................... 44 Chapter 21  The Huntington Winter Club..................................................... 192
Chapter 10  Huntington Purchase, Inc......................................................... 48 Chapter 22  Platform Tennis.................................................................... 202
Chapter 11  The Post-War Years (1946-1980)................................................ 52
Chapter 12  More Recent Times (1981-2000).................................................60 Appendix........................................................................................ 210
Chapter 13  The Clubhouse Renovation (2001-2010)........................................70
Chapter 14  The Centennial Year............................................................... 90

vii



W p rolog u ehen entering the grounds of Huntington Country Club, one can easily sense the comforts of home. An exhale from the outside
world takes place. Beautiful landscape, a beloved golf course, and the warmth of friendship among its members are magically inviting.

It was precisely the intention of our founding fathers to inspire us in this manner when our club was conceived back in the year 1910.That
early vision “to promote golf, tennis, and other games and to provide sociability among its members” is as alive and well today as it was at
the club’s inception. It is a worthy endeavor to turn back the clock to uncover the course of events leading to the formation of our club in
1910 through its centennial anniversary in 2010.

The predecessor to this book, A History of the Huntington Country Club 1910-1980, captured the club’s first seventy years thanks to the efforts
of the club’s twenty-first president, Mr. Ashton G. Eldredge. We are grateful for Mr. Eldredge’s work and it is hoped that this book will
serve to provide even further insight and a deeper understanding into the history of Huntington Country Club.

It has been the collaborative efforts of the centennial committee that have made the highlights of our 100th anniversary year and this new
book possible. More specifically, I am fortunate to have worked with Gerald Kessler (our club historian), Jean Latham, Duane Hayden,
Robert Rogan Jr., Danielle Faria, Katy Goodrich, J. William Johnson, Diane Galtieri, Stu Irvine and John Service. I would like to take this
opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your time and devotion to this project.

Our author, Dr. William (Bill) Quirin, must be acknowledged and thanked for his tireless efforts on the project. Dr. Quirin has nurtured
this book from conception through completion for the past three years and I am forever grateful to Bill for his dedication and loyalty to our
club throughout the entire process. Official MGA historian and author of twenty commemorative golf books, Dr. Quirin currently resides
in Garden City and is a professor of mathematics at Adelphi University.

I invite you to take a step back in time and discover the rich, one hundred year history of our treasured club. It has been an absolute honor
and privilege to have had the opportunity to work on this book and I can assure those who take the time to read this book from cover to
cover they will be even more appreciative of our beautiful home that we call Huntington Country Club.

- Andrew A. Staib
Chairman, Centennial Committee

ix



A l e t t e r f ro m t h e p r e s i d e n ts Huntington Country Club begins its second century, we can take pride that the traditions we observe today so
closely resemble those of our founders. Now, as then, we are a healthy, strong club – a family club age has only
made finer.

Here is a story of the social life of Huntington Country Club and the friends who have shared it … the story of our golf
course, which has remained remarkably true due to the foresight of Devereux Emmet 100 years ago… and the stories of
tennis, platform tennis, and all the diversions HCC offered these many years for members, families and guests to enjoy.

As you go through the pages you’ll go through the years, encountering our club’s finest – and at times our most trying –
moments. The club, like our nation, suffered through wars, depressions, and social upheaval.

The efforts of Andrew Staib and his centennial committee have made this book possible. His dedication, devotion, and
hours spent on the project brought this volume to life. Our deepest thanks to him and to everyone involved for their labors
of love that energized this book.

From its auspicious beginnings in 1910, Huntington Country Club has always been a leader in our community, continu-
ally moving forward with the times. I am confident this book, so rich in our heritage, will provide future generations of
membership with a foundation on which to nurture the club’s continuing progress in the next 100 years, while ensuring a
lasting respect for our proud history.

- Robert H. Emmons

President, Huntington Country Club

xi



Part Ithe chronological history

Main Street Huntington in the
early 1900’s looking westbound.

(Huntington Historical Society)

1

The original Huntington railroad station, built circa 1867, and replaced by the present station in 1909.
Note the trolley to the right of the station. (Huntington Historical Society)
2

chapter one

T Early Huntingtonhe Town of Huntington dates back to 1653, when three men
from Oyster Bay purchased a large tract of land called Kete-
economy. The town’s ship-making business prospered, since ships were the
most efficient way to transport both goods and people.

womoke from the native Matinecocks. The property was bordered

on the west by Cold Spring Harbor, on the east by Northport Harbor, on the The people of Huntington adopted a Declaration of Rights in 1774, declar-

north by Long Island Sound, and on the south initially by Old Country Road. ing that taxation without representation was a violation of the rights of Brit-

One tradition says that the community was named for Huntingdon, England. ish subjects. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was enthusiastically

Another says it was named for the abundance of game in the area. supported in Huntington. However, following the defeat of the American

army in the Battle of Long Island, Huntington residents, like their neigh-

Early Huntington actually was a British colony, more closely allied with bors across Long Island, were required to pledge allegiance to the British

English colonies in Connecticut and Massachusetts than with their Dutch Crown. Many resisted, waging guerilla warfare until the war was over.

neighbors to the west in New Amsterdam. Most of the early settlers were

English people who came to Huntington across the Sound from the New Huntington’s best-known son, Walt Whitman, was born in 1819. As a

England colonies. The earliest form of government in Huntington was the child, he moved to Brooklyn with his family, but he returned to Long Island

town meeting, as was customary in British colonies. When England took in 1838 when he created the Long Islander, a Huntington newspaper still in

control of the Dutch colony of New Netherlands in 1664, governor Richard existence today.

Nicholls severed Huntington’s ties with Connecticut and established laws

that regulated every aspect of life in the colony. The Long Island Railroad was extended northward through Huntington to

Northport in 1867. With the increased accessibility of Long Island due to

In the ensuing years up to the American Revolution, Huntington grew to steamboats, trains and later automobiles, Huntington became less physical-

become a community of farms, mills, tanneries, brickyards, and a fort. ly isolated. Residents of New York City were now able to visit the area and

Because of its harbor, shipping became an important part of Huntington’s both Huntington and Cold Spring Harbor became popular summer resorts.

3

For most of the nineteenth century, Huntington was a community of people the Bay more than half a mile. It sat atop an underground se-
living on the family farm in relative isolation. At the turn of the century, ries of as many as nine tunnels. One tunnel led to the beach,
families began moving closer to the center of town and community life in- another to the stables, built to help the clientele (many of
creased. At the beginning of the new century, only a handful of people com- whom arrived by steamer from Manhattan or Stamford) escape
muted by train to Manhattan. That changed in 1909 when the Long Island the police. Another tunnel, wide enough for a truck to pass
Railroad built a new depot in Huntington, along with other improvements through, led to the bakery on the premises. Beaux Arts was
to the line, and by the 1920s there were hundreds traveling the rails to work a total resort. The hotel was supplemented with two luxuri-
each day. That same year the railroad established the Cross Island Trolley, ous villas, about two hundred feet behind the water. The ca-
running from Halesite to Amityville along what is now Route 110, facilitat- sino had a lounge that could accommodate more than one thou-
ing north-south travel. The year 1909 also marked the building of a new sand guests. It is said that millions of dollars changed hands
high school and the town hall. Huntington was about to enter its grandest across its gambling tables.
era and the town was ready to support its first country club.
Beaux Arts greatest appeal was to groups of yachtsmen and
Beaux Arts and Early Huntington Golf automobilists. It was the grandest hotel in proximity to the Mo-
tor Parkway (also known as the Vanderbilt Speedway). Plans
In 1876, William and Sarah Clark purchased a 120-acre farm at the time called for the Motor Parkway to be extended all
overlooking the Sound and joined the hotel-building trend, the way to Riverhead, passing close to Huntington. The number
constructing the elegant forty-four room Clark House on of automobiles passing through Main Street and up New York
their grounds. It featured a boating house and horseback rid- Avenue towards the Chateau at times alarmed local residents,
ing. After two ownership changes, the property was sold in but within a few years the automobile racing bubble burst.
1906 to the colorful Bustanoby brothers, Louis, Andre and
Jacques, from Pau, France. The French restaurateurs spent Unfortunately, the brothers suffered a series of financial
almost $1,000,000 to renovate and rejuvenate the hotel and reversals and were forced to sell Beaux Arts in 1912. After
build a gambling casino at the head of Huntington Bay, with bids from the New York Yacht Club and real estate developers
views over the Bay and out to Long Island Sound. failed to reach fruition, the newly formed Huntington Golf &
Marine Club (renamed the Huntington Bay Club in 1920) took
The grand opening of what was called Le Chateau des Beaux over the nearly five hundred-acre Beaux Arts property in 1915
Arts came on July 8, 1907. Designed by the famed architects and expanded the existing golf course to eighteen holes. (Re)
Delano & Aldrich along the lines of a casino at Monte Carlo, designed by Herbert Strong, the course straddled Hunting-
the casino had a seven-hundred-foot water frontage on a bluff ton Bay Road. Several of its golf holes overlooked the bay.
over a great sea wall and the property extended back from Its membership included Otto Kahn, George Taylor, and George
Cortelyou. That course had turned to weeds by 1939, however,
when the bank foreclosed on the Huntington Bay Club. The
Chateau was so badly damaged by a fire sometime in the 1940s
that the fire department burned it to the ground and then de-
molished it.

4

Whether or not Beaux Arts actually had a golf course must Vintage postcard of the Beaux Arts Casino. (Huntington Historical Society)
remain a mystery. Some sources mention it in passing, others
don’t. Perhaps the strongest argument in its favor is the fact club, with a minibus carrying members between the club and
that when the Golf & Marine Club was announced in January, the beach. The Depression intervened, however, and the plans
1915, nine holes of golf were available and another nine was did not fully materialize. In particular, the yacht anchorage
being constructed, suggesting that the nine available had was not built.
been there before and brought back into playing condition for
the new club. In June of 1939, reorganized as the Huntington Crescent
Club, they acquired the property of the Huntington Bay Club
The honor of being the first golf course in Huntington, how- as a center for bathing and yachting. Huntington Crescent re-
ever, goes to a nine-hole public course in Halesite near the stored the casino to its former beauty. They added a new pier,
top of Young’s Hill, which opened in 1900. The Long Islander cabanas, a yacht basin, and a beach. By 1956, however, the club
reported on August 17, 1900, “a new golf links at East Neck decided that the joint operation was not working, and so a sep-
has been completed. It covers two miles.” That course (while in arate beach club, the Head of the Bay Club, was formed. Head
preparation) was referenced in the 1899 Harper’s Golf Guide, of the Bay razed the old casino in 1958 because its underpin-
described as a 1,900 yard Tom Bendelow design. That course nings had been eroded by the Bay’s waters which filled the
fell by the wayside and in 1921, the private Halesite Coun- tunnels. A new clubhouse was constructed, opening in 1958.
try Club was founded, purchased the land, and engaged Hun-
tington Country Club golf professional Reuben Wakerley to
bring the original course back into playing condition. Accord-
ing to the Long Islander, Wakerley was chosen because he had
brought the country club course up to one hundred per cent
perfection. The Halesite Country Club remained in existence
until February 1926, when the club was disbanded due to the
diminishing number of members. The Halesite golf course con-
tinued to operate as a public course until the late 1940s.

When Brooklyn’s Crescent Athletic and Hamilton Clubs joined
forces in 1930 to form the Crescent Athletic-Hamilton Coun-
try Club, the membership had grandiose plans. They purchased
the Huntington estate of Roy Rainey, three hundred acres of
rolling woodland, formal gardens, a swimming pool, and front-
age on Huntington Bay (today’s Crescent Beach, four-tenths
of a mile east of Beaux Arts). There they planned an impres-
sive array of athletic facilities that were to include thirty-six
holes of golf, a yachting anchorage, and cabanas at the beach

part i: the chronological history | early huntington 5

Teddy Roosevelt, the ultimate
sportsman. (Library of Congress)

6

chapter two

The Oyster Bay Golf Clubhe Oyster Bay Golf Club was one of the first half-dozen golf

clubs formed on Long Island and among the first thirty estab-

Tlished in the United States. Its predecessors on Long Island included
lived on Long Island. His Sagamore Hill estate in Oyster Bay was the sum-
mer White House during the years 1902-1908. Although a member of the
Oyster Bay Golf club, Roosevelt did not enjoy golf, asserting that it was not

only Shinnecock Hills (1891), Rockaway Hunting (which had a primitive vigorous enough to suit his tastes.

course in 1891), Maidstone (which added a three-hole course in 1894),

Westbrook (1894, in East Islip), and Meadow Brook (1894). Oyster Bay The Oyster Bay Golf Club’s existence spanned not even one decade. How-

was the first golf club on Long Island’s Gold Coast, preceding the Nassau ever, it made its mark as the course over which Jerome D. (Jerry) Travers

Country Club in Glen Cove by one year. Its membership was comprised learned the game and as the training ground for 1899 U.S. Women’s Ama-

mostly of summer visitors to the area. teur champion Ruth Underhill, whose parents were members. Travers first

played golf at age nine on the front lawn of his family’s estate on Sandy Hill

The club was organized in 1894 and in 1895 became one of the first thirty- Road. In 1900, at age thirteen, he began playing regularly at the Oyster Bay

one members of the USGA, nineteen of which, including Oyster Bay, were Golf Club. In the ten-year span 1906-1915, he won the U.S. Open at Baltus-

called allied members. The club leased farmland from the Moyses brothers rol in 1915, the U.S. Amateur four times, and the Metropolitan Amateur five

on the Berry Hills, a mile and a half from the Oyster Bay railroad station. times. According to John E. Hammond, historian for the Town of Oyster

The property was along the southwest side of Berry Hill Road, at its in- Bay, writing in his recent (2002) book Oyster Bay Remembered:

tersection with Sandy Hill Road, an eighth of a mile north of the former’s

intersection with the North Hempstead Turnpike (Route 25A). “The old Oyster Bay Golf Club suffered the fate of many of the early nine-hole courses

and fell into disuse about 1903. Later it was taken over and rehabilitated by Mortim-

The club boasted a nine-hole golf course designed by Tom Gourlay that er Schiff as his private course, and was used by the Schiff family until about 1932.”

played at 2,339 yards. The club’s membership was relatively small, typi-

cally well below one hundred, and included many names from New York’s By 1903 the Travers and Underhill families had already moved over to the

upper social strata, among them Theodore Roosevelt, Ambrose Travers, Nassau Country Club. The nucleus of those remaining would go on to found

Percy Chubb, Walter Jennings, and future golf course architect Devereux the Huntington Country Club in 1910. Among them were Walter Jennings,

Emmet. The club was near their summer homes in the exclusive Oyster Charles H. Jones, William Emlen Roosevelt, Henry W. de Forest, Walter

Bay colony. Teddy Roosevelt was the only United States president to have J. Hewlett, and Louis C. Tiffany – all members of the Oyster Bay club.

7

Walter Jennings, pictured on vacation in Italy in 1909.
(Jekyll Island Museum Archives)

8

chapter three

The Land Is Purchased,

T The Club Is Bornhe story of the founding and subsequent development of the
Huntington Country Club can be viewed through the window
of the Long Islander, which published several articles about the new
sports such as tennis, baseball, etc. The old house, which is set back some distance
from the West Neck Road, would make a fine clubhouse with but a few alterations.
There are beautiful trees around it and an extensive view of Cold Spring Harbor,

club between the years 1908 and 1912. We present articles here, some in Oyster Bay, the Sound, and the surrounding country may be seen from its porches.

this chapter and others in chapter 4, some in their entirety, others abridged.

Incidentally, not one of these articles mentioned the Oyster Bay Golf Club; “It is expected that such a club would attract members from Cold Spring Harbor,

other sources, however, reveal that several of the people mentioned in these Oyster Bay, Northport and other towns along the North shore as the Nassau Country

articles were previously members of the by-then-defunct Oyster Bay club. Club is the only one of its kind in the vicinity and that has a waiting list of over one

hundred fifty.

The first word that a country club was being planned for Huntington came

in an article dated November 27, 1908, under the headline “Country Club “It is acknowledged that such a club is greatly needed in Huntington and would un-

for Huntington:” doubtedly prove to be a great social centre.”

“It looks now as if something really definite is being done by the Huntington associa- Plans changed somewhat, as the Long Islander reported over a year later, on
tion and others in regard to a country club in Huntington. December 31, 1909:

“It is said that Dr. Oliver Jones is willing to lease for an indefinite period with privi- “Willard N. Baylis has completed the purchase of the Captain Mahan farm of 75
lege of renewal the old Crossman property at West Neck recently acquired by him. acres on the Cold Spring Road, the Ward property of 18 acres, Gingliano farm of
This property of some one hundred fifty acres, more or less, is composed of fine country 20 acres, and the Cantrell tract of 22 acres, comprising 135 acres in all, extending
for golf, which will be the principal sport of the club. It is also ideal for other athletic from the Cold Spring road to the West Neck road, about a half a mile in width. Mr.

9

Baylis purchased the property with the intention of turning it over to be used as a William J. Matheson, the club’s first President.
country club grounds similar to the Nassau Country Club at Glen Cove. (Key Biscayne Historical & Heritage Society)

“A committee consisting of August Heckscher, William J. Matheson, Walter Jen-
nings, Clinton Gilbert, Colonel Timothy S. Williams, Willard N. Baylis, and Frank
Harvey Field met at Mr. Baylis’ office in New York yesterday morning, organized,
and took measures for improving the property. The land is valued at $75,000 and
it is proposed to put up a $20,000 clubhouse and lay out golf links.

“Title was taken in the names of Col. T.S. Williams and W.N. Baylis, who in turn
have transferred it to August Heckscher, who will deed it to the club. Organiza-
tion was effected yesterday by the choice of Col. Williams as president and W.N.
Baylis as secretary. Col. T.S. Williams, William J. Matheson, Frank Harvey Field
and W.N. Baylis were named a committee on organization of the proposed country
club. The clubhouse will be modest at the start, and expand with the acquisition of
new members. Membership will be open to the townspeople in general.”

On January 7, 1910, six men, all from the Huntington area, gathered to
incorporate the Huntington Club Company. They were Walter Jennings of
Cold Spring Harbor; William J. Matheson and Timothy S. Williams, both
Huntington residents; and August Heckscher, Willard N. Baylis, and John
Smithers, all residents of Halesite.

The club was incorporated on January 27, 1910, its primary purpose being,
according to the certificate of incorporation, “to promote golf, tennis, and
other games; to provide sociability and amusement for its members; and
to facilitate its members in the pursuit of health and pleasure.” In addition
to the six founders, the group of incorporators included Douglas Conklin,
Roland R. Conklin, both from Huntington; Johnston de Forest from Cold
Spring Harbor; Frank H. Field, Clinton Gilbert, and George Taylor, all
Halesite residents; and Daniel P. Morse from Northport.

10

Three articles followed in 1910, the first on March 25 detailed the legalities “The membership of the country club will consist of Founders and Associate Members.
of the operation of the club, from which we present the following para- Dues for both Founders and Associate Members will be $75 per year.
graphs:

“The Huntington Country Club project is progressing and everything “Civil engineer R.S. Baylis is laying out and developing this prop-
will be in shape so that members may gain considerable pleasure erty.”
from the organization this summer.
As is well known, the club has selected a tract of 144 acres The first meeting of the membership was held on
of beautifully situated land between Cold Spring and May 14, 1910, in the offices of Douglas Conklin
Huntington for the club grounds. Certain members of a in the Bank of Huntington. The club’s first slate
committee from the Huntington association have con- of officers was elected: William Matheson, presi-
tracted to purchase this land and propose as soon as dent; Timothy Williams, vice president; Doug-
the title is taken to convey it at cost to a corporation las Conklin, secretary and treasurer.
organized under the laws of New York State known
as the Huntington Club Company. That corporation Douglas Conklin. The club’s charter and bylaws were approved
will lease to the Huntington Country Club for the (Huntington Historical Society) at that meeting. The bylaws provided for two
period of ten years, with the privilege of renewal for classes of membership, founders, and associ-
another ten-year term. The lessor shall at its own ex- ates. Founders owned at least $1,000 of capital
pense and under plans approved by the lessee, provide stock (ten shares) in the Huntington Club Com-
a first class 18 hole golf course, tennis courts, club- pany and were exempt from paying the entrance
house, necessary roads, etc. fee of $100. Only founders had voting rights. As
of December 6, 1910, there were thirty-seven
“The lessee, before taking possession of the property under founders holding 442 shares (each of the six found-
the lease, shall have a membership sufficient in number, in ing members of the club had twenty-two shares) and
the judgment of the lessor, to justify the undertaking. forty-seven associates holding nineteen shares, a total of
eighty-four members holding 461 shares capitalizing the
“Thepurchasepriceofthelandsisabout$570peracreanditisestimated club at $46,100. That same day Huntington Country Club
that the total cost, including improvements to the grounds, golf course, arranged to lease the property from the Huntington Club
tennis courts, and clubhouse, will be approximately $110,000. It Company.
is proposed to defray this cost by the sale of stock of the Huntington
Club Company at par to the members of the Huntington Country Club. The bylaws limited membership to three hundred, with the stipulation that
the last fifty members elected were required to be Long Island residents liv-

part i: the chronological history | the land is purchased, the club is born 11

Willard Baylis. the recent clubhouse renovation; it’s now on display in the trophy room.

ing within ten miles of the club. The stature of the new club grew quickly, and on July 15 the following
article appeared in the Long Islander, under the headline “Huntington’s Lead-
The bylaws created a governing board consisting of the officers of the club ing Social Attraction:”
and the chairs of the house & grounds, golf, tennis, membership, and au-
diting committees, which acted as the operating arm of the board. Walter “Such rapid progress is being made in the improvement of the grounds of the Hun-
Jennings chaired both the membership and house & grounds committees. tington Country Club, which already numbers ninety members, that there is a good
prospect that the golf course, tennis courts, and clubhouse will be ready for use by the
Willard N. Baylis wrote the bylaws and charter. The membership expressed fall. The officers of the club, W.J. Matheson, president; Col. Timothy Williams, vice
its collective gratitude to Baylis in 1914, presenting him with a sterling sil- president; and Douglas Conklin, secretary and treasurer, and the other members are
ver loving cup, which remained in the family for a number of years and was taking a lively interest in promoting its welfare. It is to be hoped that a larger number
later returned to the club and displayed on the wall in the bar lounge until of our villagers will join as associates, if not as active members, and thus help along
this social institution that will do so much to help make Huntington popular.
12
“The Huntington Club Company, organized to take title of the West Neck property,
about 150 acres, held at present by Willard N. Baylis and Col. Timothy Williams, as
purchasers on account of the company, is doing the work of developing the tract. The
officers of the club company are: Walter Jennings, president; August Heckscher, vice
president; Willard N. Baylis, secretary and treasurer; other directors W.J. Matheson,
Col. Timothy Williams and John Smithers.

“Walter Jennings, Chairman of Committee on Construction, has a gang of men at
work stubbing all the hedges and grading the grounds for golf links, under the direc-
tion of Deveraux Emmet, the noted amateur golf expert.

“The club grounds have three-quarters of a mile frontage on the main highway be-
tween Huntington and Cold Spring Harbor, the highway between West Neck and Cold
Spring Harbor, and on West Neck Avenue, and it is about a mile in length from north
to south. The tract varies in elevation from 50 feet to 195 feet above tidewater and the
clubhouse, a building that will cost about $20,000, will be located on the highest part of

the property, from which a fine outlook is afforded of L.I. Sound and the surrounding country. 13
There will probably be not less than a hundred thousand dollars invested in the whole undertaking.

“The golf links contain the finest natural mounds and deep, rapidly sloping valleys, inequalities
of grade so much sought after by players of golf. In these respects the new links will be the superior
of any on Long Island.

“Huntington is fortunate to have such a body of public spirited men as those who have taken so
lively an interest in the affairs of the Huntington club and they should receive the moral and
material support of the entire town.”

The good news that interest in the club was growing appeared in the September 16,
1910, edition of the Long Islander:

“Interest in the Huntington Country Club continues to grow and the membership is now about 100.
This will be greatly augmented when the club gets into active operation next spring.

“A fine $20,000 clubhouse will shortly be erected on the highest point on the grounds from which
will be obtained a magnificent view of Cold Spring Bay, Long Island Sound, and Connecticut
shore. Work on the grand golf course is well advanced, and some $10,000 will be expended in
making them the best of links on Long Island. These will be opened up in the spring.”

On October 1, 1910, Baylis and Williams deeded the property to the Hunting-
ton Club Company, and thus was born the Huntington Country Club, which
leased the land from the Huntington Club Company, an arrangement that
lasted for thirty-three years.

A sketch of the modern golf course, indicating the boundaries of the five parcels
the founders purchased. 1 is the Mahan (Jones) tract, 2 is the Riehl tract, 3 is the

Guigliani tract, 4 is the Cantrell tract, and 5 is theWard tract. (Artwork by Daniel Quirin)

part i: the chronological history | the land is purchased, the club is born

Before proceeding to the opening of the club, we turn instead to a more de- Extending northward from the Jones tract were two adjacent proper-
tailed description of the land purchased, and its relation to the golf course. ties. The easternmost belonged to Mary Josephine Cantrell, the recently-
widowed mother of Joseph Cantrell, who was famous for creating the
The club actually purchased the Mahan property from Charles H. Jones, a first Depot Wagon body made exclusively for Ford and Dodge. The
founding member who had acquired the property in 1906. It was the parcel property’s 22.5 acres provide the dramatic terrain for the tenth hole,
of land alongside Route 25A that would become the site for the clubhouse, the eleventh hole, and the eastern parts of the twelfth, sixteenth, and
most of the front nine, the start of the tenth hole, and the eighteenth hole of seventeenth holes.
the golf course. It was the largest of the five parcels purchased. As former
members of the Oyster Bay Golf Club, Jones and Jennings no doubt had West of the Cantrell property was the Anthony Guigliani (spelled Gingliani
a close relationship that proved to be the catalyst in the formation of the by the Long Islander in the December 31, 1909 article) property, 17.9 acres
Huntington Country Club. The Jones property was probably the first one occupied by the upper part of the fifteenth hole and the western parts of the
purchased, and one can only wonder if Jones purchased the property after twelfth, sixteenth and seventeenth holes. Guigliani was a mason foreman
the demise of the Oyster Bay Golf Club anticipating it would some day be for a company that built William K. Vanderbilt’s estate in Centerport. The
used for a new golf club. Guigliani property included a farmhouse, a large barn, and a wood-fired
baking oven where bread was made. Guigliani tore down the farmhouse
The Jones property encompassed 71.3 acres and included three buildings, a when he moved and used the lumber to build his new house in Huntington.
house, and two barns. The home dated to the Civil War era and was built by The remains of the oven can still be seen at the brink of the hill to the right
Captain Mahan, a seafarer who made a relatively unsuccessful visit to Cali- of the sixteenth hole.
fornia during the Gold Rush days, sailing around the southern tip of South
America to get there. Located in the southwestern part of the property, the The northernmost parcel, extending up to Huntington Road and home
house served as home to a number of the club’s early golf professionals and now to the thirteenth, fourteenth, and all but the upper part of the
greenkeepers. One of the barns housed the club’s horses during the club’s fifteenth holes, belonged to C. Barclay Ward, a Huntington realtor. The
first decade. 18.3-acre tract included two homes, one belonging to a farmhand on the
Jennings estate, the other to Thomas Devine who drove a team of horses for
To the east of the Jones property was the Charles Riehl property, 13.7 acres the club’s greenkeeper.
now housing the approach to the seventh green, the eighth hole, and the
front part of the ninth hole. Little is known about Riehl, aside from the fact The club also purchased four rights-of-way, one from West Neck Road,
that he purchased the parcel five months earlier from Theron H. Sammis two from Goose Hill Road, and the last from Route 25A. The latter became
who became an original member of the club. This property was not men- the start of the entrance road into the club; two of the others were used by
tioned in any of the articles above, and was the last obtained. Guigliani to drive to his house.

14

The purchase was financed by the sale of sixty $1,000 bonds, the sale of 461 The Weekend Country Club
shares of $100 par value stock, a loan of $20,000 from the Bank of Hunting-
ton, and a loan of $8,000 from member August Heckscher. The following article entitled “Weekend Country Club – New
Yorkers Plan Building a Clubhouse in Huntington, L.I.” ap-
On April 6, 1913, the New York Times observed: peared in the New York Times on October 23, 1910:

“The trend toward Huntington has been very marked during the last two or three “Weekend Country Club is the name of an organization which will be patronized by
years. The Huntington Country Club, comprising 140 acres with an 18-hole golf New Yorkers. The organization’s purpose is to provide a clubhouse where business-
course, was opened last spring and has added materially to the social life of men and women who care to do so can run out of town for the end of the week, or on
the place.” holidays, and yet be conveniently near the city.

The club was established in precisely the right place at exactly the right “The club has been incorporated. Bonds have been issued, and already funds suffi-
time. The New York Times published several major articles during those first cient to build a beautiful clubhouse have been obtained. The committee, which was
three years describing the continuing construction of new homes in Hun- appointed to obtain a suitable site for the clubhouse, [is] negotiating for a tract on
tington. The source for the club’s membership was being established in the the main driveway of Huntington, conveniently near the station in what is known as
years immediately following the club’s conception. Huntington Terrace.

“The plan of the new organization has been brought to the attention of the Gotham
Club from which a number of applications for membership in the Country Club have
already been received.

“It has been decided to limit the membership in the new club to 200. It is planned
to lay out golf links and tennis courts. A handsome clubhouse of the bungalow type
will be erected, and near it there will be a garage.”

The names of the committee members were listed in the ar-
ticle, and did not overlap the list of founders of the Hun-
tington Country Club. Whether this club ever saw the light
of day, and whether its golf course and tennis courts ever
were built, is uncertain. A new country club called Cedar Hill
opened in Huntington Station in 1921.

part i: the chronological history | the land is purchased, the club is born 15

A 1919 penny postcard showing the south face of the clubhouse.The four pillars were
uncovered inside the north walls of the front hall, during the 2008-2009 renovation.

16

chapter four

The First Decaden March 3, 1911, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article about

Othe developing club, together with an artist’s rendering of the clubhouse:
“The basement will contain kitchen, boiler room, storage and living rooms, two bed-
rooms

and baths for keeper, two rooms and baths for professional golf director, and waiting

“Work will be begun at an early date on the home of the Huntington Country Club, at room for chauffeurs. The second floor is intended for a few sleeping apartments.

West Neck, to be located on one of the highest hills of its 150-acre tract between the

Cold Spring-Huntington village road and the Cold Spring-West Neck road. “There will be a 12-foot wide porch on the east and south sides, partly enclosed in

glass, which can be used for dining room or outside café if necessary. The golf links

“The plans as prepared by Ford, Butler & Oliver of 103 Park Avenue, Manhattan, are said to be among the finest in the country.”

call for a plain stucco building with slate roof, its cost about $17,000. The outside

walls are to be of hollow tile with concrete stucco finish. Once the golf course and clubhouse were ready for membership use, the

club opened (unofficially) on September 9, 1911, when a notice to that

“The building, which is to stand on a knoll near the First Green and the last, is de- effect was sent to the membership. The original guest fees for golf and/or

signed to harmonize with and become a part of the landscape. From the porches can tennis were $1 per day for men, 50¢ for women.

be had a fine view across the country and over Cold Spring and Huntington Harbors,

Huntington Bay and Long Island Sound. As the club prepared for its grand opening, the following article appeared in

the Long Islander on September 15, 1911:

“The building will depend largely for its interest on its silhouettes. On the first floor

will be a lounging room, eventually to be a sitting room, 20 feet by 30 feet; a café “There probably has been no one feature in the development of Huntington that is so

and dining room, 20 feet square; women’s locker rooms, showers and tub baths and clear an indication of the direction and extent of the growth that the last few years

toilets and similar apartments with shower baths only for men; and a serving pantry. has brought as the organization and development of the Huntington Country Club

on Cold Spring Hill.

17

“The first work on the place is practically completed now, the property has been turned flooded for ice-skating, a practice that continued sporadically through 1949.
over by the Huntington Club Company which acquired it to the directors of the coun- The club’s expenses in 1913 included a caddie man at five dollars per week,
try club, and the formal opening by the club will be held about the first of October. the greenkeeper (Lawrence Gavin) at fifty dollars per month, the driver of
the team of horses (John Herman) at forty-five dollars per month, and the
“The property occupied by the club is one of the finest in the section. It consists of 145 driver of the mowing machine (Mr. King) at fifteen dollars per week. Cad-
acres, and is valued at $75,000. die fees were twenty-five cents for nine holes, fifty cents for eighteen holes,
and twenty-five cents for shagging balls for one hour.
“The main feature of every country club is its golf course, and it was there where work Whenever the club had financial difficulties, they were met by loans from
was first begun, when the present club was planned. The course was laid out around the Bank of Huntington and at year’s end, the loans were paid off by dona-
the clubhouse, including all the ground between the house and the road, and experts tions from the members. This procedure was used successfully for many
starting at once getting the links in shape. It was only a rough field in the beginning, years from the 1910s into the 1940s. Member Addison Sammis succeeded
but the course is getting better every day and it is thought that by next season it will Douglas Conklin as president of the Bank of Huntington from 1934-1948,
be one of the finest in this section. prolonging the club’s close relationship with the bank. Dues were raised
from time to time, starting in 1914.
“Secretary of War Stimson, who is a member of the club, played over the course several
times last week and pronounced it remarkably good for the first season. A group of members bobsledding near the south side of the clubhouse.

“The tennis courts have been laid out just to the northwest of the clubhouse, and are
especially fine. The remainder of the acres will be left for the present in its natural
beauty, sloping away in all four directions. And will later be developed as the mem-
bers see fit.”

As the previous article noted, the club’s grand opening was scheduled for
about October 1. Surprisingly, after having covered the birth and early
growth of the club, the Long Islander failed to publish an article about that
special day’s happenings.

One of the earliest sports in which the members participated was clay pi-
geon shooting, which started during the winter of 1913-1914. Initially the
sport was supervised by the golf professional. Sledding on the hills of the
golf course was also very popular. Starting in 1916, the tennis courts were

18

John Herman driving the club’s team of horses.

The club joined the United States Golf Association Used Car Lot
(USGA) and Metropolitan Golf Association (MGA)
in 1914, and later on the Long Island Golf Association During the club’s early years, the parking lot next to the put-
(LIGA) in 1922 and the Women’s Metropolitan Golf As- ting green provided a colorful mix of classic automobiles.
sociation (WMGA) in 1946. Prominent among them were Walter Jennings’ lavender De-
launey Belleville with red wheels (which he purchased in
The club’s first Steward, Frank McMahon, arrived in Paris) and Frank Melville Jr.’s Rolls Royce with yellow wire
1915. He was hired at the suggestion of golf professional wheels. Also to be found were Fiats, Loziers, Stanley Steam-
Reuben Wakerley, whose wife (Eleanor) worked in the ers, Hupmobiles, Maxwells, Duryeas, Cadillacs, and, of course,
clubhouse cooking and serving food – she even scrubbed Model T Fords.
the kitchen floor every night – and needed help.
The cars were typically driven by chauffeurs, who remained at
After the United States entered World War I on April the club throughout their member’s stay. The club provided a
2, 1917, dues were waived for those in the service. The room in the basement for them.
club survived meatless Tuesdays, wheatless Wednesdays, and gasless Sun-
days. Some members came to the club by horse-drawn carriages. Officers
at an aviation camp in Commack were given the privileges of the club. Only
one member, Philip Johnston Scudder, died in service during the war.

The club suffered membership losses during the war years and at the end
of 1919, the roster listed just 138 members. Fees were lowered during the
war to encourage membership use of the club’s facilities and measures were
taken to decrease expenses.

part i: the chronological history | the first decade 19

Colonel Timothy S.Williams.
(Library of Congress)

20

chapter five

T The Foundershe September 15, 1911, edition of the Long Islander listed the thirty-seven founders near the time of the club’s opening. They were:
john w. arthur walter jennings howard c. smith
dr. l. grant baldwin charles h. jones morton b. smith
james r. kelser sydney a. smith
willard n. baylis cornelius a. mcguire w.a.w. stewart
douglas conklin w.j. matheson
roland r. conklin f.b swayne
j.b. morrell e.a. sweet
r.w. de forest d.p. morse john smithers
prof. c.b. davenport george s. nichols clarence c. varman
mrs. juliana a. ferguson john w.t. nichols t.s. williams
charles f. pray harry washburn
clinton gilbert c.a. peabody francis m. weld
august heckscher w. emlen roosevelt willis d. wood
maurice heckscher john t. robb

w.b. james

21

Devereux Emmet was listed as an honorary member and the article went on Charles H. Jones
to list the associate members at the time.
Charles Herbert Jones was born in 1877 and like his older friend Walter
The founders were soon joined by George B. Cortelyou, Henry L. Jennings, was a former member of the Oyster Bay Golf Club. He lived in
Stimson (original members), William K. Vanderbilt II, Marshall Field III, Cold Spring Harbor and on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and was a descendant
Frank Melville (and later his son, Ward Melville), Henry W. de Forest, of Major Thomas Jones.
Walter J. Hewlett, and Louis C. Tiffany. Many of them lived on the numer-
ous grand estates in the vicinity, whether Huntington was their primary or The family patriarch was born in 1665 of Irish-Welsh ancestry and fought
summer residence. (as a major) for Irish King James the Second of Ireland against the British un-
der King William the Second at the Battle of Boyne. After the Irish lost that
All very prominent people, they guided Huntington Country Club through battle, he was exiled and eventually resurfaced in the West Indies where he
infancy to thriving young adulthood, while giving the club its character and amassed a fortune as a pirate raiding French shipping in support of the Brit-
strength. Let us take a few moments to discuss their individual backgrounds. ish. Thomas Jones then moved north to Rhode Island in 1692, and thence to
Long Island. He built the first brick house on Long Island, near Massapequa,
Walter Jennings and eventually owned six thousand acres of land on Long Island. The Jones
family ultimately owned most of the land between Oyster Bay and Jones
Heading the founding group was Walter Jennings whose father, Oliver Burr Beach before the Revolution, including most of Cold Spring Harbor. Jones
Jennings, had helped stake John D. Rockefeller and became one of his part- Beach and Jones Inlet bear the family name.
ners in running Standard Oil. Oliver Burr Jennings had gone west in the
California Gold Rush and had set up a successful dry goods merchandise The Joneses were loyalists, however, and consequently lost most of their
business, outfitting prospecting camps along the coast and around Sacra- land after the war. Charles H. Jones lived on an estate called Hill House in
mento. Oliver Burr Jennings was related to the Rockefellers by marriage. Laurel Hollow and managed the family’s holdings, including several tracts
of land in the vicinity, from the time the club was formed until his death in
The civic-minded philanthropic Walter Jennings lived on an estate over- 1941. His mother is said to have owned land in every state in the Union.
looking Cold Spring Harbor named Burrwood, which was built in 1898 and Charles Herbert Jones was likely the ultimate man of leisure at the time.
named after his ancestor, former United States vice president Aaron Burr.
Walter Jennings was a director and secretary of Standard Oil Company and William J. Matheson
president of the National Fuel Gas Company. Jennings remained a member
until his death in 1933. In 1856, William John Matheson was born of Scottish-American descent
in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. When he was still a young man, his father took a

22

position in British Guyana managing a sugar plantation and William spent a Railroad tunnels joining Manhattan with New Jersey. He used that material
couple of years there, living in the tropics. When it came time for his formal to construct the Causeway connecting West Neck and Lloyd Neck.
education, his father shipped him and his brother to Scotland and they sur-
vived a shipwreck en route. After obtaining the equivalent of a high school Despite his childhood shipwreck experience, Matheson became an avid sea-
education there, William then spent two years as a free lance (non matricu- farer. He passed away in 1930 aboard his yacht while sailing from the Ba-
lated) student at Saint Andrews University, intently studying chemistry. hamas to Key Biscayne. He left behind an estate valued at one-quarter of a
billion dollars. Upon his death, his daughter Anna (Nan) and her husband
He returned to America (New York City) about 1873 to begin the commer- moved into Fort Hill.
cial career that made him a world industrial leader in applied chemistry. Ul-
timately, he ran four different companies specializing in different aspects of It is curious that, of all the men actively involved in the formation of the Hun-
chemical engineering. His knowledge was particularly useful to the United tington Country Club, only William J. Matheson served as club president.
States during World War I, and by war’s end, his company was producing
forty to fifty tons of mustard gas a day along with tear gas and other gases. Timothy Shaler Williams

Matheson purchased the Fort Hill estate (at one time a fort) in 1900, almost Familiarly known as The Colonel, Williams was a New York journalist, po-
three hundred thirty acres in the southwest corner of Lloyd Neck, with litical figure, and president of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit for ten years. He
close to a mile of waterfront on Cold Spring Harbor, including the cause- lived on a sixty-acre estate named Shorelands, located at the end of Camel
way, and half a mile frontage on Lloyd Harbor. It was his summer house and Hollow Road overlooking Cold Spring Harbor. He played a key role in the
his two yachts docked at that property. incorporation of the Village of Lloyd Harbor.

Matheson visited Florida in 1902 and fell in love with the Key Biscayne Williams was born in Ithaca, New York in 1862 and graduated from Cor-
area. He built a magnificent winter home there, overlooking Biscayne Bay. nell University in the class of 1884. He was considered a man of extraordi-
By 1908 he owned the northern two-thirds of Key Biscayne, but his dreams nary executive capacity, best witnessed in overcoming almost insuperable
of developing the island were washed away by the Great Hurricane of 1926 odds in building Brooklyn Rapid Transit.
and the Stock Market crash of 1929.
Later in life, he devoted himself to the interests of Huntington. Among the
At about this same time (1903), Matheson obtained the contract to remove many benefactors of his efforts were Huntington Hospital and the Long
the dredging materials resulting from the construction of the Pennsylvania Island Biological Association. Curiously, no source explains why he was
called Colonel.

part i: the chronological history | the founders 23

A portrait of August Heckscher. (Heckscher Museum of Art) Heckscher was born in Germany in 1848, the son of a German doctor, and
came to America with $500 following the death of his father. He went on
August Heckscher to become one of the foremost capitalists and philanthropists in the United
States. In 1925, he donated $250,000 to the Long Island State Parks Com-
August Heckscher was a real estate operator. Heckscher was involved in mission to purchase the Taylor estate in East Islip and convert it to a state
the building expansion and growth in Manhattan and Long Island. He was park that was named in his honor. He was a founding member of the club
president of a number of iron, coal and power companies, a financier, and and remained a member through 1924. His estate was in Huntington Bay.
a philanthropist. In 1919 he erected a beautiful beaux-arts fine arts building
in Huntington (now the Heckscher Museum of Art) and filled the museum Willard N. Baylis
with over 185 works, including the best American artists of the day. He
also purchased, developed, and donated to Huntington the land now called Willard Baylis was a leading figure in banking and legal circles in both Hun-
Heckscher Park. He has been called “the finest benefactor that Huntington tington and New York City and for many years was president of Heckscher
ever had.” Trust. Born in Huntington in 1862, he was interested in many philanthropic
and civic activities; his advice and aid was sought on important local projects.
He is remembered for all the legal work he did for the club, from writing
its charter and bylaws to representing the club in its dealings with the bank.

John Smithers

In 1856 John Smithers was born in Bradford, Ontario. His father was the
president of the Bank of Ontario and Smithers obtained his early business
training in that bank before moving to New York and becoming engaged
in the brokerage business. Smithers lived in Huntington for fifteen years
before his death in 1912 and was probably the first of those involved in the
formation of the club to pass away.

Douglas Conklin

Born in Huntington in 1855 and educated in the Huntington school system,
Douglas Conklin earned his law degree from Albany Law School in 1880

24

and then practiced law in Huntington successfully for ten years. He later with Standard Oil of California; and a director of Western Union Telegraph
served as president of the Bank of Huntington 1908-1934 and of the Hun- and Wells Fargo.
tington Savings & Loan Association. Conklin lived on West Neck Road.
George Taylor
Roland R. Conklin
George Taylor was a private developer who recognized the beauties and
Born in Illinois, Roland Ray Conklin had broad business interests in the future possibilities of the Huntington Bay storefront and purchased several
Midwest before coming to New York in 1893. Once there, he organized hundred acres there. The property was far from the railroad station and the
the North American Trust Company, which was the fiscal agent of United trolley lines. There he built homes for people with automobiles desirous of
States Government in Cuba. In that capacity, he helped in the development living in a quiet and beautiful section at a reasonable distance from the me-
of Cuba, being involved in that country’s banking, telephone, sugar, and tropolis. Huntington was ideal. Growth was not fast, but select.
railroad industries.
In 1897 Taylor placed a memorial – a 145-ton boulder – at a spot where the
Conklin’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all were born in Hun- beach meets the end of Vineyard Road and called the area Halesite, in honor
tington. While a resident of Huntington, Conklin lived on a two hundred- of Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale, America’s first spy who had landed
acre estate called Rosemary Farm, an English manor house that was built in nearby to begin his spying mission against the British. He later was captured
1902. His wife was an actress, so he built an amphitheater on the property, in a tavern in what is now known as Halesite a couple of miles away.
with water fountains as the curtain. Rosemary Farm was located on a bluff
overlooking the Sound off West Neck Road and was sold to the Catho- George B. Cortelyou
lic Church in 1924. Conklin is remembered for traveling in a “motor land
yacht” or “kitchenette on wheels” of his own design. Born to an old New Netherlands family and raised in Brooklyn, George
Cortelyou served as chief clerk under presidents Cleveland, McKinley,
Henry W. de Forest and Roosevelt. The latter charged Cortelyou with transforming the White
House into a more professional organization. Cortelyou developed the first
Henry Wheeler de Forest was a member of the law firm de Forest & Weeks procedures and rules that guided White House protocol and established a
and a member of its successor de Forest Brothers until 1932. He was a line of communication between the president’s office and the press.
trustee (with Elihu Root) of the majority of the capital stock of the Equi-
table Life Assurance Society and was involved in mutualizing the Equitable Under Roosevelt, Cortelyou served as the first secretary of commerce and
and Metropolitan Life. He was a director and officer of the Southern Pacific labor, as postmaster general, and as secretary of the treasury. In the latter
Railway; chairman of the Pacific Oil Company and involved in its merger role, Cortelyou created the solution for the devastating economic Panic of

part i: the chronological history | the founders 25

Guard for sixteen years, he was well known for his work in the develop-
ment and reorganization of railroads and telegraph and cable companies, es-
pecially in Mexico, Central and South America, and eventually was director
of IT&T. Throughout his life, he was fond of yachting and riding.

Henry L. Stimson

Henry Lewis Stimson was born to a wealthy New York family and, after
earning his degree from Yale, graduated from Harvard Law School and
joined a prestigious Wall Street law firm. Stimson was appointed secretary
of war in 1911 under president William Howard Taft and worked on the
reorganization of the Army in which he served as an artillery officer
during WWI.

George Cotelyou, who held three different cabinet positions. Henry Stimson, secretary
(Library of Congress) of war under three
presidents and the first
1907. At the end of the Roosevelt administration, Cortelyou returned to member known to have
private enterprise as president of Consolidated Gas Company, later known played the golf course.
as New York Edison Company. (Library of Congress)

W. Emlen Roosevelt

William Emlen Roosevelt was Teddy Roosevelt’s cousin, boyhood com-
panion in Oyster Bay, and financial adviser before, during, and after his
presidency. Emlen was a prominent New York City banker, following the
example of his father, James Alfred Roosevelt, and held a wide range of
positions in numerous financial organizations. An officer of the National

26

Between wars, Stimson served as governor-general of the Philippines, Marshall Field, as
where he opposed Filipino independence. From 1929 to 1933, he served he looked in his
as secretary of state under president Herbert Hoover. In 1940, president early twenties.
Franklin D. Roosevelt returned Stimson, at the age of seventy-three, to (Caumsett Foundation
his old post at the head of the war department. Stimson was chosen for his History Committee)
aggressive stance against Nazi Germany and was responsible for the Army
and Air Force. He managed the conscription and training of twelve million Marshall Field III
soldiers and airmen, the purchase and transportation to battlefields of thirty
percent of the nation’s industrial output, and the building of the atomic Marshall Field III was born in Chicago in 1893, heir to the Marshall Field
bomb (and was involved in the decision to use it). department store fortune. When he was twelve, two tragedies struck that
changed his life. His father died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and then
William K. Vanderbilt II two months later his grandfather died of pneumonia. Field was educated at
Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge, and returned to America when he
William Kissam Vanderbilt II was a motor racing enthusiast and yachtsman was twenty-one. In World War I, he served as a field artillery captain in
and born to a life of luxury. He was raised in Vanderbilt mansions through- France and was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action.
out the world. While a great part of his life was filled with travel and leisure
activities, Vanderbilt’s father put him to work at the family’s New York One of the world’s richest men during his lifetime, Field enjoyed hunting
Central Railroad offices at Grand Central Station in Manhattan. and yachting. In 1941 he founded the Chicago Sun, which merged in 1948

Vanderbilt became fascinated with automobiles at a young age. Soon, he
infuriated the public by speeding through the streets of Long Island. In 1904
he launched the Vanderbilt Cup, an international race held over a course
that included Nassau County’s major roads. The race had crowd control
problems and a spectator was killed during the 1906 race. To resolve the
safety issue, Vanderbilt built the Motor Parkway, one of the country’s first
modern paved parkways (toll roads) that could not only be used for the race
but also for casual Sunday afternoon drives. The Parkway extended from
the Fresh Meadow section of Queens to Lake Ronkonkoma, a distance of
forty-eight miles, and although unprofitable, remained open until 1938.

part i: the chronological history | the founders 27

with the Chicago Daily Times to become the Chicago Sun-Times. Field went on into a small but thriving chain known as the Melville Shoe Company. Ward
to become one of Chicago’s most philanthropic citizens, especially where attended college at Columbia University, then joined his father’s company
children were concerned. and was named vice president in 1916. He served as a soldier in the U.S.
Army during World War I. He eventually took control of his father’s com-
In 1922 Field purchased 1,750 acres of land on Lloyd Neck, overlooking pany (in 1922) and helped devise a method of mass producing shoes and dis-
the Sound. The land was formerly home to the Matinecock Indians so Field tributing them to the company’s chain of stores. He introduced the Thom
named the property Caumsett, meaning place by a sharp rock. He engaged McAn’s shoe line, which he named after the Scottish golfer Thomas Mc-
John Russell Pope to build a fifty-room mansion and built a pier (lit by Cann. He ran the company for nearly half a century and served as chairman
colorful Japanese lanterns), where friends could dock their yachts, and an of the board until the day he died, in 1977, at the age of ninety.
oval emerald-green swimming pool. Caumsett was a self-sufficient village,
complete with a dairy farm and a polo field. Fred Astaire once danced there Ward Melville was the sixty-sixth president of the Saint Andrew’s Society
to the music of Meyer Davis. of the State of New York from 1948 to 1949. As a member of the school
board in Setauket, Melville donated the land for the high school, which was
Field was a member of the club from 1921 until his death in 1956. named after him. Melville also donated the land that would become the
State University of New York at Stony Brook. The main library at Stony
Frank Harvey Field Brook University was named for his father.

Frank Harvey Field (not related to Marshall Field) was a highly esteemed law- Theron Sammis
yer and summer resident of Huntington. Although his home was in Brook-
lyn, he was an active member and officer of the Huntington Association. Theron Sammis was a lifelong resident of Huntington. He graduated from
Huntington High School in 1900, Princeton University in 1904, and New
Field was born and educated in Chicago, a descendent of the Field clan that York University Law School. He was prominent in Suffolk County as an
settled in Northfield, Massachusetts in early colonial days. He came to New attorney specializing in surrogate county cases. Writing at the time of his
York to study at the Columbia School of Law. death, the Princeton Alumni Weekly commented, “Evidently he did not
lose his innate sweetness of character as he grew older; he was always the
Frank and Ward Melville same high-type gentle, manly person that we knew in college. His quiet
sense of humor and keen perception, combined with his kindly spirit, made
John Ward Melville, born in Brooklyn in 1887, was an American philan- him a counselor and friend difficult to match … a keen golfer of marked
thropist and businessman. He was the son of Frank Melville, Jr., a shoe job- ability, who always seemed to enjoy our class tournaments.”
ber who, in 1892, took over his employer’s three stores and parlayed them

28

Louis C.Tiffany. used all his skills in the design of his own house, the eighty-four-room Lau-
(Library of Congress) relton Hall in Oyster Bay, which was completed in 1905. His most notable
design (in 1881) was the opalescent floor-to-ceiling glass screen commis-
Louis C. Tiffany sioned for the White House by president Chester A. Arthur.

Louis Comfort Tiffany, an early member of the club from 1910 to 1914, Although Mrs. Tiffany has often been listed as an early member of the club,
was an American painter and designer known for his work in stained glass both Mrs. Tiffanys were deceased by 1904. Perhaps the reference is to Lou-
windows and lamps, glass mosaics, blown glass, ceramics, and jewelry. He ise Comfort Tiffany, his daughter born in 1887.
was the son of Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany and Company. He
Juliana Armour Ferguson
part i: the chronological history | the founders
The group of founding members included one woman, Juliana Armour
Ferguson, a widow who remained a member until her death in 1921. She
was the owner of the Monastery, located on East Shore Road overlooking
Huntington Harbor. It was a multi-million dollar mansion containing forty
rooms and six baths. Also known as Ferguson Castle, it was built like a
medieval castle, with heavy walls some three feet thick and details straight
from the Mediterranean. The house was built in 1908 for Mrs. Ferguson
and used in 1916 as one location for the filming of the original silent version
of Romeo and Juliet.

Mrs. Ferguson is remembered locally as somewhat of a character and a
woman whose life centered on her seven children. She allowed them to
push the furniture aside and convert the great hall of the mansion into a
roller skating rink! When one of her sons died in combat during World
War I, she had a wax dummy made in his likeness and would come down
the stairs each night in her long, flowing white gown to dine with her dead
son’s likeness. While the house was being torn down, many people driving
by at night said they saw a figure in white, floating among the ruins.

29

An aerial photograph showing the Everitt House
adjacent to the club entrance and parts of the fifth, sixth, seventh,
and eighth holes as they looked in the 1920s. (Huntington Historical Society)

chapter six

The Original Golf Courselthough it follows almost the same routing through the

land, the golf course today is, in fact, quite different from

A the original conception of architect Devereux Emmet.
The second hole played at 236 yards par four from a tee to the west of the
first green, reached by walking through a line of trees in the apple orchard.
The hole probably had a modest curve to the left and played to the present

The course originally started at the present seventh hole, and consequently second green.

did not return to the clubhouse after nine holes. The present routing was

adopted in 1929 when Emmet, his son (Devereux Emmet, Jr.), and his con- When the first two holes were deemed too short for modern play, the first

struction partner (Alfred Tull) visited – Emmet himself for at least the third green was placed at its present location, with the second tee just to its left.

time. This rerouting gave the club two nines that started and ended at the This was done before 1923.

clubhouse. Even more, the holes on the front nine formed three triangles,

each starting and ending at the clubhouse, giving the club unusual flexibility The original third hole, a 183-yard par three, played easterly (over what

to prevent course congestion. is now the parking lot for the tennis and platform tennis courts) to a green

near the road to the courts. The green was moved north in 1929, bringing

What follows is a description of each hole as it looked following the rerout- its sentinel tree into play. It played at 185 yards in its new location.

ing. The major diversion of the present course from the footprint of the

original course comes in the first two holes. The fourth hole was a short par four of 278 yards playing straight ahead to

today’s left green. The large bunker in front of the green was the primary

The first hole originally started from a tee ahead of the current one and was challenge on the hole. A caddie house was built in 1913 in the woods to the

a sharp dogleg left around the tennis courts (now the site for the skating right of this hole. When the first three holes were rearranged, the fourth tee

rink) to a green just north of the present fourth tee, at the north side of an was moved back, and the hole played at 310 yards.

orchard of apple trees. The hole played initially at just 227 yards, par four.

31

The original fifth hole was a par four of 301 yards played to a green at the The seventh hole is Huntington’s reincarnation of St. Andrews’ Road Hole,
end of the current fairway, tucked in the corner near the club’s entrance. but it was not always so. The original hole was a 521-yard par five along
The present frontal bunker once extended further to the right and fronted the same right-of-way. A row of trees once extended across what was to
the original green, extend-
ing twenty yards out into the become the fairway. One of
fairway, giving the original these was left in play, actu-
hole the same playing char- ally in the fairway, but was
acteristics as today’s hole. cut down in 1915.
The “church pews” bunkers
on the left side of the fair- In the winter of 1920 Hun-
way, extending from 115 to tington’s golf professional,
160 yards from the green, Reuben Wakerley, visited
were part of Emmet’s design St. Andrews and took de-
but never were a significant tailed measurements of the
factor on the adjacent sixth Scottish club’s famous sev-
hole. The green was moved enteenth hole. After Wak-
to the left in 1929, possibly erley returned to Long Is-
to lessen the danger of an land, Devereux Emmet was
approach shot crashing into called in and the seventh
oncoming traffic on Route green was rebuilt to simu-
25A. The yardage had been late conditions at St. An-
increased to 345 by 1923. drews. The green is long,
curving around the deep
The sixth hole, originally the The 1923 scorecard. bunker at its left front,
finishing hole, was a close which is similar to, al-
facsimile of today’s hole with one notable difference. There was a wide though not as deep as, the
spreading oak that snatched many a drive and blocked some second shots, Road Bunker at St. Andrews. Taking the place of the road behind the green
sitting just off the right side of the fairway on this 430-yard par five (that is at St. Andrews is a long bunker, which is what American architects typically
now a par four). That tree fell during a windstorm in 1969. The green was used when building a road hole. Perhaps the most famous example of an
situated, then as now, at the south side of the clubhouse. American road hole is the seventh hole at Charles Blair Macdonald’s Na-
tional Golf Links in Southampton, where the road bunker is possibly more
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how the course changed severe than the original. Huntington’s seventh hole
1910 - 1929 has been called “the finest road hole designed in the
Golden Age.”

Hole 1910 1922 1929 The eighth hole originally was a par four with its
As now green back in the corner of the property, behind the
1. Tee in front, hard dogleg left As now ninth tee. The green was moved forward in the early
As now 1920s, shortening the hole to play at 345 yards, and
2. Tee west of first green, slight curve to left As now the green was built up with two tiers and practically
Tee moved back surrounded with bunkers.
3. More easterly, in parking lot Tee moved back

4. Used left green

5. Only 301 yards; green in corner
near club entrance

6. As now The original ninth hole was a par four of 255 yards,
the green near the top of the property line now bor-
7. As now Road Hole green complex created dering the parking lot, which at the time was a cow
pasture. There were cross bunkers situated to catch
8. Longer, green behind ninth tee Green moved forward, As now only bad tee shots, with lots of room to their left a
target for weaker players. The cows often visited and
9. 255-yard par 4 As now damaged the ninth green and fairway. The present
ninth hole was built by Robert Trent Jones in 1955,
10. Green in front of fairway Tee moved back 10 & 11 combined when the parking lot was built, and has been recog-
bunker at top of hill As now nized as being very faithful to the Emmet design style.

11. Par 3 to present 10th green Current 11th hole created The tenth was originally conceived as a par four of
331 yards to a green just in front of the current cross
12. 193-yard par 3 Right-dogleg par 4 to Current 12th hole created bunker that precedes the falloff to the current green.
green near 12th tee By 1923 the tee had been moved back near the flag-
pole and the hole played at 365 yards. There was a
13. Right dogleg, tee near present 12th tee Tee moved, As now bee-shaped bunker 120 yards off the tee.

14. 506-yard par 5, with green short of 400-yard par 4 with Current 14th hole created
present 15th green green at foot of hill on
right side of fairway


15. 306-yard hole into the meadow 300-yard par 4 up and As now
behind present 15th green over the hill to the

16. Possibly right dogleg As now

17. Green left of present green Green moved 1968

18. As now

part i: the chronological history | the original golf course 33

In the course’s original conception, the eleventh hole was a par three of 150 fourteenth hole into two par fours of four hundred and three hundred yards,
yards playing from a tee to the left of the tenth green down to the present respectively. That plan was not implemented at the time but by 1923, the
tenth green, in what had been a sand excavation pit. These two holes were fourteenth hole had indeed been split into two holes and the original fif-
combined into the present tenth hole in 1929. teenth hole abandoned.

The original twelfth hole was a par three of 193 yards that had been replaced The fourteenth hole of 1923 was a par four of four hundred yards. The tee
by a par four of 285 yards in 1923. That hole played from a tee behind the was ahead of the present tee, and the green was in a bowl in the right rough
current tenth green and was a right dogleg to a green near the original thir- of the current fifteenth hole, at the foot of cardiac hill. A par three hole
teenth tee. measuring 233 yards replaced this hole in 1929 and featured a series of strip
sand bunkers that had to be carried on the tee shot, which provided a chal-
In the beginning, the thirteenth tee was next to the twelfth green, northeast lenge for all and an annoyance for the ladies.
of the present twelfth tee. The hole was a right dogleg playing at 414 yards
downhill through a clearing in the woods, with the green (the same one as The fifteenth hole in 1923 was a short par four of three hundred yards, with
used today) invisible from the tee. Not every one could hit their tee shot long its tee in the middle of the present fifteenth fairway, east of the old four-
enough to reach the corner of the dogleg and so, in 1929, the thirteenth tee teenth green. The hole played straight up the hill to the present green. The
moved to its present location, eliminating the dogleg but adding to the hole’s tee shot had to navigate a series of six difficult bunkers on the slope of the
aesthetics. At this time the twelfth hole’s dogleg was eliminated, the hole hill. When the fourteenth hole was converted to a par three in 1929, the
became today’s eleventh, and the present par three twelfth hole was built. fifteenth tee was moved back to its present location near Huntington Road
and the hole played as a par five of 474 yards.
On the original course the fourteenth hole was a par five of 506 yards play-
ing up and over “cardiac hill” and the three-deep cross bunkering thereon The sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth holes, all par fours, have
to a green short of the present location. The fifteenth was a short par four changed very little over the years. The original 16th played at 408 yards,
of 306 yards into what was then an open meadow between the present fif- the seventeenth was 413 yards, and the eighteenth 341 yards. The only dif-
teenth and seventeenth greens. This presents the possibility, undocumented ference came on the seventeenth where the original green was to the left of
as it is, that the original sixteenth hole was a right dogleg with the large the present one, near the 18th tee, and at the end of the driving range. The
bunker, now at the left of the fairway, challenging the golfer on the tee to hole had a slight curve to the left. The eighteenth hole was lengthened to
carefully place his drive. 420 yards by 1923.

A plan was presented in 1915 that would have combined the eighth and The course originally played at a short 5,759 yards but was lengthened to
ninth holes into a par five of 511 yards while at the same time splitting the play at 6,265 yards par 71 by 1923. The early course had few trees, an open

34

meadow with a few hardwood oaks, and was very open to the wind. The Emmet designed his first Devereux Emmet, architect
rough and the wide fairways blended and native grasses and fescue defined course, the nine-hole of our golf course.
the lines of play. Island Golf Links (a fore-
runner to Garden City
A nine-hole putting “clock” (green) was added in 1914 and fifteen years Golf Club) in 1897-1898.
later, was recognized as the forerunner of the numerous miniature golf His other early design
courses that sprung up around Huntington. work, which included
one on his own family’s
Devereux Emmet estates (Sherewogue in
St. James) and another
Devereux Emmet was born in 1862. He was the son of a judge at Cherry Valley (built
and a descendant of Thomas Addison Emmet, a founder of Tam- on property belonging to
many Hall. The Emmet family was listed in Ward McAllister’s his father-in-law), was
First Forty Families in America. Devereux and prominent ar- done at no charge. Later
chitect Stanford White married sisters who were nieces of he became a profession-
financier Alexander T. Stewart. Stewart was the creator of al golf course architect
Garden City. and accepted fees for
his work.
Emmet was a huntsman and a talented golfer who reached the
quarterfinals of the 1904 British Amateur and won the Baha- In fact, Emmet became
mas Amateur at the age of sixty-six. For two decades he rou- the most prolific architect of his time in the New York met-
tinely bought hunting dogs in the South in the spring, trained ropolitan area. His courses include Glen Head (formerly
them on Long Island through the summer, sold them in Ireland Women’s National), Huntington Crescent, Rockville Links,
in the autumn, and spent the winter hunting and golfing in the Seawane, and St. George’s, as well as the U.S. Open course at
British Isles. One such winter in the early 1900s was spent Congressional Country Club near Washington, D.C.
measuring British golf holes for his friend C.B. Macdonald,
who was then planning The National Golf Links of America in Devereux Emmet died in 1934.
Southampton, of which Emmet was a founding member.

part i: the chronological history | the original golf course 35

The east porch of the original clubhouse.
36

chapter seven

TThe Original Clubhousehe Brooklyn Daily Eagle carried the following article about the new clubhouse, which was reprinted in
the Long Islander on September 15, 1911:

“At the highest point where a magnificent view is afforded in all directions, the clubhouse has been
erected. It is a modest structure, but adequate to the present needs of the club, and is built for com-
fort and convenience. It is of reinforced concrete, surrounded on the front and each side with a wide
piazza, with heavy concrete pillars. Inside there are only a few rooms, but everything is arranged in
a most comfortable manner.

“The main lounging room, directly off the piazza, occupies all of the main wing of the building.
The woodwork is dark weathered oak and the furniture is of the same material, upholstered in a
dark leather.

“At one end of the room is a big fireplace, around which the golf experts may gather to tell of remark-
able putts and drives. At the other end of the building is the dining room, separated from the main
room by the kitchen. This room also is furnished in weathered oak, and also contains a fireplace. Be-
hind the dining room is the locker room, commodious and equipped with every modern convenience,
and opening from this is the dressing room, containing shower baths and the servants’ quarters.”

37

This report is not completely accurate – the kitchen and servants’ quarters around in the roadway, which now leads down to the winter club and rac-
were in the basement, rather than on the first floor, and there was a pantry quets courts.
between the main room and the dining room.
There was no terrace beyond the columns on the east porch and there was
The south face of the original building was where the entrance hall is now a lounge/reading room on the east end of the south façade and a smaller
and contained a narrow brick-floored dining porch, faced with glass, with dining area at the north end of that façade. The latter was connected to the
french doors exiting towards the present seventh tee, which at the time was men’s locker room.
the first tee. Outside the doors (and surrounding a flagpole) was a turn-

The lounge at the southeastern end of the original clubhouse. The southwestern end of the original clubhouse, formerly the trophy room.
38

The large men’s locker room extended The men’s locker room in the original clubhouse.
north from behind what is now the trophy 39
room to the inside wall of Ray’s Room,
an area now occupied by the ladies locker
room. The men’s lockers were made of oak
and were full length, with screens and brass
nameplates. The ladies locker room was
smaller than the men’s, with twenty full-
sized lockers and two showers.

For the first twelve years the Wakerleys
had a room with bathroom in the base-
ment, adjacent to and north of the pro shop
and opposite a large room set aside for the
members’ chauffeurs (which later on be-
came a bedroom). There were three other
bedrooms in the basement for other club
workers and there was a dining room for
all residents of the basement, located to the
south of the pro shop.

During these early years the clubhouse was
open for some winters, but not every winter.

part i: the chronological history | the original clubhouse

A penny postcard of the clubhouse as seen from the fourth fairway.
40