Building Address: east end of Beaver Dam Road (P.O. Box 167)
Section / Block / Lot:
Surveyor’s Name: Jayme Breschard
Survey Date: June 2, 2004
Building Type: recreation
Owner’s Name: Brookhaven Village Association
Building Name:
Date of Construction: ca. 1900
Architect:
Building Dimensions: Squassux Landing contains fourteen acres. The gazebo measures twelve feet long by eight feet wide.
No. of Floors: 1
Decorative Features: exposed roof rafters, squared post supports, and an open rail
Siding Material(s):
Roof Style: hipped
Roofing Material(s): asphalt shingles, plain
Foundation: none
Window Style(s):
No. of Entrances and Placement:
Chimneys and Placement:
Condition: excellent
Architectural Integrity: This gazebo may be the original structure displayed in the ca. 1900 postcard. Roofing material and structural supports were likely replaced through the years. The current gazebo may also be a reconstruction.
Architectural Style: vernacular
Description:
Squassux Landing is a small marina located at the eastern end of Beaver Dam Road. A bulkhead at the end of the road provides public access to fishing and crabbing. The area for boat landing and dockage, privately owned and maintained by the Brookhaven Village Association, is accessed by a gravel drive extending south from Beaver Dam Road. The marina is bordered on the east by the Carmans River, which flows south into the Great South Bay, and on the west by the Newey-Tooker-Starke Boatyard. The Carmans (Connecticut) River is a New York State Protected River and is bordered on the east by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge. About forty narrow docks, on locust posts, sit along the river’s embankment at Squassux Landing. There are also two narrow canals to the west of the Carmans River used for docking.
The gazebo is to the east of the vehicle entrance from Beaver Dam Road. It overlooks the Carmans River.
Historical Information:
Legend has it that Squassux Landing was named for Native American potter, Wesssquassucks, who kept his pottery kiln in the area. Squassux Landing has also been called Squassacks Landing.
Fishermen, sailors, and haulers have used Squassux Landing since the early eighteenth-century. Around the 1770s, the inlet at the end of Carmans River was opened. Thus, with a direct opening to the Atlantic Ocean, Carmans River was much deeper. Although the inlet closed sixty-five years later in 1837, Squassux Landing remained a natural landing place at the end of the Carmans River.
James Post, local benefactor, acquired the land in 1945 and gave it to the Brookhaven Village Association for the use and enjoyment of local residents.
Source:
Bigelow, Stephanie S. Bellport and Brookhaven: A Saga of the Sibling Hamlets at Old Purchase South. Bellport, NY: Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society, 1968.
Deitz, John B. 2000 – 2004. Brookhaven, New York; available from http://brookhavensouthhaven.org/history/HistoricSitesInventory.htm ; Internet; accessed 12 July 2004.
Gottfried, Herbert and Jan Jennings. American Vernacular Design, 1870-1940. New York: Van Norstrand Reinhold, 1985.
Williams, Ellen. “Squassux Landing.” Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities: New York State Building-Structure Inventory Form, 16 August 1982.