The Willows Research Resurrected

Was the Patchogue home of Elizabeth Oakes Smith and Seba Smith, which they purchased and renovated in the late 1850’s, the same Hart’s Tavern visited by George Washington and later, Thomas Jefferson a century earlier? This is a question that I’ve had for over a decade. My instinct has always pointed me in the direction of believing the two buildings were one in the same. However, I’ve been unable to locate an actual picture of The Willows. The house burnt down in the early 1900’s. 

Recently I met with members of the Friends of Lakeview Cemeteries and the local historic society, who share my belief based on extensive deed research. The logical next step was to examine the ground where a foundation, or multiple foundations, may have been at the front of what is now Lakeview Cemetery, (next to the Patchogue YMCA). Side note: Elizabeth Oakes Smith supported the beginning of the YMCA in NYC, to help disadvantaged youth. She and her husband Seba, a popular political humorist during Andrew Jackson’s presidency, are buried just feet away from the supposed location of The Willows. 

Meanwhile, Mary Oaksmith Nichols, a descendant of Elizabeth and Seba, generously shared two images with me of a house before and after a fire, which according to family legend, is The Willows. But Alas! Tis not. 

Author Jon White, who is writing a book about the life of Appleton Oaksmith, clarified that the image depicts Appleton Oaksmith’s NC home called Hollywood, which is also no longer standing. This house image is actually part of a collection of Oaksmith’s papers kept at the North Carolina State archives.(1)

While I was thinking I had finally found The Willows, I took the images to my friend Bert Seides, a retired architect and long-time President of the Ketcham Inn Foundation in Center Moriches, NY, who created a rough sketch of the structure  based on evidence in the pictures. 

Images of a home that was believed to be The Willows from the Oaksmith Family records, showing before and after a fire. However, it is actually another family home: Hollywood, the North Carolina property of Appleton Oaksmith, where EOS spent the last few years of her life. (Courtesy of Mary Oaksmith Nichols)

Rough sketch based on images, created by Bert Seides. 

It turns out that we are back to the drawing board then for discovering an image of The Willows.

Progress in Determining the Age of The Willows

Meanwhile, this past October, after months of research conducted by members of the Friends of Lakeview Cemeteries, with help from the Greater Patchogue Historical Society, radar technology was used to determine the location of a house foundation that could be The Willows. 

If permission is obtained, this effort could lead to an archeological dig to determine if Hart’s Tavern and The Willows were the same building. Stay tuned. 

Evidence of something detected by radar is marked by pink flags today at the front of Lakeview Cemetery, Patchogue Village, NY.

For more information and to support the effort to preserve Lakeview Cemeteries, visit their Facebook page.

Footnotes:

1- Scrapbook PC.1848.1, Frank Currier Salisbury Collection, North Carolina State Archives.