Gaslight & Gingerbread A photographic recollection of old Sea Cliff by Charles E. Ransom

business buildings, churches,fire department, hotels,introduction, private residences, recreation,scenic, schools, sports,shore,transportation

Introduction to the first version of
"GasLight & GingerBread"


Under the driveway on the west side of Schoelles' drug store is a large vault. It was built to manufacture ice for use in the production of Schoelles' ice cream, well known in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Here "Doc" Schoelles is holding the first cake of ice, manufactured in 1907.


Many old-timers will recognize the writer with his racer. The car was totally wrecked when two horsemen completely blocked Prospect Avenue near Locust and the driver was forced to crash into the gutter to avoid hitting one of the houses.


In 1904 our local Good of the Village Association was host to a convention of the Long Island Federation of Women's Clubs which was held in the chapel of the Methodist Church. Older residents may recognize most of the young ladies who acted as hostesses.

The Sea Cliff Band was also known as the Excelsior. It is shown here next to the Enterprise Hose Co. For many years this organization performed for the public in bandstands which hsd been erected in Pirie Park, Central Park, and Roslyn Park.

 No attempt has been made to include in this book any reference to the early colonial history of the region now known as the Incorporated Village of Sea Cliff. The printed records of the Town of Oyster Bay, numerous histories, and the brochure issued in connection with the Diamond Jubilee in 1958 give a comprehensive history of the territory included in the Musketo Cove and Littleworth Patents.

The Musketo Cove Patent issued to James Carpenter in 1677 included that portion of the present Village of Sea Cliff between the Glen Cove city line and Littleworth Lane and between Hempstead Harbor and Main Avenue. The proprietors of Musketo Cove claimed that Littleworth was included in the original grant to Carpenter. Later it was learned that the Indians, through a lack of territorial knowledge or disregard of a previous bargain, sold to Richard Kirby, Jacob Brookin, George Downing, and Robert Godfree a considerable portion of the south west area. This section lay south of present Littleworth Lane and included the northern part of present Glenwood Landing, then known as Duck Cove.

The modern history commences with the epidemic of camp prayer meetings which swept the eastern part of the United States immediately after the Civil War. A local newspaper carried a lengthy article about such a camp meeting having been held in Glen Cove in 1865. As a result of such meetings, a group of men from Manhattan and Brooklyn organized the Metropolitan Camp Ground Association, and in 1871 purchased 240 acres of land from the decendants of James Carpenter. The property was bounded on the west by the Harbor, on the east by Main Avenue, on the north by the present Glen Cove city line, and on the south by Littleworth Lane as far west as Glenlawn Avenue. And continued west in a straight line to the Harbor.

The Association spent $270,000 to build a Tabernacle, an Old Ladies' Home, a Chapel for the clergy, a steamboat dock, a boardwalk, and water works. It also erected tents in which the worshipers lived. The many narrow streets that are found in the older part of the Village were originally the lanes between the rows of tents.