Wolver Hollow Dutch Reformed ChurchYou can find this map to the church at Yahoo maps. I’ve added some red marks to make things easier to find:
On this map, you see the North Hempstead Turnpike cut across the map from east to west, Route 25a. That parallels Route 25, and you should find it on any decent map of the area. Wolver Hollow Road cuts north-south across the turnpike, toward the west side of the map. Just a notch below 25a, Brookville Road comes up diagonally from the east and hits Wolver Hollow Road. That intersection is where the church stands. (See the red cross on the map.) From the township signs standing within sight of the church, it literally is at the intersection of Upper Brookville, Brookville and Muttontown. Traveling 25a in either direction, there are fairly clear signs at Wolver Hollow Road that tell you to turn there to find the church.
“The Oyster Bay Dutch Reformed Church, founded in 1732, has occupied a Building on this site since April 25, 1734. The first Church was razed in 1832. The second Church, built and dedicated in 1833, was burned on Jan. 27, 1924.”
(Pictures by Doug Bradley, July 2002) From The Bogart Family: Tunis Gysbert Bogaert and His Descendants. compiled by John Albert Bogart, entered Library of Congress 1959, privately printed by Haddon Craftsmen Inc., Scranton, Pennsylvania: On March 14, 1752, Isaac Bogart, pioneer of the Oyster Bay Branch, purchased from William Wright and his son Caleb, a tract of land at East Woods, now Syosset, near Woodbury in Oyster Bay Township. This property was designated as “All that land—lying on the west side of the highway leading up the Mill River hollow up to Norrige (Norwich)—on the southerly part bounded by John Van Zant’s land, and partly Jeronamus Bennit’s land, and partly by Simonson’s land, on the northerly part of John Cock’s land, William Moyles, Zebulon Dickinson, Morgan and others.” I’m not sure exactly where this property was. At the top of the map, you’ll see a green area called the Mill River Club. From the east side of that a red line works its way down to Route 25a. This line is Mill River Road. Isaac Bogart owned land west of that road, assuming it’s the same highway. (Note that Isaac himself and his son were involved in petitioning for a change in the highway’s location. It has moved around a bit over the years.) But the deed describes his land in the area of the road leading “up” to Norwich (you’ll see East Norwich on your map, and from that you can imagine where Norwich is, right about where Mill River Road hits the turnpike). I take that to mean that his land was south of Norwich, south of Route 25a, in what is now a nature preserve. Did the highway continue south of where it ends today? I called some fellow at the nature preserve, who said they don’t have any old Dutch houses in the preserve; he also said the road ends at Route 25a. Who knows? Local records should help clarify things, though. One last note: Right at the northwest corner of North Hempstead Turnpike and Wolver Hollow Road is a little cemetery (see red arrow on map). Actually, there’s a police station on the corner, but the cemetery wraps around it. The cemetery’s driveway comes out on the turnpike just a tiny bit west of Wolver Hollow Road. I went up into the cemetery and couldn’t find any Bogarts, but I’d be surprised if they’re not there. There are many old family plots from that period. If you could find someone who has records of who’s buried where, I bet they would find Bogarts in the guest register. Special thanks to Jeff Thielen for helping me find the church. He also sent me this site about the church and local history: http://www.lihistory.com/3/hs303a.htm |
