Footnotes to Long Island History
Cordwood Industry
Once Flourished Here
1/8/48
by
Thomas R. Bayles
Caption:
Emma Southard with Capt. Daniel Davis of Mount Sinai loading wood at
Miller’s Place about 1890.
For nearly
a century prior to 1900 the cutting and shipping of cordwood was an
important industry in the middle part of the Island from Lake Grove to
Middle Island and the Ridge, and on the north side from Stony Brook to
Wading River. It brought in thousands of dollars annually to the
farmers throughout this section.
The wood was cut
mostly during the winter months, and in the late fall months a good many
Negroes from Bay Shore and Amityville drifted down to the wood cutting
areas, carrying their housekeeping equipment with them. There was
plenty of work for them, and the price for cutting wood in those days
was 50 to 60 cents a cord. The men lived in shacks on the farms and in
some cases built rude buts in the woods to live in for the winter.
When we take into
consideration the large number of farmers who were engaged in the wood
business it will be seen that this was a major industry in this part of
Long Island during the last century.
A great many men and
teams were marched in carting the wood to the north side of the island
where it was piled in long piles alongside of the old landing roads that
led down to the beach. Great piles were also made in the docks at Stony
Brook, Setauket and Port Jefferson. There were landing at Millers
Place, Hallock’s Landing at Rocky Point, Woodville Landing (Shoreham)
and Wading River.
During the open
season a number of sloops and schooners were engaged in carrying the
wood from the various landing to New York, and also up the Hudson to
Haverstraw where it was used in the brick yards. These boats would “lay
on” as thy called it, that is, come as close to the beach as possible
and lay side to the beach just after the flood tide. The men with teams
would haul the wood from the piles above the beach down to the boats
where it was thrown aboard. The men had to work fast in order to get
the wood loaded before the tide rose again, as the boat would have to be
ready to sail at high tide. Sometimes several boats would be loading at
one time which made a scene of great activity on the beach. Often the
work ran late into the night by the aid of lantern light, and many times
the men would be called out in the middle of the night to go and “load
sloop” so as to take advantage of the tide. Where the wood was loaded
from the docks of course it was a more simple matter.
The larger boats
carried 50 to 60 cords of wood and the smaller ones 15 to 20 cords. It
took from three to five days to make a trip up the Sound and through
Hell Gate around New York and up the Hudson to Haverstraw, although
Capt. Jake Mott of Middle Island made five round trips in a month once
which was a record.
Cordwood cutting is
almost a lost art these days and there are few men except some of the
old timers who can put up a cord of wood in good shape. Among the few
remaining men who were active in the wood business in the latter part of
the past century is Lewis E. Ritch of Middle Island. Although
seventy-seven years of age, he still cuts several cords of wood every
winter on his farm and sells it form his home. His piles of wood are a
master piece of wood cutting, and probably there is no man living in
this vicinity who can come up to him in this respect.
The scene has
changed, and the cord wood business which made such a colorful industry
for so many years, has passed from the picture. No longer do we see the
teams that used to travel the country roads with loads of wood, nor the
sloops that carried the wood up the Sound from the landing beaches and
docks. All that is left to remind the present generation of an industry
that provided profitable employment for a large number of local people
are the old landing roads leading down to the beaches.