Footnotes to Long Island History
by
Thomas R. Bayles
Navy
UPTON SERIES – Thomas R. Bayles, who writes
“Footnotes to Long Island History” for The Long Island Advance, has
heard from a reader regarding his current series on the construction
of Camp Upton. He was called by Mrs. James Scott, 86, and still
active, who said she well remembered that twentieth of June in 1917,
when the first engineers came to look over the site for Camp Upton.
She and her neighbor down the
street had to prepare dinner for the 18 men, and in those days there
was no fresh meat available in Yaphank, so she had to kill chickens
they had for the meat course. This she had never done before, but
getting a sharp axe, she cut their heads off and dressed them and
saved the day for a fine dinner for the engineers.
She said she used to chaperone the
girls who went from Yaphank to the dances at the camp and to other
activities.
“So these stories bring back
memories from people who were active in those colorful years when
Yaphank was an important suburb of Camp Upton,” Mr. Bayles said.