04/08/2019
NEWSDAY
Long Island - Suffolk
ICONIC CARRIAGE HOUSE RESTORED AT 18th CENTURY SETAUKET CHURCH
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The seven bay shed was originally constructed by seven church parishioners who, on Sundays, parked their horses there before going inside the church for worship.
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By Deon J. Hampton [email protected] , January 29, 2019, 6:00 AM
Deon J. Hampton joined Newsday in June 2012. He covers Brookhaven Town.
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The historic carriage shed at the Caroline Church of Brookhaven in Setauket was restored this month after several years of deterioration.
Richard Visconti, longtime pastor of the church, said repairing the interior of the wooden shed constructed in 1887, and having the roof replaced has always been a priority, but the congregation lacked funds to make the improvements.
“Taking care of a historic building is always a challenge," Visconti said. "And you need to take care of them.”
The Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation awarded the church a $10,950 matching grant for phase two of the project, which included replacing the cedar roof atop the shed.
That project was completed over a week in mid-January, church officials said.
The first phase of the restoration, which was also funded in part by a grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, was completed last year and included installing wooden posts to stabilize the structure which had been leaning for years.
“The whole building needed to be righted before we could even attempt to put the roof on,” said Barbara Russell, junior warden at the church.
The seven bay shed was originally constructed by seven church parishioners who, on Sundays, parked their horses there before going inside the church for worship.
Church officials said the shed is an iconic structure, and the only known remaining carriage shed on church grounds in Suffolk County.
The church, founded in 1723, and cemetery is listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places, church officials said.
Within the designation are four contributing structures deemed historically important: the church, parish house, barn and carriage shed, church officials said.
The church, erected in 1729, overlooks the Setauket Village Green, Brookhaven’s first settlement in 1655.
Community organizations also used the shed for events until its condition deteriorated and the repairs were required.
Visconti said he feared the structure could have collapsed in a future storm.
For over a year, we didn’t feel like it was safe to put cars in there,” the pastor said. “When you see the building deteriorate over time, it’s gonna need some help and assistance."
The church, which celebrated its 296th anniversary this month, and the carriage house fit within the mission of the Gardiner foundation — a not-for-profit organization aiming to promote the history of Long Island and New York State.
“The woodshed, which is original, is an important piece of Long Island history and given the condition that it was in, the Gardiner foundation felt that it was important to do what it could to preserve it, and Caroline church presented a plan to do that,” said Jody Fisher, spokesperson for the foundation.
What the two grants didn’t cover, the church made up through community and private donations, church officials said.
“The shed will be preserved in a way that people will be able to continue to appreciate it, and more importantly, appreciate the story behind the church,” Fisher said.
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