Marion Carll Farm a Time Capsule Worth Preserving

By Cathleen Sullivan

A visit to Marion Carll farm on Thursday allowed residents to assess the condition of the farmhouse and property in order to submit a proposal for the property's future to the school district.   

The visitors included:  Dr. James, Superintendent Commack Schools; Mrs. Massiello, BOE President, Mr. Carpenter, CSD administrator; Mr. Ettenberg, CCA President; Legislator Kennedy; Vito Cottone, Cathleen Sullivan, the Setalcott Nation representatives, including Rose, Mr. Marvin Schwartz, CEO of Jarro, the company that renovated and refurbished the cow and sheep barn in the 1990's.

Walking through this beautiful farm nestled within the Hamlet Golf Community on three sides was like walking backward in time.    

The cow barn doors were opened and we walked through the stalls that once housed the cows, now littered with items of the past – from equipment to an old ice sled to carriages that surely Marion Carll herself hitched to a horse and drove around Commack.  

We strolled the grounds and came upon a sheep barn, smoke house, various sheds used to house equipment and then we entered the farmhouse, the real jewel of this beautiful time capsule to the past.  

It was as if time stopped here.  The kitchen had all eras of cooking and heating equipment: from a fireplace to a wood burning stove to ovens to radiators.   One of the bathrooms still had the spigot with the hand pump to draw water from a well.  

The rooms were all littered with items any home would have.  

The dining room table still had its tablecloth and fruit bowl in the center.  The beds were all made and the desk draws were burgeoning with all sorts of papers from lesson plans to letters and post cards to periodicals; a rich historical treasury waiting to be archived. 

Commack has its work cut out for it, to preserve the future of this precious gem.