North Fork Community Gathers In Solemn Tribute On 9/11 To Reflect

PECONIC, NY — It has been 19 years since the world changed forever on 9/11, but for many, the anguish and heartache is just still all too real.

In Southold Town, the community will come together to pay solemn tribute Friday in Peconic.

The "Remember 9/11" service, organized by the Southold 9/11 Committee and the Southold Town Fire Chiefs Council, will be held at Jean Cochran Park on Peconic Lane in Peconic on Friday, beginning at 5:15 p.m.

All New York State coronavirus protocols, including masks and social distancing, will be mandatory at all times.

At 5:15, those in attendance are encouraged to come place a flag in remembrance of lives lost; there will be 2,977 flags available at the park in memory of "souls lost that day," organizers said.

At 6:15 p.m., Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell will make opening remarks. A special ceremony presented by the Division 8, Southold Town Fire Department, will follow at 6:30 p.m., with a closing at 7 p.m.

Russell said he plans to thank James Miller, who died in June, for donating the sculpture of the osprey that stands tall in tribute to the nation's heroes in Cochran Park.

"The sculpture will serve as a reminder to future generations of the horror and the heroism that we saw on that fateful day," Russell said.

Miller purchased the sculpture and donated it to Southold Town in honor of those who lost their lives on 9/11, Russell said. Next, the Southold Town Fire Chiefs Council, with the cooperation of the Town of Southold, built the Volunteer Firefighter's Memorial, which encircles the 9/11 memorial.

The memorial is constructed of beams originally used to build the 33rd floor of the World Trade Center, and features the wire osprey sculpture, originally created by artist Roberto Julio Bessin, sitting atop the beams, according to the Southold Fire Department.

The memorial consists of a sitting wall interspersed with columns identifying each Southold Town Fire Department; the names of the firefighters who lost their lives are engraved on a plaque.

In addition, public area between the 9/11 memorial and the sitting wall, "Hero's Plaza", is finished with brick pavers, honoring the citizen volunteers who died in service to the Southold community, Russell said.

In 2011, the welded bronze sculpture of the osprey, which originally was sited at the end of the docks in Greenport, took flight to its new home in Peconic.

Miller, of Calverton's Miller Environmental Group, was part of the team that created the memorial. He said his company was one of the contractors involved with remediation at Ground Zero and was able to acquire some of the fallen columns.

"I think Cochran Park is an outstanding location," Miller said in 2011. "It will get the visibility and respect it deserves there. When people see the twisted, distorted configuration of the metal, it's really overwhelming to think of the forces involved to do that."

The work of art, titled "Morning Call," depicts a perching osprey on top of a beam which fell from the 33th floor one of of the World Trade Center towers.

Girl Scout honors the fallen

Also present Friday will be Ellie Alloway, a Girl Scout from Troop 94 in Southold, who is gathering first-person accounts of 9/11 for her Girl Scout Gold Award Project.

"Ellie has participated in the Southold Town’s 9/11 Memorial since she was a very young girl, helping the town committee to hand out the 2,977 flags that is our tradition," Nicole Alloway, leader of Troop 94 and Ellie's mother, said. "Plus, she has heard stories about 9/11 all her life: her uncle had to walk out of downtown Manhattan to Brooklyn that day."

Ellie's mother's college friend was killed, as was her uncle’s first girlfriend.

For her project, Ellie is seeking to interview and record the first person testimony of 9/11 survivors, including those who were first responders, or who worked on the “Pile”, but who are also from the North Fork, she said.

She hopes to create a website database of the video testimony, as well as trying to condense some stories into a documentary which represents the North Fork’s experience of 9/11.

Working with the town memorial committee, the American Legion, and the Town of Southold Fire Chief’s Council, she is planning on presenting her film at next year’s memorial, the 20th anniversary.

North Fork residents who are interested in telling their stories should contact Ellie at ellieallowaygoldaward@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1413, Southold NY 11971.