State representative visits Taylor’s Island
Traci Christian, a Long Island representative from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, was at the Smith-Taylor Cabin Thursday to see how the state’s $110,600 is being used.
That was amount the state ponied up via a grant to restore parts of the island and the historic cabin.
Taylor’s Island and the Smith-Taylor Cabin were left to Shelter Island Town by S. Gregory Taylor in his will, but the town took several years deciding what to do with the property plus a matching amount of money Mr. Taylor left for its restoration.
In the spring of 2006, The Taylor’s Island Committee, assisted by Edward Shillingburg who worked pro bono for the group, created the Taylor’s Island Foundation to assist the town in raising money for the restoration of the island and cabin. Once the foundation was incorporated and had its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, work began in earnest with various fund-raising events.
Ms. Hunt and former supervisor Alfred Kilb Jr.,directors Julie Ben-Susan, Barbara “Buzz” Clark, Maryann Koch, Harriet O’Halloran, Jim Polychron, Keith Clark, Carol Galligan, Ms. Gooding, Richard Surozenski, Mike Laspia and Councilman Ed Brown began the process that has, to date, led to getting necessary permitting in place from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for replacement of bulkheads to shore up the island and other work that would have to be done to restore the cabin.
The next step was replacing both the porch deck and porch roof on the cabin. While that was under way, work was being done to get the site listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places and on the National Register of Historic Places.
An electric generator was purchased for the cabin and volunteers helped to clean debris from the site. The Garden Club of Shelter Island and the Group for the East End l planted natural beach grasses and native plants last spring that would help to protect the island from erosion.
Taylor’s Island is part of the Coecles Harbor Marine Water Trail, a joint project of the Town of Shelter Island, The Nature Conservancy and Shelter Island Kayak Tours.
