Mystery Friday Foto #11 Solved: The Meadow Brook Motor Parkway Lodge Under Construction
Al Velocci challenged you with an incorrectly captioned photo from the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum archives to identify the lodge under construction.
Identify;
- The Motor Parkway Lodge and location, provide a rationale- Hint; This photo has been published elsewhere with an incorrectly named lodge in the caption. Kudos if you know where it was published.
This photo has been incorrectly captioned for may years as the Massapequa Lodge, however, it has just been uncovered that it is the Meadow Brook Lodge and NOT the Massapequa Lodge. See below for rationale and Kudos.
- Year it was built
1908
- Who was the last lodge keeper and family to work, and then live in the lodge until its demolition?
Otto McCamish, was the toll keeper with his wife Parnelle at the Meadow Brook Lodge from the 1920s until the Parkway's closing in 1938. After the Motor Parkway closed, Otto purchased the lodge and the property, planted his flag and raised his family there.
- When was the lodge demolished?
The exact year is unknown, but it is believed that the lodge was demolished in the very late 50's to early 60's.
Comments (4)
Congrats to Steve Lucas, Chris Lindsley and Frank Femenias for identifying the Meadow Brook Lodge and Kudos to Steve and Chris for identifying Al's book.
Greg O.
Edited mystery photo without caption.
Meadow Brook Lodge
The photo has been published before. On page 16 of Al Velocci's 2004 book, 'The Toll Lodges of the Long Island Motor Parkway, and Their Gatekeepers' Lives', the photo caption states that this is the Massapequa Lodge. This is not an error on Al's behalf as the photo has been incorrectly captioned on the rear of the photo by Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum collection since their archives were started decades ago.
This is a very easy mistake to make, even for seasoned Motor Parkway enthusiasts. Both the Massapequa and Meadow Brook Lodges were part of the original, and first 6 Motor Parkway Lodges with living quarters designed by John Russel Pope. All 6 of these lodges were nearly identical, however, The Roslyn and Garden City Lodges clearly had different Porte-Cochere designs that are easy to spot leaving the other 4 lodges especially difficult to discern from each other. There are two clues to always inform the reader as to which lodge is being viewed. Those clues are the chimneys, and the porte-chochere locations on the building.
In this photo of the Meadow Brook Lodge (1908-1938), taken standing on the Motor Parkway right-of-way looking southward at the rear of the lodge, we see the chimney is on the backside (north facing wall) of the living quarters with the porte-cochere on the right (or west side of the building). While unable to ascertain from the photo, it is also noteworthy that the Meadow Brook Lodge is one of only a couple of lodges on the south side of the parkway.
Massapequa Lodge
The Massapequa Lodge (1908-1938) looking towards the north) with the Motor Parkway to the left (or south side of the lodge) in the photo.
The chimney is on the south wall of the Massapequa Lodge, opposite the Meadow Brook Lodge, which had the chimney on the north side of the lodge. Here the chimney is to the right of the porte-cochere proving that the mystery photo is in fact, not the Massapequa Lodge.
Bethpage Lodge
The Bethpage Lodge (1908-1938) and Great Neck lodges are a bit trickier. Yes, the surrounding landscape can be a clue as to which is which, but let's look at the chimneys. Both lodges have the A-framed porte-cocheres on the east side of the building. But here, we see the chimney is on the north wall of the lodge.
Great Neck Lodge
The Great Neck lodge (1909-1938) was built a few months later and nearly identical to the Bethpage Lodge in design and porte-cochere location. The one small detail is the chimney is in the center of the Great Neck structure and not one of the outside walls as shown by the red arrow.
I personally had a hard time identifying the two extremely similar structures until I noticed this small detail.
Roslyn Lodge
The Roslyn and Garden City Lodges both had a different design for their porte-cocheres. The A-frame is gone with larger openings. They cannot be mistaken for the other 4 lodges.
Garden City Lodge
The Garden City Lodge (1911-1938) had a similar port cochere as Roslyn. Again, easy to spot and not mistake for thre Massapequa Lodge.
Comments
I think this might be the Meadow Brook Lodge, built in 1908. I think it’s Meadow Brook because it appears to be the only one of the John Russell Pope lodges to have the porte-cochere to the right of the chimney when viewed from the chimney side and was demolished (sometime in the 1960’s). The last lodge keepers to live and work there were Pernella and Otto McCamish. Could it be that the famous author Al Velocci had the lodge mis-identified on page 16 of his 2004 “Toll Lodges…..” book?
Meadowbrook Lodge circa 1908-10. Lodge was demolished early 50’s. The NYCB building or successor bank is there. I have the name of the lodge keeper somewhere, I ‘ll have to check. As for the lodge titling, was that in Al Velocci’s book?
One of six original Motor Pkwy toll lodges, each designed slightly different. Two possibilities are the Great Neck lodge and Meadowbrook lodge, but the Great Neck lodge’s landscape is different while viewing in the opposite direction. The Meadowbrook lodge’s landscape seems a better match to the old Hempstead Plains.
Roslyn porte-cochere doesn’t match.
Garden City porte-cochere doesn’t match.
Massapequa chimney location doesn’t match.
Bethpage chimney location doesn’t match.
A wonderful mystery I thoroughly enjoyed!
Below top;: Great Neck lodge
Below bottom: Meadowbrook lodge
Meadowbrook lodge west of Merrick Av in Westbury looking SW
Built in 1908, Demolished 1960s
Otto McCamish and family, was the last lodge keeper and occupants of the lodge - per Greg O’s amazing discovery while communicating online with a McCamish descendant
https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/vanderbiltcupraces.com_exclusive_a_new_treasure_of_motor_parkway_photos_1_m
Congratulations to Steve, Chris and Frank on correctly identifying the Mystery Photo as the Meadow Brook Lodge. Recently Greg contacted me with regard to the accuracy of the photo caption pointing out that the lodge in the photo was most likely the Meadow Brook Lodge. I checked out his reasoning and agreed with him the lodge in the photo was indeed the Meadow Brook Lodge. Checking further, when the photo was released to the public that was the caption accompanying the photo. I should have picked the error up. Good one Greg.
That is correct
That is not the Massapequa lodge as I was there daily until its demolition in 1967.
Its a duplicate only flipped around
Please find a partial copy of the Massapequa lodge deed that was transferred to my grandparents from Mr. Vanderbilt and the LIMP
Notice the great price of $100 LOL
Sorry for not a complete scan as it is fragile and do not want to tear