09/28/2023
A bit of East Rockaway history from our friends over at the Historical Society of East Rockaway & Lynbrook!
The Hewletts were one of the first families to establish a foothold here on the eastern end of the Rockaway peninsula. Even though they weren’t among the 50 original “patentees” of Hempstead, founded in 1643 and settled in 1644, they would eventually find themselves at the the center of society. According to local historians, the first Hewlett to settle the area now known as, Hewlett, was George. He built a house at the head of what is now known as George’s Creek. Unfortunately this house no longer stands. In 1749 George’s grandson, Daniel, bought a farmhouse and 200 acres from Richard Green. The farmhouse still stands. Throughout the generations many Hewlett’s would go on to settle along the old trail that is now East Rockaway Road. One of them was, Richard Hewlett, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Loyalist Militia. A veteran of the French and Indian war, Richard’s distinguished military career allowed for him to rise to the heights of Hempstead’s elite society. He married a Townsend, one of the more influential families of the day, and had 11 children. Although the war didn’t go the way he would have liked, Col. Hewlett served with honor and distinction. He fled to Canada along with many of Hempstead’s prominent loyalist families. He died there in 1789. After his heath, most of Richard’s family returned to southern Hempstead, including his wife, Mary. Their son, Oliver, who had never left Near Rockaway, inherited his fathers sprawling estate. In 1800, Oliver, purchased the house on the viewers left. It was known as the Oliver Hewlett Homestead. Records pertaining to the home prior to 1800 were lost, so we don’t know the actual age of the structure, but we do know that the house was already quite old when Oliver purchased it. The house remained in the Hewlett Family for the next 136 years. When Oliver passed he likely left the home and lands to his son, Oliver Townsend Hewlett. O.T. Hewlett died in 1852 leaving his younger brother, Peter Titus Hewlett, as lord of the manor. P.T. Hewlett, as he signed his name, now owned most of what is now East Rockaway. At some point during their tenure here, the Hewletts, owned the mill. Their lands would have likely included most of what Joseph Haviland was granted by the town in 1688. A plot of land that would stretch from modern day CVS on Ocean Avenue, across mill river and south down to the water, including the hassocks on the bay. By 1873 the vast majority of the Hewlett Land was sold, mostly to the Davisons, but also to land developers. The first few roads, Front, Main, and what is now Morton Avenue were all conveyed to developers from the Hewlett family. As for the house on the viewers right, it was likely built by Oliver Townsend Hewlett in the first decade of the 19th century. Robert Titus Hewlett, P.T. Hewlett’s son lived there with his family. Robert became Post Master after the newly established East Rockaway post office was moved from the General store of Griffith & Son, which was located across the street just out of frame of this photograph. When he retired, Robert’s daughters Ida and Harriet took over the post office and store that had been established there. On February 17th 1898, the house burned to the ground during a winter storm, despite the best efforts from local fire departments who came from as far away as Rockville Centre. (Live Oak Engine Company) In a 1941 Nassau Daily Star Review interview, Oliver Titus Hewlett, Robert’s youngest child and only son, now 77, tells his family history. He remembered the fire and how later that spring the house was rebuilt on it’s old foundation. Ollie, as he was known was the last Hewlett to own the property where these beautiful homes once stood. The Oliver Hewlett Homestead, which at the time was one the oldest building in southern Nassau County, was razed to the ground in 1936. The Hewlett Store and post office stood for another 68 years. We knew it best as the East Point Inn. On April 5th, 2004 the 106 year old structure was unlawfully demolished. A terrible loss to the history of our village.
