Farmingville, NY – On August 7, Supervisor Ed Romaine (left) and Town historian Barbara Russell (right) visited the Town’s Longwood Estate in Ridge where they presented two paintings to Joshua Ruff (second from right), Director of Collections & Interpretation at the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook. The portraits, painted by Shepard Alonzo Mount, were gifted to the Town by Eleanor Smith of California. The subjects are William Sidney Smith (1796-1879) and his wife, Eleanor Jones Smith (1805-1884). A year after their marriage in 1823, they came to Longwood in Ridge to live for the rest of their lives. The portraits, painted in the early 1830s, hung at Longwood Estate until the last Smith Family owner, Eleanor Northrup Smith, sold the estate and moved to California in the late 1960s. They have been stored in a warehouse since that time. William Sidney Smith served as the Town Supervisor from 1829-1834. Shepard Alonzo Mount (1804-1868) was born in Setauket. He, as well as his two brothers, William Sidney Mount and Henry Smith Mount were gifted painters.
Longwood Estate, located at Smith Road and Longwood Road in Ridge, is the Town of Brookhaven's most historic park (c. 1790) and includes the manor house, one-room school house and barns on 35 acres. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Hours are 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, Monday through Friday year-round. Tours are available upon request. For more information, visit the Longwood Estate page or call 631-924-1820.
Division of Public Information * Office of the Supervisor
One Independence Hill • Farmingville • NY 11738 • Phone 631-451-6595