Seaford celebrates 375 years

It was 375 years ago that Capt. John Seaman and a group of Englishmen purchased the Town of Hempstead from local Indians and founded the communities that became Seaford and Wantagh.

The Seaman family settled in a home they called Cherrywood, which still stands, at the corner of Wantagh and Jerusalem avenues, according to Charles Wroblewski, director of the Seaford Historical Society. The Seamans’ oldest daughter married the son of John Jackson, for whom one of Seaford’s main streets, Jackson Avenue, was named. Seamans Neck Road was named after the community’s founder.

Seaford will celebrate its 375th anniversary with a series of upcoming celebrations, spearheaded by the historical society. The organization kicked off the festivities on Sept. 13 when the hamlet’s historian, Fred Roth — a longtime member of the Seaford Fire Department — spoke about growing up in the community, and its history, at a society meeting.

“I just find him so interesting to speak to,” said Judy Bongiovi, the historical society’s president. “He has answers to questions that I never even thought to ask.”

The society has been meeting since March, Bongiovi said, to discuss the anniversary. Emails were sent out to community leaders, the school district, the Wantagh-Seaford Homeowners group and all the “movers and shakers in Seaford,” she said.

The society held its annual Harvest Fair last Sunday at the museum. The event, Bongiovi said, is the only one of its kind in town. In addition to sweatshirts and blankets, the museum sold 375th-anniversary coffee mugs in the community’s colors, green and white, as well as shot glasses.

Other events are planned throughout the year.

Seaford may be a small town, Bongiovi said, but it is “very mighty, very close, and always willing to reach out to those in the community in need.”

“I think it’s a great thing that we celebrate our history together,” she added. “Three hundred and seventy-five may be young as some things go, but I think we’re very rich in the history of Nassau County.”

The hamlet would have celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1943, Bongiovi said, but residents were preoccupied by World War II at the time. Instead, festivities were held in 1968, for the 325th. Participants celebrated with plays, parades, costumes, a beard-growing contest, wooden nickels and more.

Much of Seaford’s history has been preserved by the historical society, in photos, artifacts and, in some cases, buildings. The first one-room schoolhouse was built in 1830, on South Merrick Road, Wroblewski said. The historical society museum is now in an incarnation of that first school building which was rebuilt and moved a couple of times.

The first Seaford post office opened in 1836, and Samuel S. Jones was the first postmaster. The building is no longer standing.

Before taking on the name Seaford, the area was called Jerusalem South. The Long Island Rail Road extended through Seaford to Babylon in 1867. Two years later, the town’s population reached 350, and it jumped past 1,000 in the 1920s, when Sunrise Highway was built.

Seaford Manor School opened in 1955, and Seaford High School, for juniors and seniors, opened two years later. The junior high School opened in 1965, and became Seaford Middle School in 1985.

The Seaford Historical Society was founded in 1969. Its museum is open the second Sunday of every month from noon to 3 p.m., and every Sunday throughout the summer. Visitors wandering through the museum today can see artifacts dating back to the time of the community’s founding.