Descended from 1820 tavern owners, Keith Snedecor continues Connetquot legacy

Keith Snedecor is seventh in a line of Snedecors to live near Connetquot River State Park Preserve, a 3,473-acre state park in Oakdale that encompasses a tavern built by his ancestor in the mid-19th century. 

According to family lore, his great-great-great-great-grandmother was "such a good cook," and the area was so "pristine and desirable, that it attracted a lot of well-to-do New York City elite," who would later buy the tavern and the surrounding land for what would become the South Side Sportsmen’s Club of Long Island, a hunting and fishing lodge for the rich and powerful that continued to employ some of his other ancestors over the decades.

Now, 200 years after the inn's founding, Snedecor, 61, who played an instrumental role in founding the nonprofit Friends of Connetquot River State Park Preserve, is still working to preserve his family legacy. The East Islip resident volunteers as a historian and still serves on the board of the nonprofit, which was formed to teach the history and environment of the preserve.

The nonprofit, since its founding 26 years ago, has raised funds to refurbish the main house; reopened a trout hatchery; brought quail and turkey back to the preserve; restored one of Long Island’s last grist mills, among other initiatives. This year, the group is raising money for an engineering study to evaluate the new annex, built in 1903 by eight club members who pooled funds to hire an architect and contractors. 

'Our bloodline to our history'

"Keith [Snedecor] is our bloodline to our history," said Janet Soley, president of the Friends. "Not many parks, preserves or museums can say that."

Snedecor, whose family has lived in the New York metro area since the city was called New Amsterdam, said he became involved with the park after learning his ancestor Eliphalet Snedecor's former tavern, which fell into disrepair after the state opened the property as a park in 1973, was slated for conversion to a bed-and-breakfast in 1996. 

“The place was pretty much rundown. It was neglected for decades. To really convert it to a bed-and-breakfast, you’d pretty much have to tear down the place and rebuild it,” he said, adding that the building as it stood would have been a fire hazard. “I didn’t think that was a good idea so I got a petition drive going.”

He canvassed the community for support to preserve the sportsmen's club and his ancestor's inn, gaining thousands of signatures that he presented to his assemblyman at the time. 

Former tavern now a museum

The former tavern is currently set up as a museum, with artifacts collected over the years and house tours offered on the first and third Sunday of the month from September to December, according to park manager Jessica Anderson-Ruiz.

“Being a facility that houses multiple historic buildings, [the restoration] process is continuous. We’re constantly doing work; we’re ensuring that the buildings are secure and we’re able to keep them as close to the original construction as when they were built,” Anderson-Ruiz said.

Soley, who spends so much time at the preserve that she said it feels more like home than her residence in West Islip, similarly said restoration is an ongoing process. She regularly wakes up at 4 a.m. to apply for grants before her day jobs at a defense firm and the environmental nonprofit Save the Great South Bay.

Even on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving, Soley was busy with preparations for a gala hosted by the nonprofit every year since its founding.

A historian and volunteer for the Friends

Snedecor still acts as an informal historian for the Friends, and sometimes helps with projects such as soliciting bids to restore the transom window above the entrance in the main house. He also volunteers at events hosted by the group, including the nonprofit's annual gala. He's moved away from more physical volunteer work, like walking tours or tasks that involve heavy lifting, as he's grown older. 

Now, he has a space for research at the park, where he spends much of his volunteer time, and he helps others learn about the history of the preserve. He also tries to recover artifacts original to the inn and the sportsmen's club through e-commerce platforms such as eBay. He’s such a presence there that Soley has stashed snacks around the Connetquot offices for Snedecor, who has diabetes. 

On a recent Sunday, Snedecor — who likes to spend his weekends at the preserve — picked up Christmas wreaths from Costco to place around the park offices. And then he helped a docent with research for an upcoming presentation on the park’s history.

“A lot of people don’t know their family history,” he said. “I’m one of the few and the proud.”

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.