Babylon Village celebrates Founders' Day

Every community has its characters, and Babylon Village is no exception.

During the village’s inaugural Founders’ Day celebration Saturday, residents learned about one Sherman Tweety.

“They called him ‘High-Kicking Sherman’ because he could kick a peanut from his own head,” Suffolk County Legis. Wayne R. Horsley said with a laugh.

Horsley joined village Mayor Ralph Scordino and Town of Babylon Supervisor Steve Bellone in sharing such tidbits during a tour of some of the area’s historical landmarks.

The day started at Deer Park Avenue’s Conklin House -- the village’s oldest house -- to Main Street’s Old Town Hall, to the Historical Society Museum. Visitors at the Conklin House listened to Horsley as he recounted some of the earliest known history from Babylon.

Babylon got its name from the mother of Nathaniel Conklin, the wealthy owner and builder of the house. She referred to the area as being similar to the biblical city because of its proximity to the La Grange Inn in West Islip, which served as a tavern for weary travelers.

Bellone smiled as he stood at the front of the courtroom in Old Town Hall on Main Street.

“The first resolution by the [Babylon] town board was to appropriate $1,500 to support the poor,” he said of the board’s 1918 initial meeting.

Bellone has had an affinity for the building since he was 10, when the structure served as a photography studio. He told the crowd that although the building wasn’t complete until 1919, the board worked through the 1918 construction because of concerns for the needy.

North Babylon’s Ed Forman took the tour Saturday, and was glad he did.

“I have never seen [the Conklin House] before ... this is a great place of history,” he said.

Photo: The Conklin House, the oldest house in Babylon Village, was just one of area's historical landmarks visited by town residents during the inaugural Founders’ Day celebration on Saturday. (April 2, 2011)