Islip Grange, Brookwood Hall historic sites get $50,000 funding boost from private foundation

The Town of Islip's efforts to restore the historic Brookwood Hall and Islip Grange have received a significant funding boost.

The Greenport-based John C. Dunphy Private Foundation is donating $50,000 to each project.

Brookwood Hall in East Islip will receive $25,000 for the Islip Arts Council to mount cultural and historical programs as well as hire a landscape architect to work on restoring the estate's grounds.

The Islip Grange in Sayville will receive $25,000 to restore the 200-year-old Ockers Main Barn, the 1880 Percy Williams Office and the 1920 Stucco Cottage. The town is also using some of the funding to apply to have Brookwood Hall and Islip Grange added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Brookwood Hall, a 41-room mansion built in 1903 and once home to an orphanage, houses town offices and the Islip Arts Council. The Islip Grange is a town park.

Councilman Steve Flotteron said the funding will help restore Brookwood's vast estate to its former glory.

"This money is going to help hire the landscape architect to give us the proper blueprint," he said, noting the estate has never been divided into smaller parcels.

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With a landscape plan, the town can bring in the services of contractors and landscapers who have volunteered to work with the town, Flotteron said. "The check is going to open the floodgates to $200,000 of donated services," he said.

Karlyn Grasso, spokeswoman for the Dunphy Foundation, said in a statement that "the foundation recognized the need for financial support at Brookwood Hall and was pleased to lend a helping hand."