About Heritage Trust

Dedication and Naming Ceremony for the North Shore Heritage Park
was held on Wednesday, August 17, 2005

The Board of Directors of the Heritage Trust and the Town of Brookhaven will be dedicated the North Shore Heritage Park" to the spirit of volunteerism and democracy that makes volunteerism possible." The Trust dedicated the park to all the volunteers who form part of the fabric of our communities. All of the many different volunteers, ranging from firefighters to school board members, civic and PTO members, sports coaches and many others, should be recognized for their efforts to improve the communities we live in.

We invite and encourage you to attend this short ceremony at 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 17. If you plan to come as a representative of volunteer group please call David Kennedy (451-6964 Brookhaven Town) to register your group for the ceremony program.


Click photos to enlarge The frame of the Heritage Community Center is under construction. The frame work hints of the main hall and lobby. The small kitchen and restrooms will be an addition on the north side of this frame work. After the steel is framed in wood the structural insulated panels will be installed. These panels are sandwiches of wood and foam and have a high insulation value. These panels are part of the energy technologies planned by our architects Campani and Schwarting in conjunction with the Whole Building Design Program of LIPA.

The Port TIMES RECORD is proud to continue an annual tradition of honoring the men and women of the local community who have contributed in a significant manner to its residents and institutions during the past year. These are the people who "go that extra mile" to improve the quality of our lives. We salute their achievements.

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Lori Baldassare, president of the Heritage Trust, accepts a $50,000 donation from Leonard Axinn of and Estates toward developing the park at the Wedge in Mount Sinai, an effort in the making the last six years. 'What once was a dream is growing before us.' Baldassare said. Trust Director Peter Sobel, left, Vice President John Leonard and Director Fred Drewes were also on hand. Leonard and Drewes are holding a rendering of what the park playground will look like.

People of the Year: Heritage Trust Members
By Peter Mastrosimone

Times Beacon Record
12/31/2004 | 11:44 AM

Where there might have been just another big box store indistinguishable from its sisters in South Setauket or Patchogue, there is instead a glorious park rising from the ground up. Where SUVs could have competed for parking spaces, strollers glide down gently curving paths. Where the lumber department might have been there will be living plants instead.

The place is the park at the Wedge in Mount Sinai, the lesson is that regular people can make things happen if they band together and try hard enough, and the people to thank for it constitute the Heritage Trust, whose members are our People of the Year for 2004.

"They have done a super job," said Deirdre Dubato, president of the Mount Sinai Civic Association, singling out Trust President Lori Baldassare and directors Fred Drewes and Tom Carbone for special praise. "Lori, Fred and Tom Carbone have taken a huge chunk out of their lives.... They are to be applauded."

Town Councilman Tom McCarrick (R-Shoreham) agreed.

"I think it's fabulous," McCarrick said of the park. "The fact of the matter is that town probably never would have conceived what is being done down there. The entire community is very grateful."

McCarrick, who defeated Baldassare for the seat he holds, nonetheless noted that the park is "her brainchild, and she's got a great crew."

Drewes spent time in the fall watching as people started using the newly built paved paths his group was responsible for having installed.

"There are now 'regulars' strolling, walking and running around the park," Drewes reported. "Kids ride bikes, daughters with doll carriages follow their mothers with strollers. Kids explore 'wayyyy' ahead of their parents and the parents feel secure that their child is safe. People become lost in the enjoyment of the park, barely hearing the sound of traffic on the main roads."

Mount Sinai held its first holiday tree-lighting at the park early this month. Much more will go on at the park as construction progresses and the community center goes up. One surprise to look out for is the smiley face made up of roughly 5,000 crocuses that were planted in the fall and will bloom in the spring.

The Trust is using both private donations and state funding to move forward. Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) recently secured a $100,000 grant for the park, and state Senator Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) caused another $50,000 to be appropriated.

New Life, the company that manages Jefferson's Ferry, plans to donate $100,000, according to Baldassare and philanthropist Vincent Bove, who once owned the land where the park is.

Other local firms are donating work and material instead of money. Kelly Brothers did $50,000 worth of stone work, Baldassare said. Reliable Fence put in the white split rail fence.

The Trust also borrowed money to reach the $1.4 million estimated cost of the building, which it hopes to recoup through donations.

"I'm thrilled that the park is there," Baldassare said. "People are using it. It's a wonderful thing. I just want to build the building. What people don't realize is this is six years in the making."

North Shore Sun Article of January 29, 2004

Mt. Sinai park dream slowly coming true
By AMBROSE CLANCY

MT. SINAI--An 18-year-old dream of a place where the community can come together for recreation and learn about its heritage is slowly but surely coming true.

Fred Drewes, a former teacher of biology and environmental science at Suffolk Community College, took a sabbatical in 1986 to study municipal planning and began to imagine a park and a place where the area's past could be studied and preserved. The result is the 18-acre parcel of land bordering Route 25A and County Road 83, known as "the wedge," which will be the site of a multi-use park and "a heritage center," funded by a $300,000 New York State grant.

At the Jan. 29 Brookhaven Town Board meeting, Mr. Drewes and Lori Baldassare -- president of the Heritage Trust and assistant to Highway Superintendent John Rouse -- gave an update to the board, especially for the benefit of the newly elected members, Mr. Drewes said.

The Heritage Trust is a not-for-profit corporation charged with overseeing, along with the town, the construction of the park and center. "We hope to begin building the Heritage Center in the spring and be able to have it completed by the winter," Mr. Drewes said Monday.

The center, which will be modeled after a distinctive Suffolk County barn, will contain a meeting room, restaurants, restrooms and a kitchen, and will incorporate energy efficiency and solar technologies, Mr. Drewes noted. Activities at the center will include concerts, youth and senior activities, plays, dances and civic and club meetings. Ms. Baldassare said there will be an amphitheater as part of the park for "multi-generational activities, and not just ballfields."

In 1995, the Mt. Sinai Civic Association presented its Hamlet Study to the town with the strong recommendation that the wedge become a park, Mr. Drewes said. In 1998, a proposal was made to purchase the property through the county's "Greenways Program," which allocated funds to buy parcels for recreational use.

"There is an intermuncipal agreement with Suffolk County and the town, which is very much involved in seeing this project work," Mr. Drewes said, describing the center and park as "a work in progress, by which I mean we're still in the fund-raising mode."

He added that money was being sought from "additional state grants and local contributors."

But the dream is becoming reality, Mr. Drewes said. "Supervisor [John Jay] LaValle is very much aware of our work and is encouraging us," he noted. "Brookhaven Town is a partner with the Heritage Trust to achieve our goal, because this won't just be Mt. Sinai's park, but a park for everyone."

(Photo above) Lori Baldassare (left) and Fred Drewes at the Mt. Sinai "wedge."

Sun photo by Kirk Condyles