Historical Society recognizes Quogue's oldest homes

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Donna Sessa in her Quogue Street home, the Foster Homestead.

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Donna Sessa’s home in Quogue did not have electricity, internet access or a high-tech surveillance system when it was built in 1734, but today the house has every modern amenity that a homeowner could possibly desire.

It took Ms. Sessa and her husband, Anthony, two years—one year of planning and another year of actual construction—to renovate their home, the Foster Homestead, after purchasing it in 2001. Today, Ms. Sessa said she could not be happier with the final product, noting that they took great pains to preserve the historical character of their 275-year-old home.

“I like to live with history,” Ms. Sessa said during a recent interview in her Quogue Street home. “It’s a connection to the past.”

To celebrate other historical homes in the village like her own, and to highlight Quogue’s rich history, Ms. Sessa has spearheaded an effort to install plaques outside some of the village’s oldest houses. The Quogue Historical Society will be selling the plaques for $350 each, which covers the cost of installation.

“This really is to honor the homeowners who maintained and restored their homes,” said Ms. Sessa, who is also one of the directors of the Quogue Historical Society. “We believe preserving our past and our identity is very important.”

To get the ball rolling, the organization mailed letters to all of the property owners in the village whose homes appear on a Suffolk County atlas from 1902. Quogue historian Frances Ryan then researched which of those homes were still standing, and then personally knocked on doors to confirm the historic status of each home.

“It shows that houses can be preserved, and yet made very comfortable by 21st century standards,” said Ms. Ryan, who lives in Burton’s Bungalow, a historic home of an undetermined age on Jessup Avenue.

Plans to offer the plaques have been in the works for the past two years, but Historical Society members decided to finalize the initiative in 2009 to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Quogue purchase. The village is planning a three-day celebration, from July 17 to 19, that will include fireworks, a concert near the village pond and a parade down Jessup Avenue.

The stainless steel plaques, which were designed by village resident and commercial artist Deni McChesney, are weather resistant and measure 9 inches in width by 12 inches in length. Historical Society members stressed that participation in the program is voluntary and will not restrict homeowners from making changes to their homes.

Quogue Village has, on two occasions since 1981, rejected plans to create a historic district in the village, a zone that would prohibit property owners from making significant modifications to their houses in order to preserve their historical integrity.

Ms. Sessa said that, so far, 25 village residents have placed orders for the plaques. One of the first to apply was Ms. McChesney, a Historical Society member and the owner of Old Revolution, a nearly 300-year-old house on Montauk Highway. That plaque has not yet been installed but is now on display at the Quogue Library.

“We love the connection with history,” said Bill McChesney, Ms. McChesney’s husband. “We spent about 11 months fixing it up. We really did a considerable amount of renovation work.”

Built in the early 1700s, Old Revolution has been renovated many times since the 18th century, and even served as the Blue Moon Tea Room, a place where locals once met for tea, at the turn of the 20th century. Mr. McChesney, who also serves as the chairman of the Group for the East End, said that living in a historic home is unique experience that cannot be matched.

“You often look at a ceiling [and] it’s charred with the smoke of years past,” he said of his home. “You do have a sense that people were here before.”

Ms. Sessa understands that it takes a lot of time and money to restore an old house. She noted that her home was still insulated with dried seaweed up until a few years ago. Still, Ms. Sessa thinks that it is worth the effort.

“Some people have done magnificent restorations,” she said.

Ms. Sessa explained that the Fosters were one of the founding families of Quogue and relatives had owned her home until 1936. She said the original stairs inside her home are very narrow, noting that they were designed for smaller feet.

And though she has never felt its presence, Ms. Sessa said a female ghost is rumored to roam her attic.

“It has a lot more charm,” she said of her restored home.