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Oral History Interview with John and Joan Lynott
Transcript of Audio
John: We’re both from this area. We’re both from Setauket. We grew up here. We’ve had a long interest in the cottages. We’ve had friends who’ve had them through the years. You want to know her educational background? She’s an RN and I’m a landscape designer. We’ve both worked in this area for a long time. I worked for the Melville family for many years, until both Mr. and Mrs. Melville died.
Nancy: Melville, is there a museum there?
John: Museums and the Village of Stony Brook.
Nancy: Yea, that’s right.
John: I was in charge, supposedly, of their properties—which included all the museums and the Village of Stony Brook and any other properties they may have owned.
Nancy: What all happens down at the Old Field Farm?
Joan: What used to happen there? Wonderful things used to happen.
John: I used to be in charge of those grounds when the Melvilles owned it all. The Melvilles owned that whole thing years ago.
Nancy: So they owned all that and all the stuff in Stony Brook?
John: They gave that to the community fund, which runs the Village of Stony Brook, and they sold it. But it used to be kept as a horse show grounds, with all those stalls and buildings for one horse show a year. That was in September. Then they had a new guy come in to manage the grounds and he started adding shows. They ended up with six class-A shows there, which was really nice. You saw some of the best riders in the world really, and unfortunately he passed away.
Nancy: What was his name?
Joan: That was Hugh Cassidy. The Hampton Classic is one of the biggest horse shows on the east coast, so a lot of the top riders used to come through to the different shows and stop here on their way out to the Hamptons to attend that show. And our daughters were riders and involved with horses, so we spent a lot of time down at the horse shows.
Nancy: Would your daughters ever ride in the show?
Joan: Our daughters used to ride there in the show. Our granddaughter rode down their last year. Two women are there now and are trying to redo everything. There’s only been in the last few years, one horse show a year. They had a dressage show, which is a little different from a horse show. A dressage is that very beautiful movement of horses, and they judge that. Mostly it’s the hunter and jumper type of thing.