Femenias’ Findings: Remnants of the Petit Trianon’s Walkways in Lake Ronkonkoma
Frank Femenias has forwarded his latest findings of the remnants of Petit Trianon's walkways in Lake Ronkonkoma. Frank was assisted by photos and information from Brian McCarthy, Sammy and Dave Russo and Bob DeStefani.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Background
Looking west towards the inn.
Looking east towards the lake.
1925 layout of Lake Ronkonkoma.
1950 Aerial of Petit Trianon
Keys to the Photos
Key to Photos #1 to #8
Photos
Photo 1: Boundary fence looking west, designating East Drive.
Photo 2: Uncovered by Brian McCarthy and Frank Femenias, two seacliff steps at end of walk path looking west.
Photo 3: Bricks on cinder blocks looking south. As mentioned by Bob DeStefani, the sea cliff cinder wall was built sometime after the Petit Trianon.
Photo 4: Former walkpath behind the Inn looking west. This was the view of the Inn's walk path that traveled through the left corner of house, and where the lower courthouse steps began. Courtesy of Brian McCarthy 2017
The same view as seen in 1980. Courtesy of Ron Ridolf.
Photo 5: More bricks on cinder blocks looking west. Courtesy of Sam and Dave Russo 2017
Photo 6: Concrete slab on beach sand looking north, most likely unrelated to the Inn and not the same concrete slab that sat below the Inn's sea cliff stairs. Courtesy of Sam and Dave Russo 2017
Photo 7: Wooden seacliff steps looking east. Courtesy of Sam and Dave Russo 2017
Photo 8: Eight-inch wide steps looking west towards Blythe Road This dilapidated access stairs to Blythe Road are likely unrelated to the Inn. Courtesy of Sam and Dave Russo 2017
Comments
After viewing aerials of the past Inn, it never occurred to me that the building itself along with the rear walkway/steps is a bit angled to the north ( looking east ). I don’t know if it was designed this way intentionally. The newer homes towards the end of North Dr were built squarely.
I live in Lake Ronkonkoma. I noticed an older couple walking their champion poodles along the beach. I was wondering what the couple were picking up of the sand. After introducing myself, they were collecting shards of glass because the dogs were injuring their paws constantly. I asked if they happened to live on North Dr. They immediately said ” Oh no, those are the rich people with the higher taxes”. Nice to meet people who do the right thing.
Frank, we haven’t met yet but I think I have a pretty good handle on you. You are a perfectionist and you missed your calling. You should have been an FBI agent or some kind of detective in charge of solving big cases. Here you go Frank….here’s all the evidence now go solve this thing!
Great work. Your attention to detail is outstanding. Thank you for doing what you do. We all benefit from your work.
Why do you think that slab on the beach is unrelated? What else could it be? How on earth would a slab like that have gotten there? No private owner would have been able to build that. It has to be related to the Petit days!
As Brian McCarthy noticed the Inn was lined up at about at 356 degrees instead of dead North at 360, playing there during the second World War we all had army equipment on, canteens, wooden guns, helmets and compasses We would place our compasses on the edge of the terrace and it would never point to true north we assumed the compasses were wrong. I will try to get out there because I think the south terrace steps are still in one piece and they will serve as a starting point, using a much better compass.
Bob DeStefani
Dave - concrete slab likely unrelated because of its distance to the walk path (about 115 ft.). There was also a time when the lake had many pavilions on the sand, eventually left unattended and destroyed. Hard to tell of the slab’s origin without more information.
http://www.lakerhs.org/our town.htm
I was reading Brian’s comment on May 4th, about the glass on the beach at the Trianon property, it brought back old memories, that has been the problem for many years, I think everyone who frequented that beach stepped on a piece of broken bottle at least once, I, myself three times. The reason for the glass was late night beer parties, and the reason for that was the beach was one of the few that you had access to by vehicle and no one would know you were there so it was a lover’s lane and a place to have a party with no restrictions, no lights, overhanging trees, moonlight and seclusion, what else can you ask for? All you had to know was the way in. No, I was not of that age bracket, A lot of the glass was under about two feet of water, that’s where most people received the cuts.