181? - House built. Opinions vary as to which year the house was built, ranging from 1810 to 1819. It was probably built by 1816. The year Walter Whitman Sr. married Louisa Van Velsor.
1819 - Walter Whitman, Jr. the poet is born May 31.
1824 - The Whitmans move to Brooklyn. Carlton Jarvis (later called “one of the most enterprising farmers in the neighborhood”) purchases the Whitman farm. Three generations of the Jarvis family lived in the house until 1899.
1881 - Whitman visits West Hills and comments upon the historic family sites in the area. He visits the farmhouse of Henry Jarvis, the place where he was born.
1890 - Walt Whitman appraises the 1882 sketch of the Birthplace by Pennell as a good one.
1900 - Frank J. Rogers purchases property and uses the house as a bunkhouse for farmhands who worked his enlarged farm. Rapid deterioration of the house takes place.
1909 - Mr. Rogers tries to sell the house at auction. The Long-Islander reports friends of Whitman for a long while have talked of buying the homestead and preserving it for all time. Now is the opportunity for the Whitman worshippers to secure the early haunts of the “Good Gray Poet.”
1910 - Fire! The kitchen wing is damaged by fire and removed.
1915 - Mr. Rogers attempts to auction the property again. The Long-Islander says, “this is an opportunity for the Huntington public to raise funds to buy and hold the property till it could be conveyed to the historical society”. The house is not sold.
Western view of the Whitman Birthplace and farm circa 1920s.
Photographer unknown
1917 - After the bankruptcy of the Roger’s farm, the title passes to Mrs. Sarah E. Hall, real estate broker, in February. The land is broken up into two acre “little farms.” In November Mr. and Mrs. John D. Watson of New York City buy the house. “they were not Whitmanites,” reported the The Long-Islander, some years later, “but they chanced upon this old house and bought it together with a considerable plot of ground on which are the old red farm buildings and a small orchard of apple trees. The old house has been put in beautiful condition. Every good feature has been perfectly restored. Furniture of the period enhances it charm; shrubs and vines and trees have been planted about it, copies of Alexander and Eakins portraits of Whitman are on its walls, and no lover of the poet is ever turned from its door without seeing the room where he was born. At the time of centenary celebration of his birth, Mr. And Mrs. Watson graciously welcomed all to their grounds for the memorial exercises and permitted all who would go through the house.” (8/4/22)
1921 - A tea room was opened for business in the main house, serving sandwiches, cinnamon toast, waffles, “and the usual beverages” during the afternoon. It is run by Mrs. Watson’s sister, Bertha Mitchell.
1922 - The Long-Islander reports the tea room will re-open July 3rd in a cottage on the grounds. “Guests visiting the Whitman house will find there some interesting photographs and literature for sale, pertaining to Walt Whitman…”
The Whitman Birthplace on Broadhollow Road (Old Route 110) during the 1920s.
The road is now known as Old Walt Whitman Road. Photographer unknown
1936 - The Roadhouse Controversy. The Watsons want to sell. “Walt Whitman Birthplace, Huntington, L.I., for sale,” the broker’s ad reads. “Widely advertised historic landmark; main highway; ideal inn; road house.” Asking price is $30,000, Huntingtonians are up in arms. Attempts are made to have the town, or the federal government take over the property. Nobody buys.
1940 - On a Sunday morning, a bolt of lightning passes through the house and out the open front door, leaving a hole in the east wall near the peak roof, but no fire.
1949 - A campaign to purchase the birthplace begins. The Walt Whitman Birthplace Association organizes to buy the house. $20,000 is raised within two years.
Sept.
1951 - With only a month before the option to buy expires, the fund to purchase the house is still $10,000 short. Newsday, Long Island’s local daily newspaper mounts a vigorous campaign to raise the money.
Oct.
1951 - Pennies, nickels, dimes come pouring in. School children save the day. The largest school group comes from Valley Stream Central Junior High School where the Culluloo Club raises $1,300, $100 of it won on the game show, “Strike It Rich.” More then $13,000 was raised by Newsday’s campaign.
1952 - The house officially opens under the auspices of the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association. This “occasion,” says the keynote speaker, “is not principally for celebrating a genius, but for the growth and spreading of understanding of genius.”
1957 - The Birthplace becomes a New York State Historic Site operating under a cooperative agreement between the state of New York and the Birthplace Association. The house is renovated and given a “colonial” appearance. The old carriage shed is torn down and a new one is reconstructed using the remaining good timbers and others from an old barn that stood in rural New York state.
June
1997 - A new 49,000 square foot Interpretive Center opens to the public on the grounds of the Walt Whitman Birthplace. The Interpretive Center offers an interactive exhibit about Walt Whitman, performance space, classroom and multi-purpose facilities, library, collections archives, gift shop, offices, kitchen, and restrooms accessible to the handicapped.
June
2000 - Restoration work on the Walt Whitman Birthplace was completed, returning the house to its appearance as Whitman new it. The second floor of the house is now furnished to represent the period when the Whitmans occupied the house. Visitors are now able to take guided tours of the entire house.
2004
Present Day - The house, birthplace of America’s greatest poet, continues to attract visitors, thousands each year who come from across the country and around the world.
The Birthplace ca. 2000. Photo by George Mallis
