TRYON HALL/ FORT NECK HOUSE

It was built in 1770 by David Jones and named Tryon Hall, after the Governor General of British-controlled Queens County. It was renamed Fort Neck House after the American Revolution, reflecting its location, and it was then occupied by David Floyd-Jones. These multiple name changes demonstrate the enormous alterations brought about by America's independence from England, as we move east to the next historic marker.

Thomas Jones's descendants built mansions throughout his enormous holdings, most of them near today's Merrick Road. The first and grandest was Tryon Hall, built by his son David, who willed it to his son Thomas, or to his daughter if Thomas did not produce an heir. The younger Thomas had become a Tory Judge and enjoyed a close personal relationship with Governor  William Tryon. He named the mansion in his honor, making it crystal clear where his political sympathies lay. By all accounts, Tryon Hall was a grandiose and imposing structure, overlooking a meadow that led to South Oyster Bay. It is described in various sources as

built with the finest hewn oak timber. The floors are of Georgia pine and the ceilings are 14' high. On the first floor was a very large hall 36' by 23', flanked on one side by a large dining room, and a living room on the other side, both of correspondingly liberal dimensions. In the rear was a library and a kitchen, as well as a butler's pantry. The second floor had six bedrooms and three bathrooms. Four servant rooms were on the third floor.

Unfortunately, Thomas Jones did not enjoy his mansion for very long, as he was forced into exile in England after the Revolution. By a 1781 Act of Attainder, naming him and 52 other Tory supporters, his property was seized by New York State and eventually given to his sister Arabella (he had no children), on condition that her husband append Jones to his name. He was David Floyd of the Patriot Floyd family and readily agreed, with the result that their first son became  David Richard Floyd-Jones, confirmed by the New York Legislature in 1790.*

Several generations of the family occupied Fort Neck, the latest being George Stanton Floyd-Jones,  who witnessed and participated in significant changes to the Massapequas. He became involved in establishing the Floyd-Jones Cemetery in 1892, reinterring not only the bodies of Thomas Jones and his family, but several of his relatives who had lived in Tryon Hall and were buried in a family plot behind the Hall (an area east of Park Boulevard near St. Regis Drive). He spurred construction of an ornate Victorian-looking Massapequa train station in 1890, replacing a plain building put up by the railroad in 1880. He refused to join the Massapequa Water District in the late 1920s, opposed to the idea that he should have to pay for water he was able to extract from his vast estate. His opposition, as well as that of other family members who owned estates along Merrick Road, eventually led to the creation of a separate water provider, American Water Company, for houses in southeastern Massapequa.

By the end of World War I, George Stanton Floyd-Jones had moved to Sewan (current site of Massapequa High School) and his family sold Fort Neck to Richard Corroon. Mr. Corroon converted the building into a roadhouse, expanding the kitchen and installing indoor plumbing for the upstairs rooms. The venture was not successful, however, and he allowed the building to remain idle and deteriorate. By the mid 30s there was talk of tearing it down, but the Nassau County Historical Society spurred efforts to save it, including having a set of photos taken that show the interior in great detail. They also sponsored a historical pageant in 1936 and drew up plans to convert it into a museum.   These efforts led nowhere, however, and the building remained unoccupied until October 18, 1940, when a fire of undetermined origin gutted it.

The Historical Society of the Massapequas, with William Elio as President, erected a marker to recognize the significance of Fort Neck/Tryon Hall in 1992. Please note the marker is located on Cartwright Boulevard and Beverly Road because Merrick Road ran further north in 1770, when Fort Neck was built, than it does now.

* David Jones had made provision in his will that his daughter would succeed to his property if his son Thomas had no children. This was a remarkably "modern" provision in the eighteenth century and, in hindsight, highly fortuitous  for the family.