If you could flip back the pages of 1986 newspapers you would find that not only the New York Mets were making the headlines. The Historical Society of the Massapequas were planning to move and restore a 126-year-old Floyd-Jones servants' cottage and the local and daily newspapers were in full support of the project.

The two-story Victorian-style building believed to be built in 1860 was sitting on its original brick foundation behind the Bar Harbour Library on Candy Tuft Court, once part of the Elbert Floyd-Jones estate. The house had gotten run down and the new owners of the property, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Cummings were anxious to have it razed. However, in 1984 they decided to donate it to the Historical Society with the stipulation that it be moved as quickly as possible.

The following two years the society devoted their fund-raising events to the moving and restoration of the cottage. This writer and a past vice president of the society recalls that $35,000 was needed to have Davis Bros. Engineering of Blue Point move the cottage. Davis Bros. Had already moved many of the buildings in the Old Bethpage Restoration and had an excellent reputation. I also remember that another $25,000 would be needed to complete the project. That would include the excavation and concrete block foundation, carpentry, electric, drywalls, spackle and paint. Once the building was lowered onto the new foundation behind the Delancey Floyd-Jones Library work began converting the historic cottage into a museum.

2006, 20 years later, the completed 146-year-old building is a popular stop for hundreds of history buffs that take in the Society's Open House in December, the Spring Strawberry Festival and the Fall Apple Harvest fundraisers.

The cottage contains anything that was an important part of Massapequa's glorious past from Indian arrowheads to mason jars, old photos, wall-hung pictures and a framed American flag that was a part of the Meyer family's belongings who, until 1927, farmed the Fort Neck Farm now the site of the John J. Burns Park.

With the dedication of its members and the help of community donations, the Historical Society of the Massapequa's will continue to preserve the land and structures that have made Massapequa's Historic Complex alongside Merrick Road rich in history.