Day 41 - Nastronero Family History Day

6:30 am we headed into New York and onto Long Island.  It was a two hour journey in the truck and we figured that this being Saturday was the best time to take the truck into the city.   It actually worked out well.  We drove back to the trailer at around 3 pm and the traffic coming into the city was crazy L.A. backed up.  We had a few slow downs but still made the trip home in two hours.  NO ONE goes the speed limit.   The highways are all 55mph and I was the slowest one on the road at 65mph.  70-80 is the norm and cars AND trucks were flying by me.  Amazing.

We went first to the neighborhood in Port Washington on Long Island to look at the house Martha and the 6 members of Nastronero family lived.    Four daughters, Martha is number three.   They left and moved to Corona when she was five years old.   The house pictured below is her next door neighbors house.

That was the style and era home.  The one pictured below sits on the lot that held her home, it has been remodeled.  Probably not to long ago as the city permit is displayed on the front lawn.

This is their church, St Peters.   Martha has a picture of herself on the front steps when she was two.  I wish we had it with us to compare them.  The church hasn't changed, Martha, well, you know.

Then we went over to visit the grave of her Grandparents on her Father's side, and her Aunt.

Martha had a brother that only lived three days.  He passed before she was born.  She has been calling every cemetery on Long Island, about a dozen of them, trying to find him.  She must have spent three hours on the phone yesterday to no avail, none had a record of him.

Most likely he was placed here where the Grandparents lie.  This memorial is for the babies that passed.  There were hundreds of names on the walls there.   Not her brother's.    The cemetery is just huge.  They said some of the older babies that passed are not yet recorded in their computers.  We walked and looked at the tiny headstones lying flat on the ground.  Many of them were completely covered and we had to scrape away the overhanging lawn to read.  Still we had no luck finding him.

After leaving the graveyard we went to Farmingdale.  Still on Long Island.  The two shops pictured below and living quarters above the one were Nastronero built.   The two story was built by Martha's Grandad in 1927.   Years prior to building it, he had brought his 15 year old bride from Italy with him to settle in America.  The single story brick building on the right was built, brick by brick, by Martha's Father, John, when he was only 17 years old.  Grandad had been injured and could no longer work.  John built the store by himself, attended high school, and worked to support the family.  He was quite a man at the age of 17.

 

The bbq in the back yard showed it age.

This is the garage in the back yard.  Martha tells the story that her sister, Cathy, and Cousin, Skippy, found some green paint in the garage, they were five years old, and surprised Grandpa by painting his car for him.  I can imagine it was quite a surprise.

This is the side of the store that John built a brick at a time.  Every sixth row of bricks was a half brick placed the other direction for design.  Looking closely, it is really quite a work of art.  It still stands strong, he built it in 1935.  Martha met the current owner of both buildings and was able to talk to her and visit the living quarters upstairs where Grandma Sarah lived until over 90 years of age.

Lunch time we discovered a White Castle!  Martha has been wanting to try it as I told her when I was a kid in Ohio, we used to go across the street from the movie theater after the show and eat about ten burgers.   I think that they were 7 cents each if I remember correctly.

We bought the original.  The meat paddy is about 1/16 of an inch if that, and the sliders that people buy today are actually bigger than the White Castle burger.  Grilled onions and a pickle are standard.  Catsup needs to be added on your own.  I did not see Harold or Kumar while there.

Then we drove up to the Hamptons.  I love looking at the inlets and ocean.  We didn't go all the way to see the big money homes as it would have been another hour each way and we wanted to get back home by five. 

Tomorrow we are going to find an old church to go to for Mass.   Then stay clear of New York.  Monday we will take the train in and spend the day.   There are a lot of things we want to see while there.  We will probably hang out Tuesday and then return to New York on Wednesday.