Halliock Inn

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Halliock (or Hallock) Inn is located at 263 Main Street in Smithtown and dates to the eighteenth century. The building began around 1725 as three bays wide (part of the 2-1/2 story main section that faces the main road, also known as Middle Country Road). The western two front bays were added later. A 1-1/2 story wing was added to the rear, forming an L-shaped building. The architect of the building - also known as the Thomas Hallock Tavern - is not known. The building was an inn and tavern for many years, and later a library. Walt Whitman used to eat here at times in the 1830s while teaching in Smithtown. The building has been converted into medical offices by a doctor who bought the house several decades ago. Halliock Inn was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Images

1936 photo of front and west facades of Halliock Inn (HABS, photographer unknown)

J. Halliock Hotel & Post Office (red arrow) on 1858 inset map of Smithtown (Smith)

Village of Smithtown (blue circle) on 1858 map of vicinity in northern Suffolk County (Smith)

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Thomas Hallock (sometimes spelled Halliock) - and later his descendants - ran the inn and tavern. The inn accommodated stagecoach travelers and hosted local social events. The tavern and inn was reportedly a popular place for the occupying British forces during the Revolutionary War. A Thomas Hallock living in Smithtown in 1850 was an 80-year-old farmer (born circa 1770), and may be the third generation of Hallocks at the inn. Thomas shared his home with his 49-year-old son, James; James' wife or sister, Margaret (45); James' sister or wife, Alma (46); and one child, Julia C. Hallock (9). Two ladies in the household, Emily Smith (23) and Cynthia Floyce (17), may have been servants.

A Post Office was established in the Halliock Tavern by the 1850s; an 1858 map labels the building J. Halliock's Hotel and Post Office. Earlier, mail was carried across Long Island by a lone rider on horseback, and moved up to a one-horse wagon by the 1820s. The weekly stage coach across the island left Brooklyn on Tuesdays, carrying the mail along the main road by the inn (Middle Country Road); the overnight stops were at the Halliock Inn, with the stage coach returning to Brooklyn on Friday evenings. James Hallock still owned the inn by 1867. A large room on the second floor could be partitioned and became a local meeting room. The Masonic Lodge met here from 1806 to 1818, followed by the annual town meetings from 1832 to 1868. The first library in Smithtown was housed in the building up to around 1870, including over 300 volumes.

The inn may have become a boarding house by 1870. James Hallock's (age 69) 1870 household consisted of his presumed daughter; Julia Roe (29); his grandson, John J. Roe (3), and two teachers: William F. Dickinson (27) and Emily Smith (36). A lawyer, Frank Haight (28) occupied the house, as did a servant, Fillmore Hunter (16, African-American). Three boarders also lived in the home: Samuel Blydenburgh (71); Amanda Smith (28); and Elizabeth Johnson (49).

The Turrell family occupied the house after Dr. Guy H. Turrell bought the property in 1905. The doctor's son, Loring, wrote a book on the natural history of the Township of Smithtown in 1939; the Long Island Room of the main branch of the Smithtown Library contains a copy. A local historic preservationist, Virginia Turrell, was the last of the family to live in the Halliock Inn. The Hallock family - residents of Long Island since the 1600s and descendants of Peter Hallock, the first white settler on Long Island from the Connecticut colony - were still in Smithtown in the mid-twentieth century; Miss Sadie Hallock became the head librarian at the Smithtown Branch in 1944, which by then held 19,000 volumes.

The exterior of the Halliock Inn was photo-documented in 1936 by an unknown photographer for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). The front now features a small porch; in the 1930s, the front porch spanned the front of the house. For the last several decades, the property has been in the hands of Dr. Daniel Mayer, who operates his medical office from the building, specializing in allergies and immunology. The 2.38-ac property was listed for sale in 2021 for $2.2 million.

Sources

Bailey, Paul , ed. Long Island: A History of Two Great Counties, Nassau and Suffolk. Volume I. New York, NY. Lewis Historical Publishing Co., Inc., 1949.

Chapman Brothers. Portrait and Biographical Album of Ingham and Livingston Counties, Michigan. Chicago, IL. Chapman Brothers, 1891.

Egan, Rita J. Smithtown, A History: The Hallock Inn, Patch, Smithtown, NY. March 15th 2011. Accessed April 4th 2021. https://patch.com/new-york/smithtown/smithtown-a-history-the-hallock-inn.

Historic American Buildings Survey. Thomas Hallock [sic] Tavern, Smithtown, NY, HABS NY-6274, HABS/HAER/HALS. Accessed April 2nd 2021. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/ny1347/.

LoopNet. 263 E. Main St., Smithtown, NY 11787, 2.38 AC, Land for Sale, LoopNet. March 22nd 2021. Accessed April 4th 2021. https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/263-E-Main-St-Smithtown-NY/21889573/.

Sampson, Davenport & Co.. New York State Business Directory. Albany, NY. Sampson, Davenport & Co., 1867.

Smith, Robert Pearsall. Chase, J. Map of Suffolk Co., L.I., New York: from actual surveys. Philadelphia, PA. John Douglass, 1858.

U.S. Census. Household of Thomas Hallock in Smithtown, Suffolk Co,, NY, dwelling 94, family 105. Washington, DC. U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1850.

U.S. Census. Household of James Hallock in Smithtown, Suffolk Co,, NY, dwelling 367, family 363. Washington, DC. U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1870.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://loc.gov/pictures/item/ny1347/

https://www.loc.gov/item/2013593235/