The George Washington estate sits prominently on Dayton's Neck, one of the "necks" that makes up Brookhaven Hamlet—the "necks" being defined by streams or hollows leading to the Great South Bay.  Dayton's neck is the most westerly, and was named after Samuel Dayton.  It is situated immediately to the east of the modern Village of Bellport and extends west to Otter Hollow—a mostly swampy gully that starts near the intersection of South Country and Beaver Dam roads and leads to Beaver Dam Creek. Samuel Dayton  was arguably the first European to permanently settle "at south" in the Town of Brookhaven sometime around 1678.  He owned most of the land in the neck, including what was to become the Washington estate.  He came from Southampton originally, and probably came south after a short sojourn in Setauket on the north shore.  It is not definitely known where his house stood, but indications are it was near Clam Hollow immediately to the east of George Washington house.  Clam Hollow defines the eastern boundary of the Washington estate.

19th century maps are ambiguous about ownership.  They are not precise enough to definitely identify the present parcels. C. Corson appears on most maps from 1858 to 1896.  The 1873 Beers map suggests that C. Platt was an owner in the vicinity.  He has not been identified.  Later in the 19th century, "M.L. Fairchild" was associated with the property, and the mansion may have been of their origin.  Some have suggested that the structure is too elaborate to have been a farm residence.

Because C. Corson appears on all the 19th century maps of the vicinity, he has been a special focus of recent investigations.  Cornelius Corson (1827-1900) was an 8th generation descendent of early Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam, who by the second generation had settle on Staten Island and become prominent there.  Shortly after his marriage to Elizabeth Walker about 1855, he move to Fire Place (now Brookhaven Hamlet) and established a farm.  This farm apparently included several farm lots on both the north and south sides South Country Road, stretching to the Great South Bay.  He and his wife had three children – Cornelius Creighton (b. about 1857), Henrietta M. (b. about 1856), and Percival Sanksey (b. about 1861). Percival was at first a building contractor, than a real estate broker, and lived in Bellport in 1900, later in Queens.  Henrietta seems to have change her given name to Elizabeth, and married John B. Raynor of Brookhaven; they later lived in Brooklyn and the Bronx.  Son Cornelius has not yet been researched.  Shortly after Cornelius's death there is an ambiguous article in the Brooklyn Eagle (Jan 19, 1901 pg 17) suggesting that the Corson dwelling was sold to Everett M. Price of Bellport and moved there, the Price's residence being moved to the Brookhaven site – an exchange.  However, this article is sufficiently ambiguous, that it could be interpreted in other ways.

Suffolk County tax records indicate that, in 1887, Elizabeth Corson sold a parcel to Maria Fairchild and then sold another parcel to her (south side of road) in 1890.   M. L. Fairchild is shown on the 1888 Wendelken map.  Maria Louise (Stiles) Fairchild, was wife to Horace Jones Fairchild, a successful dry goods merchant and importer.  They owned the large tract from South Country Road north to Beaver Dam Road, on which the Lodge now sits, and also from across South Country Road south to the Great South Bay. The 1896 Hyde Map shows Fairchild and Corson residences adjacent to each other on the north side of South Country Rd., and a Fairchild residence opposite on the south side of South Country Road.  The 1915 Belcher-Hyde map indicates that the northern tract was owned by Geo. Washington, while the southern tract was owned by H.J. Fairchild (no doubt meaning the estate of Horace Jones Fairchild, since both Maria Louise and Horace Jones Fairchild were deceased by that time, and they apparently had no heirs with those initials.

It is uncertain as to how much time the Fairchilds may have spent at the estate. During the 1870s until 1885, they resided in England representing the firm of H.B. Claflin & Co.  In 1887, their son Henry Martyn Fairchild's residence was recorded as Bellport, NY.  After about 1912, their daughter Edith Hope Fairchild purchased a house on Bellport Lane..

The estate, now commonly known as Washington Lodge, was the country home of George Constant Washington from about 1915 to 1926. He claimed to have invented "mass produced" instant coffee. He was a Belgian-born English chemist who was living in Guatemala City in 1906, and developed a method of making instant coffee after noticing a powdery condensation forming on the spout of his silver coffee carafe. In 1909 Washington began to market his new product in the United Sates. From then until shortly before the start of World War II, the G. Washington Coffee Refining Company dominated the instant-coffee market.

Washington was also interested in horticulture and exotic animals and kept a small zoo at his estate. When he was seen in public, he would often have an exotic bird or monkey on his shoulder.

It is said that G. Washington wanted to site his coffee plant on the north side of Beaver Dam Road, between it and the rail road tracks (about where the concrete works and other industrial properties are now sited). He built the three houses at 144-148 Beaver Dam Road, on the south side across from the proposed site, for factory workers. There was considerable community resistance to the coffee plant, and in 1926 he left the South Country Road estate.  In 1927, he tried to sell the Brookhaven estate, and his home in Brooklyn (for a price reportedly exceeding $1 million) to a group of wealthy Brooklyn men intent on founding a social club. He then moved to New Jersey, and built his coffee factory there.  The "Country Club" never materialized, and he appears to have maintained ownership of the estate well into the 1930s.

From about 1935 to 1940, a Mr. Adestein is said to have owned the property.  He operated a boarding house for a few years and had a chicken farm for a while.  He tried to open a club, but he apparently could not get a liquor license from the Town of Brookhaven.  However, newspaper accounts record George Washington's sister as living at the estate in 1938; and George Washington appears to have maintained the property—a Mr. And Mrs. Stevenson were caretakers in his hire.

By the late 1940's, the South Country Road estate had become a restaurant named the Washington Lodge.  Murray and Francis Wunderlich rented the property as Camp Washington Lodge, which lasted into the early 1950s. The Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame Annex in NYC has a letter written by Paul Simon to Art Garfunkel in the early 1950's from Camp Washington Lodge in Bellport, LI.  It was advertised in the NY Times as a "fabulous family resort".

On 25 July 1960 the Marist Brothers, an educational order, bought the lodge property from Brookshire Properties Corporation (Suffolk County Deeds, Liber 4848, p. 394). It was used as a summer retreat for the brothers. They would bring groups of children to the site for picnics. They had plans for a high school that never came to fruition.

In 1970, a small alternative school was started there by local residents called the Bay Community School, which was closed in 1983.

 On 28 Dec 2004, a northerly parcel of about 27 acres was sold by the Marist brothers to Antonia Sciretta and Marilyn Venterina of Bellport (Libor 12364, p. 866, $850,000); after which the ownership title changed several times but appears to have been the same principals.  On 3 January 2012 this parcel was sold by The Preserves at Brookhaven Hamlet LLC to South Country Farms LLC, who, it is said, intends to maintain it largely as open space/farmland (Libor 12684, p. 142, $1,775,000)

On 7 December 2010, the Suffolk County legislature approved purchasing 9.6 acres of the southerly portion of the estate through a public-private partnership between the County, Town of Brookhaven, and the Post-Morrow Foundation.  On 28 June 2011, the sale of the southerly 9.6 acres of the site was finalized. Suffolk County has a 70% undivided interest and the Town of Brookhaven 30%, as tenants in common (Libor 12664, p. 977, $596,790).  By agreement, the Town and the Post Morrow Foundation are responsible for the lodge structure and the surrounding two acres; Suffolk County and the Town of Brookhaven  are jointly responsible the remainder of the 9.6 acre site.

In March 2016, the Post Morrow Foundation donated the Lodge to the Town of Brookhaven for a possible Nature Retreat Center.   See "Other Documents" link above for the Long Island Advance news article.

1. Wikipedia
2. Victor Principe. Images of America Series: Bellport Village and Brookhaven Hamlet. Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society/Acradia Press. 2002. p. 117
3. Stephanie Bigelow. Bellport and Brookhaven: A Saga of the Sibling Hamlets at Old Purchase South. Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society. 1968. p. 49, 59.
4. Unsigned and undated manuscript: "The George Washington Lodge," Obtained from the Marist Brothers.
5. "Big Bellport Sale," The New York Times, May 23, 1926
6. "Brooklyn Club Buys," The New York Times, February 25, 1927.
7. Henry Bradford Nason, editor, Biographical record of the officers and graduates of the Rensselaer polytechnic institute, 1824-1886 (Troy, NY: W.H. Young, 1887), p. 543; digital images, Google Books
8. 1888 Wendelken map
9. 1915 Belcher Hyde map
10. 13 Dec 2010, Purchase of Washington Lodge Estate Approved by Suffolk County:   Beaver Dam Creek Partnership of the Post Morrow Foundation, Brookhaven Town, and Suffolk County, NY, To Jointly Purchase Environmentally Sensitive Property
11. Post Morrow Foundation Newsletter, Summer, 2011