I took the last three days off and traveled with Megan to Hauppauge, NY in the middle of Long Island. We were there as sort of a pilgrimage for her father (who recently passed away) and see her family’s lore. We drove up on Tuesday, we stayed in an RV (airbnb) parked in someone’s driveway, toured on Wednesday, and drove home on Thursday. It was so amazingly successful, I’m happy I got invited to go.
First stop, the all-volunteer fire station where Megan’s paternal grandfather was active for many, many years. We just happened to bump into an ex-chief in the parking lot who knew all the Millers and happily gave us a exhaustive tour of all the memorabilia.
They lovingly maintain this old fire truck for parades and nice days.
We then went by the house where her dad grew up. It’s abandoned and rumored to have been bought by a dentist. We were poking around, when from across the parking lot came a dentist in full scrubs and the light on her head and she scolded us for being on the property and sure enough, it was the dentist and she softened upon learning about Megan’s connection to the house. We talked to her a bit as she was probably leaving a patient with their mouth open with Mr. Thirsty hanging.
This Carvel location featured prominently in Megan’s childhood, as they always drove by and commented on it, but never stopped for ice cream. We stopped for ice cream.
Megan’s grandfather was the superintendent of schools in the town, so we stopped by the high school and found this plaque which Megan has heard so much about, but has never seen it before. This was a great find.
Finally, we went to the library where there was a Myron Miller archives with old photos, clippings, handwritten letters and a very enthusiastic librarian who had collected and cataloged it all. It was super impressive (the little one is Megan’s father). Megan carefully went through the clippings and I took a nap in a leather chair.
Finally, in the morning before we hit the road, we (shhhh…) buried some of Megan’s dad’s ashes between the gravestone of his father and uncle. Megan had been carrying the ashes in her purse, so, you know, he kind of got to visit all the locations with us while we tooled around town.
I had such a wonderful time touring this little town and meeting various folks enthusiastic about their jobs and happy to share what history they could. We also ate at a lot of diners!
