Heckscher Park

Heckscher Park covers about eighteen and one-half acres east of downtown Huntington, Suffolk County. Industrialist and philanthropist August Heckscher created it in 1920 after buying the site of Ezra Prime's former thimble factory, which had used water power from a dam on the property. The factory and Prime's Italianate house were demolished, leaving the Old Mill Pond as the main visible reminder. The park offers wooded areas, open lawn, walkways, rustic fencing, specimen plantings and a stream crossed by small cobblestone bridges. Three buildings contribute to its character: a Renaissance Revival museum of smooth ashlar with Doric pilasters and a modillioned cornice, a bungalow-style cobblestone cottage built as caretaker's quarters, and an octagonal cobblestone gazebo. A c. 1970 bandshell and a 1984 garage do not contribute. The park was recognized as a representative early twentieth-century landscaped park that reflects Huntington's growth around 1900 and has changed little since it opened. The factory site may also hold archeological potential.