Marion Carll Farm

Marion Carll Property
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	475 Commack Rd., Commack, New York
Coordinates	40°49′33″N73°17′44″W / 40.82583°N 73.29556°W / 40.82583; -73.29556
Area	9.3 acres (3.8 ha)
Built	ca. 1860 Farm date back to 1701
Architect	Carll, John
Architectural style	Italianate, Federal
NRHP reference No.	79001632 [1]
Added to NRHP	June 26, 1979

Marion Carll Farm is a historic home and property located in Commack, Suffolk County, New York. It consists of the 1860 farmhouse, privy, garage, smokehouse, milk house, horse barn/carriage house, sheep barn, and four smaller barns. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. ^{[1] [2]}

Marion Carll was a schoolteacher who moved onto the property in 1885. She also served as Commack's District's Treasurer and Census Taker. ^[3]

When Marion Carll died in 1968, she willed to the Commack School District to be used as a historical museum for educational purposes. ^[4] However, the property was not maintained and fell into disrepair. ^{[5] [6]} In 2012, several of Carll's heirs filed a lawsuit to have the farm returned to them due to the lack of maintenance and state of disrepair of the property. ^[7] However, this lawsuit was dismissed in 2017. ^[8]

In 2019, the Commack School District announced that they would be leasing part of the farm to Long Island University for a veterinary school and that it would be using the funding from the lease to restore the farm. Despite this announcement, some local activists remain unconvinced that enough funding will be raised to be able to accomplish a proper restoration. ^[6] Long Island University signed a 10-year lease and intends to raise grazing animals on 6 acres of the property for students to practice clinical skills on. ^[9]

The voter turn-out was actually almost 1,100 people and 700 voted no. The district did give only two weeks prior notice as far as the vote. Additionally, The mailer with the sale proposal was not received by the majority of district residents back in 2010 in a timely manner. The current RFP was unusual in that it required a non-refundable down payment without any indication of the amount. Hence no one responded. The district has never allowed public access to the Farm as deeded by the will. The costs associated with the Farm include not direct maintenance costs, which seem to inflate actual expense

References

1. "National Register Information System – Marion Carll Farm (#79001632)". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
2. Karen Morey Kennedy and Austin N. O'Brien (March 1979). National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Carll, Marion, Farm. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved November 29, 2025. (Downloading may be slow.)
3. Lavender, Jane (August 1, 2020). "Farmhouse abandoned 40 years ago filled with mannequins and eerie family photos". The Mirror. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
4. Jacobsen, Aileen (March 25, 2011). "4 Pieces of the Past That Face Danger". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
5. Deedy, Donna (October 15, 2019). "Marion Carll Farm: Struggle Continues". TBR News. New York. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
6. DeAngelis, Jenna (October 10, 2019). "Fight Brewing Over Fate Of Historic Long Island Farm". CBS New York. New York. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
7. Hall, Sophia (April 24, 2012). "Family Wants Land Back From Commack After School District Doesn't Develop It". CBS New York. New York. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
8. Bauman, Valerie (March 15, 2017). "Commack school district to keep historic Marion Carll Farm, judge rules". Newsday. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
9. Mattson, Kaitlyn (March 11, 2020). "New York City–area veterinary college still taking shape". JAVMA News. Retrieved July 2, 2021.

External links

• Style our Life blog post with detailed photos and history