Sunday Sleuth Series – Presented by your Sayville Alumni Association

Many of us remember the mansion. We called it the Clock Mansion back in the ’60s. It stood on the hill by Clock’s Pond, right across from Sayville High School.

The land on Brook Street was originally home to Isaac H. Green, the visionary architect who defined Sayville’s skyline. The body of water on the property was first named Green’s Pond in his honor, later becoming Clock’s Pond after the estate was purchased by Dow Clock — the prominent founder of the Oystermen’s Bank and Trust Company and President of the Sayville School Board.

For local children, the Clock Mansion was a place of pure mystery. A massive 20‑room structure of heavy stucco and slate, it sat roughly 150 feet northeast of the pond, perched high on a hill. A long, private driveway from Brook Street crossed over a large, imposing concrete bridge at the pond’s headwaters. To the youngsters skating on the pond, the mansion was a constant, looming presence — highly visible, yet shrouded in the kind of speculation only kids can invent. They wondered who truly lived behind all those windows and whispered stories of whether those dark, ancient halls might be haunted.

The Night of the Inferno

The mystery turned to tragedy on a Saturday morning in early December 1970. A fire erupted in the mansion, creating a blaze so intense it could be seen across town. As firefighters battled the 20‑room inferno, they directed high‑pressure hoses into the upper floors. The sheer force of the water streams, combined with the turbulent air of the fire, sent personal belongings flying out of the shattered windows.

By December 7th, a deep winter freeze had settled over Sayville. The shallow waters of Clock’s Pond — directly across from Sayville High School — froze solid, thick enough to support local teenagers who had gathered for ice hockey.

During a game, one teen’s attention was drawn away from the hockey puck as photographs came blowing across the ice. He collected and dried them, then took the stack to local historian and Sayville High alumna Ruth Doherty (Class of 1936) at the Suffolk County News. Ruth later published the photo you see here in her weekly column, “Reflections from the Past.”

The one person we’re certain of in this photo is Dow Clock, front and center.

Our Sunday Sleuth mystery is: who is everyone else?

📷 Can you help us identify them?

If you recognize any of the faces in this photo — or have family stories, old yearbooks, or other clues — we’d love to hear from you.

Every clue brings us one step closer to solving this Sunday History Mystery. Thank you for being part of the sleuthing team!