GRANNY
ROAD
Granny Road, Davis
Erhardt Collection
Granny Road, Davis
Erhardt Collection, Birdsall house on southside of road.
Granny Road is a
very old road that runs from Farmingville to Yaphank.
Have you ever wondered why it's called Granny Road?
According to
tradition Granny Penny was a midwife or doctress. She
delivered babies, fixed broken bones and made her own
medicines. It was a common sight to see Granny in a red
cloak, on a white horse racing down the road to help a
neighbor.
There are many
tales of Granny helping people in need. In one case a
woman had a felon (a very painful infection) on her
finger near the nail. Granny took some wool from a black
sheep and made a smudge out of it. Holding the finger
over the smoke greatly relieved the pain.
Another tale was
that of a frantic man coming to get Granny to come help
his friend who had cut his leg and might bleed to death.
The man had arrived on his horse and brought a half-
broken colt, which he had intended to ride back. Instead
of Granny using the man'' tired horse, she jumped on the
colt and raced to the man's house in time to save his
life.
Granny's maiden name was Dickerson. Her first husband was
a Mr. Case whom "simply disappeared" according
to a local historian. Later she married Jonah Halsey and
had two children, Jonah Jr. and Phoebe. Phoebe married
and moved to Wading River.
After Mr. Halsey
died Granny married a Mr. Penny and moved to Orange
County. When Mr. Penny died Granny moved to Phoebe's
house in Wading River. In poor health Granny died at the
Wading River home of her daughter.
At the Suffolk
County Historical Society museum in Riverhead there is a
tool called a surgeon's lancet. The card next to it reads
"once the property of Granny Penny for whom Granny
Road is named".
Written by,
Lauren Davis
Katy Cuozzo
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