locustvalley

Published in Locust Valley, by Joan Harrison, Amy Dzija Driscoll. Arcadia Publishing, 2012 books.google.com/books?id=rS3GP0GAtXQC&pg=PA102&l... which indicates that bobsledding was an active pastime in Locust Valley.

The sun. (New York [N.Y.]), 06 Feb. 1916. Second Section, Sporting and Automobiles, Page 12 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1916-02-06/ed-... reports that "thousands of residents of Nassau County were at Locust Valley this afternoon for the annual bobsled races, which are a feature of winter life on Long Island." "The Matinicock entry, composed of twenty-five women, many of whom are prominent in society in Oyster Bay and Locust Valley, finished in third place.

Thank you for your research on Locust Valley winter sports, swanq. We'll add some of the information to each of the records the next time we update.

This looks like a disaster waiting to happen.

This photo was released in The Sunday Oregonian, February 27, 1916, SECTION FIVE, Image 67 with the caption: "Annually the Long Islanders about Huntington and Oyster Bay have a bobsled contest, in which teams or women race with teams of men. The contest was hold this year at Locust Valley and the "Locust Valley 1911" Team was successful. The Matinecock team of women came in third." oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1916-02-27/ed-1/se...

The woman on the left is perhaps Mrs. William Halsted Vander Poel, the former Gretchen Billings, daughter of CKG Billings (chairman of Union Carbide). CKG Billings and Frederick Johnson (apparently the husbands of the other two women) together bought some English thoroughbred horses to raise for raising in 1915.

C. K. G. Billings and Fred Johnson were partners in the ownership of race horses, including "Omar Khayyam," winner of the 1917 Kentucky Derby. This photo appears to have been taken at the stepped observation boxes of the Piping Rock Country Club, in Locust Valley, Long Island, on July 10, 1913. Here is the same scene, same day, shifted to the right:

Another Bain/LOC photo of the same venue was posted to Flickr on April 27, 2011:

The local team at the annual Locust Valley bobsled races was on a sled called 1911. They came in first place.
See comments under