Over the centuries, the road connection between the west and east sides of Cold Spring Harbor has varied. Originally, the road ran over the meadow at the foot of the harbor. This right of way was later converted to a footpath and the road was moved to run over the dam that formed St. John’s Lake.
Because the road ran over the dam, the front door of St. John’s Church practically opened on to the road. The lake and dam were privately owned by members of the Jones and Hewlett families. They were responsible for keeping the road in good repair.
The road passing the front door of St. John’s Church
Even the best maintenance practices could not have saved the road from the washout on February 29, 1904 that broke the dam. The rush of water washed the bridge down to the gristmill on the east side of the harbor and soon created a breach 100 feet wide and 20 feet deep. The ponds at the Fish Hatchery were flooded allowing many fish to escape into the harbor. Town officials immediately began discussing whether to repair the dam or build a new roadway over the meadow where it had been originally.
The breach in the dam
A temporary footbridge was quickly built to allow access over the breached dam. This bridge flooded at high tide. Charles Walters, superintendent of the Fish Hatchery, ferried people across the stream. Carriages and wagon had to detour south through Woodbury or hazard the snow and ice to get to the upper dam at the second lake. The village milkman even made use of the never-used railroad embankment that ran through the valley.
The temporary footbridge
The decision to build a new road over the meadow was more or less settled within a few months. A formal meeting of the highway commissioners of Huntington and Oyster Bay was held in Hicksville in August 1904. The contract for a new concrete bridge was awarded unanimously. The expense of the new bridge was shared by the two Towns. Each Town was responsible for the road on its side of the bridge.
The Jones and Hewlett families as owners of the lake decided to hire the same contractors to rebuild the dam and a new bridge. That bridge is now used exclusively by the pastor of St. John’s Church and his family who live on the opposite side of the lake from the church.
The new bridge
The 1905 bridge was replaced in 1999 as part of a $6.7 million project to reconfigure Route 25A from the Lawrence Hill Road intersection past the top of Fish Hatchery Hill.
Huntington History 
Very interesting. Learned something new.