The Red Owl: A Legend of the Montauks manuscript

Charles A. Codman was a pioneer settler of the Modern Times colony and later of the village of Brentwood, Suffolk County, Long Island. He and his wife built a house in 1857 on four acres of land on the corner of Second Avenue and Brentwood Road, where he lived for nearly 60 years. The structure was over a hundred years old when it was eventually torn down for commercial development. An artist and a writer, Codman's original handwritten manuscript entitled "A History of Modern Times" and a copy of his "Legend of the Red Owl" are both in the collection of the Suffolk County Historical Society, along with his framed color drawing of the red owl and various other documents. Codman was so affected by his alleged experience with the red owl that he named his house "The Hermitage of the Red Owl." His portrait of the owl hung in his home until his death. Codman died in 1911 at the age of 83 years.

Edward F. Linton, noted developer of East New York, grew up in Brentwood. His father was one of the original settlers of Modern Times.

According to the red owl legend created by Charles A. Codman, on a winter night in 1877, a small red owl visited him and revealed itself to be the spirit of an Indian warrior or chief named Oriwos, and that he had been murdered by the Mohawks many years before. He stated that his bones remained unburied near the back of Codman's house. Codman found the bones and buried them as instructed by the owl, who returned to thank Codman.

This poem's version of the story states that the owl was "Aola," the daughter of Montauk chieftain "Waurendaunce." Aola happened to meet a Canarsie hunter, "Rondewah, son of Nadis" in the woods and the two fell in love. As the two tribes were rivals, they could not be together, and Aola was promised to the Montauk warrior "Wanowanka." All four were killed when Rondewah and the Canarsie attempted to take Aola by force. As the owl, Aola's spirit leads Codman, here stylized "Caedman," to her and Rondewah's remains, which he buries properly, thereby freeing her spirit and leaving the lifeless owl behind.