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Our History
In 1856, John R. Smith founded what would eventually become the Ruland Funeral Home.
Mr. Smith worked from his home and provided undertaking services to families in the greater Patchogue area. In the late 1860’s, John Smith teamed up with Charles Wallace Ruland and formed Smith & Ruland Undertakers. As his health declined, Mr. Smith retired in the late 1880’s leaving Mr. Ruland to continue on as C. W. Ruland Funeral Services and quickly purchased the former Patchogue Laundry building when that company moved to a larger facility on Main Street across from the Post Office at that time.
In 1895, C. W. Ruland gained notoriety for his selfless work in caring for the sailors of the Louis V. Place who tragically froze to death after their three-masted schooner ran aground in an ice storm on February 8th.
The wreck of the Louis V. Place is one of the best known wrecks that occurred on Fire Island. The small schooner carrying a cargo of coal from Baltimore to New York stranded on a sand bar....in the icy conditions of February 1895....Heavy weather began to cause the Louis V. Place’s sails, rigging, and hull to ice up. By the 7th the ship would essentially be what was described as a “drifting iceberg.”.....the frozen ship stranded on February 8.
Two adjacent U.S. Life Saving Stations were already working to rescue a ship, the John B. Manning ... about a mile away from the Louis V. Place. (They)...quickly realized that ice and strong waves made it impossible to launch a rescue boat; the Place’s crew would have to be rescued by the breeches buoy.
USLSS crew fired the Lyle gun but the hypothermic and frostbitten crew on the Place was unable to retrieve the line due to hypothermia. By this time two men, Captain William Squires and the cook, Charlie Morrison, had fallen from the rigging where the men had taken shelter from the freezing water. Other rescue
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