The development of Mount Sinai for its natural and recreational qualities had begun with the 1841 establishment of a special care facility for sick and disabled children on the southwestern side of Mount Sinai Harbor. This consisted of housing and volunteer workers on a plot, with the location being chosen due to its close proximity to St. Charles Hospital in adjacent Port Jefferson. On April 2, 1892, this parcel was sold to Dr. Jerome Walker, who established the Crystal Brook Park Association which is still owned and occupied today by Mount Sinai's oldest private community known as "Crystal Brook Park".