There was a surprisingly glamorous whiff to fish on Montauk Harbor in the 1970s and early 1980s. The commercial dock, Gosman’s retail and wholesale seafood operation next door, the new Dock restaurant next door to that – for many, work was hard and physical, and opportunities to kick back were most welcome. These photos come… Read more »
The vernal equinox on March 20th marked the onset of spring, as the sun passed the equator on its path northward, bringing with it longer and warmer days to the Northern Hemisphere. On March 21st, 1946 (the year the above photo was taken), the East Hampton Star reported “Spring is here today!… Cover crops are… Read more »
Did you know that Montauk’s first St. Patrick’s Day “parade” took place in 1947, years before the Montauk Friends of Erin was founded? On St. Patrick’s Day 76 years ago, four men decided to take a march down Main Street. They came to rest at what today is Shagwong Tavern (thus initiating a traditional pit… Read more »
Does anyone remember this bracing foray on Fort Pond Bay? We know that the year was 1963, the group were Montauk Girl Scouts, the leader wearing glasses was Betty Morici, and the photo was taken by Frank T. Moss. A Montauk troop—Troop No. 1 – of the Girl Scouts had been formed on February 16,… Read more »
“I have witnessed what must have been the ultimate in seal serenity,” Maxwell Corydon Wheat Jr. wrote in the January 1978 issue of Long Island Forum. On one especially frigid morning in Montauk in the winter of 1977, he said, ice that had formed on the shore broke off in floating chunks. “It was on one… Read more »
The first campaign to preserve Hither Woods dates back to the early 1980s when environmental groups and concerned citizens united to save the land from private developers. Hither Woods consists of 1,357 acres of undisturbed oak and hickory forest, crossed with laurel-lined trails, and over 2 miles of coastline along the Block Island Sound. In… Read more »
Herb Herbert donated this photograph of the Montauk Fire Department rescuing a horse trapped in the ice near Deep Hollow Ranch. Fireman Tom Grenci reports that the rescue was successful, and that the horse survived after walking out onto the frozen surface of the lake and falling in. Most Montaukers are pet-passionate and care deeply… Read more »
Nothing like a hearty breakfast before harvesting ice on a winter’s day. Eugene Beckwith Sr. recalled that the bosses fed the men quite generously before they set off to work in the 1930s. “Oh, gosh, they had pancakes and sausage and pork chops,” he recalled in a 1969 oral history interview. “I eat one pork… Read more »
“A great price for a great waste of sand” – that’s how the New York Times described the auctioning off of Montauk for $151,000 in 1879. White settlers from East Hampton had used Montauk for pastureland for more than two centuries, building First, Second, and Third House for shepherds and visitors. Now Montauk’s new owner… Read more »