Information, News, and features from Montauk Library’s local history collection.
Built in 1929 and designed by Walker and Gillette, the Montauk Tennis Auditorium boasted tennis courts, a boxing ring, a stage, and seating for thousands of Montauk Manor guests and their friends. It was — like the manor, the Protestant and Catholic churches, the school, the golf club, surf club, yacht club, polo fields, and… Read more »
Do you have a drawer or shoebox that has become a catchall for collecting nostalgic items (think postcards, flyers, brochures, ticket stubs, newspaper clippings, menus, etc.) that have significant personal meaning? Maybe you have them on view, stuck to your fridge, a daily reminder of a memorable moment in your life. Without our community of… Read more »
Forty-six years ago, New York State took ownership of the privately owned Montauk Golf and Racquet Club and named it “Montauk Downs State Park.” The state was well into planning a public golf course at Hither Hills State Park, but an option to buy the existing 171-acre Montauk Golf tract for $1.325 million… Read more »
Barbara Metzger (1944-2023) was an award-winning novelist, editor, writer of greeting card verses, artist, and longtime volunteer with the Friends of the Montauk Library. It was in that last capacity that Bob-E, as she was known, was instrumental in organizing book fairs on the Montauk Green on July Fourth weekends from 1980 to 2014. In… Read more »
Hunting, gathering, fishing, foraging … early colonists of Montauk took full advantage of the prolific wildlife, but they also did some scavenging on the side. Notwithstanding potentially tragic human loss, shipwrecks provided a big boost to the local economy. Locals used salvaged timber to build fences and fill fireplaces. “Every year about 2,000 loads… Read more »
Montauk’s first Third House was built in 1747 but burned down, then was rebuilt in 1806. It has had many owners and uses in its 278 years, beginning as a home for the keepers of cattle grazing each summer on Montauk’s pastureland. Almost as remote as Montauk Point, the farmhouse was also known as… Read more »
With picnic season in full swing, impress family and friends with local flavors and recipes from the Montauk Library’s collection of community cookbooks. Spice up your picnic invitation with this unique and unusual jest—“Now hie we to the picnic ground. With pies of peach and custard; Where divers snakes meander round, And frolic in the… Read more »
This post originally ran on January 3, 2024. It has been updated with additional photographs. Montaukers of a certain age may recollect some of the people and places in this chamber directory. They might even remember using a two-letter telephone exchange prefix: MP for Montauk Point, for example. The directory comes from a collection of… Read more »
This past weekend, relics of Montauk’s history representing the fabric of our community were displayed at the Arts Center at Duck Creek’s Airing of the Quilts. Three quilts from the Montauk Library’s collection were exhibited outdoors alongside baby blankets, contemporary textile artworks, heirlooms, and historical pieces created or inherited by community members across the East… Read more »
Does anyone know who these sun-bonneted belles might be? The photograph was most likely taken between 1970 and 1980. The photographer was Ray Smith (1905-2004), who moved east after a career in high fashion and advertising, including a stint with a lucrative Ex-Lax campaign. He set about chronicling a much simpler community here in Montauk,… Read more »