Information, News, and features from Montauk Library’s local history collection.
A ghost from Montauk’s history perched on an inexorably vanishing shore – this painting depicts the McCaffray/Rheinstein windmill on what was known as Sandpiper Hill. The work most likely was painted by William A. Rogers in the 1930s. It came into the family of Harold Hone, who purchased property nearby in Ditch Plains in… Read more »
This post was originally published on July 3, 2024. It has been slightly updated to included the date of this year’s Friends of the Library Book Fair. 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… Read more »
On the corner of Main Street and Carl Fisher Plaza, White’s Pharmacy was a magnet for Montauk kids in the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s. For starters, it had a soda fountain and a great view of any action that was going down in town. “What the liquor store is now was Dick White’s drug store,”… Read more »
“WHY, here is all the charm of England and Scotland, and less than three hours from New York!” The noted visitor, a traveler to many climes, stood high on a breeze-swept, green-clad hill at Montauk Beach, 125 miles out into the cool Atlantic on Long Island’s slender tip, and surveyed the alluring panorama before him…. Read more »
Montauk’s first Blessing of the Fleet – born as the “Blessing of the Boats” – was in 1956 and the brainchild of Vinnie Grimes, a charter boat captain and Navy veteran who’d seen Portuguese tuna fishermen blessing their boats before they headed out to sea on the West Coast. “It is an old European custom… Read more »
Dear Carl, Just a card showing you what sort of a place I live in. Write again, Pal, Bob Robert E. Hale sent this postcard in October 1944 from Montauk to his pal Carl, stationed on Manus Island off northern Papua New Guinea, during World War II, while both men were serving in the U.S…. Read more »
One of seven children, Sarah (King) Tuthill was sent at age 6 to Montauk to live with Loretta Dickinson, a friend of her mother’s who lived in “better circumstances” and had indicated that “she would like to have one of the girls.” In an oral history interview in 1967, when she was 81, Sarah… Read more »
Joyous, I heard, while slowly borne along, From wakening birds, the early burst of song, Upspringing like a morning hymn, to rise And mingle with the worship of the skies. -J.A. Ayres, The Legends of Montauk, 1849 This time of year, the dawn chorus of birdsong combines mating, territorial, alarm, and location vocalizations from resident,… Read more »
IYKYK. JK about “If you know you know.” We know which local girls are in this photo and are more than happy to share that information. But first consider identifying them on your own. Two clues: The young ladies were wearing flapper costumes for a production of the “Baker’s Roaring ‘20s Scrapbook” at the Montauk… Read more »
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 »