Local History

Information, News, and features from Montauk Library’s local history collection.

Throwback Thursday – Big Guns

Throwback Thursday – Big Guns

Is it any wonder that conspiracy theories abound when it comes to Camp Hero? Consider the shroud of secrecy in January 1942 when the Army purchased 468 remote acres in Montauk to use as a battery site “and for related military purposes.” “Secretary of War Stimson signed the petition, filed in Federal Court, Brooklyn, which… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – And Now for Something Completely Different

Throwback Thursday – And Now for Something Completely Different

We’re trying something different for this week’s Throwback Thursday — sharing a photograph from our archives that we don’t know much about and asking for your help in identifying or recollecting the people, places, and stories behind the image.  What we do know is that this photograph is of a Montauk Community Church variety/talent show,… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Dialing MP

Throwback Thursday – Dialing MP

  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 printed materials and ephemera promoting Montauk restaurants, hotels, and the Montauk Chamber of Commerce… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Happiness is…

Throwback Thursday – Happiness is…

Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened. — Anatole France, 19th-century French poet, novelist, and journalist Clearly in agreement are more than 70 people who sent in photos of their “babies” for a Montauk Library community slideshow called “Pets of Montauk.” Dogs frolicking on the beach, cats curled on… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Holiday Cheer

Throwback Thursday – Holiday Cheer

A nasty horse named Humpty Dumpty gets a kick out of throwing riders. A bathtub morphs into a UFO and lifts off. A little girl wins a baby elephant in a mail-in coupon contest. A surfcaster hooks a mermaid off Montauk Point. The imagination of the illustrator Frank Borth extended all the way from drawing… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Cooking With Friends

Throwback Thursday – Cooking With Friends

Before you start, sample the rum and check for quality, begins a recipe for Christmas rum cake in Montauk Cooks with Friends. Like many community cookbooks, it features recipes from local residents and was published to raise money for a local organization, in this case the Friends of the Montauk Library. The cookbook came out… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Return of the Fresnel Lens

Throwback Thursday – Return of the Fresnel Lens

Since 1796, the Montauk Point Lighthouse has served as a navigational aid to mariners, casting light from the land’s end and acting as a signal for the rocky shoreline. In its early years of operation, a lighthouse keeper attended to the whale oil-fueled lanterns, carrying eight lanterns up the interior spiral staircase and lighting the… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Happy Turkey Trot!

Throwback Thursday – Happy Turkey Trot!

It draws at least 1,000 people today, but the Thanksgiving Day Run for Fun started in 1976 with John Keeshan and only a handful of other runners bounding from the Plaza to Deep Hollow Ranch on Thanksgiving morning. “Over the years, it grew and … after a while, we ended up with a couple of… Read more »

Throwback Thursday – Main Street Staple

Throwback Thursday – Main Street Staple

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 »