At the time of its creation in 1958, the Sea and Sky Portel was a new and unique concept in resort enjoyment, welcoming aviators and mariners by way of its adjoining airfield and marina. The luxury motel featured apartment-style accommodations with a neighboring restaurant and cocktail lounge located on the eastern shore of Lake Montauk…. Read more »
After Ruth Woodrow died in 1983, Bessi Hochstein wrote a letter to the East Hampton Star describing her memories of boarding at Mrs. Woodrow’s cabins in Shepherd’s Neck. “The first time I was in Montauk was early spring, 1979, the year before I entered college,” she wrote, “I came, like hordes of others my… Read more »
Either the people on this dock are going home pitifully empty-handed after a fishing trip, or else they have just landed in Montauk on a ferry after visiting New York or New London. We think it’s the latter, and that the era could be the 1920s, when the Montauk Steamboat Company and then its successor,… Read more »
The Long Island Fisherman, first published in 1966, stands as one of the longest-running angling periodicals in the region (now known as The Fisherman). Readers may remember the excitement of checking their mailbox for the weekly black-and-white newsprint issues filled with fishing tips, lure recommendations, charter boat advertisements, new products, and trip reports––an indispensable resource… Read more »
In an oral history interview in 2005, Stuart Vorpahl reminisced about Montauk’s historic fishing village on Fort Pond Bay, its former open grasslands, the travails of fishermen in severe storms, the heartbreaking “Pelican” disaster, and how World War II transformed the lives of many residents. Stuart, who died in 2016 at 76, was too young… Read more »
In late October of 1903, a young couple joined hands in marriage atop the lighthouse tower. Their choice of the venue arose from their happenstance meeting there, when Evelyn Cook was visiting her aunt and uncle, Margaret and Captain James G. Scott, who was the lighthouse keeper living there at the time. The groom was… Read more »
What do all these photos have in common? A couple of hints. Think of one’s dismay at seeing a receiver dangling uselessly inside – a pretty sure sign of malfunction. Or think of one filling with rising water while Agents 86 and 99 struggle desperately to get out. The phone… Read more »
During the dog days of summer, you will find splashes of pink dotting the roadsides throughout Montauk, especially in low-lying areas on the margins of wetlands and shorelines. These lush native displays belong to the swamp rose mallow or Hibiscus moscheutos, as it is known scientifically. The swamp rose mallow, commonly called the hardy… 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 »