In the summer of 1924 at about this time, Robert Moses set out to appropriate 1,700 acres of private land to create a state park at Hither Hills. Moses was head of the Long Island State Park Commission, whose negotiations with the properties’ owners had come unraveled. One landowner was Carl Fisher, who wanted $300… Read more »
Below, a three-piece band on the Lakeside stage, 1950s. | Dave Edwardes Collection, Montauk Library Archives And so, just like that … the summer season is off to a start. As one could have expected … all roads, all invitations, all Instagrams lead to Montauk … And more specifically, The Surf Lodge. All of social note… Read more »
A small collection of color and black-and-white aerial photographs of the west side of Lake Montauk is included in the Montauk Library Archives. Because they were taken in the 1970s, prior to many subdivisions and developments in the 1980s and beyond, they could be useful to illustrate what have undoubtedly been shrinking swaths of eelgrass,… Read more »
Harrison Tweed and six other sportsmen were delighted to be able to purchase Brightmoor, Andrew Orr’s old “cottage” in the Montauk Association, in March of 1924. Tweed and his friends paid a little more than $2,000 each for the house, which sat on 19-plus acres with 700 feet of oceanfront perfect for surfcasting for striped… 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 »
In the spring of 1981, Rick Whalen was a couple of years out of college, “knocking around East Hampton trying to find work.” Somehow he hooked up with Stuart Vorpahl for a few months fishing pound traps in Napeague Harbor, and he recalls a good run of weakfish. In this photo Rick is flinging a… Read more »
Sportsman’s Shows were attended by Montauk fishermen on a regular basis throughout the heyday period of trophy fishing, from the 1930s to the 1960s. These trade shows took place in New York City, often in the armory in the Bronx. In this image from 1947 we see Frank Tuma (1899-1961) in the Montauk booth, and… Read more »
Chip Duryea’s compiled writings have recently been published in a book entitled Full Circle. Perry III is the official name, but Chip, as he is called, was instrumental in bringing the Lobster Deck restaurant into successful fruition alongside his father, Perry II. “He was the visionary and I was the implementer,”… Read more »
There has been a resurgence of interest in the two auto races that took place in Montauk during the summers of 1939 and 1940. Sponsored by the American Road Racing Club, this event filled Montauk with excited spectators who set up chairs at strategic positions to experience the action firsthand. This… Read more »
From the collection of Celina McDonald Seitz we get this picture taken right after her 8th-grade graduation from the Montauk School, standing alongside her schoolmates Maria Grimes Short and Joyce Miller Talley. It’s an important day. The girls are dressed up, holding their diplomas tied with ribbons. When an archives receives… Read more »