Montauk’s past and present history is painted with verdant parks and preservations, a blend of historical and modern architectural styles, shorelines glittering with seaglass, plentiful marine life, vivid sunsets, and colorful characters that make our community so unique. Aligning with our Summer Reading Program’s theme, “Color Our World,” we used AI software to transform black-and-white photographs… 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 »
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 »
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 »
Just received your letter and I want to say It has recalled the day when we first met dear Now I’m feeling better and I promise true I will return to you So don’t forget dear When William H. Heagney released the song In Montauk Dear With You in 1928, Montauk was in a period… Read more »
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 »
“There was nothing there but a few screaming seagulls and the bell buoy, and the old fish house with the roof caving in,” Mary Gosman recollected, in a 1996 oral history interview, about the harbor area – mostly still swampland and sand — in 1943 when she and her husband, Robert, took over Charlie Bonner’s… Read more »
We hope these vintage photos will inspire your Halloween costume ideas. In return, can you help identify the people in disguise? The first one’s on us: Emily Burke Cullum and Buddy Burke, who were sister and brother, are the costumed cuties in the photo above. The year is probably about 1934; we’re not sure… Read more »
September 5 will be Day 1 for Montauk School students – a Thursday, which should give them a soft landing after summer vacation. For the second September in a row, Jack Perna, the school’s longtime superintendent and principal, will still be on vacation, however, having retired in 2023 after more than 50 years. Hired by… Read more »
On that day, August 25, they wandered from one isolated dwelling to another, frightening most residents but managing to purchase two dogs, a bottle of gin, and some sweet potatoes with the Spanish gold doubloons they had found aboard the ‘Amistad.’ — Mutiny on the Amistad In August of 1839, nine Africans came ashore at… Read more »