Does anyone know whose boat this is or was? Lydia Shaternik, a friend of the Montauk Library, discovered a framed black-and-white photograph when she was sorting through donations for the rummage sale at the Montauk Community Church. She set it aside for the library, thinking it might be of interest. “Our boat we built 1950… Read more »
Taken in July of 1937, this evocative photograph came to the Montauk Library Archives as part of a collection from the late Ellie Prado. She was a longtime Montauk resident whose husband, Marshall, was at one time Carl Fisher’s chauffeur. The railroad has played a significant role since it steamed into Montauk in 1895. People… Read more »
There wouldn’t be a Blessing of the Fleet on Sunday in Montauk Harbor – actually, there wouldn’t be a Montauk Harbor at all – if a channel hadn’t been cut in the 1920s to connect Lake Montauk with Block Island Sound. The lake used to be known as Great Pond and Lake Wyandance or Lake… Read more »
On June 1, 1927, the Montauk Manor opened with a splash – “a Carl Fisher masterpiece,” the East Hampton Star proclaimed on its front page, referring to the man who hoped to transform Montauk into a Miami Beach of the North. A reporter marveled that the luxurious, $1.5 million, nearly 200-room resort had been completed… Read more »
Traffic this weekend won’t be so tranquil, so here’s a look at Montauk’s parkway in the 1930s. We’re not sure if this is the stretch running through Hither Hills or the one at Montauk Point, but in either case we can thank Robert Moses, the former state park commission president, for the view. When Moses… Read more »
These dedicated supporters – and there were many more – looked pretty darn happy when the ribbon was snipped for the new Montauk Library on May 3, 1992. Anyone who missed that event, even those who had the pleasure 30 years ago, will have another chance this Sunday, May 22, to celebrate the newly renovated… Read more »
Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day an official holiday in 1914, “as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.” But seeds had already been sown – even by ancient Greeks and Romans, who honored the mother goddesses with festivals. In the 19th century, Anna Reeves Jarvis helped organize “Mother’s… Read more »
As you can see, the black-and-white photo is dated 1940, and what was then called “Bill’s Restaurant” seems to be situated, still, in Montauk’s old fishing village on Fort Pond Bay. We can probably assume then that the restaurant was moved around 1943, when the U.S. Navy took over the fishing village to test torpedoes… 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 »
It’s hard to believe that 100 years have passed since this rather somber photograph was taken at Alma Baker’s Luncheonette. The restaurant catered to passengers who arrived in Montauk’s old fishing village on Fishermen’s Special trains, day trippers who were eager to hop on a boat and hook what was sure to be a plentiful… Read more »