With picnic season in full swing, impress family and friends with local flavors and recipes from the Montauk Library’s collection of community cookbooks. Spice up your picnic invitation with this unique and unusual jest—“Now hie we to the picnic ground. With pies of peach and custard; Where divers snakes meander round, And frolic in the… Read more »
What’s not to love about shad trees, which have graced the Montauk skyline for the past few weeks with their gorgeous white tufts? There are four species of shadbush growing in Montauk, one of which is very rare. The shadbush is a member of the rose family that goes by many other names: shadblow, shadwood,… Read more »
National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries nationwide. It was established in 1958 with the theme “Wake Up and Read.” This year’s theme is “Drawn to the Library,” celebrating what draws people into the library. Before 1980, Montauk had no library to draw people in. Library services… Read more »
Imagine driving up a meandering dirt driveway lined with ornamental trees, a horse-riding track on your left, a watchtower home to a fancier of pigeons on your right, greenhouses stocked with tropical plants, and a private zoo replete with gazelles and peacocks, all surrounding a Spanish-Moor-styled estate. Does this sound like Montauk? While contemporary estates… Read more »
It’s that time of year when we write a post about the Montauk St. Patrick’s Day Parade, sharing some aspect of its founding or the history of its organizers–the Montauk Friends of Erin. Last year we posted a cartoon by Frank Borth depicting a colorful parade of marchers, floats, and balloons rounding the plaza. The… Read more »
Leisuramas were small, cookie-cutter vacation homes built in the Culloden Shores subdivision of Montauk in the early 1960s. They were designed to be affordable and came conveniently pre-furnished from top to bottom. “All you need is a key and a six-pack,” Frank Tuma, who managed their construction, was rumored to have said. The marketing of… Read more »
Winter birdwatching in Montauk draws a dedicated and frostbitten crowd who are rewarded for their resiliency with abundant scoters, razorbills, loons, eiders, and many species of dabbling ducks amassing along the shorelines, lakes, and ponds. “It was agreed that Montauk was a marvel in the feathers department, particularly in the off-season and after a spell… Read more »
This week’s chilly weather gave us a taste of the biting temperatures and harsh winds our Montauk ancestors experienced in winter. With lower recorded temperatures and less forestation and development hindering the wintry maritime winds, Montauk must have felt uninhabitable to year-round families struggling to stay warm. “All of the local bays and harbors are… Read more »
Montauk’s forests, hills, valleys, cliffs, and shorelines have long inspired creative types flocking to the East End for open spaces and wild muses. Montauk’s untamed woodlands and resident trees have been contemplated by writers and artists alike. In the library’s collection and on the community room walls we see instances of their influence in poetry,… Read more »
A logbook, or ship’s log, is an official record of events, conditions, and observations documented during the voyage of a ship, generally kept by captains or first mates. Historical logbooks provide information about the ship’s position, weather, ports visited, and daily life aboard the vessel. The engineer’s log of the steamship “George Appold” chronicles the… Read more »