In a scene reminiscent of a July 2015 meeting of the East Hampton Town Board, in which hundreds of Montauk residents aired their collective outrage at an out-of-control party atmosphere, supporters, and some opponents, packed the town hall meeting room last Thursday to comment on a proposed change to zoning code establishing parking requirements that could affect motels’ ability to add accessory uses such as restaurants, bars, or retail stores. 

The public hearing pitted residents, many of whom live near motels believed to be planning expanded offerings, against business owners and their advocates. All professed to acknowledge an atmosphere of excess in the summer months; there was less agreement on how to balance residents’ rights and businesses’ ability to remain competitive, and thus the lifeblood of Montauk’s resort economy. 

The zoning code now stipulates an additional on-site parking area equal to 50 percent of that required for an accessory use whenever such use is added, regardless of a site’s existing parking. “There are some instances where the planning board feels that the existing parking is not adequate for the existing use,” John Jilnicki, a senior assistant town attorney, told the board. “It certainly doesn’t meet the existing code.” 

Many of Montauk’s motels predate zoning laws and enjoy a grandfathered nonconforming status. With an expectation that a motel’s restaurant or bar would draw patrons who are not guests of the business, Mr. Jilnicki said that, “To add additional parking equal to only half of that needed for the accessory use still creates a situation where there’s not sufficient parking on site.” 

The amendment would set an establishment’s parking requirement for its principal use, as calculated by the current code and not its pre-existing nonconforming status, as a starting point. Adding an accessory use would compel the onsite addition of 50 percent of that use’s required parking as calculated by code, Mr. Jilnicki said. The requirement could be reduced, however, if the planning board determines a reduced need based on conditions it imposed or through mitigation offered by the property owner. Properties seeking to add an accessory use would be addressed on a case-by-case basis. “They have a lot of flexibility depending on each application,” he said of the planning board. 

Also included in the proposed legislation is a statute limiting the area of an accessory use to one-third of the aggregate floor area. 

Montauk residents at the meeting identified businesses including the Surf Lodge, Ruschmeyer’s, the Sloppy Tuna, the Montauk Beach House, the Atlantic Terrace, and Hero Beach Club (the latter two having recently changed hands and their new ownership apparently seeking to add a restaurant or bar) as problematic. Gert Murphy, who lives near the Atlantic Terrace, said that, “Some of us are beginning to feel we’re going to have to leave Montauk . . . because the quality of life has definitely been impinged by the club industry that has taken over some of our resort places.” 

Pat Lukascewski of Seaview Avenue told the board that “We support the business community, but it needs to respect us,” and asked that the board “keep Montauk from becoming the amusement park of the East End.” Parking is already “more than tight” at Atlantic Terrace, she said. “I can’t imagine the chaos following any expansion, should this proposal fail.”

Cheryl Richer of Surfside Avenue said that, “The party scene has greatly diminished my enjoyment of my Montauk home.” She can avoid the Sloppy Tuna, she said, “but what I can’t avoid are the packs of loud, drunken [Atlantic Terrace] guests that walk past my bedroom at all hours of the evening. . . . I have to wear earplugs to sleep, and it doesn’t always work, and there are always beer cans, open containers of food, and garbage around my lawn every day.” 

  Some speakers said the proposed amendment does not go far enough. “I hope you do close the hearing . . . and take some action before another summer happens and more businesses try to create that self-contained resort thing, which isn’t really any good for Montauk,” said Ellen Cook. “The other restaurants are not doing all that swimmingly, and there’s tons of retail shops that would like to see more business,” she said. A volunteer emergency medical technician, she said that vehicle and pedestrian traffic around the Surf Lodge, which features scant on-site parking, presents a hazard for those going to and from the firehouse. “We are already kind of overrun with that kind of business,” she said. “What you’re proposing is really moderate.” 

But Laraine Creegan, executive director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, complained that its 300-plus members were not even consulted in the drafting of the proposal. While “a safe and enjoyable atmosphere that respects the community” is important, she said, “today’s traveler is not satisfied with the barebones hotel experience of yesteryear.” For Montauk’s businesses to remain competitive, she said, “local hotel operators must have the ability to provide, among other things, basic food and beverage offerings and attractive retail space.” The proposed requirements are “much more draconian and basically impossible to overcome without a special dispensation waiver from the planning board.” 

Larry Siedlick, an owner of the Montauk Beach House, said that the proposed amendment unfairly targets his and other resorts. A majority of his customers arrive in Montauk via public transportation, he said. “To blame the parking on hotels that are trying to stay competitive, I don’t think is reasonable,” he said. The proposed amendment “essentially will make it impossible for any motel to add any modern amenity, be it a bar, shop, spa, services, anything.” Absent “some reasonable accommodation” allowing the addition of modern amenities, the board is “dooming these properties to an outdated, 1970s, failing business model which basically results in the gradual deterioration of these properties” and eventual blight. 

The town is not targeting businesses, said Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, the board’s liaison to the business committee. “This started because we had some problems brought to us by the Building Department in interpreting the code.” The amendment clarifies the code and addresses questions posed by code enforcement officers, the fire marshal, and the Planning Department, she said. 

The hearing was closed, but Ms. Overby asked, and the board agreed, that the written record be kept open until Nov. 1.

A public hearing on the Wainscott hamlet study drew praise and encouragement from residents at last Thursday’s meeting of the East Hampton Town Board, with some speakers emphasizing that the former sand pit property, north of Route 27 behind the business district and running all the way to the railroad tracks, represents an opportunity to alleviate the town’s critical shortage of affordable housing. 

Wainscott lacks “pedestrian connectivity,” where people can easily walk from one place to another, and outdoor public spaces as well, the study has suggested, and the haphazard development of its commercial district has brought a strip-mall look and feel, with many curb cuts and uncoordinated parking lots. Along with mixed-use development and work-force housing at the former sand pit property, suggested changes include a roundabout to replace the traffic light at the intersection of Main Street and Wainscott Northwest Road; a consolidation of existing parking lots and vacant parcels into a cohesive parking area in the commercial district; parking lots designed with rain gardens and vegetated swales to filter stormwater; parallel on-street parking, continuous sidewalks, and new street trees in the business district, and, possibly, the installation of a decentralized community wastewater system or innovative alternative systems. 

Water quality, and specifically wastewater treatment, is paramount among many Wainscott residents’ concerns. Sara Davison, executive director of the Friends of Georgica Pond Foundation, said that land acquisition and water quality are critical to the hamlet’s natural features and commercial development. She urged acquisition of the 70-acre sand pit, which she said the hamlet study did not address with sufficient reach or specificity. 

“Friends of Georgica Pond encourages the board to think boldly about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape the future of Wainscott,” Ms. Davison said. Most of that land should be designated for municipal, recreational, and open space purposes, she said, given Wainscott “is already grappling with the legacy of past industrial activity,” along with “the worst traffic in the entire town.” 

Kathryn Szoka of Sag Harbor, who is co-chairwoman of Progressive East End Reformers, agreed, calling acquisition of the sand pit property “an opportunity to house the probably 2,000 units of affordable housing that we need in the town right now.” 

Ms. Davison also urged the purchase of the restaurant building on Montauk Highway at the north end of Georgica Pond, which this year housed Il Mulino. “This land is currently the only pre-existing, nonconforming, commercially used lot on the pond,” she said. “We thank the board for including this purchase in the plan recommendation already, but want to underscore what a relevant purchase this would be to the overall plan.” The land could be restored, removing a source of nitrogen contamination to Georgica Pond, she said. 

Philip Young, an owner of the Wainscott Village commercial center, noted that Montauk Highway would have to be widened to accommodate parallel parking in order to address the lack of on-street parking common to other hamlets’ commercial districts. Municipal parking lots would also have to be created at a central location in the business district. But, he said, “the current owners of the Wainscott business properties are very concerned . . . about losing property rights such as sharing of their parking areas with other stores, losing current curb cuts, and also losing significant business due to a customer’s inability to park close to their stores.” 

But Jose Arandia described “a misunderstanding of what this long-term proposal does.” Concern among business owners about losing parking spaces or reclassification of land is misplaced, he said. The hamlet study “is simply a long-term vision plan, and it could very well be a phase-by-phase-by-phase approach.” But the first phase, he said, should include acquisition of the sand pit.

“This isn’t going to happen tomorrow,” said Rick Del Mastro. Citing a future of driverless vehicles, he said that traffic, for example, may look very different than it does today. “What we’re establishing today is not set in stone,” he said. “It’s open to change, because there will be change.” 

Indeed, the plan is flexible, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said. “It’s more of a vision for the future.” Once adopted into the comprehensive plan, “future development and redevelopment will be considered through that lens.” 

The hamlet studies began in 2015, with public input beginning the following year. The consultants, Peter Flinker of Dodson and Flinker, a Massachusetts consulting firm, and Lisa Liquori of Fine Arts and Sciences, a former town planning director, have presented updates since then, based on public comment from individuals, the hamlets’ citizens advisory committees, and chambers of commerce. The goal is to adopt recommendations for each hamlet to be incorporated into the town’s comprehensive plan. 

The hearing on Wainscott was the first of several upcoming hearings; the second happens next Thursday with the East Hampton study. Amagansett will be considered on Nov. 1, followed by Springs on Nov. 15. Lastly, Montauk’s hamlet study will be the subject of a public hearing on Dec. 6. 

All the hearings will be held at Town Hall, during town board meetings that start at 6:30 p.m. While an individual hamlet will be the focus of each hearing, comment on any hamlet will be accepted at all of them.

An indication that growth in the offshore wind industry may soon accelerate came on Monday with the announcement that Orsted, Denmark’s largest energy company and the world’s largest offshore wind developer, will acquire Deepwater Wind, the Rhode Island company that plans to construct and operate the South Fork Wind Farm some 35 miles from Montauk. The $510 million acquisition, from the D.E. Shaw Group, was announced on Monday.

The companies’ offshore wind assets and organizations will be merged to form the largest offshore wind system with the most comprehensive geographic coverage and largest pipeline of development capacity in the United States, delivering renewable energy to seven states, according to a statement issued on Monday. The transaction is expected to close by end of 2018.

The new organization is to be called Orsted US Offshore Wind. Jeffrey Grybowski, Deepwater Wind’s chief executive officer, will be co-C.E.O. of the new company, and Deepwater Wind’s David Hang will be president and chief financial officer. From the Orsted group, Thomas Brostrom will be the new company’s chief executive officer and Claus Bojle Moller its chief operating officer.

Mr. Grybowski said on Monday that he is excited to be partnering with the company that built the world’s first offshore wind farm in 1991 and has constructed some 1,200 turbines since then.

“This really is a company that is the global leader. We’re in a place here in the U.S. now with a market that has really taken off, with projects that have been built or proposed up and down the East Coast. We saw an opportunity to combine what Deepwater Wind does best with what they do best — a new company that will set standards for offshore wind in the U.S.”

“Deepwater Wind has done a fantastic job as a first-mover in U.S. offshore wind,” Mr. Brostrom said in a statement issued on Monday, “and I look forward to joining and integrating the two U.S. organizations. We have exciting times ahead of us delivering large-scale clean energy projects to households and businesses along the Eastern Seaboard. Orsted will maintain a strong presence in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and will, of course honor the local commitments associated with Deepwater Wind’s projects along the East Coast.”

Development of the South Fork Wind Farm will continue as planned, with no change to its Amagansett office and staff, Mr. Grybowski said. “The team on the ground in Amagansett where our office is will remain. The folks that have been working on the South Fork for a number of years now will continue,” he said. “All the Deepwater Wind team is staying in place, just merging together with a new set of colleagues. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We will be adding to the collective team over time.” The plan to establish a base of operations on Long Island is unchanged, he said.

Deepwater Wind submitted an application to the State Public Service Commission last month for the portion of the South Fork Wind Farm’s transmission cable that would lie in state waters and underground on a path from its landing to the Long Island Power Authority substation in East Hampton. It submitted a construction and operations plan for the installation to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in June.

Multiple other federal and state agencies must sign off on the project, a review process that may take up to two years. Should the project proceed according to Deepwater Wind’s hoped-for schedule, the wind farm could be operational late in 2022.

Deepwater Wind’s portfolio has a total potential capacity of approximately 3.3 gigawatts, comprising the five-turbine, 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm, the first offshore wind farm in the United States; three offshore projects in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, and New York, including the proposed South Fork Wind Farm, with a total capacity of 810 megawatts, and approximately 2.5 gigawatts of development potential across three federal lease areas off Massachusetts and Delaware.

Orsted’s current offshore wind portfolio in the United States has a total capacity of approximately 5.5 gigawatts. That includes development rights for up to 2 gigawatts at the Bay State Wind site off the coast of Massachusetts, owned in a joint venture with Eversource; development rights for up to 3.5 gigawatts at the Ocean Wind site off the New Jersey coast, and two 6-megawatt wind turbine positions for phase one of Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project. The company has exclusive rights with Dominion Energy for the potential development of up to 2 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has set a goal for the state to obtain 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Last month, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Danish Ministry of Energy, Utilities, and Climate announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding that supports the continued cooperation regarding strategies and solutions for the development of offshore wind energy. That move is unrelated to the merger of the offshore wind assets of Deepwater Wind and Orsted, Mr. Grybowski said. 

This article was updated with the version that appeared in print on Oct. 11, 2018. 

Anthony Charles Daunt and Erica Jeanne Silich of Springs are “huge baseball fans” whose hearts belong not only to each other but also to the Mets, so it makes sense that they chose to be married in Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Kim Hren, who was ordained by the Universal Life Church, officiated in a ceremony on Sept. 21 at the lakeside Otesaga Resort Hotel. The bride and groom wrote their own vows. 

The groom’s parents are Angela and Richard Daunt of Montauk. The bride is the daughter of Linda and Andrija Silich of East Hampton. 

They both graduated from East Hampton High School — the groom in 2010 and the bride in 2011. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in photography from the State University at Oneonta, and she earned her B.A. in sociology and anthropology from High Point University in North Carolina. 

The two were reintroduced by his sister, Lacey Daunt, and began dating in 2014. He proposed to her in August, 2017, during the annual Travis Field Memorial Softball Tournament at the Terry King ball field in Amagansett. The timing had special meaning for the bride, whose best friend, Kady Field of Springs, is Travis Field’s sister. 

Lacey Daunt was the maid of honor. Ms. Field was a bridesmaid along with the groom’s other sister, Frances Daunt, Casey Staubitser, and Thea Grenci, all of Montauk, Natalie Sequeira of East Hampton, Allie Mentuck of Marblehead, Mass., Ally Astone of Somers, Conn., Jill Callahan of Red Bank, N.J., and Kristie Marano of Franklin Lakes, N.J.

The groom’s brother, Richie Daunt, was the best man. His groomsmen were the bride’s brothers, Matthew Silich and Patrick Silich of East Hampton, Dylan Field, Derek Field, and the bride’s cousin Steven Bahns, all of Springs, his cousins Pat Fallon and Leo Daunt of Montauk, and Lenny Giannantoni, also of Montauk. Tim Schad of East Hampton, who is serving in the Navy and was unable to attend the wedding, was an “honorary groomsman,” the bride said. 

The bride’s cousins Isabella Frederick of Danbury, Conn., and Austin Bahns of East Hampton and the groom’s cousin Zoe Daunt of Montauk were readers.

The bride wore a Theia Nima dress and carried a bouquet of white roses, blush peonies, eucalyptus, and astilbe. The bridal party wore dark green maxi dresses, and the groomsmen wore light gray suits with dark green ties. 

The groom is a maintenance supervisor for Groundworks landscaping. The bride is the marketing and events coordinator for Groundworks.

Seeking to bring order to the piles of free magazines that clutter the doorways of shops in the commercial district, particularly during the summer months, the East Hampton Village Board passed a law last Thursday that limits the distribution of such printed matter.

The law requires that a storeowner or someone else of authority agree to accept the materials, that they are hand-delivered, and that they are secured in a way that prevents them from becoming litter or a public hazard. The law will take effect in about two weeks, after it is filed with New York’s secretary of state.  

Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. began the work session by leading a moment of silence for Kathryn Frances McGuirk,  who died on Oct. 2 at her home on McGuirk Street. 

The first topic of discussion was a proposal to increase the village’s contribution to a pension-like incentive program for volunteer members of the ambulance association. The length-of-service awards program is a financial benefit provided to the volunteers once they reach retirement age. The village is looking to raise the benefit from $20 to $30 per month, which would match the incentive received by its fire department volunteers.

Tony Hill, a representative from Penflex, the company that manages the program for the village, provided the board with details on how to make the adjustment. The village’s current budget, he said, includes $95,000 earmarked for 

the program. Under the new amount, $145,000 would be needed to cover future outlays. 

The board will have to pass a resolution calling for a referendum on the change. If village residents approve, Penflex and the state will conduct an administrative review of the new benefit, which would take effect on the first day of the new year. 

“It’s definitely the right thing to do, given the time and all the effort and energy that’s put in by personnel from the ambulance association,” said Mayor Rickenbach, who proposed voting on the resolution at the next board meeting, which will take place on Oct. 19, and tentatively scheduling a referendum for Dec. 11. 

In a separate matter, Joseph Duda, a consulting actuary, apprised the board of the long-term liability costs for providing postretirement health insurance to its employees. Making a 15-year projection, Mr. Duda estimated that the overall cost would remain static at $18 million. Becky Molinaro Hansen, the village administrator, said Tuesday that the figure would have no impact on the village’s annual budget because insurance benefits for active and retired employees are fully funded through the general fund. There is currently a $2.9 million budget line for health insurance for active and retired employees in that fund, she said. 

In other business, the board appointed Kristin Corwin as a member of the design review board, and Walker Wainwright as a member of the planning board. 

A resolution was adopted to approve an agreement, covering 2019 to 2020, with the Town of East Hampton for fire protection and ambulance service for the East Hampton Water Supply District and the Northwest Fire District. 

Gerard Turza, the village’s fire chief, then rose to commend the members of the volunteer fire department and ambulance service, as well as other local first responders who helped battle the attic fire at the Creeks on Sept. 28. “The firefighters faced a myriad of challenges, extreme fire conditions, construction concerns, water supply logistics challenges, site access issues, and they all rose to the challenge as they always do,” said Chief Turza. “I’m happy to report, the most important thing is that no one was injured.”

Last Thursday, more than 70 years after he served his country during World War II, the New York Mets honored Pat DeRosa of Montauk during the team’s 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves. 

Mr. DeRosa, a musician and retired teacher who maintains an active performance schedule at 96, traveled to Citi Field in Queens with his daughter, Patricia DeRosa Padden, granddaughter, Nicole DeRosa Padden, and son-in-law, Michael Padden. The ceremony honoring his service took place after the third inning. 

While the “Amazin’ Mets” did not live up to the dramatic 1969 championship season that earned that nickname, their 77-85 record earning a fourth-place finish in the National League East this season, last Thursday’s experience “was really amazing,” Mr. DeRosa’s daughter said. 

With cameras rolling and flashes popping, a beaming Mr. DeRosa waved at the crowd as he walked onto the field. The Mets’ Corey Oswalt, a rookie pitcher, presented a flag to the Army Air Forces veteran in a ceremony near home plate. Mr. DeRosa’s name was announced over the public address system, and he was pictured on the stadium’s video board atop the center field bleachers. 

“It was a very nice affair,” his daughter said. 

The ceremony was to happen on Sept. 10, but rain postponed the Mets game and Mr. DeRosa’s recognition. Last Thursday, “just as the third inning ended and our lovely veteran was honored, it began to pour rain,” Ms. DeRosa Padden wrote on Facebook. “Since the first game was already canceled due to rain, we feel so blessed to have finally completed this memorable opportunity.”

The former staff sergeant worked for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation in Bethpage before being drafted. He served in the Army Air Forces from 1943 to 1946 (the Air Force did not become a separate branch of the military until 1947), and was mostly stateside, his daughter said. After basic training in Greensboro, N.C., he joined the concert band and the 20-piece dance band, Mr. DeRosa, who plays tenor saxophone, clarinet, and flute, told The Star in 2014. In 1945, with a deployment to the Pacific theater nearing, the United States dropped two atom bombs on Japan, ending the war. He concluded his service in San Antonio before returning to Long Island.

Mr. DeRosa’s musical prowess has brought him face to face with legends of entertainment including John Coltrane, Lana Turner, Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck, and Errol Flynn. He performed at the Latin Quarter, the famed Times Square nightclub opened by Barbara Walters’s father, Lou Walters. From there, he was hired by the bandleader Tommy Tucker, and performed from Chicago to Hollywood, where the Tommy Tucker Orchestra appeared in a film. He later performed for President Richard Nixon. 

Last summer, Mr. DeRosa was a frequent presence on the outdoor stage at Gosman’s Dock in Montauk, performing at several of the weekly concerts there, as he has for many years. Music aficionados can look forward to more guest appearances on the stage at Gosman’s in the summer of 2019.

“Despite living only five minutes away from each other in Northwest Woods” in East Hampton, Timothy Robert Miller and Lisa Ann Lakeman, “have college to thank for bringing them together,” they wrote. “Six years and a bunch of Sam’s pizza dates later,” they were engaged overlooking “the very same beaches” they had grown up on. 

The couple were married on the ocean beach in Wainscott on Sept. 8, with the bride’s father, John Lakeman, officiating. A reception followed at a private residence in the Georgica Association. 

The bride’s father and mother, Lois Lakeman, and the groom’s parents, Mary and Phillip Miller, all live in East Hampton. 

The bride is a filmmaker, swim instructor, and teaching artist who works with students locally and internationally. She graduated from East Hampton High School and went on to receive her bachelor’s degree in film and media studies from the State University at Purchase and her master’s degree in fine art education from Hofstra University. 

Also an East Hampton graduate, the groom earned his bachelor’s in environmental science with a minor in mathematics and computer science from Purchase. He is an estate manager, volunteer East Hampton firefighter, and ocean lifeguard at the Georgica Association. 

On their wedding day, the bride’s sister Deborah O’Shea of Manhattan was her maid of honor. Her bridesmaids were her sisters Paula Lakeman of 

Daytona Beach, Fla., and Michelle Chavoustie of Miami, and her friends Danica Ciccariello of East Hampton and Marith McMahon of Amagansett. Her twin nieces, Sage Alexandra Smith and Olivia Eve Smith, were junior bridesmaids. The flower girls were the bride’s nieces Avienne and Adelynn O’Shea and the groom’s niece, Caitlin Miller-Warr. 

Mr. Miller’s brothers, Nicholas Miller and Douglas Miller of East Hampton, were best men. His groomsmen were his cousin, Xavier Lebec of Greenwich, Conn., and his friend David Kellman of Brooklyn. 

Riley James Smith, a nephew of the bride, was the ringbearer. 

Also on hand were the bride’s nephew Aaron O’Shea and the groom’s sister Faith Miller of East Hampton.

The bride designed and made the wedding décor herself, with help from the groom. Greg Donahue of the Montauk Community Garden created the floral decorations, and the wedding arbor was built by the groom’s father. 

Jonathan Howe played piano during the ceremony, and Ms. Ciccariello surprised the couple by singing “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

As part of the East End Mental Health Awareness Initiative, two free events will take place in Bridgehampton and Southampton next week sponsored by East Hampton and Southampton Towns. 

A talk called “Don’t Call Me Nuts!” by Tory Masters, a certified peer specialist and founder of the weekly East End Mood Disorder Support Group at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, will speak at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church on Main Street in Bridgehampton on Tuesday at 7 p.m. about her journey from despair to health and why she choose to talk about it openly and with pride. 

On Friday, Oct. 12, a PBS documentary, “Depression: Out of the Shadows,” will be screened at Parrish Memorial Hall at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on Herrick Road in the village. It shows personal stories and offers professional insights and scientific research. A period for questions and answers will follow. The screening starts at 7 p.m. 

Both events are free and no preregistration is required. Other events happening elsewhere on Long Island during Mental Health Awareness Week, which runs from Sunday to Oct. 13, can be found online at mhaweek.org.

If you consider yourself a map aficionado, then you will be excited to learn that the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection acquired two new maps last month. The first is Nova Anglia Novum Belgium et Virginia, a 1637 map of the East Coast of North America (from the Carolinas to Nova Scotia), by the Dutch cartographer Johannes Janssonius (alternately known as Jan Janssonius or Jan Jansson). 

It is believed that Janssonius’s map relied on an earlier 1630 map by Dutch geographer Joannes de Laet, which is considered the source map for New England and the Northeast, being the first to name Manhattan, New Amsterdam (New York City), and Massachusetts in any form. Both maps gave the best depiction of the coastline for the time period and are some of the earliest maps to record English settlement in New England and Dutch settlement along the Hudson River.    

The second map, shown here, is Nova Anglia Septentrionali Americae implantata Anglorumique coloniis florentissima, by the prominent German geographer and cartographer Johann Baptist Homann. This 1716 map of New England, New York, and New Jersey actually covers a wider area, ranging from Canada to Delaware Bay, and from Philadelphia to Nova Scotia. 

The map also identifies both European and Native American settlements through the use of drawings or circles, as well as depicts depth soundings, shoals, and banks significant for maritime travel along the coastline. In the drawing in the bottom right-hand corner, one sees a European merchant trading rifles, tools, and other goods with a Native American man for beaver pelts. The North American fur trade, which reached its height in the 19th century, became one of the main economic objectives in North America and was the driving force behind both settlement and trade in 17th and 18th-century New England. The map, like many early examples, is not without its errors, but is considered a significant piece of cartography. 

—

Gina Piastuck is the department head of the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.

Two dead whales washed ashore this week, one in Amagansett on Monday, and the other in East Hampton Village yesterday, where a dead dolphin also was found at around the same time. Both whales, awash in the surf, were badly decomposed and seemed to be part of an “unusual mortality event” for whales along the Atlantic Coast.

Many dolphins had been seen by beachgoers last weekend between Montauk and Amagansett. The dead dolphin was found farther west along the shore, near the jetty at Main Beach.

A break in the rain on Tuesday allowed a team from the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society to perform a necropsy on the Amagansett whale, a minke, which washed ashore at Indian Wells Beach on Monday. It  was 18.7 feet long, and the 11th large whale the organization has responded to in New York waters this year. A severely decomposed humpback whale washed up on Napeague in July. 

The East Hampton whale, which was larger, “was fairly decomposed and missing many internal organs, including the reproductive organs, therefore the sex could not be determined,” the conservation society said in a statement Tuesday evening. The Town of East Hampton removed the carcass from the beach.

“Stranding investigations on all marine mammals and sea turtles are an important part of our conservation work as it provides valuable insight into the health of various species and what threats they face in our waters,” said Kimberly Durham, the society’s necropsy program director. “Though a definitive cause of death could not be determined during the necropsy our team conducted for this animal today, samples were taken and sent to a pathologist.” Pathology results may take several months to come back.

Someone walking on the beach in East Hampton after the rain let up yesterday reported the second decomposed whale, east of Old Beach Lane, to East Hampton Village police. It may be tomorrow or Friday before the organization can get a team to East Hampton for a necropsy. Though photographs were sent to the conservation society, its biologists said they could not identify the species until they saw it firsthand because of the decomposition, according to Rachel Bosworth, a spokeswoman.

There is an “unusual mortality event” for minke and humpback whales along the Atlantic Coast, the organization said. Biologists across the Northeast are working to uncover the reasons for the increased strandings. In 2017, there were 14 large whale strandings in New York and in previous years the numbers have ranged between four and eight, Ms. Bosworth said. 

“In general, strandings have increased over the years but could be due to a number of reasons including increases in population numbers and also an awareness of these animals that have led people to report strandings,” Ms. Bosworth wrote in an email. “More animals could be coming to shore as well due to currents. However, these causes require research, which is an ongoing effort.” 

The organization continues to ask that the public report live and dead marine mammal and sea turtle strandings immediately by calling the New York State Stranding Hotline at 631-369-9829. The public can also report sightings by emailing [email protected].

The organization also said it was proud to support the Shinnecock Nation, whose members honored their heritage Monday evening after the Amagansett whale washed up. Shane Weeks of the Shinnecock Nation performed a traditional ceremony for the whale, known as a podtap by the Shinnecocks. Mr. Weeks has been to nearly every whale beaching on Long Island for the last several years to perform the ceremony, the conservation society said.

“These events hold great cultural value to my people,” Mr. Weeks said in the organization’s statement. “The whales were also one of the staple foods for the indigenous people in the New England area historically. Our whaling canoes could hold almost 100 people. This connection is still acknowledged to this day.”