Connections: Plus ca Change

One of the traditional, and rather old-fashioned, features in The Star, “The Way It Was,” is a look back at what people here were saying and doing 25, 50, 75, 100, and, yes, 125 years ago — or at least what the editors in those times took note of, because they expected readers to be interested. I never miss it. Take a look, for example, at these random tidbits from 1891:

January 17, 1891 

Saturday last, there were several parties eeling in Georgica Pond, and about three barrels of wigglers were captured for Sunday’s breakfast.

January 30, 1891

Mrs. Kate Gregory-Fox-Nugent-Petty-Next — now in Riverhead jail — has four husbands and she is only 21 years old. We think she is entitled to a belt.

February 6, 1891

There is one young man in town who will probably be “qui vive” when he goes to Wainscott to call upon his young lady again, as he has learned by experience that Wainscott’s sons do not like to see outsiders coming after her daughters. The young man in question drove to that village on Sunday night to see his best girl, and when about to return found that his buggy was gone, while his horse remained hitched to the post. It was a humiliating thing to do, to wake up one of the residents so early in the morning to borrow a vehicle, but it had to be done.

February 27, 1891 

Several parties were in our village last week looking for houses in which to locate next summer. We understand a large portion of the furnished cottages have already been taken.

March 13, 1891

There has been much talk for several years over a suggestion that a railroad would, some day, run through East Hampton to Montauk Point. Every time the subject has been brought up there have been scores of people who were ready to wager all they possessed that no present inhabitant would live to see it. . . . There is no question but that, with the immense fish factories just starting up at Promised Land, and the great amount of travel there is to our town every summer, the extension of the main line through our village would prove a good investment for the railroad.

Skipping over 75 years, I also found 1966 particularly good reading:

January 13, 1966

Emotion on the subject of the aged — as all of us get a little bit older every day — ran away with an East Hampton Village Board hearing Monday on a proposition to give the Village Zoning Board of Appeals power to allow and control rest or nursing homes in any village zoning district. Comments ranged from an angry, “This whole Village will go to pot and real estate values with it if you allow this,” to a sad, “If this community can’t tolerate places for older people, I might as well just move out now.”

January 30, 1966

The Long Island Bridge Study Commission recommended a 10-mile long bridge, which would cost $206 million, from Rocky Point, East Marion, to Old Saybrook, Conn. And an Atlantic Expressway from the Nassau-Queens border to East Marion.

February 10, 1966

No sooner had Springs residents learned that they would have to decide Feb. 17 whether or not to build an $88,000 firehouse and buy a $24,400 fire truck than it was announced that a proposal to spend $335,000 to enlarge the Springs School would be voted on on Feb. 25.

February 24, 1966 

Erosion along the beachfront in East Hampton Village, which some observers suspect may have something to do with the two 650-foot jetties designed by the Army Engineers and placed east of Georgica Gut, has produced a narrower beach between the foot of Lily Pond Lane, at the old Coast Guard Station, and the Main Beach.

And then I found this more recent bit on the subject of erosion. Sound familiar?

January 24, 1991

A national debate among scientists and developers over regulation of oceanfront property could, depending on the outcome, result in less building on East Hampton beaches, and one skirmish in the larger battle is being fought on local stationery. Two East Hampton Village residents, both leaders with a stake in seashore management, have exchanged a series of erudite yet increasingly acrimonious letters about sand — specifically whether there is more or less than there used to be.

I am addicted to “The Way It Was.” 

If you aren’t in the habit of reading it, give it a try. It’s entertaining and sometimes enlightening. On one hand, this place has changed a lot; on the other, it hasn’t changed much at all. And if anyone can tell me what the word “belt” means in that item from Jan. 30, 1891, I’d appreciate it.