The End of the End?

“Welcome to New York,” two billboards set up overnight by state workers read, along with six others with similar messages. And Montauk went nuts. To understand why the easternmost hamlet was alarmed, you need to know a little of its history and why the idea of a port of entry there is not all that far-fetched.

Between the late-19th century and the Great Depression, several schemes were floated to build a deep-water port in Fort Pond Bay. This had been a goal for Austin Corbin, an early president of the Long Island Rail Road, who in about 1885 decided it would be lucrative to have express trans-Atlantic liners dock there and discharge New York City-bound passengers onto waiting trains. The plan never evolved, and it faded after Corbin’s accidental death in 1896. 

Various attempts to revive it in one fashion or another persisted, however, including, in 1911, an idea that the ocean liners Titanic and Olympic might dock in Montauk. In 1912, a French investor secured an option on a large suitable tract. The sense was that a Fort Pond Bay port could shave about eight hours off a voyage from the United Kingdom in good weather and up to a full day when there was fog. Finally, in 1931, the chairman of the House Committee on Naval Affairs had Navy vessels sent to Fort Pond Bay to support an L.I.R.R. plan to revive Corbin’s dream.

Subsequent, less ambitious efforts have amounted to nothing, at least so far. At one time, the operators of the Cross Sound Ferry, which has service between Orient to New London, Conn., sought a South Fork terminal, perhaps in Montauk, perhaps at Promised Land in Amagansett. Cross Sound sued East Hampton Town after it adopted a law in 1997 banning most ferries. Although the suit eventually was settled, it could be revived.

Most recently, rumors have been heard that the real reason an investor bought up a number of waterfront properties, including Duryea’s Dock on Fort Pond Bay, is that cruise liners could soon begin calling there, though a spokesman, Marc Rowan, has laughed off the notion. However, the law is just wiggly enough that cruise ships anchoring in Fort Pond Bay is not necessarily beyond the realm of possibility. 

Layer on the general sense that Montauk is changing in ways that longtime residents find disturbing, and it is more or less clear why the state signs set the hamlet’s collective teeth on edge. East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell channeled his best Ronald Reagan in declaring on social media, “Mr. Cuomo, take down those signs.” It added a note of humor to an online conversation that had turned quickly toward vigilante talk of chain saws and strong trucks capable of doing the job. 

Montauk is besieged. We expect that the signs will be gone before too long. But the feeling among residents and fans that Montauk is becoming new, shiny, and unfamiliar is likely to endure.