Pomp and Display Kick Off the 350th Anniversary Year
What was lost has been found again, much to the satisfaction of the 300 or so history buffs who overflowed Guild Hall on Sunday for the kickoff of East Hampton Town's 350th anniversary celebration.
Applause and whistles greeted Bruce Collins's announcement that a two-reel film of the 1948 parade and pageant, missing for almost 50 years, had been unearthed late in the week, deep in the bowels of the Emergency Services Building on Cedar Street.
LTV raced to print the film on Saturday, just in time for a videotape to be shown to a packed crowd in Guild Hall's library.
The showing was among the highlights of a day of pageantry and celebration that included the raising of the official anniversary flag, a fife-and-drum march and musketry salute, and a few historic speeches by former Town Supervisors and other dignitaries.
One resident of the town who, like many, had been away for the long holiday vacation, chanced to be driving home past the village green just as the Long Island Companies of the Third New York Regiment, resplendent in colonial uniforms, were firing their weapons. She was startled, and wondered for just a moment, she said, "what kind of people live here."
Mr. Collins, who heads the committee organizing the yearlong celebration, had the answer: People who, he told the Guild Hall audience, "leave a legacy to those following, to guide them on the road ahead."
After welcoming remarks from Guild Hall's president, Henry Korn, Town Supervisor Cathy Lester, and East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. (who was heard again a few hours later in a Channel 12 television news soundbite), slides of anniversaries past were shown.
A ticket to the dinner given in 1849 survives; as it was flashed on the screen Mr. Collins observed that Judge Henry P. Hedges, a noted local historian, had addressed the diners at some length that evening - 13,000 words, to be exact.
Artifacts from 1899 and 1924 were shown, and the 300th Anniversary logo, of a settler in a Pilgrim hat and an Indian sachem shaking hands. Warren Whipple was its designer.
Next came mention of some of the anniversary-related events ahead, including a treasure hunt aimed at, though not limited to, students in schools here. Its clues will lead seekers to local historical sites, and prizes will be awarded for locating the most sites.
"A great educational tool," Mr. Collins called the yearlong project.
He announced also, among other things, that a "silver benefactor," North Fork Bank, has come forward to sponsor the year's commemoration. North Fork announced on Saturday that it would give $15,000 to the cause, joining the "golden" benefactor, Suffolk County National Bank, which contributed $20,000 a few months ago.