125 Years Ago 1898
From The East Hampton Star, December 30
A New England supper will be given at the Methodist mission Tuesday evening, Jan. 10. Clam chowder will be a prominent feature of the menu. If stormy, the supper will be held the next fair evening.
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On Tuesday, George Strong, of Bridge Hampton, a carpenter working upon the Maidstone Inn, fell from the building to the ground, a distance of 80 feet. He was picked up unconscious, but the physician who was summoned said no bones were broken. Mr. Strong is still confined at the residence of E.H. Dayton, where he is boarding.
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The charming Little Red Riding-hood, water-color design, reproduced on the cover of the Christmas number of the Brooklyn Eagle, was from the pencil of Percy Moran, an East Hampton summer resident for many years.
100 Years Ago 1923
From The East Hampton Star, December 28
The following interesting article was printed in Monday evening’s issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle:
While “rummaging about” in the attic at her old home a short time ago, Miss Adaline Sherrill, daughter of Justice Hiram S. Sherrill, accidentally came across an old volume that attracted her curiosity. Opening it, she discovered it was a German Bible, printed in 1711.
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Those who are deeply interested in experimenting with the cultivation of sugar beets on a large scale on eastern Long Island, including many business men in this section, are continuing their activities this week in an effort to have contracts made with farmers. It is expected that in the very near future men will begin an active campaign among the farmers, seeking contracts for three years each.
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The people of East Hampton were subjected to many annoyances and inconveniences during the 1812 war. Parties of officers and men from the fleet in Gardiners Bay often visited the mainland and seized cattle, sheep and poultry, eggs and butter. The losses of the Americans were heavy in this respect. The British never attempted to take or hold Long Island. They had not sufficient men to effect this object, even had a successful raid led to occupancy of the villages.
75 Years Ago 1948
From The East Hampton Star, December 30
The Town Trustees wish to call attention to the Town Ordinance which states that it shall be unlawful to escallop in Town waters after January 1st.
The law further provides that escallops may be taken in Lake Montauk only until January 31, 1949, by use of dredges operated or propelled by sail power.
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For the second annual Home Doorway Christmas Decoration Contest sponsored by the Ladies’ Village Improvement Society the Committee awarded the prize for the most beautiful doorway to Mr. and Mrs. Walton P. Kingsley, whose doorway on David’s Lane was artistically decked with evergreens, fruit and gold ribbons.
Miss Julia Hand’s home on Main Street, with its garlands of evergreens, lighted Christmas trees and candles in each window of all three floors, received the prize for the most beautiful nighttime decoration, and Mr. and Mrs. Courtland Schenck’s Highway-Behind-the-Lots home, with its gay red Santa Claus door, received the award for the most ingenious use of material.
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Although everyone knows the grass on the other side is, in this case, far from being greener, Dan Rush, whose real name is Charles Daniel Rush, is flying across the Mexican border this week to see if perhaps the land of the giant organ cactus, mesquite, maguey and chaparral, may not have something really worthwhile in the way of unlimited opportunity to offer a young American engineer.
Dan, who was graduated from the East Hampton High School in June 1938, spent four years studying mechanical engineering at Lafayette College.
50 Years Ago 1973
From The East Hampton Star, December 27
The East Hampton Village Police Department recorded a “first” last Friday morning when it was presented with the remains of what was believed by some knowledgeable observers to be “a 17th century Indian.”
Police Chief Carl J. Dordelman Jr. acknowledged, moreover, that it was the first skeleton, or substantial portion thereof, that the Village force had ever seen. The Department would, he said, discharge its duty by sending the some 25 skeletal parts to the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s office, which, it was hoped, would determine the age, gender, and ethnic origin of the soul whose bones these were.
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The Sunrise Highway Extension is after all “not inevitable” and “it behooves all of you to come out in force publicly” against it, over 200 East Hampton and Southampton residents were told Friday night. This advice was repeated by one speaker after another during a two-hour “emergency” meeting convened in Bridgehampton by the East End Council of Organizations and the Southampton Council of Community Organizations. Supporters of the Extension proposal were not out in force that night.
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An 11-page resolution calling for eight public hearings on proposals to halve the permitted density on thousands of acres in Northwest, Springs, Amagansett, and Montauk was offered at Friday’s meeting of the East Hampton Town Board. It represented all the remaining “steps” of a plan whose “first step” had been announced two weeks earlier, and the Board, charged then with “tokenism,” was congratulated this time for reaching “a point of historic significance.”
The plan, according to Councilwoman Mary Fallon, follows “exactly” the recommendations of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, excepting only those areas which are or may become parkland and those for which subdivision maps have been filed.
25 Years Ago 1998
From The East Hampton Star, December 31
Jay Schneiderman, the chairman of the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals for the past four years, unexpectedly announced his resignation from the board last week, at the final meeting of 1998.
Fellow board members greeted his announcement with stunned silence, then pleas to reconsider. “I would vote not to accept your resignation,” Heather Anderson said. “I can’t think of anyone else from Montauk or anywhere else that would do as good a job.” Other Z.B.A. members echoed her sentiments.
Mr. Schneiderman had two years left in his term.
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A sobering note found its way into South Fork mailboxes last week — tempering the revelry of the holiday season a bit for property owners.
The note was from the tax receivers of East Hampton and Southampton Towns with the not-unexpected news that those whose property taxes are not remitted monthly through banks must pay the first half by Jan. 10 and the second by May 31 to avoid penalties.
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When East Hampton and Southampton Towns sat down earlier this year to complete the lists of farmland, open space, and historic places they hoped to preserve with money from the new 2-percent real estate transfer tax, most people knew that even $2 million or $3 million a year wouldn’t go far without other sources of funding.
New York State has contributed toward open space preservation for years, but only recently has the state begun to help local governments in the fight to preserve farmland.
This week the state announced, for the second consecutive year, that East Hampton and Southampton will get money to purchase development rights on farmland.
