75 Years Ago 1948
From The East Hampton Star, May 20
On May 15 the Lynn, a new lobster smack owned by Perry B. Duryea and Son of Montauk, arrived on her third trip from Nova Scotia loaded with 15,000 pounds of lobsters.
This type of vessel is very unusual compared to the average Montauk boat in that she has a large well in which water is circulated continually, affording the lobsters the living conditions of their natural habitat. The well is constructed watertight with hundreds of holes drilled through the planking to allow the seawater to circulate freely.
She is 62 feet long, 14 foot beam and draws 7 feet of water.
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Despite the threatening weather, a good crowd turned out Sunday to watch the town team play its first home game, winning 11-2 over Hampton Bays. The spectators seemed to be hungry for some first class baseball, and our boys really were giving it to them until rain put an end to the power demonstration being given by our local sluggers. Three innings were played, then the rain made it impossible to continue. But this new team certainly showed the fans plenty during those three innings. Home runs, triples, doubles and everything in the hitting line including beautiful bunting.
It would be unfair to single out any individual in the line-up as being outstanding as Manager Otis Barnes has endeavored to mold the whole thing as a team, and the proof is certainly there in the team play. The substitutes on the bench are just as much in that game as the players on the field, and each one anxious to contribute his bit where it will do the most good.
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An executive committee meeting of the Eastern Gate Garden Club was held last Friday afternoon at the home of Mrs. George H. Hand, to decide on the dates for opening a group of historic and beautiful old homes here, during the coming Tercentenary summer. The list of houses is not quite complete; some will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the following days: June 29 and 30; July 16 and 17; August 18 and 19. Others will have placards on the front, telling something of their significance, but will not be open. Miss Elizabeth Back is president of the club.
The Garden Club of East Hampton has offered to have signs made to put on these houses, and to assist in the project in other ways. Meanwhile, the committee asks that the date houses were built and the name of the owner and builder, if possible, be put on any houses which are very old or notable for any reason.
50 Years Ago 1973
From The East Hampton Star, May 17
County Executive John V.N. Klein appeared at a standing-room-only meeting of the Concerned Citizens of Montauk Saturday evening and outlined the specifics of his proposal for a Suffolk park at Indian Field. The park will include 865.2 acres and cost between $8 million and $9 million, Mr. Klein told his audience at the Montauk Fire House, if it is approved by the County Legislature.
The purchase would be the largest single acquisition in County history, Mr. Klein said. Originally, it had been proposed that Suffolk buy 1,074 acres at Montauk, including 81 acres around the Montauk airstrip.
The latest proposal, which will come before the Legislature next month, includes for park purposes all the waterfront covered by the original plan.
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East Hampton Schools
Cindy Rickenbach, a third grader, found a balloon with a postcard attached near Jason’s Rock in Northwest Woods two weeks ago. She mailed the card back to Closter, N.J., and heard this week that the balloon was one of 400 sent up by children there in July 1972.
Cindy’s had traveled the greatest recorded distance. The Closter Recreation Commission is sending Cindy a shirt for her interest, and advises local youngsters to be on the lookout late in July, when another “balloon float” will take place.
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A drive to raise $150,000 in 1973 and 1974, “phase 2” of the East End Branch of the Nature Conservancy’s work in this area, was announced last night at a private meeting at the Century Club in Manhattan, at which funds were initially expected to be pledged that would complete the Branch’s payments for the purchase of the Edwards or Wood Tick Island in Accabonac Harbor, and an adjacent island-marsh.
The island, the Branch’s only purchase so far among 30 parcels of land it has assembled since its founding in 1966, were contracted to be sold to the Conservancy for $50,000, of which some $15,000 still remained to be raised last night, according to Frederic E. Lake, chairman.
25 Years Ago 1998
From The East Hampton Star, May 21
It is too late for this year’s tick season, now in full swing, but a vaccine to help ward off Lyme disease is moving closer to reality. Two developments in the battle against the disease are promised just following summer’s unofficial start this weekend.
While the public is expected to greet the news of a vaccine with cheers, some officials in medical quarters are sounding notes of caution.
On Tuesday, the Federal Food and Drug Administration will hold the key public hearing on Lymerix, a vaccine for adults against Lyme, considered endemic here, that Smith-Kline Beecham Pharmaceuticals of Philadelphia has been testing since 1994. The F.D.A. must approve all medications and vaccines prescribed in this country.
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DreamWorks? “Men’s Lives”? Barry Sonnenfeld? Alan Pakula? Nora Ephron? Alec?
Just who are the mystery filmmakers whose project in East Hampton this fall could help fund a state of the art soundstage next to LTV Studios?
Frazer Dougherty, an LTV founder and the father of the soundstage plan, isn’t telling. His lawyer, George Stankevich, isn’t telling. But whoever it is, Mr. Dougherty and Mr. Stankevich have assured the East Hampton Town Board that they’ll be duly impressed.
“We should go into executive session. We’ll tell you who it is,” Mr. Stankevich told the board on Tuesday. “You’ll love it.” The board declined.
Despite repeated mention of Steven Spielberg, Billy Joel, even Jimmy Buffett, at Tuesday’s meeting, Mr. Stankevich did not reveal the name or backers of an “extensive film shoot in the community” that would fund the first phase of the 10,000-square-foot soundstage and media center adjoining LTV. He did say, however, that the film would be based on “an East Hampton story.”
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When the first major restoration in the 200-year history of the Montauk Lighthouse started in March, the project was expected to be short, relatively simple, and finished by May.
Sound too good to be true? It was.
Upon closer inspection, workers from the International Chimney Corporation of Buffalo found more serious problems at the landmark, which was commissioned in 1796 by George Washington.
There were bulges on the main section of the 110-foot Lighthouse tower, sections of the stone facade that were actually working their way out. Numerous cracks, severe rust, crumbling masonry, loose bricks, and decayed mortar also were discovered.
