125 Years Ago 1899
From The East Hampton Star, May 12
May on Long Island: The fields, orchards and forests of Long Island present a charming appearance of this time. The deep rich green of the fertile pastures and mowing grounds are sprinkled with dandelion blossoms, and along either side of the Long Island Railroad for a distance of a mile east and west of Hicksville scores of acres of dense growth of violets are in blossom, making a beautiful wide-spreading carpet of blue and purple. White and blue violets also border every roadside in profusion. The large orchards of apple and pear trees covered with pink and white blossoms afford a rare and beautiful sight just now. The dogwoods of the forests are in full bloom with their white and pink calyxes, and the foliage of all the deciduous trees present an aspect of freshness and beauty that cannot be found later in the season. The city residents usually fail to see Long Island when it is at its best.
100 Years Ago 1924
From The East Hampton Star, May 9
Bravely keeping alive a custom hallowed by the ages, East Hampton had its annual spring cattle drive to the big open spaces on Montauk last week, and there at Montauk, with hundreds of acres of succulent grass, plenty of shade, plenty of fresh water ponds, amid the lulling drone of the ocean and with cooling breezes constantly blowing, the cattle thus turned out to pasture will have a long vacation, nothing whatever to do and no boss to reprove them, until late next fall. Verily, it seems sometimes it may be nice to be a cow.
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Far off above the waters of Gardiner’s Bay and Block Island Sound, when they begin to reflect a cerulean hue, high up in the air, the fisherman in springtime casts his piercing glance, and smiles contently to see black dot after dot circling within the range of vision. A shrill sharp cry of two notes, almost human, strikes his ear, and he is glad to know that his favorite feathered friend, the American osprey, more commonly called the fish hawk, has arrived as harbinger of spring, from Southern climes, where the great bird has passed the winter.
With the first days of April, the fish hawk is sure to put in an appearance. His annual migrations can be depended upon with the accuracy of the system controlling the universe.
75 Years Ago 1949
From The East Hampton Star, May 12
As part of Career Day, during National Boys and Girls Week, the schools of Amagansett, Springs and Montauk were invited by town officials to see how “the wheels go round” in the daily routine of town and village last Thursday. Children from the seventh and eighth grades participated in the program, and various town officials told what his department’s duties were. Sheriff William C. McCollum was instrumental in having Career Day observed in Suffolk schools.
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Supervisor Herbert L. Mulford announced this week that the road to the new park at Sammis Beach at Northwest is nearing completion and open to the public.
The new park was established by the Town Board to preserve for the residents of the township one of the few remaining unspoiled beaches at the eastern end of the Island. Superintendent Roy Lester’s men, when not busy repairing other highways or removing snow, cleared a 35 foot path through the Northwest Woods and carted marl (from a marl pit on nearby Old House Landing Road) acquired recently at a tax sale by the Town to build up a road across Sammis Beach.
The shores of the northern or outer side of the Park are ideal for picnicking, bathing and boating, and are said to have fewer stones than other beaches on Gardiner’s Bay. About twenty bath houses are slated for erection in the near future and two sunsheds and a hand pump will also be put in. At present there are no plans for extending the road all the way to the breakwater, but this may be done at a later date.
Provisions are to be made during the fall-winter gunning season to close the Park to the general public so that hunters, as in the past, can crouch down in the marsh grass and pray for a chance to nick a high flying black duck.
50 Years Ago 1974
From The East Hampton Star, May 9
The Mayor of Sag Harbor repeated this week that the Village’s seven policemen had shoved a contract down his throat but reported that he had signed it afterward anyway. A judge had told him to, he explained.
Mayor Harry Fick had refused for months to sign it, calling its terms “outrageous” and blaming it for 50 cents of an anticipated 55-cent increase in the Village’s tax rate. “Last year there was no increase,” he told astonished taxpayers on March 29. “There’d be no increase this year without this police contract they shoved down our throat!”
The other four members of the Village Board favored the contract, however, and voted on April 5 to accept it.
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The approaching season seemed to be on the minds of East Hampton Town Board members as they passed at their meeting Tuesday a number of resolutions that dealt with such recreational categories as beaches, docks, swimming pools, parks, recreational areas, group renters, and additional personnel.
In addition, such current issues as Supervisor Judith Hope’s “full disclosure” proposal and the dog problem were addressed by some members of the audience. Mrs. Hope was to have met yesterday with the Chief of Police, the Town dog warden, and the Town attorney to discuss what could be done about animal control.
25 Years Ago 1999
From The East Hampton Star, May 13
New parking rules under discussion for East Hampton Town beaches could make it easier for permit holders to secure that highly prized spot in the lot on weekends. The rules could also increase the fine for those without permits, and send them all the way to Kirk Park Beach in Montauk or Sagaponack Main Beach if they want a legal parking space on Saturday or Sunday.
Town beach parking permits are free to town residents. Nonresident permits can be purchased for $125, and are good for the season. The town wants to raise the fine for parking without a permit to $125 and is considering making the Atlantic Avenue Beach parking lot a permit-only lot on the weekends.
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By a straw vote, the East Hampton Town Board faced the dollar signs on Tuesday, deciding it no longer had a choice about how to close the Montauk landfill since capping rather than mining it will save more than $10 million.
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Harry Macklowe, the Manhattan real estate magnate who is awaiting a judge’s decision on three charges brought against him in April by East Hampton Village, has been ordered to show up in East Hampton Justice Court in July on yet another.
Town Justice Roger W. Walker this week scheduled a July 13 hearing on Mr. Macklowe’s failure to comply with a June 1998 directive.
