125 Years Ago 1899
From The East Hampton Star, June 23
Horatio M. Rogers, one of the older residents of Sag Harbor, was found dead late Monday afternoon on the North Haven cycle path, in front of the residence of Henry F. Cook. Mr. Rogers was about 77 years old and an enthusiastic wheelman for one of his years, and a member of the Epworth Cycle Club, of Sag Harbor. He was in the habit of riding off by himself in a leisurely way, and Monday he made a trip to North Haven ferry and was met on his return by several parties going over, who saw him riding quietly along within ten minutes of the time his body was found. John R. McNally discovered the body lying on one side of the path, while his wheel was on the other, where he had fallen. Life was extinct. Although a slight wound was found on the head, it is supposed the man had an epileptic shock.
100 Years Ago 1924
From The East Hampton Star, June 20
Another death caused by an automobile accident occurred Monday night on the Montauk highway at Water Mill, the victim being Fred Kelloway, aged thirty years, a butler in the employ of Mrs. Duncan Ellsworth, who has a summer place on the dunes in Southampton. Mr. Kelloway, accompanied by Gordon Edwards and two young ladies, were returning to Southampton from an auto ride in the Gray touring car and he was driving, when the machine struck a telephone pole near the fork of the roads opposite the Morse summer place.
The car turned over. Mr. Kelloway’s head was terribly cut and he lived but a short time. It seems that as the car neared the fork of the road in Water Mill, the driver was undecided which road to take and when he made up his mind which way to go the car was so close to the fork that he was obliged to swing the car sharply around, causing it to strike the pole.
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On Friday evening of last week the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Seneca steamed into the harbor at Montauk Point to take her part in “The River Road,” the Ernest Shipman picture that is now being made on Long Island. The night scenes photographed last Friday and several nights following will portray several of the most thrilling rescues ever seen on the screen, and will, for the first time in the history of the motion picture, show the actual methods of the U.S. Coast Guard in succoring stranded ships. It is expected that the scenes in the vicinity of East Hampton will be completed early next week.
75 Years Ago 1949
From The East Hampton Star, June 23
Raymond Paul Gravina, 21, of 241 89th St., Brooklyn, was drowned while bathing at Hither Hills State Park, Montauk, on Saturday afternoon at five-thirty. The young man and two other men camping for the weekend at the State Park made a dash for the surf just a few minutes before the fatal accident occurred. The surf was choppy, and a sea puss just off the park made bathing dangerous; the life guards had warned people to bathe inside the breakers, and tried to whistle the young men in. Mr. Gravina and another young man were caught in the sea puss and taken offshore.
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About 100 people attended a hearing, held at two o’clock Friday afternoon in the Village Office on Main Street, to consider the question of continued validity of a variance granted some time ago by the Zoning Board of Appeals to Mr. and Mrs. John F. Williams for use of their property, 1770 House, in the residential district. The Board of Appeals had questioned whether the conditions upon which the variance was granted had been or were being complied with.
Several people spoke on behalf of the manner in which the 1770 House is run, and Mrs. Williams spoke. No complainants, outside of the Zoning Board itself, appeared. The three topics which have been mentioned with regard to the inn are: building an addition of one room upon the Dayton Lane side, opening a taproom in the basement, and placing a lighted sign outside the property limits. The last is no longer in question, since the sign has been moved inside the fence.
50 Years Ago 1974
From The East Hampton Star, June 20
The Suffolk County Legislature, at its meeting in Hauppauge last Friday, approved Barcelona Neck for inclusion in the capital program.
It could not immediately be determined how much land would be involved, but it was certain that the 530 acres owned by Rubin Realty Company, a group of investors headed by Reed Rubin, an Amagansett summer resident, was part of the acquisition plan. The land borders Sag Harbor Village and Shelter Island Sound, and lies somewhat west of Northwest Creek.
Rubin Realty bought the tract, one of the largest vacant ones in East Hampton Town, from Transcontinental Development Corporation of Chicago, Ill., in 1969 for $1,765,000. The county plans to budget $3,800,000 for the acquisition.
First District Legislator Norton W. Daniels Jr., who supported the purchase of Barcelona, said this week: “It means, in effect, that the entire Northwest Harbor area will be protected.”
He noted in this regard that the County would ultimately own a thick buffer strip around the Harbor, including the 608-acre Cedar Point Park to the north, and running south to include the 776-acre Grace Estate, the 322-acre County lands at Northwest Creek, and the 530-acre Barcelona Neck. The total of publicly held land in that sparsely settled area might then come to more than 2,000 acres.
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East Hampton High School’s final week of the 1973-74 year, before graduation this Sunday, has been a hectic one for many teachers, secretaries and students, thanks to the cancellation of the State Regents examinations.
The Regents, canceled after a ring of Brooklyn students was found to have stolen and sold answers to the tests, were replaced here by a series of “locally constructed final exams,” and students were offered the option of taking them or not, as they chose. Those who have elected not to take the tests are being assigned their year’s average as a final course grade; others will have the exam results included as part of their final mark.
25 Years Ago 1999
From The East Hampton Star, June 24
What began Friday night at LTV Studios in Wainscott as a showcase for talented young musicians ended in the biggest and ugliest brawl seen here in 20 years, according to East Hampton Town police.
Police blamed a longstanding rivalry between two groups of young men, blacks from Bridgehampton and Shinnecocks from Southampton, for the riot. Some 60 people, part of a crowd of 300 or so who were hoping to be spotlighted as dancers in a music video, took part in the fight, shedding blood and smashing car windows in the parking lot outside the studios.
A second brawl broke out 45 minutes later when some of the combatants met up again outside the Southampton Hospital emergency room.
