Villages

Fifty years ago a message in a bottle — actually a plea for help — washed up on Three Mile Hollow Beach. Just one of many curiosities of life as it was once lived here.

Leaders of the Shinnecock Indian Nation broke ground Friday on a gas station and travel plaza on Sunrise Highway in Hampton Bays that will span approximately 10 acres of tribal territory just north of the highway’s westbound lanes and is expected to be complete by the spring of 2025.

Amid a pervading sense of uncertainty — politics and international affairs being what they are — something positive is happening here, as a rabbi and a minister engage in friendly dialogue and instructive commentary on “the best parables of Jewish and Christian literature.”

It may have been from 185 years ago, but Juliana MacLachlan Gardiner’s letter from Saratoga Springs to her daughter expresses the same anxieties of a parent of a teen today.

The Emmy Award-winning actor Hank Azaria will speak out about his personal journey of substance misuse and recovery at a family event for the nonprofit Generation S.O.S.on Sunday in Water Mill.

This photo by Eileen Bock, from The Star's archive, shows the Rev. Thomas Holmes of the Montauk Community Church and the Rev. John Traynor, rector of St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church, granting blessings to a waiting flotilla in Montauk.

In a converted 1988 Airstream he calls the Gratitude Bus, Stephan Cesarini has been traveling the country on a mission to collect dreams. “The dream question is just a prompt to create human connection. That’s what this bus represents,” he said.

The Montauk Indian Museum usually opens for the summer season on Memorial Day, but this year it has remained closed as the Montauk Historical Society eyes an evolution of the museum in the wake of new federal rules enacted in January concerning the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. 

The earliest iteration of the Hampton Jitney began traversing the roads of the South Fork 50 years ago, on the heels of the first oil shock, which sent gas prices soaring and had people looking for alternatives to their cars. Half a century later, it’s hard to imagine the South Fork without the Hampton Jitney, especially if you’re a commuter or part-time resident.

At the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro on June 21, Summer Romeo told her fellow hikers that she could never do the climb again. “We were literally crying from sleep deprivation, agony, headaches, and nausea.” But by journey's end, she was already thinking ahead to her next adventure.

Bicycling was so popular just before the turn of the 20th century that a plea went out for a way to stand the two-wheelers up when riders dismounted to head into the post office or village shops. Plus other tidbits from the venerable Star’s past.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork in Bridgehampton has announced that, for the fifth year, it is awarding thousands of dollars in grants to local organizations through its grassroots High Impact Community Outreach program. 

Covid infections are on the rise again, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control, and doctors and medical professionals here are urging people to remember the lessons learned during the pandemic to keep themselves healthy. 

When a 76-year-old man collapsed while dining at Si Si, a  Mediterranean restaurant on Three Mile Harbor, two quick-thinking strangers trained in CPR resuscitated him, not once but twice. 

The exhibition “Hats Off: 300 Years of Headwear in East Hampton,” which provides a narrative of the town’s history back to its founding, is on view every day from now until Sept. 1 at the East Hampton Historical Society’s Clinton Academy on Main Street.

The WNET radio broadcasting group on Tuesday announced that it is extending its coverage of WLIW-FM by launching a new Montauk radio station, 88.7 FM. As Long Island’s only National Public Radio station, its signal will now reach across the entire East End and into southern Connecticut and Rhode Island. 

In the middle of a swamp in Sagaponack is a remnant of colonial history, a stand of Atlantic white cedar trees, as important and ubiquitous 300 years ago as iPhones are now. In fact, what is likely the largest Atlantic white cedar tree in the state, and certainly the largest on Long Island, grows there completely unheralded.

The prevalence of sprayed insecticides and barrels of agricultural poison was top of mind in 1974. Read on, Starlings.

This photo shows David J. Gardiner’s livestock in front of his barns. Gardiner (1840-1924) lived in the Gardiner Brown House, at 95 Main Street in East Hampton Village, with these barns on the property.

Dianne Ryan of Lazy Point in Amagansett discovered nine dead starlings under one electrical utility pole over the last few weeks, prompting calls to PSEG and the State Department of Environmental Conservation.

What started out as a tick repellent blend made in a Springs kitchen has now soared to national heights. Its owners have doubled sales year-over-year, brought in a manufacturer, testified on congressional committees, and are now selling in all 50 states.

Work has already begun on the Suffolk County Water Authority’s new construction project in the Wainscott area. Eight thousand feet, or about 1.5 miles, of new water main will be added, creating new connections along the water distribution system in the area. It is set to be installed along Wainscott-Northwest Road, South Breeze Drive, and Route 114. 

The Hampton Lifeguard Association honored Tom Field, a CPR and first-aid instructor for 40 years, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. for getting the state to recognize Jet Skis as rescue equipment , and Tom Casse, a surf instructor and trained lifeguard who made a dramatic nighttime save in Montauk in 2022.

From the 1924 Wiborg Estate dog show to the day 75 years later when Representative Michael Forbes flipped, it happened here, readers.

This Saturday evening, on an 11-acre plot of land in Springs, a twisted version of Las Vegas, where nature-based gambling games raise money for an arboretum devoted to ecological storytelling and an artist in residence program, will, improbably, be the place to be.

“Shall we have a hook and ladder co.?” asked “A Native” in an 1886 East Hampton Star letter to the editor. “Your village has never suffered seriously from the ravages of the fire-fiend,” the letter warned. A year later, William S. Everett built East Hampton’s first hook and ladder truck, launching the journey of the East Hampton Fire Department, which celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.

The Greater East Hampton Chamber of Commerce recently announced a new executive director, Susanne Kelly, a veteran of the advertising industry.

This account book belonged to Abraham Woodhull (1750-1826), a member of the Culper Spy Ring on Long Island during the Revolutionary War, charged with aiding George Washington in his efforts against the British.

How do village lifeguards do mornings? With gusto. “We’re the first line between the E.M.S. and the Police Department. We have to be versed in everything,” said Drew Smith, chief of the East Hampton Village guards, who gave The Star a glimpse into their daily operations.

The annual Hamptons Soldier Ride, a fund-raiser for the Wounded Warrior Project, will roll from Amagansett to Sag Harbor and back on Saturday morning. “It’s all about celebrating the veterans and the community,” said Nick Kraus of East Hampton, a founder of the ride who continues to volunteer for — and cycle in — the event.