Villages

Christmas was Kathy Surrey's favorite holiday. Each year, Ms. Surrey, a longtime night manager at the Montauk Manor, would begin preparing for the holiday around Thanksgiving, turning out a dozen or more glorious gingerbread houses to display in the Manor's lobby.

During the first surge of cases in New York in the spring, so many of us in the health care field fought tooth and nail to uphold our sacred oath to heal and keep death at bay. Many of those under our care died, and with each one of those who passed away under our watch, a piece of our hearts died as well. We thought it would be worth the heartache because the rest of the country would learn from our experiences and be better prepared. But here we are again.

On Monday New York State began distributing 170,000 doses of a coronavirus vaccine, including 26,500 doses designated for Long Island, which will be used to inoculate high-risk groups such as health care workers, nursing home residents and staff, and emergency medical services personnel. 

“What will happen in four weeks?" Governor Cuomo asked, as vaccines were rolled out across the state and the number of new Covid-19 cases continued to climb precipitously. "You tell me what you're going to do over the next three weeks or four weeks and I'll tell you what's going to happen. . . ."

A mix of the holiday spirit and a desire to pierce the pandemic gloom with strings of twinkling lights has led to a record-breaking boom in Christmas tree sales, according to several South Fork vendors, and left those who waited too long scrambling to find a tree.

"It's kind of hard to believe we are at the end of the year," said an understated Harvey Bennett at the Tackle Shop in Amagansett. "Like many others, I'm tired. I hope next year brings better hope and promise. We all deserve it. Let's close the book on 2020."

Snow is expected to begin at about 4 p.m. today, changing to rain after midnight, then to a mix of snow, sleet, and rain during the early morning on Thursday.

Now that there's a "for lease" sign in the front window, the word is out that Scoop du Jour is closing its doors for good after 16 years on East Hampton's Newtown Lane and about 10 more before that on Main Street.

A winter storm watch issued early Tuesday morning by the National Weather Service shows a northeaster is on its way on Wednesday, likely to bring lots of snow to parts of Suffolk County just a few days before the official start of winter.

The large lift boat that conducted geotechnical survey work off the ocean beach at the end of Beach Lane in Wainscott last month has returned to complete that work.

Lately, I have had a number of patients refer sardonically to their “Covid 15,” a play of words on the colloquial weight gain that many college freshmen experience their first year at college. The effects of this pandemic are myriad and will be years in the delineating, but among them is definitely some degree of physical deconditioning for many people, myself among them. 

Even with much that characterizes the holidays curtailed, the shopping season has been suprisingly strong on the South Fork, according to several shopkeepers. "People are making a conscious effort to shop locally," said Gwen Waddington, an owner of the Wharf Shop in Sag Harbor.

Gardiner's Island remains private today, owned by members of the same family that has owned it for centuries. However, the prior owner, Robert D.L. Gardiner (1911-2004), often described as the "Last Lord of the Manor," frequently took groups to tour the island. This image is from a collection of Gardiner's Island photos donated to the library that were probably taken in the 1990s based on the tour group's attire, some of the vehicles shown, and the photo technology.

Hospitals here and across the state are preparing for a second surge of Covid-19 patients as case numbers continue to climb, and also awaiting the first round of vaccines, which will go to front-line health workers. Governor Cuomo has mandated hospitals increase bed capacity by at least 25 percent, and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital has said it is prepared to double capacity as needed.

St. Therese of Lisieux's new pastor, who joined the church in September in the midst of the pandemic, said he is "trying to use the theme of coming home for Christmas" to make people feel welcome at the church. Accordingly, it was his task to get to the bottom of what home meant for Montauk.

Thursday is the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday that commemorates the Maccabees' triumph over their oppressors in the second century B.C., only to find that the oil to light the candles needed to rededicate the temple had been tainted. Just one night's worth of pure oil remained, but, miraculously, it lasted for eight nights.

The East Hampton Town Board has named the Wainscott Green — the newly created passive park on Montauk Highway, on property bought by the town in 2018 — after the late Rick Del Mastro, a civic activist and philanthropist who called Wainscott home.

New York State is closely watching hospital capacity because it is the primary vehicle of defense until the Covid-19 vaccines can be widely administered. "If our hospital capacity becomes critical, we're going to close down that region, period," Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said.

Now that multiple pharmaceutical companies have developed Covid-19 vaccines, federal and state officials are putting together plans for the distribution of those vaccines. However, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday said he has identified three major obstacles in the way of fair distribution among the general population.

Southampton Village wants to return the 1713 windmill that stands on the Stony Brook Southampton campus to its onetime home on Windmill Lane. The college doesn't see it that way.

Thanksgiving wasn't just a one-day holiday, in the eyes of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. It marked the start of 37 days of dangerous revelry — 37 days in which state and local officials are predicting Covid-19 infection rates will surge as people shop, gather, travel, and celebrate.

Henri Soule (1903-1966), owner of the famous Le Pavillon restaurant in New York City, owned the Hedges Inn in East Hampton Village from 1954 until 1964, during which he turned it into a well-known and famous restaurant that attracted socialites and celebrities.

About the size of a gumball, the gem most likely came from a batch of clams dug in Mattituck, according to Bryan Gosman, a co-owner of the fish market, who hopes to raffle it off to raise money for the Montauk Food Pantry.

This document is a photostat of the notes Sag Harbor's William Wallace Tooker (1848-1917) made titled "Fragment of the Montauk," which attempted to record some of the words used by the Montauk Indians. The spelling appears to be somewhat phonetic, as evidenced by more familiar words like sachem, "seaunskq" for sunsquaw, and "seaump" for samp. Other words appear a bit garbled, and "squashes" is probably an attempt to transcribe sounds, as other sources indicate that young girls were not called squashes.

The Montauk Historical Society's popular lighting of the Lighthouse on the Saturday after Thanksgiving is on hold this year, not only because of the pandemic but because the tower on the 1796 structure is in the midst of a much-needed $1.3 million restoration.

A comprehensive study to develop a management plan to restore Fort Pond is warranted, those participating in a Nov. 12 webinar hosted by Concerned Citizens of Montauk were told.

Most holiday-themed events are virtual this year, but the East Hampton Historical Society is offering two on-site events to celebrate the season.

The completion of a second phase of renovation at Second House in Montauk, one of the oldest structures in the Town of East Hampton, coincides with a move toward historical landmark designation, the town board was told this month.

One point of information included in a press conference by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday may come as a surprise to many in East Hampton: The Covid-19 positive test rate here was 4.41 percent that day, less than .2 percent lower than the average daily rate in Riverhead, which is under new restrictions as of Monday.

About 10 years ago, when Averill Geus discovered a reel of nitrate film in her barn, her son warned her that it could combust and burn the whole place down at any minute. She donated it to LTV, which learned recently that it contained never-before-seen footage of a 1915 Independence Day celebration in East Hampton.