TALES OF THE MONTAUK LIGHT

BARBARA BORSACK

When my great-grandmother Emily Scott Strong was growing up in the Montauk Lighthouse, the landscape was quite different than it is now. There were few trees to obscure the view and you could see for miles when you stood on the lighthouse steps and looked west. It was a lonely life, though, with only a few Montaukett Indians for company, especially when the fishing season was over and the cattle had been driven back to town.

Company became a cause for great celebration in the winter, when the family was eager for any opportunity to catch up on news from the rest of the world. On rare occasions they would catch sight of a wagon or carriage working its way toward them, inching across the wilderness of what is now the hamlet of Montauk.

At such times they would busy themselves preparing food for the unexpected company. They were able to have a complete meal on the table by the time the guests arrived, complete with a freshly baked cake for dessert.

Another kind of company came when unfortunate ships ventured too close to the rocks. Great-great-grandfather Scott rescued more than a few crews.

But rescue from the sea was sometimes the easy part - collecting them from Montauk often took weeks! On those occasions, the crew would be put up in the lighthouse and they would become members of the family for as long as they were marooned there.

One shipwreck that was particularly enjoyable for Emily was of a ship that carried the captain's sister along with the male crew. In the two weeks they stayed with the family, the girls became fast friends. A gift from this new friend was presented when the girls finally parted. It was a beautiful amethyst ring which had come from some foreign port, and which Emily passed down to one of her granddaughters many years later along with the tale.

Barbara Borsack's family goes way back in East Hampton.