What's In A Name?

GERARD PARK

A 1935 real estate brochure offering 250 lots for sale on a mile-and-a-half-long spit of land in Springs boasted that "Cape Gardiner will surely be one of America's leading waterfront colonies." The broker was one Daniel M. Gerard of East Setauket, whose name would soon supplant that of Lion Gardiner on the map.

Three years earlier, when he owned the property outright, Mr. Gerard had convinced the East Hampton Town Board to build a road down the center of the spit in exchange for nine acres of parkland to be named after his wife, Caroline Gerard.

"Running down the cape is a finished town road [Gerard Drive]. Except for this, everything there is as God gave it to the Indians," said the brochure.

But in their enthusiasm for the views, the abundance of game, and the terrific fishing, the developers had failed to consider a few obstacles. One was the Great Depression, which made generous terms of 10 percent down and 4-percent interest out of reach for most. Lots on Gerard Drive would eventually sell for as low as $100.

Then there was the difficulty in getting to the far reaches of Springs from New York via automobile before the age of expressways.

They also overlooked the tendency of the cape, which is as narrow as 60 feet in places, to flood in storms. It became an island during the 1938 hurricane and again during Hurricane Carol in 1953. Residents were evacuated during Hurricane Bob in 1991.

The scarcity of potable water was also ignored. Today, most of the 70 or so homeowners, mostly seasonal, bring in bottled water.

Cape Gardiner, or Cape Gerard, first came into private hands in 1770, when the East Hampton Town Trustees sold 104 acres to Benjamin Leek, provided he allow town residents access to the waterfront to collect seaweed. For a while, the land was known as Benjamin Leek's beach.

In 1875, Benjamin Payne established a menhaden-processing factory at a spot on the cape called Deep Hole, where oceangoing vessels could safely anchor. Water was pumped in by way of a windmill across Accabonac Harbor, lest the high salinity of the on-site well water damage the machinery.

The fish factory burned in 1895. Later, in a more high-tech and less trusting age, Long Island Oyster Farm built a small radar station to monitor for poachers in its Gardiner's Bay shellfishing grounds. It is now a residence.

S.J.K.