Villages

The Crook Family Bible at the Hampton Library paints a picture of the life of Cato Crook, a formerly enslaved Bridgehampton man who in 1819 wrote to Elias Smith of Smithtown to free his “runaway” niece.

What’s old is still new: Back in 1950, the farmers of Suffolk County sought legislation to curb marauding deer and receive compensation for crop damage caused by the herds.

The East Hampton Library receives upward of thousands of books each week through donations. How they are handled, for fun and profit, for collectors and other libraries, has been a revelation.

The Rev. Benjamin (Chaps) Shambaugh, who serves in the Coast Guard’s Auxiliary Chaplain Support program, became the branch chief of the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area East on Jan. 1. In that role, he will oversee chaplains who care for Coast Guard members and their families from Canada to the Caribbean and in Europe and other areas abroad. 

A water main break that occurred on Mitchell Lane in Bridgehampton on Saturday may be the culprit behind the discolored water coming out of taps in Bridgehampton, according to the Suffolk County Water Authority. But residents seeking answers have been frustrated with a lack of them.

While Captain Beebee’s headstone now sits pristine atop the hill next to the Old Whalers Church, the rest of the family’s six plots sit in disrepair. Recently, however, the museum received a $10,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, which will allow for the restoration of the remaining headstones.

It was almost balmy on New Year’s Day when around 500 intrepid people plunged into the ocean at East Hampton Village’s Main Beach, with at least twice as many fellow citizens cheering them on.

Seen here is a still image from “Creating the Lost at Sea Memorial,” a video produced in 1997 by LTV, about how the striking Montauk monument came to be.

Stevie Ruiz of Montauk said he first hit his stride on “Jeopardy!” in early December, an experience that netted him $38,987 over three days, when the category Artists by Album popped up on the board.

How was the economy here in 1975? “This thing is frightening,” one businessman said. “It’s a mess,” according to another. And much more of relevance and curiosity from our past coverage.

Looking ahead to the problem of summer traffic, David and Stacey Brodsky of Wainscott have a plan that they believe will alleviate the burden created by cars using some of the hamlet’s back roads to bypass Montauk Highway.

The assistant secretary of the United States Department of the Interior on Thursday affirmed the Shinnecock Nation's sovereignty over the Westwoods land parcel, the site of a planned gas station and travel plaza on Sunrise Highway, the Nation announced Friday.

David Brandman and the Artists and Writers Softball Game’s impresario, Leif Hope, recently handed out $10,000 checks to four beneficiaries — the Eleanor Whitmore Center, the Retreat, Phoenix House, and East End Hospice.

This still image from a 1988 video from the LTV Archive features a spoof by the artist Robert Janz, as he tries to draw a clock face on a timepiece in motion.

The Sag Harbor Village Zoning Board of Appeals voted on Dec. 17 to close a public hearing on the planned expansion of the restaurant Page at 63 Main Street, plans that involve the use of the second floor. The village attorney will draft a decision to be voted on.

The developer Jeremy Morton’s proposed renovations for the K Pasa and former 7-Eleven buildings in Sag Harbor took another step forward last month, with more review ahead.

After 35 years as a mainstay on Sag Harbor’s Main Street, Sylvester & Co. will close its doors for the last time next week.

“There’s been some pretty significant glimmers of hope — only to have our hopes dashed again,” Peconic Baykeeper’s executive director, Pete Topping, said at the start of a panel discussion the group hosted in December on this year's scallop season and prospects for the future.

A 38-foot adult female humpback whale washed up on the shore at Napeague State Park in Amagansett on Dec. 17, but according to Joanne Biegert, a representative of the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society, because of the whale's advanced state of decomposition the organization cannot determine a cause of death. 

In October, Craig Berkoski and Andrew Drake ran a legendary Grand Canyon route known as a "rite of passage" for ultra runners. The so-called Rim to Rim to Rim trail involves descending 4,500 feet down the South Rim, crossing the canyon floor and the Colorado River, and then running up the nearly 8,000-foot North Rim, and back. 

Cold, still, quiet, and clear conditions marked the morning of the Audubon Christmas Bird Count in Montauk on Dec. 14. The cold proved challenging, if not for the groups of birders in search of birds, then certainly for the birds.

The water was 24 degrees at Clearwater Beach in Springs at 8 a.m. on the morning of Dec. 13, when around a dozen people gathered to jump into Gardiner’s Bay for their weekly cold-water swim. The group is called the Clearwater Coldwater Club, and it began meeting in September, after Suzanne Sandbank, who moved to Springs three years ago, got everybody together.

The Huntting Inn, stung after the East Hampton Village Z.B.A. declined to approve its application for a pool, spa, and patio, is asking the Suffolk County Supreme Court to overturn the decision and looking to be awarded $5 million.

This photo from The Star’s archive once belonged to Catherine Osterberg Kelsey Richard. It shows a Christmas party for children on Dec. 19, 1948, at the Star of the East Masonic Lodge downtown.

Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s freestanding emergency department on Pantigo Road in East Hampton is almost ready to open its doors to the South Fork’s easternmost residents in need of immediate care.

Plungers will be “freezin’ for a reason” at ocean beaches in East Hampton Village and Wainscott on New Year’s Day, their mad dashes into the frigid surf arguably motivated by desires for personal renewal and for their fellow citizens’ well-being, inasmuch as the proceeds from the usually very well-attended events go to food pantries in Sag Harbor and East Hampton Town.

For Serge Pierro of Shelter Island, a teacher of guitar lessons and designer of original tabletop games, his latest project speaks to his appreciation for his home of 19 years and counting. Called Shelter Island Experience, it’s a card game that showcases the “nuances of what makes life on Shelter Island so special and unique.”

“It’s an issue that we continually have to manage and rethink,” Sag Harbor Village Mayor Thomas Gardella said at a parking workshop on Dec. 16. “We also have to consider the overall character of our village as we move forward with this.”

Golf’s popularity, stone revetments, and Plum Island — ’twas ever thus, Starlings.

Pitch Your Peers, a charitable effort launched here in 2023 by Brooke Bohnsack, has awarded a $35,000 grant to the Springs Food Pantry and a $10,000 grant to Project Most, the organization announced on Dec. 1.