125 Years Ago - 1897
From The East Hampton Star, March 19
There is a good demand for cottages this season. Quite a number have already been rented, and it now looks as if East Hampton would have a more prosperous season than ever in 1897.
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The Greenport smack fleet is being got ready for spring and summer fishing and soon the entire fleet from that port will have sailed for Cape Hatteras, where the first bluefish are found.
Each smack carries a crew averaging twelve men and each has about twenty tons of ice stored on board for icing the fish. The early trips will determine whether or not blues are plenty and all catches will be landed at Norfolk, Va., where they are shipped on the Old Dominion line to New York city markets. The enterprise is extremely dangerous, particularly during the spring season when frequent gales prevail.
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Don’t forget the New England supper to night, at Clinton Hall, under the auspices of the Ladies Village Improvement Society. No postponement on account of weather.
100 Years Ago - 1922
From The East Hampton Star, March 17
Acting upon the matter of economy the town board has instituted a new wage scale for road work to be paid by the Town Superintendent of Highways, Frank Barnes, effective March 15. A resolution was passed at the monthly meeting held at Town Clerk Ketcham’s office last Saturday afternoon instructing the superintendent not to pay more than the following rates:
Teams are reduced to 88 cents per hour; manual labor, 38 cents per hour.
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Notice of the annual election of the village of East Hampton is published in another column of this issue. The election will be held next Tuesday at Odd Fellows’ Hall, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. The offices of president, trustee, two years; treasurer, and collector will be voted upon at this election. There will also be two propositions for the voters to act upon.
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The custom of topping the ridge of a new house with a green bush still prevails in the Hamptons. Just when it originated nobody seems to know but the oldest journeyman carpenters say the bush has always been raised when the roof was completed. A superstition reveals that a house that is not “well wetted” will have a leaky roof. In olden times a barrel of ale or cider was opened.
75 Years Ago - 1947
From The East Hampton Star, March 20
Those who attended the Girl Scout service at the Methodist Church last Sunday afternoon were privileged to witness a ceremony well worth seeing, as the local troops went through with their processional and massing of colors.
The service was planned by Rev. Nat Griswold, and held at his invitation, to commemorate the 35th birthday of the Girl Scouts. Scouts from Amagansett, Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor, with their leaders, had been invited, and together with the local scouts, their leaders and friends, filled the church. Mr. Griswold was assisted by Rev. Davis and Rev. Kinsler in conducting the service.
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Mrs. William Brooks will review the book “My India, My America,” this Sunday evening at the Methodist Church at 7:30 o’clock. There will also be a half hour of sound films on India. This program is an introduction to the talk to be given by Parimal Das of India, who will speak at the church some time in April.
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The combined school bands of Bridgehampton and East Hampton gave a concert in the High School Auditorium on Friday, March 14.
The bands with a membership of over eighty pieces give a fine concert. The first part of the evening’s program included “Choral,” by Bach; overture “The Traveller,” by Buchtel; “In a Monastery Garden,” by Ketelbey; “Saskatchewan,” by Holmes; and Goldman’s march “On the Mall.” These numbers were under the direction of Charles Mockler, director of the Bridgehampton music department.
50 Years Ago - 1972
From The East Hampton Star, March 16
In life, Arnold Blakeman Bayley, an East Hampton resident and for many years owner of the Sea Spray Inn on the dunes, waxed wroth over taxes, particularly State and Federal income taxes.
In death, this antagonism lingers on, in the form of a will leaving $100,000 to an organization working for an anti-tax constitutional amendment and a testamentary provision directing that other funds in the sizable estate be used to contest any tax claims “to the highest court in this nation.”
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Montauk
It seems safe to say that spring is just around the corner. Flowers are springing through the soil, their green shoots preceding the dainty blooms to follow. A few blooms are already open.
Snowdrops have been in flower since mid-January; a few dwarf crocus are open in a sunny spot; and the cheerful yellow winter Aconite, for all the world like a buttercup, close to the ground, open wide on a bright day.
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If you saw a man putting out poison within easy reach of children and wildlife, who would you call first — the police or the men in the white coats? Yet poison is routinely left in dozens of locations on the East End, and no one seems to care.
While not as common as the garden-variety beer can, uncapped five-gallon cans containing the residue of such agricultural pesticides as Guthion, a product of the Chemagro Corporation, are to be found in many a hedgerow alongside a potato field here. Guthion is a poison.
25 Years Ago - 1997
From The East Hampton Star, March 20
Willem de Kooning, widely considered the greatest American painter of the postwar era, is dead at the age of 92. The giant of Abstract Expressionism died at his Springs studio at 5:30 yesterday morning from complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
De Kooning had lived full time in Springs since 1963. While many other prominent artists have lived and worked on the East End, few have been so immersed in the place, or so profoundly affected by it.
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A raging blaze totally destroyed the oceanfront house of the television personality Dick Cavett and his wife, Carrie Nye, an actress, on Tuesday afternoon. The loss was not only a personal tragedy but one mourned by the entire community because of the historic and architectural significance of the stately residence.
Once called “Tick Hall,” the structure was one of seven so-called Association Houses on the Montauk Bluffs designed by Stanford White before the turn of the century and later designated national landmarks. Mr. Cavett was nearing completion of an extensive renovation at the time of the fire.
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At an afternoon press conference yesterday, Gov. George E. Pataki and others announced a deal for a partial state takeover of the Long Island Lighting Company — a deal that is expected to result in rate cuts higher than 20 percent in the next five years for Nassau and Suffolk residents, as well as a cash refund for every Long Island ratepayer.
“The war is over between Long Island’s electric company and its residents,” declared the governor.
