125 Years Ago 1900
From The East Hampton Star, December 7
The annual Thanksgiving dance in Clinton Hall, East Hampton, proved to be one of the happiest affairs given in this vicinity in several years. Fully a dozen couples from this village participated.
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The citizens of Springs have turned out in good force and given their time and labor for the improvement of the roads. Within the past week the section between Kingstown and Two Holes of Water has been covered with good material and rounded up in good shape.
Julius Parsons was the prime mover in the enterprise, and Merton H. Edwards, the road master, has given his valuable assistance. Those who contributed their labor to the cause are much encouraged and pleased by the amount of work that has been accomplished.
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George Eldredge has secured the contract to build a large villa on Lily Pond lane for John Drew, the actor. The site for the new cottage is directly opposite the summer residence of Theron Strong, and the building will be elaborate in design, and will cost about $15,000. James Brown Lord is the architect.
100 Years Ago 1925
From The East Hampton Star, December 4
A great amount of East Hampton acreage has changed ownership in the past fortnight. Following announcement of the Fisher plans for extensive development at Montauk came conveyances of large tracts in Deep Hole, along the ocean beach and of farm lands fronting ocean and Montauk Highway, both in the eastern and western parts of the town of East Hampton.
For many years Lawyer Willard N. Baylis of Huntington town has owned large tracts at Napeague. One of these tracts has been sold. The stamps upon the deed filed with the county clerk at Riverhead indicate the price paid was $210,000.
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The Talmage farm on Main street, which was recently purchased by Maurice Blomerth, will soon be surveyed and laid out in building sites which will be put upon the market.
Mr. Blomerth has secured a right of way through the lands of DeWitt C. Talmage and J.L. Banister to the west of the property and will open a street through to Osborne lane. Water and electric light mains will be put in while the road is being laid out, early in the spring.
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While the idea of shooting to the moon is often considered by astronomers, the possibility of projectiles ever having been shot to the earth is hardly considered at all. Yet strange carved stones of which there has been no satisfactory explanation have fallen from the sky and been picked up at different times.
In 1887 a small carved stone, covered with ice, fell at Tarbes, in France. In 1892 another stone, also carved, dropped in a plantation in Dutch Guiana, while a carved cylinder of stone was reported to have fallen in the United States in 1910.
75 Years Ago 1950
From The East Hampton Star, December 7
The Ladies' Village Improvement Society met on Monday afternoon in Guild Hall, Mrs. Hamilton King presiding. Reports were read by the secretary, Mrs. Norman Quarty, and by the treasurer, Mrs. Nelson C. Osborne.
It was decided to offer prizes for the two best daytime Christmas decorations at East Hampton homes, and the two best evening displays; also to offer suitable awards for the best Christmas decorations on local business establishments.
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Richard Webb and Franklyn Burke of Montauk, both seniors in East Hampton High School, distressed their friends and schoolmates by leaving bag and baggage last Wednesday morning in Richard's rebuilt Ford. There was no warning that they contemplated such an adventure and at present there is no knowledge of their whereabouts except for a friend in East Hampton in whom they have confided.
They each left notes for their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Webb and Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Burke, indicating that they were discouraged with the futility of their school curriculum and that they wanted to strike out on their own and make their living.
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Rep. W. Kingsland Macy lost his fight to have the Supreme Court at Mineola issue an order preventing certification of Ernest Greenwood, Democratic-Liberal candidate for Congress. Mr. Greenwood defeated Mr. Macy by 138 votes in the recent election.
Mr. Macy contended that the court could prevent the certification on the ground that many persons in Nassau County allegedly had been allowed to vote illegally, but Supreme Court Justice Percy D. Stoddart ruled the court had no jurisdiction over the Macy petition.
50 Years Ago 1975
From The East Hampton Star, December 4
The annual holiday concert at the Choral Society of the Hamptons and the South Fork Chamber Orchestra will feature church music by three Italian composers, Gabrieli, Scarlatti, and Vivaldi, and a group of Spanish folk carols whose arrangement was dedicated to the group's conductor, Hugh Ross. The concert will be held on Sunday, Dec. 14, at 4 p.m. in the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church.
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State Transportation Commissioner Raymond Schuler insisted Tuesday night that the Sunrise Highway extension "is not today in any way on any program of the Department of Transportation. There is not any such program. It's been totally wiped from the planning books." He also in effect reversed several actions taken by a State-mandated transportation study committee, which some had interpreted as portents of a highway revival.
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Santa Claus will be accompanied by "Washington Crossing the Delaware," other Bicentennial floats, the color guards from the Coast Guard and Air Force, the East Hampton High School band, and other marchers when he rides down Main Street, East Hampton, in the annual Chamber of Commerce Christmas parade this Saturday.
The parade will start at the Middle School at 11:30 a.m. and move down Newtown Lane and Main Street to Guild Hall, where marchers will make a U-turn and wind up at the VFW building.
25 Years Ago 2000
From The East Hampton Star, December 7
The bucolic nature of East Hampton, which its citizenry rated most important in a recent quality-of-life survey, could hinge on about 2,200 undeveloped acres between Wainscott and Montauk, plus Gardiner's Island, Lee E. Koppelman, the town's comprehensive plan consultant, told town board members last Thursday.
Protecting those lands from development could cost taxpayers between $45 million and $155 million, depending on how the 36 individual parcels and groups of parcels Dr. Koppelman has identified are acquired.
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The Viking Starship was over 50 miles at sea, heading for the Georges Bank cod grounds early Saturday morning, but she might as well have been in outer space.
There was no horizon. The black, star-filled heavens flowed seamlessly into an equally black sea. The 44 anglers who had signed on for the extended fishing trip out of Montauk were in suspended animation; that is, asleep in the Starship's reclining chairs.
Suddenly, a sharp metallic WHACK! — the sound of a meteorite striking the Starship's steel hull. J.C. Saccente of Patchogue had been the only one up on the deck, but a passing snow squall in the otherwise clear night had forced him inside to get a woolen facemask. When he went back out, he saw it — a black, volcanic rock a bit smaller than a baseball.
