125 Years Ago 1901
From The East Hampton Star, May 3
The bicycle path to the beach has been put in good condition, and the ride from the village to the ocean is now an easy and pleasant one.
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The Highway Commissioners have had men at work this week carting gravel on Newtown lane. That is one of the most important highways in the village, as it is the avenue through which everybody travels in coming into and going out of East Hampton. Aside from the desirability and practicability of having a hard smooth road over which to cart all of the material that comes into East Hampton, it is important to have such a road for the sake of the impression it conveys to strangers coming into town. We are pleased to see that Newtown lane is to be given the attention of the road officials.
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There will be a friendly contest on the race course on Long lane tomorrow between C. Schenck's pair of trotters and W.O. Rackett's team of pacers, Nellie French and Lily Pond. It is said the new half-mile track on Long lane is the best one ever laid in East Hampton.
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Amagansett
About a week ago, while on patrol duty, D.H. Schillinger, of the Amagansett life saving station, picked up a live wild goose which had been slightly wounded, and it is now in his possession. This is the second one that has been found in the same manner, George Mulford, also of the boat house, having found one about two weeks ago.
75 Years Ago 1951
From The East Hampton Star, May 3
Plans for the summer season at the John Drew Theatre of Guild Hall this year under the management of Philip Barry Jr., are well underway. The season will open with Veronica Lake starring in "The Voice of the Turtle," a Broadway hit of a few seasons ago. Following Miss Lake will be Eva Gabor in "Personal Appearance." The bill for the fourth week of the season will star Faye Emerson in "Here Today."
Later in the summer Barry will present "Pal Joey" with Carol Bruce, and Eddie Dowling in a new play by William Saroyan making a week's stay in East Hampton on its way to Broadway. Contracts for the remaining three weeks of the eight-week season are now being negotiated.
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Construction crews, trucks, huge reels of cable and "men working" signs are in much evidence these days as the New York Telephone Company extends its cables in East Hampton and Southampton and nearby communities.
"We are enlarging our facilities to keep pace with the telephone needs of this growing community," B.P. Hughes, manager here for the company, said today.
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The Ladies' Village Improvement Society's Bargain Box will reopen for the season tomorrow at 10 a.m., with Mrs. Norman Quarty in charge, aided by volunteer workers from the society. The shop will be open daily except Thursdays and Sundays from ten to five o'clock, and will close for lunch between one and two o'clock each day. The Bargain Box will also be closed the first Monday afternoon of each month, which is the L.V.I.S. meeting day.
Mrs. A. Wallace Chauncey is Bargain Box Chairman, and with her committee has been working very hard getting the attractive little shop into shape for the season. Mrs. Chauncey is Winter Chairman, until July 1; from July 1 to September 1, Mrs. Whiting Hollister will take over. Mrs. Lawrence Baker is Consignment Chairman; Mrs. Irwin Cornell, Collections Chairman. Mrs. Edward Tillinghast is Publicity Chairman. A Pricing Committee will be appointed later.
50 Years Ago 1976
From The East Hampton Star, April 29
There came a point well into Tuesday night's two-hour "listen-in" on the Maidstone Park ballfield project when Supervisor Eugene Haas asked the packed room, "Where do we go from this point?"
"No further!" was the reply from the majority of the audience.
Indeed, it seemed that the East Hampton Little League organization, which had originally asked that the Town Board bring the existing field at Maidstone Park up to safe playing standards, was content also to forgo the proposed cyclone fencing, 20 parking spaces, and spectator bleachers proposed in "Phase Two."
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The Montauk Historical Society is in need of two small Victorian armchairs, Victorian parlor lamps, old pewter, early kitchen items, and tools, among other things, for its Second House Museum, which will open for the season on Memorial Day weekend.
The annual house tour sponsored by the Historical Society will be held this year on Thursday, Aug. 6, from 1 to 5 p.m.
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On Wednesday evening, April 21, the East Hampton Town Planning Board resumed a public hearing begun April 14 to consider for the second time preliminary approval of the proposed "Gansett Dunes" subdivision in Amagansett. The 44-acre oceanfront tract, dunes, freshwater wetlands, and uplands is bordered by Treasure Island Drive, Bluff Road, and Mako Lane. It is being proposed for development by Seymour Schutz, Julian Rosner, Maurice Low and others.
In October 1973, the Planning Board granted preliminary approval to a map showing 35 buildable lots, six fronting on the ocean, 20 clustered against the northerly bluffs, and the rest in the interior.
25 Years Ago 2001
From The East Hampton Star, May 3
A crowd of about 250, most of them supporters of the B&C Golf Club, turned out last week for a hearing on the club's application to build a parking lot and other facilities at its 18-hole golf course straddling Abraham's Path and Accabonac Road in East Hampton and Amagansett.
The course itself is up and running, but the club needs to add on-site parking to obtain a certificate of occupancy and be legally open.
Under separate review is B&C's plan to build a 16,500-square-foot clubhouse and an 8,000-square-foot maintenance building, as well as a smaller "halfway house" where golfers can take a break after nine holes.
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The national debate over using, or misusing, Native American names and caricatures for sports teams has come home to the Amagansett School District.
The image of a Native American kneeling and scooping up water from a spring has been used in the hamlet of Amagansett for decades. It appears on the Amagansett Free Library's stationery, bookmarks, book plates, and on tote bags it sells to raise funds. It also is reproduced on Amagansett Fire Department jackets.
Now, some members of the Amagansett School Board want to replicate the image on the center court of the school's gym floor, which was recently refinished. But objections have been raised that echo concerns in other Long Island communities and across the country.
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"Everywhere I look there's road work!" one motorist said this week, having maneuvered through a maze of traffic cones and detours to get to her office in East Hampton Village.
From the village's western edge to Cranberry Hole Road in Amagansett, magnolia, cherry, and apple trees blossoming along the state highway provided little distraction from a proliferation of pink and white plastic blockades. The man-made color was proof that the $8.5 million last leg of a three-part State Department of Transportation improvement on Route 27 was underway in earnest.
