Archiving It! Fire Islanders Chronicle the Island’s History
Volume 49, Issue 10
By Mike Lavers

Fire Island is a place whose modern history dates back to the days when Babylon resident Isaac Stratford built a whaling station on Whalehouse Point, now part of the Otis Pike Wilderness Area on the East End, in 1653. More than 350 years after he and other intrepid pioneers first set foot on the beach, a dedicated group of Fire Islanders are working tirelessly to chronicle the island’s rich and storied past.

The Ocean Beach Historical Society, located inside the newly renovated Community House, has collected photographs, documents, vintage maps, posters and other memorabilia for more than 20 years. And along with this extensive collection of artifacts from Ocean Beach’s past, the society also organizes a variety of exhibits throughout the season.

Some of the more popular exhibits, according to OBHS Curator and Director Sarah Morgan, included “Crossing the Great South Bay” in 1999 that showcased the history of the ferry service to the village. Morgan added that “Stormy History,” a collection of photographs that showcased the devastating impact of the Hurricane of 1938, the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962 and other tempests on the beach over the years have also been a big hit among locals and visitors alike.

“We want to collect these items, preserve them and display them,” she said. “People love to see the way that the island has changed shape over the past 100 years.”

 

Chronicling Saltaire’s Past

Long-time Saltaire resident Elizabeth Starkey, like Morgan and the OBHS, has also accumulated dozens of photographs and documents that chronicle the trail of destruction left behind by the storm, dubbed the Long Island Express by meteorologists, in the village.

But aside from this calamity, Starkey has extensively documented other important events in Saltarian history, such as the community’s founding prior to World War I, in a book that she and other local residents, including her husband Dick, published in 1977

Curiously enough however, Starkey and a handful of other Saltarians compile the village’s history without any funding from the local government. Nevertheless, she said that serving as Saltaire’s unofficial historian has allowed her to become familiar with the village’s past.

“Originally we were considered newcomers in the village and it was a way to get to know it’s history,” she said. “Our history doesn’t start until 1910 or 1912 [and] it’s a way of learning about the history and preserving it.”

 

A Rich Theatrical Legacy

Cherry Grove resident Harold Seeley has compiled old theater posters, ticket stubs, costumes, props and other memorabilia from the East End community’s theatrical tradition that date back to the late 1940s and shares Starkey’s gusto to preserve the past. And he, like Starkey, has worked tirelessly over the decades to preserve artifacts without little, if any, outside financial support from the community.

Seeley, known as the Bishop of Cherry Grove during the annual Invasion of the Fire Island Pines, currently keeps his collection in the basement of the Community House and has been requesting more space to house it for years. Nevertheless, he told The News in a recent interview that he hopes to expand the archives.

Seeley said that he has begun to collect old house signs to complement his already extensive collection of relics and added that has already received half a dozen from local residents. And he further noted that he plans to showcase them next year as part of his biannual exhibit.

“I’m a collector by nature and a pack rat,” Seeley said. “This is our national treasure [and] I collected and accumulated as much as I could—it is a passion with me.”

 

Collecting Artifacts of Yesteryear

Pines resident Tony LaRocco, who credits Seeley as an inspiration, has also collected photographs along with playbills and even menus from the former Sandpiper restaurant and disco, where a steak dinner cost only $4.50 in the early 1960s, for more than a decade. He currently stores these relics in a guestroom in the basement of his oceanfront home but added that the Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association has promised him space in the to-be-constructed Whyte Hall on Coast Guard Walk.

In the meantime, however, LaRocco said that he hopes that both newcomers and old timers can learn about the history of the Pines through the archives.

“We have this history and we have to preserve it,” he said. “I want to educate the young people and remind the older people as well.”

Seeley echoed LaRocco’s sentiments as he described his collection as he compared it to good books at a library that someone who is conducting research can check out and learn from.

“Each generation can see something from the previous generation,” Seeley said.