Around the Island

A look back: This week in Shelter Island history

 

REPORTER FILE PHOTO | Walter McCarthy of Huntington displayed his 1909 Model T built the first year the Model T was produced during the Vintage Motor Car Club of America exhibition at the Pridwin in July 2003.

10 YEARS AGO

Chitty-chitty-bang-bang-puff at Pridwin
The Vintage Motor Car Club of America sponsored a week-long national one-and-two cylinder tour at the Pridwin Hotel in July 2003. Fleets of one- and two-cylinder cars, steam cars and electric cars built in 1915 or earlier and four-cylinder cars of 10 horsepower or less, built in 1904 or earlier, converged on the Island from as far away as Louisville, Kentucky, and as near as Huntington, Long Island. Besides being on display at the Pridwin, the vehicles toured the North Fork, Sag Harbor and East Hampton during their East End swing.
POSTSCRIPT: Last year, the Shelter Island Historical Society launched what has become an annual antique car show. This summer, the show also featured  muscle cars from the 20th century. Many of the vehicles on display in the past two years are owned by local Shelter Island collectors.

20 YEARS AGO

BOE declares it will not pursue privatization
Representatives of Education Alternatives, a school management company trying to sell its services to Shelter Island, got the boot 20 years ago as the Board of Education opted to continue to hire its own team of school administrators. Company representatives had visited the school district periodically during the previous year and made presentations to the board and public about its services. The meetings resulted in a letter of intent from the company to manage the school, but the board declined to sign an agreement. Among other aspects of the company’s efforts was that the district would have to solicit participation of neighboring districts in order to develop a critical mass of students to make any agreement financially viable. Board members agreed that signing any contract with the company would be premature at best. The board decided that if in the future the company had a successful coalition of Long Island schools participating, it would be willing to consider its stance.
POSTSCRIPT: Shelter Island, along with other East End school districts, continues to have its own administration and the only change in recent years has been the establishment of a charter school in Riverhead that doesn’t impact this district, although it does draw some students from North Fork school districts.

30 YEARS AGO

Bizarre boat accident causes three deaths
Three people perished in late July 1983 as a result of a bizarre boating accident in a lagoon off West Neck Creek in Westmoreland Farm. George Conway, 64, died of a heart attack as he tried to save his son and a family friend who had been electrocuted while on a small sailboat. Police said Michael Conway, 29, and Mary Barry, 29, were heading out into West Neck Creek when their 30-foot aluminum mast on their 23-foot long AMF Paceship yacht apparently touched a 2,400 volt power line spanning the mouth of the lagoon. Alerted to fire on the sailboat by his wife, George Conway ran around the perimeter of the inlet to the boat near shore, but passed out, falling into the water, police said.
POSTSCRIPT: Not that all the training in the world could have prevented such an unusual set of circumstances that felled the three, but this year, Suffolk County legislation took effect requiring that all county residents operating crafts in the waters here complete a required boater safety course. What’s more, the state is entertaining making such a course mandatory throughout New York.

50 YEARS AGO

Firemen offer trip to Bermuda
After their fund raising week-long carnival was cut short by rain  and the state’s anti-gambling law that cut into profits, the Shelter Island Fire Department in 1963 found it was far below its goal of money needed to support its corps of volunteers. Department members opted to run a raffle for a trip to Bermuda in an attempt to raise the much-needed money. The drawing was set for August 17 at a dance at the Legion Hall.
POSTSCRIPT: Today firefighters are readying themselves for the annual Chicken Barbecue that is entering its 50th year. The date is Saturday, August 17, and it and the annual Country Fair are the major fund raisers.