What is that? Jan. 20, 2024
If you know, let us know. Send your responses to [email protected] or phone 631-275-1859.
Speedy Roger McKeon wrote to us almost as soon as last week’s mystery photo (see below) was published, to say, “That can only be the South Ferry Captain John F. Clark Maintenance Facility you wrote about in May of last year.”
Absolutely.
Also all over it were Eileen Bales Pascucci, Cynthia Michalak and Regina Hartley on our Facebook page.
The new structure, a 19th-century livestock barn owned by the Clark family, has been transformed into a bright, golden structure that is a state-of-the-art facility just up the road from the ferry dock.
Ferry boats require constant maintenance, including repairing and building engines. Before the new place went up, that work was done either outside or in four cargo containers and a one-car garage.
“It’s night and day,” said Captain Michael Earley, maintenance foreman of South Ferry, comparing the present building to working during an Island winter in unheated conditions and constantly moving from place to place for tools and equipment.
Today, ferry craftspeople can work in comfort due to the radiant heat in the concrete floors. And here, in one place over two stories, are multiple shops for electrical work, hydraulics, welding and carpentry, among other stations.
