Historic Hotels The earliest recreational visitors came to Patchogue in the 1800s, typically businessmen who were involved in transporting the lumber and other products to New York City. Recognizing the natural beauty of the area, some visitors stayed overnight to enjoy the scenery and bountiful seafood. However these inns and houses are no longer standing. […]
Fish Markets & Eateries Waterfront hotels and clam bars have marked the landscape of the south shore since the late 19th century, when more visitors, including estate owners, sportsmen and recreational fishermen began exploring the region, during summers and on weekends. Soon afterwards various investors began building summer hotels, from Long Beach to Patchogue, most […]
Bay Houses Bay houses stand on the fragile marshlands in the Town of Islip and the Town of Hempstead. Built by fishermen and baymen, duck hunters and recreational boaters, they come in all shapes and forms, with as many variations as there are builders. Most of the houses that stand today range in age from […]
Commercial Fishing Since the 1700s there has been an active commercial fishing economy on the south shore. Baymen and fishermen have harvested eels, killies, clams, oysters, scallops, blue claw crabs, bait crabs, fluke and flounder and other marine species. While the fishing economy has declined drastically since 1985, when the brown tide decimated the scallop […]
Baymen’s Homes The earliest European colonists were fishermen and baymen, along with farmers and various tradespeople, all of whom depended on each other for their livelihoods. They settled throughout Long Island, with English settlers living primarily on the East End, and Dutch settlers in the western areas. By the mid-1700s English and Dutch families coexisted […]
Long Island Herald reviews the opening of the Freeport Nautical Mile exhibit Read the full article. Article courtesy of LI Herald
Newsday reviews the opening of the Freeport Waters exhibit. Read the full article. Article courtesy of Newsday
Maritime Programs One of our main goals as an organization is to help preserve the traditions of commercial and recreational fishermen. Since the 1700s Long Island’s history has centered on the bays, rivers, oceans and estuaries. Baymen have harvested clams, oysters, eels and killies for their living. They have built garveys and duck boats, bay […]
South Shore Portal Long Island’s South Shore is one of the oldest historic regions in the United States, from the pre-contact period when Native Americans harvested shellfish and finfish for survival, to the arrival of European settlers beginning in the 1500s. Over the past 300 years it has grown from a rural economy to a […]
The Adlib Steelband: Trinidadian Steelband Music Trinidadian steelband music is a form of traditional music that is rarely recognized on Long Island. Since the early 1970s, Trinidadians have lived on Long Island, primarily in Freeport, Hempstead, Glen Cove, and other villages with substantial minority groups. Working in shipping industries, manufacturing plants, and health-care facilities, the […]