Orient Point Light stands on Oyster Pond Reef in Plum Gut, the narrow passage between Orient Point and Plum Island. The cast-iron lighthouse was first […]
Category: Crazy Facts About Long Island
How a Knitting Needle Helped Name Mount Sinai
Tucked between Port Jefferson and Miller Place, the hamlet known now as Mount Sinai was known locally by another name entirely many years ago. Long […]
Long Island Researcher Who Decoded Centuries-Old Place Names
Long Islanders already know names like Ronkonkoma, Massapequa, Setauket, and Patchogue came from Native American languages. What is less widely known is that Sag Harbor […]
When Hampton Bays Was Called Good Ground
Long before it became Hampton Bays, the South Fork hamlet had a very different — and much older — name. For generations, the area was […]
The 1922 Shooting Case That Stunned Huntington
A front-page article published in The Port Jefferson Echo on Dec. 2, 1922 detailed a murder-suicide in Huntington that began with a broken engagement and […]
The $6 Million Camp Upton Fraud Lawsuit of 1922
In December 1922, The Port Jefferson Echo reported that the federal government had begun legal action tied to alleged fraud in the construction of Camp […]
Before Busytown, Children’s Author Richard Scarry Drew This Charming 1947 Map of Long Island
Long before Richard Scarry became famous for Busytown, Lowly Worm, and generations of children’s books, he drew Long Island. In June 1947, Holiday magazine published […]
When a Whiskey-Laden Yacht Ran Ashore on Long Island During Prohibition
During a snowstorm in late November 1922, a yacht carrying hundreds of cases of whiskey ran aground off Miller Place during the height of Prohibition. […]
The Story Behind Rocky Point’s Famous “Fish Church”
Long before most locals started calling it the “Fish Church,” Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rocky Point was already being recognized as a local landmark. […]
The Elephants That Helped Build the Long Beach Boardwalk
Long Beach has had many unusual moments in its history, but one of the more memorable came during the construction of its boardwalk. In 1907, […]