Anybody live out here on the North Fork of Long Island and...

[TreasonousBastard]

want to help with our campaigns. Or just hang and give some moral support, troublemaking, whatever...

Hot races for Southold town council, assessors, trustees and highway department.

[grasswire]

1. Do you support the preservation of Plum Island? nt

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Absolutely! That's almost religion out here and the town...

zoned it (whenever it's sold) to remain largely open and undeveloped.

Even the Republicans don't dare speak of development over there.

(Ask me a tough one )

[grasswire]

3. two of my ancestors were lighthousekeepers there in the 1800s.

I have been following the issue.

My brother told me yesterday that he saw a story that The Donald was thinking of buying the island. Horrors!

I knew about the Southold zoning so I figured that would make Trump less interested.

How far away from Orient are you?

My mother's family left NE in 1924 after 300 plus years there, sadly.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Lighthouse keepers, eh? Cool. I'm living in Cutchogue now, about...

15 miles from Orient Point. I get out there regularly for work and Latham's farm is a regular stop in season. Sep's in East Marion, too.

We've still got a few families that have been around since colonial times, but some are slowly moving away. There was a lot of pressure on farmers to sell to developers for a while, but that's eased. Do you know why the family just packed up and moved? The 20's were somewhat troubled times out here and a lot of people moved out for various reasons.

Trump? Not popular around here and he's probably just shooting his mouth off again. Here's an article that came out in today's Suffolk times:

http://suffolktimes.timesreview.com/2013/10/42460/trump-expresses-interest-in-building-golf-course-on-plum-island/

[grasswire]

5. why did my grandparents move out west in 1924?

Her father had already gone to Washington state to work as a train man, and reported such exciting tales of the West. He convinced his daughter (my grandmother) to join him there. Her husband, my grandfather, had a harder time with that decision. His family was deeply rooted in Connecticut and pillars of the community. They packed up their six young children and drove across the country in an open touring car with canvas sides for a tent. Many adventures along the way, camping in schoolyards, suffering rutted dirt roads, etc. 100 miles a day.

I don't know exactly why they did it. Familial pull is the only explanation.

By then, the large land holdings of colonial days had passed out of family hands. If that had not happened, I would own a good portion of Long Island (one family member had 4,000 acres on Long Island at Southampton and Montauk) and land along the Connecticut River, as well as a good portion of lower Manhattan. Ha! If only.

[grasswire]

6. just a question

Have you ever watched a TV show called "Royal Pains"? It's a pretty mundane show about a doctor in the Hamptons. His brother runs for local city council. It came to my mind when reading your request for political chit chat there.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Yeah, for a while it was mildly interesting, but...

like a lot of things, it got old long before the annoying brother ran for office.

I thought the doc and the Indian medic were OK, but the brother drove me nuts-- no wonder his accounting practice went under. And the plots started really cheap but never got much better.

[grasswire]

8. the only good thing was seeing Henry Winkler, IMO

Well, I did enjoy seeing views of the area.


I've been to New England, and seen Plum Island from the Connecticut shore. But never been to North Fork. I'm just fascinated with the area after doing genealogical work the last couple of years on family.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. Well, the next time you're around New London, the ferry gets you to Orient quickly...

if not all that cheaply, and you can see your ancestral lands for yourself. Some things have changed greatly, and some not all, but there are active historical societies here that could prove interesting.