Summer Prospects

“The Prospect of Summer,” a play written and directed by Shelter Island resident Lisa Shaw, will be performed July 22 through 25 on the Shelter Island History Center stage. Shows are at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

The year was 1938 and the visitors came from Manhattan, Brooklyn and points west by rail, boat and car. The New Prospect Hotel on Shelter Island was abuzz with an endless array of entertainment to the delight of the hundreds of guests pouring in from June to the end of August. Come take part in a very eventful weekend and relive what life was like at this iconic historic hotel with its menagerie of guests and staff.

“The Prospect of Summer” is based on actual events at the time. The Prospect Hotel, now Prospect Park, located near the North Ferry, was built in 1872 and burned down in 1922. It was rebuilt in 1924 as the New Prospect Hotel — and burned down again in 1942, on the day it was to be opened for the season.

“In just one hour and 20 minutes from the time that the Shelter Island fire siren was sounded at an early hour on Friday morning, the New Prospect Hotel, the largest and for many years one of the best known summer hotels on the Atlantic Sea, was a mass of smoking ruins,” reported the Long Island Traveler, Mattituck Watchman on July 2, 1942.

Tickets for “The Prospect of Summer” are $75. Shelter Island Historical Society is at 16 South Ferry Road, Shelter Island. For more information visit shelterislandhistorical.org.