Letters

When I was younger, I always wondered how the family got interested in being here. My father, just a few years ago, when I was visiting down South, began explaining some of the tale.

It was because of the “Fisherman’s Special.”

The Long Island Rail Road would bring those interested out here starting in about 1935. The elders in my family couldn’t wait to be off factory lines and being carted off for a weekend excursion.

Three decades later, my father and uncle would be on their bicycles while the family was renting on Mulford Lane and see a “for sale” sign on one of the four homes on a little dirt road, which, oddly enough, had broken sea shells (so if a vehicle came it wouldn’t get stuck). The road stopped with a barricade, and this “road” was not even 400 feet long.

No one was to build past that spot, by decree of the Town Trustees from 1873. “The 200-year storm barricade” it was called. It would be removed 99 years later.

You might know some of the problems we have here now.

Until urban renewal, our family home was just called “the home behind.” The stories could go on and on. An oral history that should have been recorded in its entirety. Stories that seemed like a tall tale have since become fact.

Unfortunately, we lost Dad last Tuesday. I’m going to miss the man who was my biggest supporter, friend, sounding board. Rest easy, Dad — and I hope you enjoy the Fisherman’s Special.

Still here.

Joe Karpinski

Amagansett