Sorry to say that the November 26 “The way it was” caption gets the name wrong. It was not the “Namagansett Club”—that would have been much too simple. It was called the Namaganeset Field Club.
It was founded by a group of summer visitors who were staying at the Benjamin H. Barnes boarding house on Amagansett’s Main Street, called Shady Cottage, in 1902. This building is now Balasses House, an antiques store. It was originally called The Hiawatha Field Club. In November 1924, it was sold to Mrs. Annie Schultz, who converted it into a private summer home. Years later, it was purchased by Mr. David Millar, of the Whitman chocolate company.
PETER GARNHAMAmagansettMr. Garnham is president of the Amagansett Historical Association’s board. East Hampton Historical Society director Richard Barons, who provides “The way it was” photos and captions from the society’s collection, commented in response that “there are several spellings in print, I assume because of the silliness of the name. I used one common one and the postcard is clear in using ‘Namaganesett.’ I will file Peter’s note with the card ...”—Ed.
on Dec 1, 2008