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AUGUST 17, 1912





THE OCEAN FRONT OF LONG ISLAND EAST OF THE CITY





A Long Stretch Principally Known as Great South Beach, Whose
Superb  Advantages Are  Mainly Localized by Town Ownership





■yHE development of a piece of acreage
••• cm Fire Island near Fire Island Light,
within the last two years and the develop¬
ment of another acreage tract on Ocean
Beach, opposite Bay Shore call attention to
the possibility of the ultimate development
of all of Great South Beach, which extends
.east from Jones' Inlet to Westhampton
Beach, a distance of fifty odd miles. Fire
Island Beach and Ocean Beach comprise a
part of Great South Beach, and the latter
embraces all of the ocean front of Long
Island east of the limits of New York city
except Long Beach and Montauk Beach.

Great South Beach is one of the finest
stretches of ocean front in America and
the bulk of it lies dormant. The first im¬
portant development of it or of any part
of it has been made during the last two
years near Fire Island on a tract of 300
odd acres known as Saltaire. The State
of New York itself has in recent years
discerned the attraction of this magnifi¬
cent beach and has arranged to transform
its holding on Fire Island—which it bought
from D. S. S. Sammis during Governor
Flower's administration—into a state park
for public recreation. Commissioners have
been appointed for some vears now.  but





front and the mainland. But. the greater
popularity of the south shore of Long Isl¬
and as a result of better railroad condi¬
tions has called attention to its ocean front
as a place for summer bungalows; and, an
other five years will undoubtedly witness
the erection of several large hotels there.

Those parts of Great South Beach that
are fairly well populated in summer are
connected with the mainland by good fer¬
ry service with the result that already
many New York business men have their
summer homes there and commute daily
to the city. There is ferry service between
the mainland and the beach at Freeport,
Wantagh, Amityville, Babylon, Bay Shore
and Patchogue; and, year on year the traf-
flce on these routes Is heavier.

Until about three years ago the advan¬
tages of Great South Beach were gener¬
ally known only to the native element
along the south side of Long Island; and
many of them who love the sea built bun¬
galows there for summer use, particularly
at Hemlock Beach, opposite Amityville, on
Oak Island, opposite Babylon, and at Wa¬
ter Island, opposite Patchogue, These lo¬
cal cottage colonies, however, are compar¬
atively insignificant.    The land on which





to buy from the. township of Babylon and
Islip the large area known as Cap Tree
Island in Great South Bay just back of
Great South Beach, and a special election
was held in both townships to pass upon
the matter. It developed strong opposition
to the offer and feeling ran so hig'n that ill
feeling was engendered between old fami¬
lies, some of whom favored the sale and
most of whom opposed it. The island still
belongs to the township and it probably
will continue to hold title until old families
die off and a new influx of population
takes place.

All of the ocean front and bay islands of
the various townships yield a paucity of
revenue, wnereas they could be made to
yield a large sum in taxes each year if
they were sold and improved in accord¬
ance with the demand for ocean-front
property adjacent to New York City. The
natives declare that if they sold their
title in Great South Beach that they
would be selling a birthright for a mess
of pottage; and, yet they will do noth
ing to improA'e it themselves except to
make leases for the erection of a few
cottages scattered along its length.

The most notable development of ocean







AN UNDEVELOPED PART- OF GREAT SOUTH BEACH.





.\E\V   COTTAGES   AT  SALTAIRE,   FIRE  ISLAND.





money has not been made available in the
necesis9,ry; arnount to complete the park. In
this large tract the state has a great pub¬
lic asset because with the steady flow of
population to Long Island the state park
some day will be well frequented and its
aquatic advantages well  used.

Fire Island was famous a generation ago
as a summer resort when the late D. S. S.
Sammis built and managed the Surf Ho¬
tel, which became the gathering place for
men of prominence. The hotel was
burned down some years ago. Until the
Saltaire development took place Fire Isl¬
and was In late years famous only as the
site of a government lighthouse. The
steady demand for ocean front property on
Long Island in late years has been caused
•by the building up of the New Jersey coast
and by the greatly increased population of
the City of New York and the Improved
traffic facilities of the Long Island Rail¬
road. The New Jersey ocean front has
long been in public favor because of its ac¬
cessibility by rail as well as by water.

All of Long Island's ocean front, from
Jones' Inlet east to Westhampton Beach,
is not reached directly by rail, the Great
South Bay intervening between the ocean





they stand in most cases, is leased from
the Township of Babylon, the Township of
Islip and the Township of Brookhaven.

These townships, by the way, still own
much of the Great South Beach; and, that
to a degree, has retarded extensive devel-
op.T.ent. The townships lease lots or plots
for nominal sums for terms of years; and,
it is timely to state, in passing, that the
native element are jealous of its rights
In the premises which date back to colonial
time. They have tenaciously fought every
attempt of any private corporation to pur¬
chase parcels of beach front for develop¬
ment, which wouW not only allow them
greater marine advantages but . which
would materially increase the taxable re¬
sources of the various townships. The op¬
position of the native element to the sale
of Great South Beach or any part of it
to private owners is the most formidable
drawback to the development of one of the
finest parts of the Atlantic coast. Here
and there along this beach parcels have
been sold that belonged to old families to
whom beach land descended through colo
nial grants; and, it is these tracts that
have been bought and developed. Only
one year ago a private corporation sought





front leased from a township is at Oak
Island, opposite Babylon, where several
hundred bungalows have been built; but,
these houses are not as costly and sub¬
stantial as those built at Saltaire, for in¬
stance, where the fee to t'ne land rests
in the owner of the house and it is only
logical that they should not be. The
Township of Babylon derives very poor
revenue from Oak Island compared to
what it would derive in taxes from it if
it was owned and improved by private
entenirise. The largest single private
holding of ocean front property is on the
part of Great South Beach between
Brookhaven and Mastic which has been
owned for many generations by the Smith
family, of Smith's Point, on Great South
Bay, A land developing company bought
considerable of this prime\'al ocean front
from the Smiths about three years ago
but it has not yet made any notable im-
proA'cments on it and it is not definitely
known when it will.

Almost coincident with the development
of Saltaire, on Fire Island, the Ocean
Beach Development Company bought and
developed a large tract of beach opposite
Bay   Shore   which   is   knowu^ ^s   Ocean