Tell me more please....

[lumberdude]

In my post in the misc. forum about my boys eyes, I started really noticeing where everyone is from because of a comment by smacksman.

I want to know more about the places you forumites are living in. I checked out a website about Colchester U.K., smacksman's hometown, and I find it so very different than what I see here in the midwest USA. The architecture is photo worthy on just about every street corner. It's hard for my little mind to comprehend lands so totally different than my own.

I know, even though I see places everyday on the discovery channel, I've never attached to them since I didn't "know" anyone from those places. I want to know more. And I want to know the little details. I want to see pictures. I want to know how to visit if I ever do some major traveling.

This forum melts the miles away.

Please, tell me more and show me.....

lumberdude

[mmd]

Hey, lumberdude - glad to hear that the little guy is doing OK. My 11-yaer-old daughter has provided us with a few frantic moments, so I can relate to your last few days. I'm from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, a small town at the head of navigation on the LaHave River on the east coast of Canada. We are fortunate to be in an area of small towns, clean underpopulated seaside beaches, and a vast number of small inland lakes. We're about an hour from the nearest major population centre (Halifax) which gives us the convenience of easy access to "city stuff" such as shows, shopping, atc., but far enough away that we don't have the spillover of suburban sprawl. I've travelled quite extensively and lived in several provinces and countries, but I keep coming back here. Check it out at www.town.bridgewater.ns.ca (http://www.town.bridgewater.ns.ca) and use the links to peek at Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, and Chester, too - they are our neighbouring small towns that are within 20 minutes drive from Bridgewater. Come & visit; bring the "hoons" (as Wild Dingo calls 'em) and play on the beach for a while. Drop a line when you plan to come & I'll try to help make your stay a bit more enjoyable with some local knowledge.

[Donn]

OK, Lumberdude, you asked for it.

I live on the Great South Bay, in Amityville, NY, on the south shore of Long Island, about 50 miles east of New York City.

Brief History:

In the middle of the 17th century, The Town of Huntington was a strip of land that ran from Long
Island Sound on the north shore, to The Great South Bay on the south shore. It was largely
populated by Montauk Indians, Dutch settlers from New Amsterdam (NYC) and English settlers from Connecticut. The king required settlers to obtain deeds from the Indians for all lands held.

The south shore was marshland, created by the barrier island, and was thick with Marsh or Salt
Hay, which was needed by the settling farmers further inland.

The area which became Amityville was purchased, for it's Salt Hay, in 1658, from Montauk Indian
Chief Wyandanch, for 12 coats, 20 pounds of gunpowder, 20 hatchets and 20 knives.

During George Washington’s tour of Long Island in 1790, he stopped at the house of Zebulon
Ketcham, one of Long Islands most noted Revoultionary Patriots, who had returned from the war and converted his home to an inn, and begged his host to "take no trouble with the bill of fare." But one may be sure that Zebulon Ketcham was duly impressed with the guest and took plenty of "trouble" with the menu.

- - - - - - - - - -

How Amityville was named:

Amityville was called Huntington West Neck South until 1846.

The one most commonly repeated legend is that about 1850 a group of citizens living in what is
now Amityville called a meeting to choose a name to replace that of Huntington South West Neck.
There were many different opinions as to a suitable name and the discussion became so heated
that finally Mrs. Ruth Williams, wife of Nathaniel Williams, trying to pour oil on the troubled waters, exclaimed: "Friends, what this meeting needs is some amity, otherwise we should name our village Contraryville."

Another, preserved by Captain John Ketcham, said that the name Amityville came out of discussions in the store of William Cornelius; a store that was in 1846, a popular spot where residents sat and talked "about this and that" in the evening. As in many of the issues raised at that local gathering place, the one involving what to name their community remained unresolved. The argument was carried to the schoohouse meeting where Samuel Ireland said: "Let’s name it after my sloop, the Amity." And that, according to Ketcham, ended the argument and the name was adopted in tribute to Ireland’s sloop.

- - - - - - - - - -

In 1867 the Southside Railway was extended east through Amityville. This was a change of great
significance. It changed the character of the community from one of rural farming to suburban
living, as well as establishing it as a prominent summer resort, only one hour from New York city.
(Interestingly, the duration of the ride on that railroad, which later became the Long Island
Railroad, is still one hour.) Hotels and summer residences were built along the shoreline, and
horse-drawn trolleys conveyed summering "Yorkers" from the Railroad Station to the water's edge.

http://www.amityville.com/oldtri.gif
1909 Opening Day of the Trolley Line

One of these Hotels was Ocean Point House: Located on the northeast corner of Ocean Avenue
and Richmond Avenue, it was also known as Confields. My house, built in the early 20th century was owned by the caretaker of Ocean Point House, and originally consisted of a "Farm Ranch" of whitewashed brick, and a freestanding horse barn, in which I am now sitting, writing this story.

The house and barn were ultimately connected by an addition, and the barn became a garage, and
then a Knotty Pine lined office. Across Richmond Ave., is the trolleyman's house with 2 narrow
trolley carriage "garages."

Notable summer residents included Will Rogers, Al Capone, and Annie Oakley.

After the Depression, Amityville evolved from a summer resort, first to a bedroom community for
workers in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and finally to a residential community, with most townfolk
working on Long Island. The town dredged the many canals in Amityville in the 1930's, which is
when my boathouse was built, one of the only (nearly 70 years old) Amityville boathouses still in it's original form. The canals were dug to provide a way to increase tax revenue for the town.

- - - - - - - - - -

"The Amityville Horror"

On November 13, 1974 at approximately 3:15AM Ronald DeFeo, the oldest child of the DeFeo
family, used a high-powered rifle to brutally murder his mother, father, two sisters, and two
brothers in his family's three story mini-mansion located on Amityville River in Long Island. DeFeo
claimed that disembodied voices in the house told him to commit the crime and attempted to
plead insanity in court. By the end of his trial, the judge concluded that Ronald DeFeo did not
hear voices in the house and he was not insane and was forced to serve six consecutive life
terms in prison. To this day DeFeo is in jail serving time.

For a while, everything was quiet in Amityville. But not for long.

In 1976, a family with the last name of Lutz spread a story around the country stating that ghosts and evil spirits had scared them out of the house they had recently purchased for only $80,000. The house was where Ronald DeFeo massacred his whole family earlier. The family's story changed many times and just after the book The Amityville Horror--A True Story became a #1
bestseller and after the movie The Amityville Horror became a hit at the box office, the family's story turned out to be a hoax (well, for those who are perceptive enough to pick it up). Even now in 2000, the Lutzes are basically shunned from society due to the outrageous story they spread and how it turned out to be nothing.

http://www.amityvillemurders.com/2000/2002/Images/frontyard.jpg
The Amityville Horror House, at 112 Ocean Ave. (about a half-mile from my house)

My wife and I, in fact, looked at this house when we were house-hunting. Our single requirement
was a house with a boathouse, and this was one of the few. The realtor, it is important to note,
did not tell us of the house's history...we discovered it 2 years later. We passed on the house because it was much to big, a giant Dutch Colonial, that sat sideways on a 50' wide lot. The boathouse is nice though.

- - - - - - - - - -

Today Amityville is approximately 2.5 square miles in area, with a population of around 7,000.

Amityville's Nautical History:

Amityville's location on the Great South Bay (really a lagoon) made it a natural for participation in various marine industries and occupations, ranging from commercial fishing and shellfishing, to commercial and sporting waterfowling.

The waterfowling led to the development of an off-shoot skiff designed for gunning. The boat is a
melon seed, a type of gunning skiff used on the bays of the New Jersey coast. Little seems to be
known about it except that it existed in the late 1800s and its use was rather short-lived. No doubt this was due to its being relatively difficult to build compared to the sneak box and thus more costly. After all, a gunning skiff was a roughly treated boat, pushed off beaches and marshy banks, more used to muddy boots than soft-soled shoes. A cheaper boat was therefore in order.

In the Great South Bay of Long Island this boat type with slight differences is known as the
Seaford skiff and has survived into the present. Tradition is that it was first built by Samuel
Gritman in 1870. Until a decade ago, however, boats similar to the Gritman design were being
built in Amityville, Long Island, by Paul Ketcham. One of Ketcham's models is in the Mystic
Seaport collection and is used during the summer months. She is an extremely fine sailing boat.
Of course these later boats were used as pleasure sailing craft and had larger sail plans than did
the gunning skiff. They are known as Ketcham Skiffs, and were designed in an Amityville barn.
Some 70 were built, and can still be found today. Paul Ketcham is still active in wooden boats in Amityville, and has a boat yard on Ketcham Creek. He will be doing some work on my boat this year.

The melon seed and the Seaford skiff were used by market hunters and baymen. In the late 1800s the market hunters were kept quite busy supplying hat manufacturers with birds' breasts and wings to adorn my lady's hats. This was carried on to the extent of endangering several species.

In the fall, sportsmen would flock to the Bays and to lodgings well fitted out to accommodate
them. The Sportsmen Hotel in Amityville especially catered to Great South Bay hunters, spreading sumptuous tables farmhouse style. In the cold and dark early morning the sportsmen, with local baymen as guides, would set out in the skiffs for the distant outer beaches to await the flight of birds at dawn.

Another Amityville indigenous craft (and yet another Ketcham) is the Narrasketuck: "Tucks" as
they are called by those who sail them are 20 foot centerboard dinghy's. The boat was designed
and built by Narrasketuck's own Wilbur Ketcham in 1935. With their large main sails and blade jibs they are a beautiful sight to see sailing. A high performance boat, they are a challange on planing reaches and runs. These boats are sailed with a crew of two or three. This class is the largest active one design fleet on the Great South Bay, and a fleet of 10 calling Narrasketuck Y.C. home. Ketcham built these boats on Wilburs Island, in the Amityville River, in a boatyard whose skeleton still stands today.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid13/p6e9ac3cd039f2ab971486253159878fe/fdda56b7.jpg
"Tucks" racing off Amityville. These guys can be found racing whenever the temperature is over 20 degrees and the wind less than 20 knots.

No marine history of a town is complete without a list of shipwrecks:

Shipwrecks off Amityville’s Shores
http://www.amityvillerecord.com/news/2000/History/081400/10.html

My Waters:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid13/pd838bcc899d90a00b5bea9ea3fc588d3/fdda511c.jpg
Long Island...The red dot is me.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid13/pe37db2340ba83bf68d7359ca5d35a40b/fdda5120.jpg
The Great South Bay and Fire Island Inlet...my gateway to the Atlantic.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid13/pa029571bc0cca83fffa074467f42e5d5/fdda5122.jpg
My part of the bay, showing the Amityville Cut, a channel running south from my canal to the State Channel (our part of the ICW), and the outer beaches of the barrier island (where I surf fish.)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid13/p0d47c22c064b2aa36a40855f74abdd87/fdda5125.jpg
The entrance to my (Meyer's) canal. The corral on the right is the Unqua-Corinthian Yacht Club (no woodies)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid13/p15593579b41f6a666946c6f0ff3d620e/fdda5119.jpg
The upper end of my canal. The red dot is my boathouse. I'm at the very end, which eliminates boat traffic.

[ 04-05-2002, 07:02 AM: Message edited by: donnwest ]

[Bruce Taylor]

Wakefield, the jewel of the Gatineau valley, 25 minutes north of Ottawa. Here's the view from my the south side of our house, down at the dock:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraida/pf52299e7f1ab7f9359fd7b9a36e1c200/fdda367d.jpg

[Tom Lathrop]

Skiff's post reminded me of an Easter morning at Cape Lookout a few years ago. The photo was taken of the sunrise over the lighthouse from inside a small open beach cruiser that Liz and I were camping in.
http://www.bandbyachtdesigns.com/BRS_1.jpg
http://www.bandbyachtdesigns.com/Image2.jpg

A look at the small town where we live.
http://www.visitoriental.com/

Beautiful day here today. smile.gif
Tom

[ 03-24-2002, 03:23 PM: Message edited by: Tom Lathrop ]

[Donn]

Tom:

Love your boat's name.

[lumberdude]

Yeah, this is what I'm after! Donn I have to say, you are a very thorough individual. I had no idea people lived between canals like that! How in the world do you and your houses survive hurricanes?!?

I love this stuff, keep it coming!!

lumber

[Donn]

Lumber...we pray for them to hit somewhere else. I haven't been here during one, but 2 of the inlets thru the barrier island were caused by past hurricanes.

The barrier island protects us a great deal, expecially from storm surge. In case of a threat, most of the boats on the canal are pulled into the middle of the canal and tied off with multiple lines to both sides. A few run their boats to more protected anchorages up rivers and longer canals. My boats stay in the boathouse.

I'm at the inland end of the canal, so I have more protection from high water. The houses on the lower 2/3 of the street take on water pretty often, but we've never had it more than halfway up the backyard.

Fingers always crossed.

[Tom Lathrop]

Donn,
My wife thought the name particularly appropriate since it blew about 25 during the night and she made some remarks about her warm stable bed at home. I could not understand since the tide dried Loon out while we slept, although the wind did roar a bit and rock the boat ocasionally.

[Roger Stouff]

What can I say? I've babbled about it enough.
http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/parks/lakefaus/imgs/tentcampsite-new.jpg
http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/parks/longfell/imgs/acadiancabin-new.jpg
http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/photogallery/lopt002.jpg
http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/photogallery/lopt006.jpg
http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/parks/gr-isle/imgs/grandeis08.jpg
http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/img0061.gif
http://www.louisianatravel.com/music_fun/virtual_cards/images/cajun_atchaf.jpg

[Donn]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm...dem crawdads!

[Roger Stouff]

Gotta love 'em. :D

[lumberdude]

Wow Roger, those are great pics!

lumber

[Ed Harrow]

Well, since I can't post the link directly - Click here: http://home.fiam.net/eeharrow/harrowhtm/

and then click on "A private back yard". You can keep moving out to get a larger view. Our Lady of St Phoenix was not in the neighborhood when the picts were taken.

To find our house, follow the street coming into the picture from the left, it's a dead-end street with nine houses on it. Our house is the last on on the lake side of the street, not the end house. Looking at those shadows across the eastern side of our property you know why the snow melts in our driveway last.

As to history - well once we had some pretty famous mineral springs located down the road from us a short piece. And the countries second water-powered cotton-spinning mill was also located nearby, using this body of water as its power source. Not much else, Robert Goddard used to date a woman who's family summered on the lake.

[cs]

Well I live in Chattanooga, TN. Surely you've heard of the Chattanooga Choo Choo

http://www.chattanooga.gov/views/images/choochoo.jpg

Than there is the Aquarium:

http://www.chattanooga.gov/views/images/aquarium.jpg

Lets not forget the Incline Railway. Local folks even use this to commute down the mountain to work.

http://www.chattanooga.gov/views/images/incline.jpg

And the view from Point Park, high atop Lookout Mtn.

http://www.chattanooga.gov/views/images/cannon.jpg

While we are at it let me show you our river boat:

http://www.chattanooga.gov/views/images/boat2.jpg

There is a lot of history around here, from "The Trail of Tears" to plenty of Cival War battles. You can walk around town without tripping over a plaque talking about the battles here. There is also many natural wonders around here. Places like Rock City and Ruby Falls. While here you can stay in the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo and even sleep in rail cars, or you can stay at the Read House which even served as a hospital during the Civil War. If you prefer a more modern hotel there is always the Convention and Trade Center. Recently (past 10 or 15 years) Chattanooga has been doing a re-vialtlazation of downtown and it is starting to look great.

http://www.chattanoogafun.com/

Chad

[BPT]

The Democratic,Socialist,Free People's,United Republik of Cambridge,MA.
Four blocks from the Charles River.
http://www.ci.cambridge.ma.us/

[lumberdude]

Thanks for minds eye pictures of all your worlds.

Now, come on guys, I know there are more people on this forum than just these few!! Like the title says, "I need to Know More!!!!"

I've loved everything so far. I'll get some pictures dug up of my neck of the woods, but I'll warn ya, there isn't any water out my back door like some of you folks. I have to drive a bit for some wet stuff.

Keep em' coming people!! smile.gif

[ken mcclure]

Pittsburgh. One of the country's biggest small towns. Three rivers, one mountain and two stadiums that more than half the population didn't want!

Oh, and TWO inclines. Here's one of them.

http://home.adelphia.net/~kwmcclure/images/InclineUpperView.jpg

Two of the rivers meet, as you see in the picture, and form the Ohio River.

The steel mills are gone. The coke ovens are gone. Most of the heavy industry is gone. Jobs are scarce and the air is clean!

The people are, for the most part, pretty good people here (like everywhere.) Summers like the South, winters like the North. Hills everywhere you look. And women with arguably some of the nicest legs on the planet! (I guess from walking up and down those hills.)

Being from Kansas originally, Pittsburgh has always impressed me as a place that's busy trying to be a good place to live. If only we could get rid of the politicians.......

[Donn]

The air is clean?? That's a huge change from the last time I was there.

I remember parking my car in a Holiday Inn parking lot one night, and coming out the next morning to find it completely covered with red dust of some sort.

I also remember an excellent restaurant that had almost that identical view.

[Tom Dugan]

That would've been The LaMont.

Yes, the air is clean now. The heavy industry economy collapsed in the late 70's just as I was coming out of school into the job market. That's how I ended up down here. 'Course, there wasn't much market in astronomy & physics anyway. :(

I'll get some pics online and post here soon. Promise.

-T

[Donn]

I always thought Astrologers and Psychics made good $$ ;)

[Dave Fleming]

Let see here, SWIMPAL and I are originally from Bay Ridge a section of Brooklyn, NY..
We have lived in the course of me following boat building projects in Seattle, WA., San Francisco, CA., and since the early 1980's down here in San Diego, CA..
The photo, if it comes out, is of Point Loma the entrance to San Diego Bay.
At the bottom left is the Coast Guard Light Station and atop the Point is the original Lighthouse. The balance of the Point is US Goverment property with a National Cemetery, Sneaky Pete Labs, and a soon to be closed Sub Base. Across from Point Loma is Coranado, CA.. Coranado has North Island Naval Airstation and miles of sandy beaches except for the area off limits because the Seals boot camp is there. The beach known as the Silver Strand runs all the way south to the Tijuana River and Mexico.
In the upper middle of the photo you can just make out a forest of masts alongside many piers that is Shelter Island home to literally hundreds of boats of all sizes, day sailers to Mega Yachts. I live just to the left of Shelter Island about one city block from it all. If ya have to live in a city it is not too bad but it is constantly growing as more and more people come here for the climate, Mediterranean and, jobs.
SWIMPAL has a few years left before she can retire and then we will be moving back up to the Pacific Northwest. just where is still in the air as we spend part of each vacation travelling looking at possible spots. Trouble is the best spots, or seemingly so, are too expensive now! But hope springs eternal, I guess. :rolleyes:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraida/p81b3f15bbf44962ee2438d11da484122/fdd4945a.jpg

Ideally this is the area we would prefer. It is midway between Seattle, WA., and the Canadian border on Puget Sound.
The area in the photo is on Fidalgo Island near the little port town of Anacortes.
We lived there for a few years and fell in love with the area but as I said earlier we will just have to see what develops
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraida/p45b7e414e183487763e8584e4ac8038d/fdd48f35.jpg

[ 04-02-2002, 06:55 PM: Message edited by: Dave Fleming ]

[Concordia..41]

Here's a bird's eye view (from a very high-flying bird). The red dot towards the bottom right is the yard where Sarah is, and the red dot back to the left closer to the center of the map is our house (exactly a mile).

http://www.sailingwithsarah.com/Pic/staugmap.jpg

There's actually a clickable map at: http://www.oldcity.com/map.html

Other good information sites on St. Augustine are:

History related info on St. Augustine:
http://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/history/history.html

http://www.oldcity.com/his2.html

http://www.visitoldcity.com/getaways/getaway4history/

St. Augustine Lighthouse
http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com/

and of course the Chamber of Commerce
http://www.staugustinechamber.com/

and another commercial promotion site
http://www.oldcity.com/

Thanks for asking. Enjoy!

[ 04-02-2002, 07:17 PM: Message edited by: Concordia..41 ]