Red Letter Day!

    On November 10, the Town Board met and authorized the Supervisor and Town Clerk to sign the Ferry Agreement. Mr. Myers sent a telegram to Mr Raymond on November 11:

EXACT WORDING LEASE ACCEPTED EXECUTE YOUR COPY FORWARD TO SUPERVISOR.
    The lease signed did not refer to night ferry service, nor did it attempt to define a schedule for the daytime service of the Poggatticut, and it did honor the need for a lay up period in the depth of the winter. It did not mean there would be no night service, just that the Ferry Company was not obligated to provide it. It was the same lease that Mr. Raymond had recommended to Mr. Tasker on August 30.
    A good part of the November 25 page of the Suffolk Times with Shelter Island news has been destroyed, however, a small section survives and its reads as follows: "Wednesday was a Red Letter Day on the North Ferry. The Poggatticut made use of the new slip at the Town Dock for the first time. To celebrate the fact the ferry company gave free passage to all passengers to and from Greenport for the day. Charges were made only on autos and wagons. As the distance between the Town Dock and Poggatticut Dock is about 3/4 of a mile, the use of the Town Dock as a ferry landing cuts... distance in cold... uncomfortable..."

The Shelter Island joined the Poggatticut in 1923.
    A second double ended ferry, the Shelter Island, was launched in 1923. She was presumably named after the great steamer Shelter Island which had plied between New York and the East End for a generation. She was built by the H. W. Sweet Shipyard and Machine Works of Greenport. She was 55 ton, 64 feet 10 inches in length with a beam of 28 feet. She had a draught of 5 feet 6 inches. She was made of oak and yellow pine and was powered by gasoline. She could travel eight and a half miles per hour. She cost $13,000. With her arrival, year round double ended night ferry service was inaugurated.

We are grateful to Mr. Raymond for not only keeping a file throughout this two year negotiation, but also for filing it at the Shelter Island Heights Association where is remains in its archive. It proves again that "if it not written down, it did not happen." The Suffolk Times is on microfilm at the Mattituck Library, and the Shelter Island Town Board minutes are in the Town Clerk's office. The pictures come from the files of the Shelter Island Historical Society, postcards bought at eBay, and  on file at the Heights Association. Biographical material on Mr. Raymond was found in the archives of the New York Times and the U.S. Census both electronically available through the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Land records are available at the County Center at Riverhead, and annual reports of the Shelter Island Heights Association, beginning in 1920 are available from both the Shelter Historical Society and the Heights Association archives.

Home