Conclusion

    The wealthy with their hundred foot steam and sailing yachts were still to discover Shelter Island and its harbors. The Yacht Club would not be formed for another 10 years. New wealth, with less emphasis on camp meeting and more emphasis on yachting, was still a decade off. There would be many more iterations of Prospect Grove before the New Prospect House burned down in 1942. This was, however, its beginning and the structure of the community was set.
    Frederick Chase’s Place called Prospect was obliterated by the Shelter Island Grove and Camp Meeting Association’s Prospect Grove. But, the plans envisioned by the Association founders were also never achieved. Interestingly, the grand plans envisioned for Shelter Island by others in future years, including West Neck Farms by John L. Nostrand in the 1880s, and Silver Beach and Ram Island Estates in the late 1920’s also were not achieved. Because of the Crash of 1929 and the depression which followed, none succeeded in the manner in which they were conceived: many very small lots. Shelter Island evolved quite differently, for which its present inhabitants are greatly appreciative.

An End Note: Our endnotes suggest the institutions that have helped to make this research possible, but they are not complete. We would like to thank the following for their assistance and generosity of their time:

    • East End Seaport Museum, Greenport, NY.
    • East Hampton Library, East Hampton, NY: Diana Dayton, Director, Pennypacker-Long 
       Island Collection.
    • Oyster Ponds Historical Society, Orient, NY: Amy Faulk, Archivist.
    • Shelter Island Heights Property Owners Association, Shelter Island Heights, NY: Julie Ben
      Susan, General Manager, and Patricia Ryan and Wade Badger.
    • Shelter Island Historical Society, Shelter Island, NY: Louise Green, Director and Town
      Historian, and Phyllis Wallace and Jean Dickerson, Archivists.
    • Suffolk County Clerk’s Office, Riverhead, NY.: Sharon Pullen, Archivist.
    • Town of Shelter Island, Shelter Island, NY: Dorothy Ogar, Clerk, and Al Hammond, Chief
      Assessor.
    • Town of Southold, Southold, NY: Antonia Booth, Town Historian.