Chris Kretz

Chris Kretz produces and co-hosts the Long Island History Project. He is the Head of Stony Brook University's Southampton campus library and the co-author of Oakdale from Arcadia Press.

1984 Wreck of the Wind Blown Off Long Island

October 12, 2021 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

In her first book, The Lost Boys of Montauk: The True Story of the Wind Blown, Four Men Who Vanished at Sea, and the Survivors They Left Behind (Gallery Books, 2021), journalist Amanda Fairbanks documents the story of the Wind Blown and the men who lost their lives aboard it in 1984 off the east end of Long Island.

Piecing the story together over years of interviews and research, she unraveled a history of close-knit communities, from the working class east end to the wealthy upper east side. She also found a complicated tale of relationships and personalities that still absorbs people in the community to this day. [Read more…] about 1984 Wreck of the Wind Blown Off Long Island

The Agent Orange Trial: Long Island Legal History

August 26, 2021 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

We finish out our special three-part series on Long Island’s Vietnam veterans by looking at a second battle they faced in the years after the war: the effects of Agent Orange. By the late 1970s the effects of this chemical defoliant were becoming known and veterans began to mobilize. [Read more…] about The Agent Orange Trial: Long Island Legal History

Vietnam War Oral History Subject of Long Island History Project

July 17, 2021 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

On the next few episodes of the Long Island History Project, we are revisiting the Vietnam War through the eyes of three local residents, each with their own perspective on the conflict and its devastating aftermath. Today we hear from Oyster Bay resident Jack Parente who was drafted out of college and served in the Army’s 1st Calvary Division. These stories come to us through the work of historian Christopher Verga, who has been recording oral histories with veterans throughout the region. Chris walks us through Jack’s life as well as the process of conducting this type of historical research. [Read more…] about Vietnam War Oral History Subject of Long Island History Project

Marion Hollins: Long Island’s Golf Hall of Famer

June 18, 2021 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

Marion Hollins was born into a wealthy family in East Islip, Long Island at the height of the Gilded Age. Although an adept equestrian, polo player, and proud member of the Ladies’ Four in Hand Club, she devoted most of her life to the world of golf.

She won the US Women’s National Championship in 1921 and went on to develop and help design a number of prominent golf courses, mostly in California. Forgotten for most of the past century, she is now being recognized for her success and perseverance as a designer, athlete, and real estate developer. In 2022 she will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. [Read more…] about Marion Hollins: Long Island’s Golf Hall of Famer

Square Dancing on Long Island: An Insider’s Look

April 28, 2021 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

An immigrant’s son from Brooklyn, Primo Fiore created a life for himself and his family as a physical education teacher on Long Island in the 1960s. He became involved in square dancing through gym class but wound up calling dances at Jones Beach for over twenty-five years. He and his son Mario describe that journey, including the intricacies and challenges of calling a square dance, on the most recent episode of the Long Island History Project. [Read more…] about Square Dancing on Long Island: An Insider’s Look

Restoring an Iconic Long Island Landmark

April 14, 2021 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

The local drug store used to be a fixture on many a small town main street. For Sayville, Long Island it was Thornhill’s on the corner of Gillette and Main, featuring a marble soda fountain, an iconic neon sign, and the first telephone number in the area.

Preservation architect Matthew La Piana purchased the vacant property in 2018 and spent the next few years bringing it back to life. You’ll hear how on this most recent episode of the Long Island History Project. [Read more…] about Restoring an Iconic Long Island Landmark

Long Island Migrant Labor Camps (Podcast)

April 2, 2021 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

Long Island has a rich agricultural history. One aspect of that past, often overlooked, is the toll exacted on those doing the actual labor.

Author Mark Torres’ new book shines a light on a chapter of that history. Long Island Migrant Labor Camps: Dust for Blood (History Press, 2021) tells the story of the migrant laborers who traveled to Long Island from the 1940s through the 1970s. The camps in which they lived were often little more than shacks and the plight of the migrants were a debated topic among journalists, officials, and the general public for years. [Read more…] about Long Island Migrant Labor Camps (Podcast)

British Forts on Long Island

March 23, 2021 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

David Griffin has turned his architectural eye to the landscape of Long Island and to the history of the Revolutionary War-era fortifications built by the British.

His book, Lost British Forts of Long Island (History Press, 2017), documents the painstaking results: twelve locations throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties with evidence of our occupied past. Using maps, eye-witness accounts, and present day research, Griffin has uncovered much of what has been hiding in plain sight. [Read more…] about British Forts on Long Island

The Glacier That Made Long Island (Podcast)

February 11, 2021 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

The history of Long Island can be traced back to the advance (and retreat) of the massive glacier that covered much of North America near the end of the Pleistocene Era. Miranda Maliszka and Anthony Johnson, students at Hofstra University, join The Long Island History Project podcast to shed more light on this deep history. Their research, including GIS data and a Digital Elevation Model, looked at the melting of that glacier and other factors that affected the formation of Long Island. [Read more…] about The Glacier That Made Long Island (Podcast)

Francis ‘Two Gun’ Crowley’s 1931 Killing Spree

December 18, 2020 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

Francis “Two Gun” Crowley earned his nickname during a mad spree in 1931 that included murder on a Long Island country lane and a chaotic battle with police on 90th St. in Manhattan. It ended in Crowley’s death in the electric chair less than a year later. [Read more…] about Francis ‘Two Gun’ Crowley’s 1931 Killing Spree