History, Natural History & the Arts
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For centuries, residents of New York have built watercraft and waterfront facilities to transport people and goods locally, nationally and internationally. For residents of the area, boating was a way of life, providing employment, recreation, and transportation. [Read more…] about New Book On Boat Building, Boatyards of Long Island
Long Island Traditions has announce that bay house tours will be resuming in 2021 with tours on August 28th and September 12th. These 12-person tours provide an opportunity to visit Long Island’s historic bay houses and hear stories directly from their owners. [Read more…] about Unique Long Island Bay House Tours Planned
Long Island Traditions (LIT) has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for its Maritime Folk Arts programs, enabling it to launch a new joint program with the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center (FHC) connecting Long Island maritime folk artists with their counterparts in Massachusetts.
The grant will also enable LIT to continue to bring maritime tradition bearers into classrooms in the Freeport and East Williston school districts, as it has done for decades. [Read more…] about Long Island Traditions Expanding Maritime Folk Arts Programs
Long Island Traditions has announced the release of TravelStorys; a series of self-guided cell phone tours focusing on Long Island’s historical and contemporary sites of cultural significance. [Read more…] about Long Island Traditions Launches Free Cell Phone Tours
Long Island Traditions, dedicated to documenting, presenting and preserving the maritime traditions of recreational and commercial fishermen, is sponsoring two tours that explore the maritime traditions of Freeport. “Boating with the Baymen” will hold its first Freeport tour on Sunday, May 31 at 2 pm.
The spring/summer tour for the season explores the traditions of fishermen and baymen, and bay house owners including Bob Doxsee of Doxsee Sea Clam in Point Lookout, bay house owners and boat builders John Remsen Sr. and his son John Remsen Jr., and Freeport baymen Joey Scavone, Collin Weyant and Lucas Krucher. Themes of the tour will include “looking backwards” and “bay houses” led by Doxsee and John Remsen Sr., working the waters including Remsen Jr., Scavone, Krucher and Weyant, and “The next generation” focusing on Scavone, Krucher and Weyant. [Read more…] about Freeport: Working the Waters of Long Island
Long Island Traditions will present “Working the Waters: Maritime Culture of Long Island” in collaboration with the NY Marine Trades Association “Tobay Boat Show” in Massapequa, New York on September 26 through September 28, 2014. “Working the Waters: Maritime Culture of Long Island” will present to the public first-hand accounts about the contemporary and historic traditions of commercial and recreational fishermen, the factors affecting these traditions and their future on Long Island in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and the decline of the bays.
The program is the culminating event of ongoing documentation by Long Island Traditions folklorist and executive director Nancy Solomon. Since 1987 Solomon has been documenting the culture and traditions of Long Island maritime tradition bearers, ranging from decoy carvers and driftwood painters to trap builders, boat model makers and net menders. [Read more…] about Working the Waters: Maritime Culture of Long Island
On Saturday August 16 and September 13, Long Island Traditions will sponsor its annual bay house tours in Freeport, NY. The tour will include conversations with local bay house owners and will be hosted by folklorist Nancy Solomon, director of LI Traditions. The trip will visit area bay houses on the 1½ hour tour on a traditional flat bottom boat.
The bay houses have a long history, dating from the mid-19th century when baymen harvested salt hay for the farmers during the winter. The bay houses provided shelter, along with storage for fishermen’s traps and duck decoys. The bay houses were originally built by fishermen and baymen and have been passed down from generation to generation within many families. In the Town of Hempstead two of the approximately 20 bay houses that either survived Superstorm Sandy or have been rebuilt during 2013-14 will be featured on this year’s annual tour. [Read more…] about Long Island Traditions Annual Freeport Bay House Tours