A Summer Solstice Walking Tour

Blue Point’s Summer Hotels and Boardinghouses                 A Summer Solstice Walking Tour     

Sunday, June 21, 2009     6:30 PM    (raindate: June 22) 6:30 PM: Starts at Blue Point Ave. dock   8:30 PM: Ends in front of Blue Point School  

Summer will officially begin on June 21 this year.  Every June for the past fifteen years or so, the Bayport-Blue Point Public Library has been sponsoring this popular “Walking Tour” of Blue Point long ago.  The tour is lead by local historian, Gene Horton, and features the sites of eight of the long-gone summer hotels and boardinghouses of Blue Point.                              

Today, there’s barely a trace of these of these summer hotels left.  Many residents of this area are actually unaware that Blue Point ever had these giant summer hotels.  But, one hundred years ago, in 1909, everyone in Blue Point knew of the Five-Mile Look, the Hallett House, the South Bay House and the Warner House, just to name a few.                                                     

Blue Point was actually a summer mecca from around the 1890’s through the 1930’s.  In the days before air conditioning, city people especially loved spending the summer here, enjoying the cool breezes, the calm waters & sandy bottom of our Great South Bay.  Many families would book into our local boardinghouses for July and August.  The ‘dads’ would spend weekends here with their families commuting from here to NYC via the LIRR which had an active depot in Blue Point.                                                         

Each of the summer hotels would have live music and dancing during and after dinnertime. 

With the advent of automobiles & the onset of the Great Depression of the 1930’s, most of Blue Point’s summer hotels & boardinghouses went out of business and eventually burned down.                                                        

Each tour participant will receive a multi-page booklet showing what these hotels looked like years ago.  We will also visit some private gardens on our route (which the homeowners graciously allow us to walk through).  We will also visit the two churches on the Blue Point Ave. route: Our Lady of the Snow (built in 1917) and the Blue Point Bible Church (built in 1930).          

There is no charge for the Walking Tour but you must register for it at the Library (363-6133).                                                                                       

The tour starts at the Blue Point Ave. dock at 6:30 PM and, because the Library is closed on Sunday evenings, the Tour finishes up this year on the front lawn of the Blue Point School around 8:30 PM.                              

This annual Walking Tour is a truly delightful and social way to begin the summer season in Blue Point.