“A BARRIER OF SAND STRETCHING FOR TWENTY MILES ALONG THE SOUTH COAST OF LONG ISLAND”
LEGENDS OF FIRE
ISLAND BEACH and
the SOUTH SIDE
BY
EDWARD RICHARD SHAW
NEW YORK
LOVELL, CORYELL & COMPANY
310-318 Sixth Avenue
Copyright, 1895,
by
United States Book Company
TO MY FRIEND
WILLIAM S. PELLETREAU
OF SOUTHAMPTON, L. I.
PREFACE.
These stories embody only a small partof the folk-lore and tradition that pertainedto the Great South Bay. They were toldby a class of men now gone. Fact, imagination,and superstition—each contributedits part. In the tavern, among groupsof men collected on shore from wind-boundvessels, at gatherings around thecabin fire, and in those small craft thatwere constantly going from one part ofthe bay to another, not only these tales,but others, irrevocably lost, were elaboratedand made current in days homely and toilsomeyet invested with an atmosphere ofromance.
Many of the illustrations in this volumeare reproductions from photographs takenby Mr. R. Eickemeyer, Jr., medallist of theRoyal Photographic Society, on his visitsto Long Island. The artistic excellenceof Mr. Eickemeyer’s pictures is widelyknown, and the author, in appreciation ofhis interest and kindness, desires to makehere grateful acknowledgment.
Bellport, Long Island,
June 25, 1895.
CONTENTS
- PAGE
- The Pot of Gold 11
- The Bogy of the Beach 41
- The Mower’s Phantom 59
- Enchanted Treasure 96
- The Money Ship 115
- Widow Molly 142
- The Mineral-Rod 188
- Notes 208
“On old Long Island’s sea-girt shore,
Many an hour I’ve whiled away.”
THE POT OF GOLD
Fire Island Beach is a barrier of sand,stretching for twenty miles along the southcoast of Long Island, and separating theGreat South Bay from the Atlantic ocean.
To reach it, you must make a sail offrom three to seven miles, and once uponit, you find it a wild, desolate, solitary spot,wind