ANNUAL EXHIBITION 2022
YEAR ROUND: A CELEBRATION OF COMMUNITY
WORK AND WORKERS
Capt. Nash of the Steamer Munnatawket, circa 1905.
Courtesy of Diane Franford.
An early and long-serving employee of the Fergusons’ private Navigation Co. (founded in 1890), Capt. Nash lived on Fishers Island in a house filled with curios from his days as a whaler.
Officers & Crew Str. Restless, 1914.
Museum Collection
From 1890 until the late 1940s, crew of the Ferguson-owned Navigation Company all lived on island and were, along with their families, an integral part of the Fishers Island community.
Navigation Company crew in their “everyday” togs, circa 1914.
Museum Collection
The boy at left is future lobsterman Ed Hedge before he lost his arm in a gun accident in 1917.
Fishers Island Navigation Co. crew posing with family members next to Munnatawket Hotel, circa 1910s.
Museum Collection
Houses on Madeline Ave. with Highland “Heartbreak” Hotel in right background, circa 1910s.
Museum Collection
So many of the Navigation Co.’s employees lived on Madeline Ave. that it was nicknamed “Steamboat Row.” The two houses in foreground are today owned (L to R) by the Fishers Island Club and the Derderian family.
Capt. Alonzo McKown of the MV Ranger, Fishers Island, NY. February 1945.
Photograph by John DeBiase for PM Magazine. Museum Collection
The MV Ranger was a converted World War 1-era sub chaser. She ran year-round from Fishers Island to New London from 1942 to 1947.
Group leaving Fishers Island ferry MV Ranger at Mansion House Dock, West Harbor, February 1945.
Photograph by John DeBiase for PM Magazine. Museum Collection
After the 1947 collapse of the Fishers Island Navigation Co., Fishers Island ferries switched their home port to New London and began docking on island at Silver Eel Cove, Fort H.G. Wright’s port.
Capt. Alfred Bicknell on christening day for MV Munnatawket, Silver Eel Cove, April 22, 1978.
Museum Collection
Capt. Alfred Bicknell on christening day for MV Munnatawket, Silver Eel Cove, April 22, 1978. Museum Collection. Al Bicknell was a popular and long-serving captain of both the MV Mystic Isle and the second MV Munnatawket.
Ferry commissioners and other dignitaries on christening day for MV Munnatawket at Silver Eel Cove, April 22, 1978.
Helen Best at her desk, Fishers Island Airport, 1986.
Photograph by Charlie Morgan. Museum Collection
During this period Dick Grebe leased the terminal building for his garage business and hired Helen to work the radio and collect the landing fees for the Ferry District as part of his lease agreement.
Aaron Rice operating the Ferry District’s Ford tractor on winter day, February 1986.
Photograph by Charlie Morgan. Museum Collection
Gordon Murphy, Harold Cook, and Gordon’s dog, Loki, July 2014.
Photograph courtesy of Jane T. Ahrens
Workers at the Pheasant Farm, Fishers Island, circa 1913.
Museum Collection
Farming continued over sections of the west end and almost all of the east end until the mid 1920s.
Haying at Middle Farms, circa 1920.
Museum Collection
Today’s driving range area once held a farmhouse, a dairy, cow barn, stables, and agricultural fields.
Albert Baker standing by Fishers Island Farms’ dairy wagon, circa 1920.
Museum Collection
Before farming gave way to east end development, dairies were integral to the Island’s economy.
Christian Hansen and “Gramps,” in Fishers Island Farms’ Carpentry Shop (now Bagley’s Barn), circa 1910s.
Photograph courtesy of Diane Franford
Two Fishers Island Farms’ painters, circa 1930s.
Photograph courtesy of Anna Jasek
The “Farms,” as it was known, had more than a dozen divisions that handled almost all Fishers Island commerce. The near monopoly began breaking up in the late 1940s.
Z&S work crew, Wray house, December 1984.
Photograph courtesy of Z&S Contracting, Inc.
Laying water pipe over Middle Farms, 1925.
Photograph by Donald C. Hine. Museum Collection
Much of Fishers Island’s infrastructure in use today was built in the mid-1920s as part of the resort development of the east end known as the “Olmsted Plan.”
Workers unloading transformer for electric power substation near Middle Farms, 1926.
Photograph by Donald C. Hine. Museum Collection
Electricity was first delivered to the east end by cable from Groton Long Point in 1926.
Fishers Island Electric Co. workers tending to diesel generator in the Power Plant overlooking West Harbor, circa 1951.
Photograph courtesy of Mary Pankiewicz.
Four diesel-powered Nordberg generators provided Fishers Island with locally generated power from 1941 to 1962.
Fishers Island Electric Corp. workers, September 23, 2014.
Photograph courtesy of Jane T. Ahrens
Fishers Island Telephone Co. lineman up pole, circa 1926.
Photograph by Donald C. Hine. Museum Collection.
In 1926, there were 175 houses at the west end and only 25 at the east end. The Telephone Co. had 128 customers on the west end and 14 at the east end.
Southern New England Telephone crew on island to lay new telephone cable, 1926.
Photograph by Donald C. Hine. Museum Collection
By 1928, the capacity of the toll circuits on Fishers Island had jumped from two to 56.
Rita Stefanini at the Fishers Island Telephone Corp. switchboard, circa 1951.
Museum Collection
This photo and the one to right are from a 1951 industry article published in The Telephone Bulletin.
Richard Baker testing telephone lines, circa 1951.
Museum Collection
After working for the Fishers Island Telephone Co. from 1949-71, Mr. Baker served from 1970-89 as general manager and president of the Fishers Island Utility Co. and FIDCO.
Roy Eldredge by horse-drawn A.H. Eldredge Fish & Grocery wagon, circa 1910s.
Museum Collection
The long tradition of food delivery on Fishers Island has all but vanished.
Three Doyen brothers—Ray, Serge, and Francis—posing by Doyen’s Store, circa 1950.
Museum Collection
This building today holds Toppers, Shutters & Sails, and the Liquor Store.
Three Doyen brothers—Serge, Francis and Ray—posing in front of a delivery van for a family business, 1935.
Museum Collection
Exterior of Renaud’s Restaurant, circa late 1930s.
Museum Collection
Please note the adjacent structures that are located on the site of today’s Village Market. The one at far right was briefly the site of the Colonial Restaurant.
The Colonial Restaurant, circa early 1940s.
Museum Collection
Located just east of Renaud’s, this building was torn down to make way for Henry Walsh’s “Shopping Center” circa the early 1950s.
Henry Walsh’s Shopping Center, circa 1950s.
Museum Collection
The Bloethe’s Fishers Island Village Market operates out of this building today.
Bloethe family outside News Café, May 3, 2014.
Photograph courtesy of Jane T. Ahrens
One-armed lobsterman Ed Hedge hauling up traps with son Corbin, date unknown.
Photograph courtesy of Bertha Hedge Collection.
Ed Hedge lost his arm from a gunshot accident in 1917.
Ed Hedge’s Fish Market, West Harbor, date unknown.
Photographer unknown. Courtesy of Bertha Hedge Collection.
Jim Peishoff amidst lobster traps on his West Harbor dock with Dutchy II tied up in background, circa 1972.
Photograph courtesy of Betty Peishoff
Jim was a fulltime lobsterman for 30 years, during a period when as many as eight island boats plied the waters around Fishers. Sadly, there is only minimal local lobstering going on today. Lobsters have, to a large extent, migrated north to colder waters.
Dragger and lobsterman “Frenchy” La Roux’s house, dock and fishing boat on the Peninsula, July 1985.
Photograph by Charlie Morgan. Museum Collection
Frenchy also ran a Fish Market at this site.
Blue Lobster caught by JR Edwards near South Dumpling, July 1995.
Photograph courtesy of JR Edwards
Caused by a genetic abnormality that spurs a specific protein, estimates of the rarity of a blue lobster vary from one in a few hundred thousand to one in two million. However, remarkably, there are even rarer finds: the odds of catching a yellow lobster are approximately one in 30 million!
Richard Erpenbeck’s lobstering HQ, West Harbor, foot of The Gloaming, April 1986.
Photograph by Charlie Morgan. Museum Collection
Steve Malinowski preparing to move oysters to dried out pearl nets on the Burnham dock, West Harbor, circa 1985.
Photograph courtesy of the Fishers Island Oyster Farm
Sarah Malinowski slinging pearl nets on the Burnham dock, circa 1985.
Photograph courtesy of the Fishers Island Oyster Farm
The Malinowskis founded the Fishers Island Oyster Farm in 1981. It remains a thriving family-owned and operated business more than 40 years later.
Annual exhibition sponsored by ALTUS Partners & CHUBB
