Living the Good Life by the Sea

The Sportsmens Hotel was built around 1900 at High Hill Beach and was a popular resort destination. The hotel was later sold, and after Jones Beach State Park was built, was eventually demolished. (New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commission)

ATHOUGH the beachfront community known as High Hill Beach was erased from the map six decades ago when it was absorbed by Jones Beach State Park, it still lives on in the memories of readers, many of whom wrote to us after a picture of the old Sportsmens Hotel was published on Sept. 19.

High Hill Beach was located just east of what is now Parking Field 6 at Jones Beach, on the eastern shore of today's Zachs Bay, according to Joshua Soren, president of the Wantagh Historical and Preservation Society. The first houses in the area were built on leased land just before the turn of the century. The area became an active summer destination and at its height, the community had 98 cottages, a store, a boarding house, the hotel-casino, a life saving station and a post office. Visitors came to High Hill Beach either by private boat or ferry service from Seaford or Bellmore.

Soren says the Sportsmens Hotel was built around 1900 by R.T. Willmarth, who held the master lease on much of the beach property. In 1917, Willmarth sold the hotel to M.F. Savage, and it became Savage's Hotel and Pavilion. When Jones Beach State Park was opened in 1929, the High Hill community was given 11 years to relocate, and leases were not renewed as they ran out. By June 1, 1940, when the last of the leases was terminated, most of the cottages were moved to West Gilgo Beach. The rest were destroyed. The hotel building was also demolished.

The area, which still appears on some maps as High Hill Beach, is now used as the maintenance portion of Jones Beach State Park, Soren says.

Lillian Dede, 81, of Largo, Fla., still summers in one of the houses that was moved from High Hill to West Gilgo. "I spent all of my summers at High Hill Beach, from age 2 to 20," Dede says in a letter. "The picture is definitely part of my memories. However, it was then Savage's Pavilion, run by Mr. Charles Savage and his wife. The pavilion was a gathering place for children during the day (if Mr. Savage didn't catch you) and adults at night. Almost every Saturday night, a pianist or guitar player was employed to provide dance music for the adults -- no children allowed. We hung around outside and watched, or played hide and seek. I'm not sure, but I think liquor could be served (even during Prohibition) if you had an 'in' with the owner.

"The boardwalk in front of the pavilion was also the dock going out to the bay, where ferries came from Bellmore once or twice a day," Dede adds. "Fathers came Friday night and left Sunday night, so it was mainly a females' and children's paradise. Life was fun despite the fact that we pumped our own water, read by oil lamps, and had no indoor facilities -- yes, we had outhouses."

Ann C. Sheehan, 86, of Wantagh, also recalls the hotel during the days it was known as Savage's. "The boardwalk in front led to a dock, where a ferry left for the mainland early in the morning with business people heading for work and returned with commuters in the evening," Sheehan writes. "High Hill Beach also had a lamp lighter. Kerosene lamps held upward on poles were placed as needed alongside boardwalks. These lamps had to be refilled at least once a week, which, of course, meant cleaning the round glass shades, too."