Blue Point

For Mae West, Village Was Her Oyster

Beginnings: The Indians knew it as Manowtassquot or, roughly, ``land of the basket rush,'' after years of harvesting the rush from the area's marshes to make baskets and mats. Deeded to English colonists in 1664, the area was controlled by the Winthrop family until the 1750s, when it was sold to Humphrey Avery. In desperate need of cash to settle his debts, Avery later devised a lottery, dividing up the land and hawking tickets to aspiring landowners. He sold 8,000 tickets for 30 shillings each - and raised enough money to buy back Blue Point and part of East Patchogue.

The Revolution: Blue Point was a strategic seaport held by the British during the Revolutionary War, a fact well known to the rebels who frequently raided British ships docked in the harbor.

Turning Point: Blue Point became a summer resort area in the 1880s after the Stillman family, members of the Baptist Church, began performing baptisms at their bayside home. So many people began showing up to be baptized, the Stillmans built additional changing rooms outside their home. These evolved into bathhouses, where people could rent bathing suits for 25 cents apiece. Eventually, Stillman's bathing beach grew to 600 bathhouses and other resort hotels followed.

Claim to Fame: The Blue Point oyster, pulled by baymen from the hamlet's rich oyster beds since its beginnings. The Blue Point oyster became synonymous with the best oysters money could buy. Even Queen Victoria preferred them above any other variety. She only insisted that the rough shells be sanded before they were served in Buckingham Palace.

The Name: No one's really sure where it came from, but one leading theory is that baymen coined it after noticing ``a blue haze'' over the point as they returned to shore.

Why Not a Duck: In the late 1890s, Capt. Billy Graham built a 20-foot-high replica of the great Egyptian sphinx on the lawn of his roadside inn in hopes of attracting famous politicians, movie starlets and sportsmen. His plan worked. It wasn't long before notables such as Teddy Roosevelt and Mae West came to check it out. Mae West even offered to buy it. The sphinx outlived the inn and is located today in Bayport, keeping watch out front of Fontana Concrete Products.

Where to Find More: See ``Blue Point Remembered,'' by Gene Horton, available in the Bayport-Blue Point Library, 203 Blue Point Ave.