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It was a Friday, at 1:55 p.m. 
 The fire alarm went off at Bellport High School. And just as Chick Satterly and his classmates hurried down the stairs and reached the first floor, they saw a dark cloud of smoke barreling down the hallway toward them from the left, emanating from the walkway of the campus’ adjacent older building. 
 Seconds later, the group safely exited the school, but entered the chaos of firemen and community members struggling to tame the fire that engulfed a section of their school on March 8, 1963. 
 "Everyone in the community came together that day to put out the fire," said Satterly, 68, who still lives in Bellport. "Kids had to be rescued from the second floor of the older section of the school.” 
 The fire, in which 47 students were rescued by firefighters using an improvised tarpaulin chute after being trapped, is something Satterly will remember for the rest of his life. And he’ll surely bring it up in conversation at his high school class' 50-year reunion on Saturday. 
 "We created booklets for the class documenting the fire that happened four months before graduation," Satterly said. "The community never forgot that fire and neither did our class. It was a miracle no one died." 
 Satterly and his twin brother Nick will be among the 36 classmates attending the school's Class of 1963 50-year reunion at the Bellport Country Club Saturday night. Nearly 100 students graduated that year. 
 "I'm really looking forward to seeing what people look like," said Satterly, a 50-year member of the Bellport Fire Department and retired Verizon lineman. "I can't wait." 
 Organizers Marian Honnett-Hughes and Elliot Borden, who originally became friends competing in the school's debate club, decided two years ago they would organize a 50-year reunion after neither was made aware of the 20-year reunion party that was held. 
 "It seems like most of our class left the area, so you lose track of everyone," said Honnett-Hughes, 68, of Kamuela, Hawaii. "This will give us the opportunity to reconnect again." 
 Classmates and teachers attending are coming in from California, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia and across Long Island, according to Honnett-Hughes. 
 As a drama student in high school, Honnett-Hughes played the role of Emily in the school play "Our Town" and acted in "Bye Bye Birdie" at the Gateway Playhouse. 
 After high school, she studied drama at South Illinois University and traveled with the USO performing for troops in Panama and Cuba. Having lived in Hawaii since 1968, she had only been back to Bellport twice. She currently manages luxury condominiums with her husband of 30 years, Matt Hughes. 
 Borden was salutatorian of his class. He retired five years ago after working as a dentist for 33 years. 
 "It’s important to have these reunions to remember where you came from and who you are today," said Borden, 67, of Villanova, Pa. "And it’s good to reflect on your past." 
 Borden only returns to Bellport once every two years, but says the place hasn't changed. 
 "Nothing ever changes. It’s pretty much exactly what it looked like 50 years ago," he said. "It's still a sleepy little village. I remember walking barefoot down Bellport Lane to the bay. It'll always be home to me." 
 With the reunion fast approaching and both back in the area, Honnett-Hughes and her husband, along with Borden and his wife, Susan, sat down for a quiet dinner at Porters on the Lane Thursday night. 
 "I'm extremely excited for this," Honnett-Hughes said. "I've been waiting so long."

50-year reunion group survived school fire

Bellport High 50-year reunion guests survived fire as seniors

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It's been a busy week, but we made it. It's the last day of our Town Focus of Bellport. 
 Today, I plan to finish up a story on the 50th-year reunion of the Bellport High School Class of 1963 and another on a pair of eagles nesting along Little Neck Run. 
 I spent this week touring Bellport Village, trying local foods, checking out its artistic side and learning more than I ever thought possible of the rich history revolving around this Hampton-esque and quiet community. 
 Did you know that a young Robert Duvall and Gene Hackman performed at Gateway Playhouse on South Country Road? And did you know about the 1963 fire that nearly engulfed Bellport High School? 
 This week, I visited Mother's Beach, which is quite beautiful, and hitched a boat ride to Ho-Hum Beach on Fire Island. I witnessed a 30-year-old tradition of sketching at the community center and found out that Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge in Shirley found a pair of eagles nesting along Little Neck Run. 
 I'd say it was a pretty eventful week and I hope you had fun following me. I was thrilled to see locals stopping into Cafe Castello just to say hello to me. To local residents: Thank you for your support, encouragement and help along the way. I welcome your feedback in the future. 
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In Bellport, 50th-year reunion, eagles nest

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Artists have flocked to or settled down in Bellport Village for its picturesque views and laid back culture since as early as the late 1890s. Frederick Kost, Walter Granville-Smith and William Glackens were just a few of the most famous artists drawn to the seaside community. 
 “The light reflecting off the bay was just so wonderful that it was one of the many reasons famous artists were drawn to Bellport,” said Anna Lou Fletcher, president of the Brookhaven-Bellport Historical Society. 
 Residents today still flock to the arts, whether listening to live music nearly every night of the week, browsing local art galleries, or sketching a model at the village’s community center or scenic views from the marina. 
 At the turn of the century, Bellport was a destination for city socialites like actors, artists, writers and poets, said Thomas Schultz, chief curator of Gallery 125, an art gallery at the corner of Bellport Lane and South Country Road. 
 “Artistry thrived in Bellport and still does,” said Schultz, 47, of Bellport. “Some of the most famous artists came here to get away from the big city and find inspiration in Bellport.” 
 Schultz, who is currently showcasing local Tim Hoffman’s artwork at the gallery until Saturday, said Bellport has been called “Hampton-esque” without the pretentiousness. 
 With classical music playing, retired art teacher Kathy Wayman, a member of the South Bay Art Association, spends her Tuesday mornings sketching and painting at the community center in Bellport. She’s part of a rotating group of amateur artists who have met there weekly for the past 30 years. 
 When weather allows, the group moves outdoors within the village to allow for plein air sketching. 
 "We learn by doing and learn from each other,” said Wayman, of Blue Point. “I’ve always loved to draw and this gives me the opportunity to practice what I know.” 
 Another sketcher, Ann Wiswall, said the sketch group has proved to be a draw for art enthusiasts from outside of Bellport, as well. 
 "Some local artists do come by to help sometimes" she said. "We just love drawing with each other. It brings communities together. Ladies from Sayville, Ronkonkoma, Patchogue and Bellport come together to practice their artistic talents." 
 The music scene in Bellport is equally as strong as the visual arts. Weekly, from Wednesdays and into the weekend, there is live music at Avino’s, Basil, Porters on the Lane, The Bellport restaurant, and Café Castello. Bellport’s bandshell summer concert series at the village marina kicks off on June 28. 
 Taylor Alonso, co-owner and chef of The Bellport restaurant, has been holding Thursday-night jam sessions there for 12 years. 
 "Sometimes 25 local musicians show up to jam together," said Alonso, 60, of Bellport. "It's gone from being an unusual thing to the norm. It seems every place in Bellport has live music. We like showcasing Bellport's musical talents." 
 East of the center of the village, on South Country Road, there’s the Gateway Playhouse, a theater that started in a barn in 1941 as a local alternative to Broadway. A young Robert Duvall and Gene Hackman performed there. 
 Paul Allen, managing producer and member of the Suffolk County Arts Advisory Board, said the 500-seat theater brings thousands of people to Bellport each week during the summer months. 
 "There is indeed a strong artistic vibe found here,” he said. “We’re privileged to bring Broadway to Bellport, while continuing the rich artistic heritage found within our area.” 
 Schultz said a love of the arts has become characteristic of Bellport. 
 “We have a sleepy little village, but our locals are stimulated by the music and artistry that’s remained here over the years,” said Schultz. “In my opinion, Bellport is the art capital of Long Island." &nbsp;

Bellport a longtime hub for the arts

Bellport proves to be a hub for artists, musicians and enthusiasts of both

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I’m in my second to last day exploring and getting a taste for the Bellport community. 
 First, I’m stopping by Gateway Playhouse, a professional summer theater in operation since 1950, for a tour, and later on heading to the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge in Shirley to ask about a pair of eagles found nesting along Little Neck Run. 
 Also, we’ll have a story about the village of Bellport’s vibrant artistic side. Did you know the restaurants have live music almost every night of the week? The bandshell showcasing live entertainment on the bay opens up for the season on June 28. 
 To top off the day, I’m eating dinner at Porter’s on the Lane with Marian Honnett Hughes and Elliot Borden to discuss the Bellport High School Class of 1963 50-year reunion on Saturday. Watch out for a story about that on Friday. 
 I welcome your input on where to eat lunch, and on my coverage this week. Tell me what you think, and what I’ve missed. 
 You can follow me on Instagram (<a href="http://instagram.com/brittanyhwait">Brittanyhwait</a>), or reach me via <a href="mailto:brittany.wait@newsday.com">email</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/brittanywait">Twitter</a> or the comments below. And keep up with my travels all day in this post, which will be updated throughout the day. 
 Check out all the photos I’ve taken throughout my day in the Instagram gallery below. 
 Lastly, I’m compiling residents’ or past residents’ (or visitors’) favorite memories of Bellport. You can tweet them, or better yet, send me a picture that illustrates them. I’ll share them throughout the week. Thank you for all your stories, which have helped tremendously in my exploration of the village this week. 
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Town Focus: Day 4 in Bellport

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To wrap up my third day in Bellport, I will say how friendly everyone has been and how good it felt to feel the sand between my toes at picturesque Ho-Hum Beach earlier. 
 All thanks to Bellport couple Bonny Clark and Mike Ferrigno for taking me out on their boat to check out the village beach and take pictures of homes overlooking the bay. 
 And what a beautiful day it was. I stopped in at Gallery 125 and talked to chief curator Thomas Schultz about the artistic side of Bellport and can’t wait to show you what I’ve found. You can find my photos from today in the Storify below and look for a story on the village’s vibrant music and art scene on Thursday. 
 Also on Thursday, I’m stopping by Gateway Playhouse, a professional summer theater in operation since 1950, for a tour. Later on I'm heading to the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge in Shirley to ask about a pair of eagles found nesting along Little Neck Run. 
 Check out our live coverage of my third day in Bellport below and follow along again on Thursday. 
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Boating across the bay on Day 3 in Bellport

Town Focus: Day 3 in Bellport

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E.B. White spent a summer there and later wrote a poem about it. Artist William Glackens immortalized its beaches in his impressionistic paintings. And Elmer Sperry, inventor of the gyroscope, loved it so much he retired there. 
 No, not Newport. Bellport. 
 This still-unassuming fishing village 50 miles east of New York City was, for a time, among the most popular summer spots on Long Island, attracting great statesmen, financiers, actors, writers, journalists and artists. By the 1880s, they streamed into the welcoming village, bringing their families, their bathing suits and their yachts. They rented cottages or built their own or stayed in one of the many hotels and rooming houses that were springing up: The Wyandotte, The Homestead, The Bay House, The Goldthwaite. Most were on or near the waters of Great South Bay. 
 "It was a wonderful way to grow up," said Nancy Ljungqvist, 72, recalling the days she spent there as a child in her grandfather's Bellport Lane home, where she whiled away the summers of the 1930s and '40s sailing and playing tennis. "We had a huge group of friends who came every summer." 
 E.B. White's biographer recounted the summer of 1918 when White's sister hoped her teenage brother would overcome his shyness with girls and learn how to dance. A portion of White's poem "Zoo Revisited," was inspired by his vacations at Bellport. White wrote of the moment "summer takes complete command belly to sun and back to sand," and "how well I know . . . the bay and the way the wind blows the tide ebbs and the tide flows." 
 Bellport began as a modest outpost of farmers and seafaring folk. Most of the homes that still line Bellport Lane were built by sea captains. In fact, the village was named for a pair of sea captains. The Bell brothers, Thomas and John, came to the region in the early 1800s, enticed by the opportunities of the young seaport. 
 By 1829, the brothers had built a dock into the bay and a shipyard, carving out cross streets and main thoroughfares into the surrounding terrain. When the post office was established in 1834, the Bells hoped to name their new home Bellville, but the name was already taken by an upstate village. They settled on Bell Port, which was later joined into one word. 
 As early as the Civil War, dignitaries such as Christian Godfrey Gunther, one of several New York City mayors who vacationed in Bellport, sailed their yachts along the southern shore of Long Island and docked off Bellport. Many of these luminaries were drawn by the region's simple pleasures. 
 "There was a family orientation to the place that people liked," said Rita Sanders, curator of the Bellport Museum Complex. "People wanted to know that they could bring their families out here to a safe, clean and wholesome environment." 
 Birdsall Otis Edey, an early organizer and president of the Girl Scouts of America, summered in Bellport with her two sisters, her mother and her father, a state senator. Edey, affectionately nicknamed Bird, made up new lyrics that she and her buddies sang to the tunes of Gilbert and Sullivan while sailing aboard a neighbor's boat they coined The Walloping Window-Blind. At 25, Edey wrote and produced an operetta entitled "The Pirate of the Great South Bay" that she and her friends performed in the summer of 1897 in one of a half-dozen Bellport theaters called The Nearthebay Playhouse. 
 It was William Glackens who recorded these summer holiday scenes in soft pastels on canvas. Glackens spent at least five summers in Bellport before the polio epidemic of 1916. A member of the Ashcan School, a label bestowed by critics who ridiculed the artists' realistic style and subject matter, Glackens was said to have planned the Armory Show of 1913 in a rented cottage in Bellport. 
 The seasonal frivolity was somewhat dampened by the Great Depression, which led to the closure of the great summer hotels. But many of the traditions continued, ushering in the famous through World War II. During her parents' divorce, a young Jacqueline Bouvier vacationed in a summer cottage on Maple Street with her sister, Lee. 
 Ljungqvist recalled starting out early on a summer day and running down to the Bellport dock to catch one of the ferries, the Ruth or the Mildred A, to the barrier beach the village still owns. Once there, Ljungvist handed over the change she pulled from the pocket of her jeans in exchange for a cup of clam chowder, some gingerbread and a soda sold from a little wooden shack on the beach. 
 Claim to Fame: Working in his woodshop one day in 1866, Bellport carpenter Oliver Perry Robinson accidentally discovered that tiny steel balls of buckshot made a board move easily across a flat surface. He patented the idea, later known as ball bearings. 
 Where to Find More: "Bellport and Brookhaven: A Saga of the Sibling Hamlets at Old Purchase South," compiled by Stephanie S. Bigelow and available at the Bellport Museum Complex.

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LI Our Story: Yachts and poetry by the bay

Bellport Mayor Will Veitch played in the sand as a kid at Mother’s Beach, and as a father spent time with his own kids there, so he was thrilled to see its continued renovation. 
 “It’s one of the few places you can go to really enjoy the Great South Bay,” he said. “It’s a beautiful beach and we all love to spend our time there in the summer.” 
 Located off South Howells Point in Bellport, Mother’s Beach suffered severe erosion after superstorm Sandy and the storm damaged its playground. A group of Bellport Village residents involved in the Bellport Village Fund Program stepped up to renovate and clean the local beach, to be unveiled to residents during a casual event at the beach on July 5. 
 Flo’s Famous Luncheonette in Blue Point is catering the unveiling from 4-6 p.m., said Michael Foster, director of the Fund, which raises money through donations and grants for beautification projects in Bellport. 
 “The beach has evolved over the years as a beach where people take their young children to play in the sand, on the swings and in the water,” said Foster, who has lived in the village since 1976. “Most of us ride our bikes to the beach. It is one of the special gems of the village of Bellport that its residents treasure and can enjoy the most.” 
 Foster said the rejuvenation effort will include adding new swing set chains and seats, two picnic tables, two nine-spot bike racks, split rail fencing, ongoing beach seaweed raking and cleaning, and mosquito and pest control without using harmful chemicals. 
 Veitch, who has lived in the village most his life, said he looks forward to seeing the upgrades to the popular beach. 
 “We’re working with the Fund to maintain a beach that residents and guests take great pride in,” he said.

Bellport volunteers to unveil beach fixes

Bellport volunteers take on upgrades at local favorite Mother's Beach

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I was thrilled to see so many Bellporters approach me and recognize my face today. It’s evident Bellport Village is a close knit community where everybody seems to know everybody -- even a visitor. I like that. 
 Well, Bellport, keep following me because our “Town Focus” is only half-way done. 
 For those of you who missed it, earlier today I spent time with a group of ladies that belong to a plein air sketch group that meet Tuesday mornings. I also got a tour of the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society grounds and a sneak peak of the new exhibit “Bellport: Summer 1900,” opening on Friday. We posted that story here today. 
 Tomorrow morning, I’m taking a ride in lifelong resident Mike Ferrigno’s boat to Ho Hum Beach on Fire Island, and also to take pictures of Bellport’s shoreline. Expect to see pictures on Instagram early! 
 Tomorrow, I’ll also be talking a 1963 graduate of Bellport High School, whose 50-year class reunion is Saturday, checking out more of the Bellport art scene and hanging around town for live music at Porters on the Lane at 7 p.m. If you’re a fan of live music (and the fact that Bellport has so much of it), stop by and chat with me for a story I’m working on. I’d love to hear your opinion. 
 Check out our live coverage of my second day in Bellport below and tune back in tomorrow. 
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Town Focus: Day 2 in Bellport

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As part of our weeklong visit to Bellport this week, I spent today stopping in businesses along Station Road, South Country Road and Bellport Lane, and taking in the view at Mother’s Beach. 
 Mayor Will Veitch, who has lived in the village most his life, said upgrades to Mother’s Beach will be unveiled on July 5. 
 “It’s one of the few places you can go to really enjoy the Great South Bay,” he said. “It’s a beautiful beach and we all love to spend our time there in the summer.” 
 Veitch and I stopped at It’s Only Natural, a 35-year-old organic store on South Country Road that serves as the village’s longest operating business. 
 “It’s original. My wife has a lot of integrity and she only sells items she would use on herself,” said co-owner Nick DePaolo, 65. 
 His wife, Lillian, 65, added, “We were inspired to provide the community with healthy choices. Although it’s hard to stay open in this area, we’re determined to never leave.” 
 For lunch, I had a tasty steak panini at the Royal Oak Diner, located on Station Road north of Bellport Village. There, I met John Rogers, chairman of the Greater Bellport Coalition, who said gang activity and crime in the Bellport area is a huge problem, but not in the village. 
 “For years, the coalition have been working on a community development project with the Town of Brookhaven and Suffolk County to lower crime, unemployment, blight and economic development issues,” Rogers said. “Something still needs to be done.” 
 On Tuesday, I plan to meet with Anna Lou Fletcher, president of the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society, and its curator Steven Czarniecki. 
 If I’m lucky, later this week I’ll be able to spot eaglets near Little Neck Run, which has been closed due to nesting. 
 Stay tuned for a look into the “Bellport Summer 1900” exhibit, celebrating the seaside resort’s character in the late 19th Century. It is set to open on Friday. 
 Because Bellport High School Class of 1963 is having its 50-year reunion on Saturday, I’m speaking with attendees about what it’s like to be five decades out of school. 
 I welcome your input on the rest of my coverage this week. Tell me what you think and where I should go next. 
 And thank you Sabrina Callahan, Michael White, Shannon Stevens and Howie Guja for your help throughout the day. 
 And please send me a photo this week via Instagram (<a href="http://instagram.com/brittanyhwait">@brittanyhwait</a>) of a favorite memory visiting or living in Bellport. I’ll repost the picture at newsday.com/bellportfocus. If you don’t have Instagram, you can also tweet or email me the picture. 
 I’m going to need your help finding a place to eat lunch every day. Do you have a favorite spot? I welcome your input on that and the rest of my coverage this week. Tell me what you think and where I should go next. You can reach me via <a href="mailto:brittany.wait@newsday.com">email</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/brittanywait">Twitter</a> and the comments below. 
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Day 1 in Bellport: A tour of the village

Town Focus: Day 1 in Bellport

LI National Register of Historic Places

Town Focus: Bellport

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