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With his dog, Penny, following his lead, Dave Gugerty scaled a large mound of rocks Thursday morning along the shoreline of the Long Island Sound in Bayville. Both man and canine were quick, but careful not to lose their footing as they made their way over the uneven terrain and then, waded through the knee-high deep water once they reached the bottom. 
 The tide was high, so the water was deeper than usual as Gugerty and his friend Paul Dell'Aquilo, who also brought along his dog, Sandy, led fellow Bayville resident John Taylor and Olympic windsurfer Farrah Hall on a two-mile “rock scrambling run” across the beach. 
 Gugerty, a 25-year Bayville resident and former village trustee, has been occasionally running this unique course along the front of Oak Point since his high school friend, Doug Gorman, introduced it to him 10 years ago. Gorman passed away in 2007 at the age of 42 from melanoma, but Gugerty honors his friend by continuing to run the route and share it with others. 
 “The higher the tide, the more of the challenge, so he’d be proud of us doing this today at dead high tide,” Gugerty, 51, said as he walked toward the beach. “This one’s for you, Doug.” 
 Even though Taylor has lived on the Long Island Sound in Bayville for more than 50 years, he had never experienced a “rock scramble” until Thursday morning. “I’m a sailor and I don’t do this,” said Taylor, 61. “Dave twisted my arm.” 
 Although the experience was “too hot and rocky” for Taylor, who prefers walking his dogs along the beach in the winter months, he brought along Hall, who was a natural. 
 “This was my first formal rock scramble, but as a kid I used to run over the rift raft any chance I got,” said Hall, 31, who grew up in Annapolis, Md. 
 Hall is only in Bayville for a little more than a week. She’s here training with Taylor, one of her coaches, and she competed last week in a four-day international women’s match racing regatta at Oakcliff Sailing Center in nearby Oyster Bay. She competes professionally around the world and has made it her goal to medal in the 2016 Olympics, which will be held in Rio. 
 Although she’ll spend the winter training in Australia, she said she’s enjoying the workouts she’s getting sailing in Bayville’s waters. 
 “The landscaping is fairly similar to where I grew up in Annapolis,” she said. “They both have small harbors, but here you have a bit more current.” 
 Whether it’s sailing, kayaking, swimming or running along the beach, Gugerty said he loves that Bayville offers so many natural areas to engage in outdoor sports. 
 Although rock scrambling isn’t something that Gugerty does on a regular basis, he does run two to three times per week on the beach and goes water skiing on weekend mornings in the Long Island Sound. He often thinks of his friend Gorman while engaging in these activities. 
 “Doug always wanted to be outside,” he said. “His philosophy was, ‘It’s all good.’ That’s how he looked at each day.”&nbsp;

'Rock scrambling run' honors late friend

Bayville ‘rock scrambling run' honors friend

LI NOW blog 7.18.13

D.R. Finley, 51, and his wife, Anne, own four adjacent businesses on Bayville Avenue in Bayville across from the Long Island Sound. The couple, who have four children, operate Bayville Adventure Park, an amusement park located at 8 Bayville Ave. that is converted into Bayville Scream Park in the fall and Bayville Winter Wonderland in the winter. They also own the adjacent arcade, Beaches &amp; Cream ice cream parlor, and a full-service restaurant, The Shipwreck Tavern, that are opened year-round. 
 How long has your amusement park been operating in Bayville? 
 Prior to me buying the property, there was a business there called Bayville Amusements, but it was in terrible disrepair, falling apart and had very few attractions. I bought the property [in 2004] and we demolished the whole thing. We built the new park from scratch and Bayville Scream Park, the Halloween-themed part of the park opened in the fall of 2006, and the summer attractions opened in the summer of 2007. 
 Why did you want to open a haunted amusement park? 
 I’ve always been a huge fan of Disney and Halloween. We also own and operate Jekyll and Hyde [restaurant] in New York City. We always wanted to open up a haunted attraction, but it’s very difficult to find good locations for that because it’s such a seasonal business. I had been looking for a long time and this was made perfect sense, because it could be a lot more than just the haunted attractions. 
 What do you like about the park’s location in Bayville? 
 It’s right there across from the beach, which is special. Bayville is also an old-fashioned town and we like to think we are an old-fashioned park. 
 How has the park evolved over the years? 
 The first year, we had three haunted attractions — Bloodworth Haunted Mansion, Uncle Needles Funhouse of Fear and “Temple of Terror “-- and the following year, we opened up “Curse of the Zombie Pirates” and then, the following year, we opened up “Evil in the Woods.” A summer version of the fun house also opened up a few years later. In the beginning, we also had some large, inflatable sides in the rear of the amusement park, and we’ve removed those and added the Bungee Bounce Dome and Wild Water Balloon Wars. 
 How many people usually come the park each year? 
 It’s difficult to tell, because we don’t charge an admission price. A family can come in and the parents don’t have to go on the attractions if they don’t want to. There’s still a lot of people on Long Island that don’t know we’re there, who still don’t realize Bayville exists and have trouble finding it. The Halloween fans are very determined about going to Halloween attractions and it’s very successful for us, but there’s not a large amount of crossover between the people who come in the summer and the people who come from Halloween. 
 Did your love of Disney inspire any of the attractions in the park? 
 I consider the three most fun, classic attractions of Disney World are Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise, so very much they are an influence for the park. Our miniature golf course is Pirates of the Caribbean, Bloodworth Mansion is Haunted Mansion and Bumper Boats Safari is Jungle Cruise in our small way.

Park a hidden gem in 'old-fashioned town'

Disney inspired creator of Bayville Adventure Park

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As the first visitor to Stehli Beach in Bayville arrived around 9 a.m. Thursday, lifeguards Haydon Taylor and Eamonn Boyd made their way to the lifeguard stand to assume their post. That’s when they discovered that there was already a bathing beauty that slipped in before they arrived. 
 Directly in front of the lifeguard stand, a large, gray, harbor seal was basking in the sunshine a few feet from the shoreline of the Long Island Sound. 
 “When we got close it would turn it’s head, and then, we got too close and it went in the water,” said Boyd, 20, of Bayville. 
 The seal didn’t go far, though. A few minutes later it came back on the shore, crawling even higher up the beach than before. 
 By then, Taylor and Boyd had alerted fellow lifeguard Paige Gugerty, 16, to the sighting. 
 “It was yawning and rolling over,” said Gugerty, who snapped two photos of the seal with her cellphone. “It was really cute.” 
 It was the first time that Gugerty, a Bayville native, had seen a seal in her hometown. Seal sightings are not unheard of in Bayville, but they aren’t commonplace either, said Brian Devine, a spokesman for the Town of Oyster Bay, which operates Stehli Beach. 
 Allison Chaillet, a biologist with the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation in Riverhead, said harbor seals can be found in New York waters, more frequently in the winter months than in the summer months. 
 “There are known haul out sites in the Long Island Sound,” she said. “These sites tend to be rocky outcroppings or sandbars in the middle of bays that are unapproachable from land.” 
 Boyd said the only other time he saw one was last summer in Oyster Bay Harbor. 
 Devine said an environmental expert, not affiliated with the town, did stop by to assess the seal, and told the lifeguards not to touch it. He didn’t make contact either, the lifeguards said, but got pretty close. He didn’t see any visible signs that the seal was sick or injured, though, Devine said. 
 Chaillet also stressed the importance of giving seals plenty of space. She said that seals are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which states that people must stay more than 50 yards away from marine mammals. 
 “These wild animals are very unpredictable, and can carry diseases,” she said, and encouraged anyone who does spot a seal on a local beach to dial 631-369-9829, the Riverhead Foundation’s 24 hour hotline, immediately. 
 A few minutes after the expert had left, the lifeguards said the seal, which had been lounging on the beach for close to an hour, also departed. They watched it slip back into the Long Island Sound and swim away just as a few busloads of children arrived. &nbsp;

Seal spotted sunbathing on Bayville beach

Harbor seal spotted sunbathing at Stehli Beach in Bayville

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As the saying goes, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” Bayville native Susan Rust took a similar approach when her boss handed her a pink slip. She made pink cupcakes. 
 Although Rust, 32, had been cooking since she was 14 years old, she only started baking in 2004 when a friend gave her cupcake cookbook as a Christmas gift. Before long, she was coming up with her recipes and testing them on friends and family. After she was laid off from her office job in 2009, her husband, Michael Rust, 46, encouraged her to turn her newfound hobby into a business. 
 “It was really his idea,” she said. 
 Rust started out by renting a commercial kitchen in Oyster Bay and served cupcakes at events hosted by St. Gertrude’s Church in Bayville. 
 “I got eight generations of referrals from the first winter festival I did, so that really got people in the town involved,” she said. 
 Over the next three years, Rust delivered special occasion cupcakes and cakes to her growing client base, which stretched into Manhattan, Queens and Suffolk County. 
 In 2012, she leased a vacant space at 38 Bayville Ave. in “The Stands” section of Bayville for her own store, Suzie Cakez Cupcakes. That same day, Rust, who has more than a dozen tattoos, added a new one to her left arm: a replica of her store’s logo. She doesn’t regret either decision. 
 In fact, Wednesday marked the store’s anniversary. Now a popular attraction, locals stalk her Facebook page to find out the “Flavor of the Day,” and she gets calls throughout the day from people asking her to save some of the special cupcakes. 
 “Usually, the specials go early, because I only make enough for the day,” she said. Any leftovers, they are donated to places such as the local nursing home. Then she starts from scratch at 5 a.m. the next day. 
 Rust says she can turn pretty much any flavor into a cupcake. Her creations have included Nutella, key lime pie, bacon and cannoli cupcakes, and seasonal favorites such as strawberry lemonade and egg nog. She’s also made liquor-infused cupcakes — Irish Car Bomb, Tequila and Mimosa — for numerous 21st birthday parties. 
 People rushed to buy cereal-infused creations during one of Rust’s theme weeks. 
 “She sold out by 1 p.m. and there were people posting on her blog, ‘We need more!’” said Christine Edwins, 34, of Bayville, whose daughter, Molly, loves Rust’s “Fruity Pebbles” cupcake. 
 In the past year, Rust has hosted 25 kids parties in the store, weekly enrichment programs at the local elementary school and a few ladies’ nights. Together with the neighboring wine and liquor store, she’s also held a free wine and cupcake tasting party at sunset on her store’s patio. The next one will be Aug. 2. 
 “A lot of my customers are her customers,” said Michael Carrozza, 44, proprietor of the family-owned Bayville Wines &amp; Liquors. “We can help each other.” 
 When the Bayville Chamber of Commerce held a celebration to mark the reopening on West Shore Road, which was closed for seven months due to superstorm Sandy damage, Rust made a cake shaped like the Bayville Bridge. 
 “She’s very original and she’s got a lot of spunk,” Edwins said. “She’s brought a lot to the community and I know she has more to offer.” 
 Rust will be hosting a customer appreciation party on Saturday, July 20, at 3 p.m. to mark the store’s one-year milestone. 
 “The town has really embraced me,” she said. “It’s more than I ever could have imagined.”&nbsp;

Cupcake queen finds recipe for success

Laid off Bayville native finds recipe for success with cupcake shop

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During my first two days in Bayville, I’ve gone over the Bayville Bridge quite a few times, but this afternoon, I passed underneath it for the first time. 
 Bridge Marine owner Richard Valicenti, who operates a marina, a boat service station and a clam bar along Mill Neck Creek, took me for a ride in one of his rental speed boats. Going under the bridge, we entered Oyster Bay Harbor, where we were marveled at the exquisite homes on neighboring Centre Island, including Billy Joel’s. 
 “It’s a beautiful harbor,” said Valicenti, 58, who has owned his marina for the past 37 years. “It has everything you need and the water is always clean.” 
 As we made our way back to home base, Valicenti turned the steering wheel over to me. Speeding toward the Bayville bridge with the wind in my face, I could understand why Bayville residents love the water so much. 
 Whether it’s Mill Neck Creek, Oyster Bay Harbor or the Long Island Sound, the water has and always will play a big part in the lives of Bayville residents. 
 Check out our “Historical Photos of Bayville” <a href="http://www.newsday.com/historical-photos-of-bayville-1.5712518#1">photo gallery</a>, and you’ll see shots spanning the 1900s showing what it was like to vacation or live year-round in this beach community. There are shots of adults and kids, clad in bathing caps, diving into Mill Neck Creek off the swimming pier that once stood there. You’ll also see bathers splashing around in the Long Island Sound at Ferry Beach, which is now home to the Crescent Beach Club. Back then, many visitors arrived at the beach by a ferry. The ferry, called Sankaty, made its last voyage from Ferry Beach to Connecticut in the fall of 1937. 
 In the photos, which were provided by the Bayville Historical Museum, you can also see the beginnings of the Frank Flowers &amp; Sons shellfishing business, which still operates an oyster hatchery in the creek. I’ll be visiting there Thursday. 
 Living by the water has it’s dangers, though, too. That was evident when I saw the photo taken in September 1938 of the Oak Neck boathouse in Bayville, which was destroyed when “The Long Island Express” made landfall. 
 I also saw it during my boat ride today as Valicenti pointed on the new wall that Nassau County has constructed along West Shore Road, which runs along Oyster Bay Harbor. Flooding from superstorm Sandy caused the road to collapse, so as the road was repaired, a barrier was put in place hoping to protect it from future storms. 
 Despite the looming threat of Mother Nature, though, Jean Mansueto, a Bayville resident and who has been selling homes in Bayville for the past 43 years, told me earlier this week that waterfront real estate in the village is still desirable. 
 When asked what attracts people to Bayville and motivates them to stay, Mansueto replied, “Water, water, water.”<script src="http://embed.scribblelive.com/js/LiveArticleEmbed.aspx?Id=110020&amp;ThreadId=148199" type="text/javascript"></script>

Bayville’s history, present all about water

Hanging by the bridge: Day 3 in Bayville

Bayville Bridge

Weaving her way through the families lounging under umbrellas at Bayville’s West Harbor Beach Tuesday morning, librarian Jill Abbatangelo summons as many of them as she can over to the picnic area. 
 “It’s Storytime! It’s Storytime,” she practically sings as she calls to the kids playing in the sand and splashing in the water. 
 Before long more than 20 kids, the younger ones accompanied by their parents, are gathered around her under the shade of the trees. Sitting on beach chairs, blankets or towels, some nibbling on goldfish crackers and slices of watermelon, the kids keep their eyes locked on “Miss Jill” as she makes her way through today’s stack of books. 
 This ritual takes place every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning during the summer, from about 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at the village-owned beach, which is exclusive to Bayville residents. Abbatangelo, 54, a Bayville native and part-time librarian at the Bayville Free Library, estimates that the program, dubbed “Storytime by the Bay,” has been going on for at least a decade and suspects it is unique to Bayville. 
 Abbatangelo, who also works as a librarian for the Lawrence School District, said she’s always impressed by how attentive the kids are as she reads book after book despite the distractions of the water, the beach and the nearby playground. 
 “I actually think that they’re much more relaxed outside under the trees than they are in the library under the florescent lights,” she said. 
 Sisters Mollie Murray, 8, and Meghan Murray, 9, sat through all 11 books that Abbatangelo read Tuesday. Since they were toddlers, the girls have been coming to West Harbor Beach with their mother to take swimming lessons, and have rarely missed a storytime. 
 “You get to read with other people and read books that you never knew existed,” Mollie said 
 “Some of the books are funny,” Meghan added. 
 The girls’ mother, Karen Murray, said she likes the “structure” the program gives her daughters, adding, “It keeps them motivated to do their nightly summer reading.” 
 Plus, it gives her some time to relax on the beach alone. 
 “I have nobody, saying ‘I’m hungry and I’m thirsty,’” she joked. &nbsp;

Bayville library brings storytime beachside

'Storytime by the Bay' brings the books to the beach

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Looking back on my second straight day in Bayville for Newsday’s “Town Focus” series, it’s now clear to me that the concept of “old meets new” can be seen throughout the village.<script src="http://embed.scribblelive.com/js/LiveArticleEmbed.aspx?Id=109324&amp;ThreadId=147442" type="text/javascript"></script> 
 For instance, I started my day off at Suzie Cakez Cupcakes on Bayville Avenue near “The Stands” section of town. Susan Rust’s bakery is one of the newest businesses in town. In fact, she’ll be celebrating her one-year anniversary tomorrow. Check back Wednesday to learn more about her story. 
 Then, several hours later I found myself only a few doors down, grabbing a late lunch at one of Bayville’s oldest businesses, Ralph’s Pizza. Jerry Camera, who celebrated his 62nd birthday Tuesday, was only 10 years old when his parents opened the pizza place across the street from the Long Island Sound in what was once a boat repair shop. He now runs the restaurant with his older sister, and supplies the pizza pies for the parties Rust hosts in her shop. 
 “It’s nice to be friendly with your neighbors,” said Rust, 32, who also works with the owners of the neighboring liquor store, another long-time local establishment, to host cross-promotional events on the porch they both share. 
 At West Harbor Beach, one of two residents-only beaches operated by the village of Bayville where I spent most of the morning, more than 20 kids engaged in one of the oldest forms of recreation -- reading. 
 With temperatures creeping into the 90s, they gathered under the shade of a few trees not far from the shoreline and attentively listened as Bayville librarian Jill Abbatangelo read 11 children’s books within the span of an hour. 
 Meanwhile, on the other side of town families spent the sweltering summer day partaking in more modern-day fun at Bayville Adventure Park. Thrill-seekers flipped several feet off the ground inside the amusement park’s Bumper Bounce Dome and scaled the 30-foot-high “Jungle Tree Top” ropes course. Families also cooled off in the park’s “Bumper Boat Safari” ride, and used giant slingshots to fire water balloons at each other. 
 Laura Whitman, 46, of Oyster Bay, was engaged in a friendly fight with her son, James, 10, inside the “Wild Water Balloon Wars” attraction. 
 “I think I won,” James said. 
 Soaked but still smiling, Laura Whitman, said she usually brings her son to the park twice a year. They chose Tuesday because that’s when admission is half priced. 
 “This way we have extra money leftover for ice cream,” she said. &nbsp;

Bayville maintains sense of old and new

Baking and the beach: Day 2 in Bayville

Bayville-Lena McAree

Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling, 65, is a stand-up comedian, radio host, actor and a former writer and radio personality for “The Howard Stern Show.” Martling, a native of East Norwich and a graduate of Oyster Bay High School, has lived in Bayville since 1976. Today he hosts his own radio show, “Jackie’s Joke Hunt,” on Sirius XM Howard 101, performs live and can be seen in the new mobster film, “Send No Flowers.” But when he’s not working, he splits his time between his apartment in Manhattan and his beachfront Bayville home on the Long Island Sound. 
 I sat down with Martling Saturday night following one of his stand-up performances at The Brokerage comedy club in Bellmore to hear about his thoughts on living in Bayville. 
 Growing up in nearby East Norwich, did you spend much of your childhood in Bayville? 
 My father's sister lives on Monroe Avenue, which is one of the president streets right in the heart of the Bayville, and since I’m old enough to remember being alive, my father and mother went to my aunt and uncle’s to drink every weekend. My father and Uncle Clem or whoever, they’d be watching the Yankees and “Meet the Press,” and we’d be down swimming with my mother and my aunt. So I’ve been on this beach since I was old enough to remember being alive and now I live on the street the next one over. 
 What motivated you to move here? 
 In the early 1970s, my band, the Off Hour Rockers, rented a house in Bayville on the water and played our first gig at where the Shipwreck Tavern is today. I remember going to sleep listening to the sound of the waves and I said, “I’m coming back to this some day.” I just loved Bayville, so my ex-wife Nancy and I moved into a house that we rented and then, finally we bought a house on the president’s streets. I couldn’t talk about that on “The Howard Stern Show,” because Bayville is so small … people were crazy and they used to ride through the streets looking for me. 
 So you eventually bought another house, the one you live in today, which is right on the beach. What’s that like? 
 I live in heaven. Today, I woke up and swam out to the buoy and came back. Then, I rode my bike 10 miles down Centre Island, past Seawanhaka Yacht Club, Billy Joel’s house and back. And two, three, four times a day I’ll drop what I’m doing and swim. Usually when I come home late at night, I put on my bathrobe, go down and just swim in the water naked. I can’t say enough about how much I love it. 
 You actually have a degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University. Why didn’t you ever put that to use? 
 I just knew that had to take a difficult major and I’m pretty smart. It was so challenging and rewarding, but it was the late 60s. I didn’t go on any job interviews. I had a pony tail down the middle of my back and I was in a rock and roll band, so after I graduated in 1971 I stayed for two more years in East Lansing, Michigan, playing with my band. No one wants to leave a college town. 
 How did you get into comedy? 
 I came back to Long Island and started the Off Hour Rockers with my friend. We would travel around in a yellow hearse, playing music and telling jokes, and we were so infamous. Comedians like Eddie Murphy, Bob Nelson and Richie Minervini used to come to my gigs, because there was no place on Long Island to do stand-up. When my band broke up, Minervini and I put up a show on the second floor of the corner of 110 and 25A at a Cinnamon in Huntington and we'd bring guys out from the city. That’s how we started the East Side Comedy Club and my joke line: (516) 922-WINE. The forks in the road make a very interesting story. If you connect the dots back it all makes sense, but at the time I felt like a pinball machine. 
 How many jokes would you say you have in your repertoire? 
 I just always say almost all of them because every joke is so changeable. ‘Jackie’s Joke Hunt’ is on almost seven years and my partner thinks we've told somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 jokes, maybe about 3,000 unique ones. There's two rules if you're a comedian: You don’t laugh at your own jokes and you don't tell old jokes, and that's all I do.

Famous Bayville resident’s pastime: swimming nude

Bayville is heaven on earth for Jackie 'The Joke Man' Martling

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My first day in Bayville is coming to an end, but as I cross over the Bayville Bridge tonight to head home I’m leaving with a new understanding of the history of this village and an appreciation for its residents’ hospitality. 
 Bayville Mayor Doug Watson braved today’s brutal heat to take me on a tour of downtown Bayville. Our journey began in Bayville Commons, a park located at the corner of Bayville and Ludlam avenues that had been a vacant Texaco gas station before the village purchased the land. In May 1999, the space was transformed into a passive park with benches, landscaping and a parking lot. 
 “We wanted a real center of town,” Watson said. 
 Watson also pointed out the new crosswalks, streetscaping, facade work and recent upgrades to the roadways and sidewalks in downtown Bayville, which had not been upgraded since the 1980s. 
 “It just looked tired,” he added. 
 As we stopped at The Bridge Cafe, formerly The Bayville Luncheonette, located at the intersection of Ludlam and Bayville avenues, Watson asked owner Brigitte Barteau how business has been lately. 
 “Business has definitely picked up,” said Barteau, 48, who also lives in Bayville. 
 Although Barteau usually notices an increase in customers during the summer season, the change was even more dramatic this June, because of the re-opening of West Shore Road. The 1.9-mile main road, which runs through Mill Neck to the Bayville Bridge, had been closed since superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc to it. 
 “I’ve had people who come in from Oyster Bay who have said to me, ‘We haven’t been here, because the road has been closed,’” Barteau said. “Now, all of a sudden it seemed like they came running out.” 
 Bartling said Jackie “The Joke Man” Martling, a comedian and longtime Bayville resident who I interviewed Saturday night, is one of her regular customers. Billy Joel, who lives in neighboring Centre Island, also patronizes many of the shops in downtown Bayville including Barteau’s and the butcher shop across the street, Bayville Meat Center. 
 Edward Vassallo, whose family has owned the business for the past 36 years, said Joel is a fan of the skirt steaks. To show his appreciation for the local merchants, Joel gifts each of them a poinsettia plant around the holidays every year, Vassallo added. 
 The tour of downtown Bayville concluded with Jean Mansueto, owner of Coach Realty, which is housed in the former home of the Inter-Media Art Center, which later moved to Huntington before eventually closing. 
 In her 43 years of handling real estate in Bayville, Mansueto has coined the term the “Bayville shuffle” to describe how many residents sell their homes only to move into another house within Bayville. 
 While giving me tour of the Bayville Historical Museum Monday evening, Dave Rapelje, the museum’s director, said his wife Catherine Meringolo, and three of her siblings, all grew up in Bayville and still live there today. 
 “We’re not that unique to the village,” he said. “There’s quite a few generations of families who live here.” 
 To view all my photos from my tours of downtown Bayville and the Bayville Historical Museum, check out the “Week in Bayville” photo gallery. You can also follow me throughout the next five days on Twitter and Instagram (<a href="http://twitter.com/tarakconry">@TaraKConry</a>) and send me suggestions of places to visit and people to speak by emailing&nbsp;<a href="mailto:tara.conry@newsday.com">Tara.Conry@newsday.com</a>. 
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In summer, the 'Bayville shuffle' returns

Day 1 in Bayville: Exploring Bayville and meeting its characters

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This story originally ran in “Long Island: Our Story” on Feb. 22, 1998 
 Beginnings: In 1658 Daniel Whitehead of Oyster Bay purchased land from the Matinecock Indians. At the time, the eastern section of the peninsula was known as the Pines and the western section as Oak Neck. In 1674 the land was divided among 23 men who used it for pasture. Initial development centered near the western end of the village, the area now known as Friendly Corner. 
 Bridge to the Future: In 1859 the name was changed to Bayville. Because of its isolated location, some people traveled by water taxi from Oyster Bay or a ferry that ran from Stamford, Conn., until 1937. To improve access, a bridge across Mill Neck Creek was completed in 1898 with donated funds. The current bridge on the site is the fourth, built in 1938. 
 Turning Points: The earliest businesses were farming, converting oyster and clam shells left by the Indians into lime, and harvesting salt hay. By the late 1800s, much of the land in the village was used for growing asparagus. Farming died out after the turn of the century as the community became a summer resort with small cottages, several estates and an entertainment complex called the Bayville Casino, built in 1913. The biggest estate was owned by stock market speculator Harrison Williams, who later donated his stables to the village for use as a village hall and library, and an adjacent 28-acre wooded tract as a preserve. Bayville became an incorporated village in 1919. 
 Clam to Fame: Besides its popular beaches, Bayville is known for the firm of Frank M. Flower &amp; Sons, founded in 1887. The company is the last remaining Long Island oyster and clam dredging company. It also cultivates oysters at its hatchery. 
 Run-in With The Master Builder: A large chunk of the business district and many homes would have disappeared if Robert Moses' 1965 proposal to build a bridge across Long Island Sound to Rye had not been killed in the early 1970s after wetlands were donated to the federal government for a wildlife preserve. 
 Where to Find More: "The Times and Tides of Bayville, Long Island, N.Y.," Bayville Library. &nbsp;

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From the archives: History of Bayville

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Sandy beaches, stunning views of the Long Island Sound, and an amusement park. This is how I will be spending the next week. No, I won’t be cashing in any vacations days, but rather I’ll be working in a place just about 30 minutes from Newsday’s Melville office: Bayville. 
 The village of Bayville is only 1.5 square miles and it’s almost completely surrounded by water, so as you can imagine the water plays a crucial role in the lives of the roughly 6,600 residents who call it home. The community’s most famous resident, who I had the chance to speak with Saturday night, said he was “living in heaven,” when speaking of his beachfront Bayville home. (You’ll hear more from him this week, but you can take your guess on his identity now in the comment section.) 
 From Monday to Friday, July 15 to July 19, I will be working on uncovering stories that showcase the character of Bayville, as well as some of its biggest characters. I’ll be meeting with Bayville Mayor Douglas Watson, touring the Bayville Historical Museum and enjoying storytime at the beach, which the Bayville Free Library hosts several times a week. 
 It should no doubt be an interesting week and I hope you’ll join me on the journey. You can follow me on <a href="http://twitter.com/tarakconry">Twitter</a> and Instagram at @TaraKConry, and visit Newsday.com, where I’ll be posting stories and photo galleries of all my adventures. 
 I’d also love to hear your suggestions of places I should visit, restaurants and activities I should try and interesting people I should seek out within the community. You can also send me questions that you’ve always had about Bayville and I will do my best to track down the answers. You can email me at <a href="mailto:tara.conry@newsday.com">Tara.Conry@Newsday.com</a>. &nbsp;

Newsday is heading to Bayville this week

Coming up: Town Focus in Bayville

Town Focus: Village of Bayville

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NYU researchers are surveying the Eastern box turtle population to better understand how they are faring against habitat destruction, roadways and global warming.`

Turtle-sniffing dogs searching LI for science

Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. spoke with NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa about what life is like for the Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann in jail.

Rex Heuermann's life behind bars

Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is back for a second stint with the Giants. Head coach John Harbaugh on Wednesday said Beckham seems healthier and Beckham said he is looking forward to making the most of the opportunity.

Odell Beckham Jr. back with the Giants

Recently passed state auto insurance reforms could help lower car insurance rates as much as 10% for New York drivers, according to some estimates. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.

NYS takes crack at lowering auto insurance premiums. Here's what that means for LI.

NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits the Long Island Game Farm for an inside look at the incredible hands-on wildlife encounters there.

Out East: What's new at the Long Island Game Farm

If approved, it would be the first new hospital on Long Island since 1980. Newsday business reporter James T. Madore has more.

NYU Langone plans new hospital in Melville 

NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano visited Main Event, an entertainment center that recently opened in Deer Park.

Arcade, bowling and giant claw machine at Main Event 

Newsday food writer Erica Marcus helps make a strawberry crunch ice cream at Coyle's Ice Cream in Islip.

Making ice cream at Coyle's in Islip

Rockville Centre's Lavert Henderson-Hobbs has been a Knicks' season-ticket holder since 1969.

Rockville Centre's Lavert Henderson-Hobbs a Knicks' season-ticket holder since 1969

NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa visits Chubs Meats in Medford to try The Brunson, a sandwich inspired by the New York Knicks' star player.

Trendy Bites: Trying a Jalen Brunson-inspired sandwich

<a href="https://www.newsday.com/video/newsdaytv-top-stories">Get more on these and other NewsdayTV stories</a>

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On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Gregg talks with Michael Sicoli and Tess Ferguson about county champs crowned in boys and girls lacrosse, and Jared Valuzzi reports on the Long Island flag football championship.

Sarra Sounds Off Ep 36: Champs crowned in lax and flag football

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