The East End Seaport Museum Experience

Students from the journalism class and staff members of The Quill took a field trip to the East End Seaport and Maritime Foundation on March 9th and had a wonderful experience in the historic building. Tracey Orlando, Executive Director of the foundation gave a private tour to Greenport students and outlined the exhibits, history, and updates to the museum. If you are not familiar with the museum it is located by the railroad tracks and the ferry depot. Originally a train station, this historic building was repurposed in the to house exhibits from the surrounding area.

The museum showcases the rich history and culture of New York’s seafaring communities. Founded in 1989, the museum is dedicated to the preservation of the maritime heritage of the local area.  It celebrates the sea and carries on the tradition of Greenport being a fishing and transportation hub. 

One of the main reasons that the foundation was formed was to restore “Bug Light”.  This historic, but decommissioned lighthouse burned down during the middle of the 20th century.  Locals worked hard to raise funds and engage local tradesmen to rebuild this lighthouse.  Known as “bug light” because of its spindly wooden legs, it took on the appearance of a bug floating about the water.  During the rebuilding process, whole sections were moved and lifted into place.

The historic building maintains many of its historic features from its original iteration as a train station.  The original glass is still intact from what was once the ticket booth where passengers could wait as many as three days for a train to arrive. There are many original gems throughout the building that hark back to its original purpose. While keeping the original character in mind the space has been repurposed to house temporary and permanent exhibits that showcase local history.

The museum's collection includes a wide variety of artifacts for students of all ages to interact with. One of the most exciting exhibits is the massive lighthouse light that stands tall at the entrance. The tour guide showed the students how the light changes as you ascend to the next level of the museum. At a certain angle, the fresnel lenses distort the light into looking like a candlelight being blown out, which is a really cool sight to see. The light also takes on different hues and shapes when viewed from different vantage points throughout the bottom and upper levels.

The iconic fish tank, which is the largest fish tank on both the North and South Fork is currently being renovated. At the end of each summer season, the tank is drained and would sit dry for the winter. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tank sat empty for much longer than it previously had. While being refilled, a leak sprung, spewing salty seawater onto the wooden floors of the historic building. 

Thankfully, the water was quickly drained and the floors were able to be dried and salvaged with very little damage to them, but the tank could not be used. Thanks to the grant writing of the staff a new 750-gallon tank will replace the old tank and will soon harbor some of the seawater and fish from the local waters. This year the tank will be reopening for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, filling on April 28th, 2023.

Inside "Captain Bob's Quarterdeck", also called the kid’s room, you’ll find a simple wooden sandbox. While to kids that may be fun alone, it’s taken a step further with Augmented Reality. Comprised of only an old XBOX Kinect, a projector, and a computer, this contraption constantly scans the depth of the surface of the sand, creates a detailed depth map, and projects it onto the surface of the sand, creating an amazing effect all in real-time. The shiny sand reflects the light perfectly, creating vibrant and bright colors. It’s really something you have to see for yourself. Quill staff member John McInnis was a part of this project and helped to show his classmates how this exhibit worked!

Another section of the exhibit contained oyster shells on display. These local shells were being compared to oysters from other parts of the country. When Orlando elaborated on the significance of the shells, she said that the flavors of the oysters here on the East end of Long Island have a more mild taste compared to the salty oysters of southern Florida, or other parts of the country. 

Not only are these oysters flavorful, but they also have deep roots in Greenport history. Back in the early 1900s, the oyster business was a flourishing industry, however in the late 1900s to early 2000s, the indigenous oysters came close to extinction. In recent years, the oyster farming business has returned with companies such as the Oysterponds Shellfish Company restoring the native oysters and replacing the ones lost years ago.

If you ever find yourself in need of an exciting and educational way to fill your afternoon head on down to the museum.  

The opening date is May 25, 2023.  There will be a ribbon cutting for Aquarium and the launch of the season.