Pictures from the Oysterponds Benefit

All dressed up with 
some place to go.
Each summer, on the first weekend of August, The Oysterponds Historical Society holds its Summer Benefit. It's a marvelous soirée held in Poquatuck Park in the village of Orient. The name "Poquatuck" was coined by the Corchaug Indians who lived in the area beginning in 900 AD. Real estate was considerably cheaper back then and the tomatoes weren't called heirloom. They were just tomatoes.

In 1661, some English families heard about Poquatuck from their town crier  -- Oyez, Oyez. We hear Poquatuck is hot -- and left for the New World. Upon seeing all the oysters and clams washed up upon the beaches, they named the place Oysterponds, which sounded a lot better than Clamponds. Everything was hunky-dory until British troops arrived in 1776 to guard the land for King George III. That's when some of the original families decided they'd rather live in Connecticut.

Eventually some creative types named the area Orient because it was the most Eastern point on the North Fork of Long Island. Now the Oysterponds Historical Society keeps all this history in order and puts on exhibitions with a lot of old stuff from 900 AD to the present.

I did the drawing for the 2013 Summer Benefit invitation,

 and my sister, Jeanne, did the graphic design.

 The handwritten copy idea came from this drawing I did

when I was in Nice, France.

Richard and I arrive in style to the 2013 benefit. 

Reprising an earlier leaning photo, siblings:

Dave, Carol, Jeanne and Susan.

Original leaning sib photo

in our parents' yard in Southold.

Our portrait from the 2014 Benefit.

The Benefit photos are by Holly Mastrangelo.

See her website here.

À Bientôt!