The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-08-18
The Scenery and Reflections Thereon
from the Branch to Cape May.
MoNTAUK THE EASTERN STAR.
Beauties, Bellies and Pleasantries
of the Seaside.
THE BRIGHTON OF THE UNITED STATES.
Gossip and Political Speculations
on Pending Issues.

O~~>~>~0
COAsTwIsE, August Is, 1872
IA weary round, upon the WHOLE" said rich
and unemployed bachelor who had been in quest Of
society, as he does annually. at is q solemn
thought said he, "that man without wife and
making a virtue Of a contented mind should 30 soon
exhaust all the American beaches. There are but
three which bring great crowds Of metropolitan
folks tOgether-Only threel"
"And these ?"
First the Branch; next Cape May, and last, New
port. All the rest merely provincial or important
prospectively. The great Brighton of New York Is
still to be created. 1t must be to the sea what
Saratoga is to the land-approachabe by rail and
by smooth water-not spread out, but compact and
s0ciable. With safer beach than Long Branch,
higher climate and altitude than Cape May and
without the complacent and frigid society Of
cOttagers, like Newport. 1t must be a hotel settle
ment with more ample and durable edifices than
these great pigeon-holed cigar boxes we see. And
there is only one spot for it that know off,
"Montauk p,
''Yes Montauk is the natural bathing place Of
New York"
MONTAUK THE EASTERN STAR.
No New Yorker who has visited this spot fails to
say the same. 1t is upon the soil Of the Empire
State 1t is the noblest promontory south Of Mount
Desert, the Atlantic coast 1t Is fifty miles
New York than Saratoga by land, and has the
smooth water of the Sound and the Peconic Bay
as far on the way relatively as the Hudson reaches
toward Saratoga. Sag Harbor is but twenty-seven
miles from MOntauk as Albany is thirty-eight from
Saratoga. BY running outside of Gardeners Island
thirty miles along its shore steamer can land
people at Fort POndbay-which is dent within
MOntauk-that is, after small breakwater be
placed there, which the government engineers
favor.
VISIT TO MONTAUK.
Invent to Montauk during the present season and
found the impression prevalent there that Mr.
Winchester, of New YORK, had been buying up from
time to time the eighths two hundred and eighty
odd In number) Of 'the heirs of Montauk," In the
interest of the Messrs. Lorilard and Others Mon
tank Is held "in common by the heirs Of the old
settlers OF East Hampton and these must be
''bOught out" before the splendid green plateau
there can be utilized. At the tip Of Montauk,
where the buf is eighty feet high, the government
has small lighthouse reservation, and the light
keeper Ia allowed to keep limited number Of
dodgers. There are here but three houses within
ten miles Of this lamp, all farm places, afrording
entertainment, although the few remaining Mon.
tauk Indians possess some cabins
The verdure, the fishing, the salubrious air. the
lofty downs and protected dells of this Lands End
OF the Empire Commonwealth must ultimately
make 1t the Brighton OF New York. There are no
mosquitoes; the country is full Of Wild cattle water
IL excellent, game plentiful; and the sailing to
Block Island GARDENERS Island Fishers Island and
the ports between saybrook and Newport is OF I'M.
examped variety and inspiration. few seasons
may elapse before strong hands gather in this head
land and erect space of 1t into a summer corpo.
rate city, which may also in time have some com
nercial support.
SARATOGA AHEAD.
As the matter now stands none Of our seaside
resorts compare in income with the compact and
handsome inland spa city OF Saratoga, which il
erected "to stay" and have the information from
the rival hotel proprietors that Congress Hall alone
there, o brick hotel, can clear $4,000 a season.
nfter paying seven per cent year and refunding
ten per cent annually upon constructive capital
OF above six hundred thousand dollars. The hotel
is said to take $26o,OOO year, with but 500
The Grand Union at Saratoga, with s24 rooms has
already achieved an income during the present
season surprising any previously known. None OF
the beach places measure income on steady patron
age with this, and the great reason is that Sara
toga Ia the spa OF New York, the cosmopolitan
mer capital Of the inland while the seaside has de-
veloped equal settlement in point OF cOmpactness
and completeness.
SARATOGA THIS SEASON.
'Yes there are more people here this season
than ever before. People sometimes look doubt
fully when say this, but it is true Of each new
year. The facilities OF the place are extended from
year to year, and still everything is full Two
new hotels are demanded, and may 60 up this fall.
There's the new Grand Central, which adds 400
rooms, and venture that 1t will be filed week
after IL Opens.o
such was the testimony Of the town editor, and
no doubt Is Is correct i can see Saratoga grow
every season, and the reasons are manifold. First,
the wonderful number and variety OF its
Pf people Sso w 1nf @sesSi habits Of ea iS
drinking and cooking This Is the dyspep-
tics paradise. month OF regular physicking
tense and immethodica labor OF the year. These
1nvalds are frequently the most forceful and in
lives drive them to the springs for recuperaton, and
they assemble around them their camp followers
and literature. To find any old friend or eminent
person, stop month at Saratoga, and he Is pretty
sure to come along in due time. The position of
the village Is another recommendation to 1t; for
nine-tenths OF the best scenery and OF the summer
resorts Of the country lie within days reach of
Saratoga, and it is central to all. From the West
the great stream OF travel pours by Niagara taking
en- route the Glen at Watkins, and the
cataracts OF Taghanock Trenton and the Genes
see From the South come by way Of Long Branch
and the Catsks, the current flowing toward the
White and Green mountains, the trout streams of
the Adriondacks and the fishing pools OF Maine the
Canadian current presses toward New York city by
the stern sceneries OF lakes George and Champiain
He6lucB TIE spTlHBs JucTt are TWO great running
meetings here every season. the most complete
gaming establishments In the country, the most ex
fraordinary hotel establishments and unequalled
music and society.
THE HOTEL KINGS.
You can conceive bthe scale upon which these ho-
tells are managed when l give the statement OF a
proprietor OF the Grand Union, that ms hotel was
out $4,000 by reason OF being open quite early in
the season, before the company had assembled; yet
this loss was tribe upon the fruits OF the flood
tide travel. The Congress Hall, erected four years
ago upon coupon bonds is already so prosperous
that Its proprietor has the ambition TO go to Con
gress like Marvin, the ex-proprietor OF the United
States Hotel. The Grand Central Is said to have
been erected by a gentleman without ready capital
who yet had no dhcuty in securing the necessary
credit TO build brick house $40 by 200 feet and i've
stories high Altogether there are now forty mine
hotels at Saratoga.
THE RrALTo BUILDERS.
The architecture OF the three principal houses is