How to Reach the Surf Hotel Fire Island from New York and Brooklyn with Time Table & Map Showing Routes & Connection of Trains at Babylon with Boat for Fire Island
The Surf Hotel, Fire Island, N.Y.: early 1890s
Black and white offset print
6 x 17 inches, overall
Self folding to 6 x 3.5 inches
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.
Fire Island, Long Island Resort
Late 19th Century Map and View Guide
Late 19th Century Map and View Guide
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Illustrated folding paper guide to Fire Island, commissioned by the Surf Hotel, incorporating maps, views, advertisements, and promotional text. The main map shows Long Island Rail Road train routes from New York City to the town of Babylon and connecting ferry line with timetables. An inset map of the greater New York area shows all of Long Island. A charming bird’s-eye view of the beachfront of the Surf Hotel shows numerous boats on the water. The back cover features a collage of "Scenes of Fire Island," and the front is embellished with elaborate typography framing scenes from the island and beach and the slogan “coolest place within 100 miles of New York.”
The guide contains information on the Surf Hotel, Fire Island, and train ticket offices, and slogans and promotions such as and “[t]he drinking water is as pure and clear as crystal, and comes bubbling up through the clean white sands.”
In 1858 and Manhattan hotel owner David Spurgess Sprague Sammis opened the elegant Surf Hotel on a stretch of beachfront on Fire Island in present-day Kismet. Accommodating up to 1,500 guests, it became Suffolk County's largest summer hotel. Guests arrived by a steam ferry from Babylon. In 1892, a cholera scare hit the New York area, which was believed to have begun with passengers arriving on a ship from Germany. In the wake of the outbreak, New York State took over the Surf Hotel to create a quarantine station for travelers. In 1908, the property became part of Long Island's first state park.
Reference:
Blair, Cynthia. "1858: Surf Hotel Opens on Fire Island." Newsday: It Happened on Long Island. August 2004. http://www.newsday.com/features/custom/ithappened/longisland/ny-iholi082004story,0,1731849.htmlstory?coll=ny-rightrail-bottompromo (2 November 2005).