Could everyone write one simple essay about something that once happened in Saltaire…that they saw or were a part of…and put it on one big website? Somebody should collect a lot of stories before we all forget. Otherwise it is like a line in “On The Beach” : The history of the war that now would never be written.” -(JO'H)

Sunday, April 7, 2013

The Dunewood Pirate Ship

Murray Barbash, great Fire Islander, environmentalist  inventor of Dunewood,  and fighter in the  Robert Moses War, died last month.

Lots of fine obituary articles.

For instance, from the Fire Island News.  You can see obits and articles in the  NY Times, Newsday,  Facebook, etc.

Fire Island News tribute:

In honor of the passing of Murray Barbash March 13, noted Long Island conservationist and founder of Dunewood.
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Written by David Crohn   
Saturday, 23 March 2013 14:58
FROM Fire Island News  ARCHIVES:
Dunewood’s Evolution: From Cookie Cutter Community to Singular Getaway
Voume 49, Issue 8, 2005
By David Crohn
Anyone who’s been to Dunewood can appreciate its unique character: with its bucolic appeal and just enough activity to keep you busy during the summer, it is both characteristic of Fire Island and unlike any of the other 17 communities island wide. That’s due in no small measure to its sui generis pedigree. Dunewood is the only planned community on the island, the result of Murray Barbash’s tenacious effort and percipient vision, without which the community might still be a refuse dump used by Fair Harbor to the east.
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Saltaire38 notes:  Maybe we missed it, but we saw no mention of Barbhash's most iconic and beloved contribution to Fire Island:


Of Course, we smart-aleck Saltaire kids often treated this icon iconoclastically:

"Dunewood was created in the late 1950's. Before that there was a very long stretch of plank walkway through brush and sand from Fair Harbor to Lonleyville.The advent of Dunewood was a Eureka moment for marauding kids. Dunewood had the famous “Pirate Ship.” It was a big wooden scaffold built in the shape of a Pirate Ship in the Dunewood playground. It was designed for kids to climb on, and it appeared on Dunewood advertising logos. The kids from Saltaire would definitely take time out from their hike to charge the Pirate ship like a bunch of pirates, climb it, jump around it like monkeys, ridicule it, insult the Dunewood kids, and sometimes pee on it before leaving. (I guess that was to leave their mark, like dogs.) This anarchy would never happen if Uncle Pete were along, but more often the hikes were supervised by mere counselors..."


Read it here:  
http://saltaire38.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Hikes+to+Ocean+Beach


At any rate, Murray Barbash.  Great Man. A Fire Island giant.  May he rest in peace.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hey you Saltaire former juvenile delinquents, I was one of those Dunewood pipsqueaks you kicked off the pirate ship...in fact I am in that photo. But thanks for the kind words about my dad.

Susan Barbash
PS. Go Outsiders!