by Kathy Magrini

The Third island in 1968 as seen from MacDonald Avenue.

Amityville’s Florida....The Third Island in the Amityville River

Second in a two-part story about the Amityville River

The Third Island of the Amityville River was the source of considerable enjoyment for many people growing up in the Village. They have memories of leisure activities stretching between more than two generations. Both the winter, with its frozen waters, and summer, with its warm, sunny days, were special times for those who enjoyed their relaxation close to home.

The name "Florida" was given to the island by the youngsters in the

Postcard from 1908 of the Rod and Gun Club with the Third island in the background.

1960s who liked to go swimming there before the Amityville Beach season opened. Margaret Howard remembers her children often asking to go to Florida.

"They’d take off down MacDonald Avenue to the river, often lugging a surf board or riding a go cart, and swim to the northeastern side of the island where the bottom was sandier and not as deep," she said.

Pat Howard remembers going to the island when he was in second grade. He said "I used to come down with my mother." He remembers they had a little go-cart with lawn mower wheels and a sailboat that would only hold two people. "When I was young" he said "they used to push me across in it because I couldn’t swim at the time. The sailboard had a hole in it and they had to push me across fast before it sank." He added, "It was hard work to play" and usually an all-day affair.

Along with his friends, Jimmy Kretz, John Marcley, Kevin McDonough, and Robert Hilbert he played PT109. They pretended they were Kennedy and his crew, ship wrecked on the island, hiding in the reeds, digging holes, making up stories, and devising escape plans. Sometimes, they would wait for the sailboats to come by and swim out, grab hold of the boat, and get pulled down the river: out of sight of the owner. "The boats weren’t going very fast," he added, "but than you realized that you had to swim back.

Pat said later on when he was older he went down to the island with the Purdy Lane guys: Robin and Peter Schmitt, and they would play truth or dare. He remembers them throwing steamer clams at each other. There were so many of them and they were so messy in the hair that they made great playthings for boys who reveled in that kind of fun.

Amityville’s Bill Thorn, now living in North Carolina, said he remembers rowing in his rowboat from his Ocean Avenue home to the island’s south side. He was always well prepared with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fishing gear. This was back in 1932 when he was about 10 to 12 years old and before the

Narrasketuck clubhouse was built.

Ruffie Ireland also remembers his sister, Clara Ireland, camping with her girl friends on the island in the 1930s.

The names of those he could recall that also played on the island were Freddy Lampe and Jean Yates. His family lived on Riverside Avenue at the time in the big white Ireland House, which was than a farm that stretched for some distance down the street.

Bill Kretz remembers playing there in the late 1960s with his friend Bobby and cousin Jimmy when he was in 6th or 7th grade. They would swim in the summer and play ice hockey in the winter between the islands when the river froze over. The older guys would play their own game of Ice Hockey and they would put their beer in the ice on the island’s edge to keep it cold. The names of Rick Imbert and Toby Mullin came up as two of the older hockey players. There were also many rivalry ice hockey games between the two sides of the creek.

Randy Ronback’s dad remembers Randy running across the ice between their house and the island as the ice was cracking beneath his feet. He said it was a test to see if he could make it before he fell in, and added he usually did. The water was not very deep so there was little danger except of getting cold. The secret was to run fast. Randy remembers collecting what he referred to as "pirates treasure," different colored metal nuts and bolts, from Wilbur’s island, and burying them on the third island. He said as the island disappeared you could see the reflection of the metals surfacing. He knew what it was but everyone else wondered.

Jane Howard remembers that there were lots and lots of horseshoe crabs. She said that the island was a peaceful and quiet place where many people went but still you were able to be separate. The island slowly disappeared until the early 1970’s when dredging hastened its demise to a mere six months.

Many conversations have surfaced from the good old days as they related to the Third island. Hopefully some of them in print here will remind other Amityville residents of their own fond remembrances of The Third river of Amityville. The island may be gone, it’s ebb and flow a thing of the past, but it will always live in the streams of memories of those who found pleasure at its friendly banks.