Trevor Kelsall: Drawing the Timeline
August 27, 1998 By Joanne Pilgrim East Hampton Star
The visitor who receives an invitation to linger a while on Trevor Kelsall's basement steps will gain a sense of bygone days in East Hampton, where Mr. Kelsall was born and expects to live out his days.
Hanging in the stairwell is a collection of icons that may jog a memory or two: a menu from Speed's "village restaurant" on Newtown Lane, a money bag from the Osborne Trust Company, a license plate advertising Willard Motors, and numerous giveaways - potholders, sewing kits, and the like - recalling past political campaigns. A tin Railway Express agency sign, Mr. Kelsall noted, was salvaged from the house of the late Carl Dordelman, a freight agent for the line.
Displayed elsewhere in the 1910 house are Jo Kelsall's prizewinning collection of old buttons and the whimsical, mirth-making medley of antique toys that Mr. Kelsall collects. Add to that the old tins that once held products for kitchen, garage, and bath, and the old-time kitchen tools hung here and there, and it is possible to believe you have traveled back in time.
Mr. Kelsall was appointed East Hampton Village historian a dozen years ago. "My office is up here, in my head," he said. The informal collection of memorabilia, which also includes letterheads from bygone businesses, serves as a homespun adjunct to the village's official records and artifacts, which are kept by the Town Clerk and at the East Hampton Library's Long Island Room.
Though his work as historian is low-key, ("It's a history-on-legs kind of thing"), Mr. Kelsall's broad range of knowledge will serve the town well on Oct. 1, when the floats and marchers in East Hampton Town's big 350th anniversary parade will follow the timeline he has arranged.
"We want it to be a history lesson," he said. After an American Legion color guard and Native American marchers, the parade will include about 70 floats and exhibits grouped in chronological order.
"The only thing that's bothering me is, when you're parade coordinator, you keep the horses till last," laughed the affable Mr. Kelsall. "But to be historically accurate, we can't." Marchers who come later in the timeline than the horse-and-buggy days will just have to watch their step, he said.
Mr. Kelsall himself will be a marcher, portraying Samuel (Fishhooks) Mulford, the 18th-century East Hamptoner who triumphed over the thieves of London by sewing barbs into his pockets. "A couple of little pickpockets" will orbit him.
Fifty years ago, Mr. Kelsall played a British Redcoat during the 300th anniversary parade, when his high school history class performed a re-enactment of "How the Redcoats Marauded East Hampton." His role had him pretending to steal a live pig, which, he admitted recently, was actually on a tether. (Those who witnessed the encounter still speak of it with awe.)
An English teacher at the Montauk School for 31 years, Mr. Kelsall grew up on East Hampton estates where his father was a caretaker. "I'm an upstreeter," he said. He is fondly remembered by ex-students from Montauk and Sag Harbor, where he began his career teaching fifth grade.
His childhood in the 1930s was "so different" from today's, he said. "My generation can span back to the Tom Sawyer days of the 1840s."
In fact, "It was the same for us as it was for Tom Sawyer. We had a lot of adventures around Hook Pond, Georgica Pond, Three Mile Harbor. We'd float a plank or a board or a barrel. Saturdays, you went out in the morning, and came home in the evening tired, dirty, with scrapes, your clothes ripped . . . that great magnet, water."
A gang of boys would head out on bikes and range as far as Montauk, he recalled. "We were free spirits. The woods were ours. Springy Banks, Hand's Creek, Ely Brook. . . ."
But the village itself, said Mr. Kelsall, was divided into "territories."
"Sometimes it was perilous to go 'below the bridge' " on North Main Street. "Being an upstreeter and being a below-the-bridger was a definite cutoff when I was a kid. I don't think I knew a real Bonacker until after the '38 hurricane."
Mr. Kelsall was in the Army from 1953 to 1955 and belongs to the American Legion. He recently became a life member of the East Hampton Fire Department, having served as a firefighter for 40 years. He is a trustee of the East Hampton Historical Society and a member of the vestry, choir, and lay ministry at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, where he was baptized and "expect[s] to go out feet first."
August 27, 1998 By Joanne Pilgrim East Hampton Star
The visitor who receives an invitation to linger a while on Trevor Kelsall's basement steps will gain a sense of bygone days in East Hampton, where Mr. Kelsall was born and expects to live out his days.
Hanging in the stairwell is a collection of icons that may jog a memory or two: a menu from Speed's "village restaurant" on Newtown Lane, a money bag from the Osborne Trust Company, a license plate advertising Willard Motors, and numerous giveaways - potholders, sewing kits, and the like - recalling past political campaigns. A tin Railway Express agency sign, Mr. Kelsall noted, was salvaged from the house of the late Carl Dordelman, a freight agent for the line.
Displayed elsewhere in the 1910 house are Jo Kelsall's prizewinning collection of old buttons and the whimsical, mirth-making medley of antique toys that Mr. Kelsall collects. Add to that the old tins that once held products for kitchen, garage, and bath, and the old-time kitchen tools hung here and there, and it is possible to believe you have traveled back in time.
Mr. Kelsall was appointed East Hampton Village historian a dozen years ago. "My office is up here, in my head," he said. The informal collection of memorabilia, which also includes letterheads from bygone businesses, serves as a homespun adjunct to the village's official records and artifacts, which are kept by the Town Clerk and at the East Hampton Library's Long Island Room.
Though his work as historian is low-key, ("It's a history-on-legs kind of thing"), Mr. Kelsall's broad range of knowledge will serve the town well on Oct. 1, when the floats and marchers in East Hampton Town's big 350th anniversary parade will follow the timeline he has arranged.
"We want it to be a history lesson," he said. After an American Legion color guard and Native American marchers, the parade will include about 70 floats and exhibits grouped in chronological order.
"The only thing that's bothering me is, when you're parade coordinator, you keep the horses till last," laughed the affable Mr. Kelsall. "But to be historically accurate, we can't." Marchers who come later in the timeline than the horse-and-buggy days will just have to watch their step, he said.
Mr. Kelsall himself will be a marcher, portraying Samuel (Fishhooks) Mulford, the 18th-century East Hamptoner who triumphed over the thieves of London by sewing barbs into his pockets. "A couple of little pickpockets" will orbit him.
Fifty years ago, Mr. Kelsall played a British Redcoat during the 300th anniversary parade, when his high school history class performed a re-enactment of "How the Redcoats Marauded East Hampton." His role had him pretending to steal a live pig, which, he admitted recently, was actually on a tether. (Those who witnessed the encounter still speak of it with awe.)
An English teacher at the Montauk School for 31 years, Mr. Kelsall grew up on East Hampton estates where his father was a caretaker. "I'm an upstreeter," he said. He is fondly remembered by ex-students from Montauk and Sag Harbor, where he began his career teaching fifth grade.
His childhood in the 1930s was "so different" from today's, he said. "My generation can span back to the Tom Sawyer days of the 1840s."
In fact, "It was the same for us as it was for Tom Sawyer. We had a lot of adventures around Hook Pond, Georgica Pond, Three Mile Harbor. We'd float a plank or a board or a barrel. Saturdays, you went out in the morning, and came home in the evening tired, dirty, with scrapes, your clothes ripped . . . that great magnet, water."
A gang of boys would head out on bikes and range as far as Montauk, he recalled. "We were free spirits. The woods were ours. Springy Banks, Hand's Creek, Ely Brook. . . ."
But the village itself, said Mr. Kelsall, was divided into "territories."
"Sometimes it was perilous to go 'below the bridge' " on North Main Street. "Being an upstreeter and being a below-the-bridger was a definite cutoff when I was a kid. I don't think I knew a real Bonacker until after the '38 hurricane."
Mr. Kelsall was in the Army from 1953 to 1955 and belongs to the American Legion. He recently became a life member of the East Hampton Fire Department, having served as a firefighter for 40 years. He is a trustee of the East Hampton Historical Society and a member of the vestry, choir, and lay ministry at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, where he was baptized and "expect[s] to go out feet first."
Trevor Kelsall: Drawing the Timeline
August 27, 1998 By Joanne Pilgrim East Hampton Star
The visitor who receives an invitation to linger a while on Trevor Kelsall's basement steps will gain a sense of bygone days in East Hampton, where Mr. Kelsall was born and expects to live out his days.
Hanging in the stairwell is a collection of icons that may jog a memory or two: a menu from Speed's "village restaurant" on Newtown Lane, a money bag from the Osborne Trust Company, a license plate advertising Willard Motors, and numerous giveaways - potholders, sewing kits, and the like - recalling past political campaigns. A tin Railway Express agency sign, Mr. Kelsall noted, was salvaged from the house of the late Carl Dordelman, a freight agent for the line.
Displayed elsewhere in the 1910 house are Jo Kelsall's prizewinning collection of old buttons and the whimsical, mirth-making medley of antique toys that Mr. Kelsall collects. Add to that the old tins that once held products for kitchen, garage, and bath, and the old-time kitchen tools hung here and there, and it is possible to believe you have traveled back in time.
Mr. Kelsall was appointed East Hampton Village historian a dozen years ago. "My office is up here, in my head," he said. The informal collection of memorabilia, which also includes letterheads from bygone businesses, serves as a homespun adjunct to the village's official records and artifacts, which are kept by the Town Clerk and at the East Hampton Library's Long Island Room.
Though his work as historian is low-key, ("It's a history-on-legs kind of thing"), Mr. Kelsall's broad range of knowledge will serve the town well on Oct. 1, when the floats and marchers in East Hampton Town's big 350th anniversary parade will follow the timeline he has arranged.
"We want it to be a history lesson," he said. After an American Legion color guard and Native American marchers, the parade will include about 70 floats and exhibits grouped in chronological order.
"The only thing that's bothering me is, when you're parade coordinator, you keep the horses till last," laughed the affable Mr. Kelsall. "But to be historically accurate, we can't." Marchers who come later in the timeline than the horse-and-buggy days will just have to watch their step, he said.
Mr. Kelsall himself will be a marcher, portraying Samuel (Fishhooks) Mulford, the 18th-century East Hamptoner who triumphed over the thieves of London by sewing barbs into his pockets. "A couple of little pickpockets" will orbit him.
Fifty years ago, Mr. Kelsall played a British Redcoat during the 300th anniversary parade, when his high school history class performed a re-enactment of "How the Redcoats Marauded East Hampton." His role had him pretending to steal a live pig, which, he admitted recently, was actually on a tether. (Those who witnessed the encounter still speak of it with awe.)
An English teacher at the Montauk School for 31 years, Mr. Kelsall grew up on East Hampton estates where his father was a caretaker. "I'm an upstreeter," he said. He is fondly remembered by ex-students from Montauk and Sag Harbor, where he began his career teaching fifth grade.
His childhood in the 1930s was "so different" from today's, he said. "My generation can span back to the Tom Sawyer days of the 1840s."
In fact, "It was the same for us as it was for Tom Sawyer. We had a lot of adventures around Hook Pond, Georgica Pond, Three Mile Harbor. We'd float a plank or a board or a barrel. Saturdays, you went out in the morning, and came home in the evening tired, dirty, with scrapes, your clothes ripped . . . that great magnet, water."
A gang of boys would head out on bikes and range as far as Montauk, he recalled. "We were free spirits. The woods were ours. Springy Banks, Hand's Creek, Ely Brook. . . ."
But the village itself, said Mr. Kelsall, was divided into "territories."
"Sometimes it was perilous to go 'below the bridge' " on North Main Street. "Being an upstreeter and being a below-the-bridger was a definite cutoff when I was a kid. I don't think I knew a real Bonacker until after the '38 hurricane."
Mr. Kelsall was in the Army from 1953 to 1955 and belongs to the American Legion. He recently became a life member of the East Hampton Fire Department, having served as a firefighter for 40 years. He is a trustee of the East Hampton Historical Society and a member of the vestry, choir, and lay ministry at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, where he was baptized and "expect[s] to go out feet first."
August 27, 1998 By Joanne Pilgrim East Hampton Star
The visitor who receives an invitation to linger a while on Trevor Kelsall's basement steps will gain a sense of bygone days in East Hampton, where Mr. Kelsall was born and expects to live out his days.
Hanging in the stairwell is a collection of icons that may jog a memory or two: a menu from Speed's "village restaurant" on Newtown Lane, a money bag from the Osborne Trust Company, a license plate advertising Willard Motors, and numerous giveaways - potholders, sewing kits, and the like - recalling past political campaigns. A tin Railway Express agency sign, Mr. Kelsall noted, was salvaged from the house of the late Carl Dordelman, a freight agent for the line.
Displayed elsewhere in the 1910 house are Jo Kelsall's prizewinning collection of old buttons and the whimsical, mirth-making medley of antique toys that Mr. Kelsall collects. Add to that the old tins that once held products for kitchen, garage, and bath, and the old-time kitchen tools hung here and there, and it is possible to believe you have traveled back in time.
Mr. Kelsall was appointed East Hampton Village historian a dozen years ago. "My office is up here, in my head," he said. The informal collection of memorabilia, which also includes letterheads from bygone businesses, serves as a homespun adjunct to the village's official records and artifacts, which are kept by the Town Clerk and at the East Hampton Library's Long Island Room.
Though his work as historian is low-key, ("It's a history-on-legs kind of thing"), Mr. Kelsall's broad range of knowledge will serve the town well on Oct. 1, when the floats and marchers in East Hampton Town's big 350th anniversary parade will follow the timeline he has arranged.
"We want it to be a history lesson," he said. After an American Legion color guard and Native American marchers, the parade will include about 70 floats and exhibits grouped in chronological order.
"The only thing that's bothering me is, when you're parade coordinator, you keep the horses till last," laughed the affable Mr. Kelsall. "But to be historically accurate, we can't." Marchers who come later in the timeline than the horse-and-buggy days will just have to watch their step, he said.
Mr. Kelsall himself will be a marcher, portraying Samuel (Fishhooks) Mulford, the 18th-century East Hamptoner who triumphed over the thieves of London by sewing barbs into his pockets. "A couple of little pickpockets" will orbit him.
Fifty years ago, Mr. Kelsall played a British Redcoat during the 300th anniversary parade, when his high school history class performed a re-enactment of "How the Redcoats Marauded East Hampton." His role had him pretending to steal a live pig, which, he admitted recently, was actually on a tether. (Those who witnessed the encounter still speak of it with awe.)
An English teacher at the Montauk School for 31 years, Mr. Kelsall grew up on East Hampton estates where his father was a caretaker. "I'm an upstreeter," he said. He is fondly remembered by ex-students from Montauk and Sag Harbor, where he began his career teaching fifth grade.
His childhood in the 1930s was "so different" from today's, he said. "My generation can span back to the Tom Sawyer days of the 1840s."
In fact, "It was the same for us as it was for Tom Sawyer. We had a lot of adventures around Hook Pond, Georgica Pond, Three Mile Harbor. We'd float a plank or a board or a barrel. Saturdays, you went out in the morning, and came home in the evening tired, dirty, with scrapes, your clothes ripped . . . that great magnet, water."
A gang of boys would head out on bikes and range as far as Montauk, he recalled. "We were free spirits. The woods were ours. Springy Banks, Hand's Creek, Ely Brook. . . ."
But the village itself, said Mr. Kelsall, was divided into "territories."
"Sometimes it was perilous to go 'below the bridge' " on North Main Street. "Being an upstreeter and being a below-the-bridger was a definite cutoff when I was a kid. I don't think I knew a real Bonacker until after the '38 hurricane."
Mr. Kelsall was in the Army from 1953 to 1955 and belongs to the American Legion. He recently became a life member of the East Hampton Fire Department, having served as a firefighter for 40 years. He is a trustee of the East Hampton Historical Society and a member of the vestry, choir, and lay ministry at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, where he was baptized and "expect[s] to go out feet first."
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