Old Home Week: Blair Reunion Renews a Family History in Stone Harbor That Goes Way Back
The second floor and silo were added in 1978.
By Dave Bontempo
It seemed like just another July evening at Springer’s.
But amid the ice cream-eating congregation stood a family hard to miss. The members assembled like an Army, decked out in T-shirts proclaiming Stone Harbor memories and a special occasion. This was the Blair Reunion, celebrating the extended family’s history here that goes back more than 100 years, one of the longest family threads on the island.
That’s right, one family spanning a century of inventions, Olympic Games, presidential elections, world wars, and the launch of the internet, right here.
This reunion was a weeklong event, gathering nearly 50 people from several states, six generations, and ages ranging from 5 months to 71 years old. The Blair group rented a string of Stone Harbor homes and recalled a bevy of 7 Milestones.
This pilgrimage was the only time the entire family has been together for the past year. That underscored the joy of the week.
Stone Harbor shares its hosting role for the Blair family every two years with different West Coast sites.
But here, the memories run deep. It’s where some family members enjoyed their most signature moments.
“The reason we all come back is that this is one of the safest places to let my kids be kids,” says Kary Blair Love, the North Carolina resident considered the family expert in this matter. “One of my fondest memories was being 8 years old here and playing miniature golf all by myself. Parents let kids do that then.
“Stone Harbor is a wholesome town. It’s a place I can park my car for a week and not use it. It’s just about family, and the beach is perfect, too. It’s always sad when we leave because Stone Harbor is such a big part of us.”
Deep family roots
This group descends on Stone Harbor from North Carolina, Texas, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Louisiana. The members return to a place that, for some, mark a life journey from childhood vacation memories and home ownership to modern-day renting of vacation spots.
They re-embrace a venue that brought incomparable memories.
Love says she knows of at least five family members who met their spouses in Stone Harbor.
“That includes my grandparents and my parents,” she says. “Then you have my mom’s sister Judy Beard, who met Fred Beard. My cousin Charlie Hendee met his wife Dana, who has Small Craft Advisory near Springer’s, and my niece Lisa met her husband, Ryan Mayet. Ryan came up one summer as a guest of my old college roommate who spent a summer with me at Stone Harbor in our college years.
“The town has changed, but the memories are always there.”
How can one chronicle more than 100 years of memories in one place?
Here are excerpts from Love’s view on different periods.
“You could say my family tree was planted on 105th Street in the summer of 1957,” she recalls. “That is when my parents Jane Bollman and Skip Blair met. But the roots of our tree had been growing there long before that in Stone Harbor.”
Love’s father had spent most of his childhood summers in Stone Harbor. His mother’s family, the Mellors, bought their home on 106th between First and Second Avenues in 1920. It was the fifth house on the island and they were the second owners, she remembers. The house was huge, with rooms for their families to grow up.
That included six children (Clover, Roz, Barney, Helen, Betty, and Faith). For many years, all of them and their families enjoyed summers in that house.
Love says that her grandmother met her grandfather, Charles (“Woody”) Woodbury Blair, while out one night at the beach. His family descended from the namesakes of the famous Blair House in Washington. (The Blair House is called the President’s Guest House and has hosted luminaries, including President Harry Truman, since the 1800s.)
He was the only Blair to have male descendants today to carry on the Blair name.
“My father, Rev. Dr. Charles Woodbury Blair II, was his only child,” she adds.
“My mother’s family had their third house in Stone Harbor on the beach of 105th Street,” Love recalls. “My grandparents, Paul and Dora Bollman, were the first of many of the Bollman Hat factory family to start vacationing in Stone Harbor. My mother, Jane Bollman Blair, said she remembers her hot pink bathing suit that she got when she was 3, playing on the beach. That would have been 1942. Her sister, Judy Beard, said her father dug a hole in the sand in 1943, so her mom could lay on her belly when she was pregnant with her.”
Long before Stone Harbor hosted a reunion, it was helping to form unions.
“My uncle Paul Bollman and my father were early childhood beach friends,” Love remembers. “One day they were on the beach and my dad looks up and sees [the woman who became] my mother in a black bathing suit. He says, ‘Wow, look at her!’ “My uncle says, “Oh, that is just my sister. I have to entertain her tonight, so why don’t we double date?’”
“She dropped out of Duke the next year to marry my father in June,” Love adds. “They spent the first two months of their marriage in a small rental house in Stone Harbor driving around town in Dad’s white T-Bird. That is where our family tree started to sprout. My brother [Chip Blair] showed up on prom night years later with the same model of T-bird that Dad had.”
Her grandmother, Roz Blair, and sisters, Faith Platt and Betty Amlung, bought houses in the Manor and Barney Mellor and Helen Greenlee bought houses on the island after the big house on 106th was sold.
Kary’s childhood
Her parents bought the Blair’s Barn on 100th Street and First Avenue when she was 5. This was in 1966, decades before devices that babysat children.
“In our early years, our dad never let us have a TV or telephone in our house,” she recalls. “He said we needed to find other ways to entertain ourselves. So, Stone Harbor was our quality time. George and Edna Bollman also had a house on the beach on 102nd. We spent our summers walking around the island and over the 96th Street bridge, visiting all our family in their homes.
“In 1978, my grandmother sold her house in the Manor to add on to our house. We added the second floor and the silo on our barn and she moved in.”
Love has fond memories of water skiing in the bay and clamming at the point. She played games on the concession stands and with the lifeguard stands after the guards left. The kids always felt safe running around town playing miniature golf, shuffleboard, and even bowling at the bowling alley.
“Some of our favorite spots are still there … like Springer’s, Hoy’s, Uncle Bill’s, and of course, Fred’s,” she indicates. “I miss the old days of lunches at the Shelter Haven or Vogel’s and dinner at the Yacht Club having dessert-eating contests. I always loved the Festival of Lights, the baby parade and the sandcastle contest on July 4.
“I spent many summers staying with our grandmother and working jobs like Seashore Home Supply and Taylor’s Restaurant.“
Sadly, Love’s father died young at 47. The house was eventually willed to the siblings, but they did not like the duties of renting, cleaning, painting, and fixing it to pay bills. They sold the home, began renting and looked at Stone Harbor in a different way.
“Since then, our family has done a family reunion every other summer and our kids, and now their kids, love it as much as we do,” she indicates. “For one week, our kids get to experience Stone Harbor the way it was for us. Riding bikes to their cousins’ house and meeting up with the whole group when we take turns fixing dinner.
“Each family takes a night to cook. Uncle Doug always has shish kebab night, Uncle Chip’s family led by son-in-law Ryan Mayet always have Cajun food like étouffée or gumbo. This year we did a pasta bar facilitated by my son-in-law Cameron [after managing Pug Ryan’s in Dillon, Colo.).”
But the night that is the longest living tradition is lobster night, she indicates.
“My grandmother used to always do it for us near her August birthday. So, when my brother Mike became a doctor, he took it on as his duty in honor of her. She told him when he was little he would be a doctor. We also always do a T-shirt that some decorate or tie dye. It is also our tradition to make a trek out to the point every trip to take family pictures on the “Stones” of Stone Harbor.“
Love has a poignant view of assessing memories, loved ones, and the passage of time.
“Some people visit a cemetery to remember their ancestors who have died,” she says. “I visit Stone Harbor to remember my ancestors who LIVED!”
Her niece, Lisa Mayet, also has everlasting memories of Stone Harbor. She met her husband here, and it’s where he asked her to marry him.
With panache, mind you. Ryan had all the cousins put candles on the beach that said “Marry Me?” The rest, for them, is history.
“The legacy of our family in Stone Harbor is the most special thing to me,” Mayet indicates. “Our grandparents met here and had special memories here. So did our parents, us, and now our children. I met my husband here, was engaged, and announced a pregnancy. Having all your memories in one place is so special to be able to come back to and remember and relive.”
The Blair family story resembles some others throughout the Stone Harbor summers. But few go back so far, so deep, and with such affection for a place that launched many of their highest moments.
The T-shirts are more than a conversation starter. They weave a deep tale.
More than a century’s worth.
