The funny thing is, I’m not that crazy about fishing. Or hunting.  I do, however, love to research and one of the things I’ve been researching a lot the last few years is the history of Oakdale, New York. And  any history of Oakdale will lead, of course, to the history of the South Side Sportsmen’s Club, an incorporated group of New York sportsmen founded in 1866 along the Connetquot River in the town of Islip.

But that just scratches the surface because the Sportsmen started by buying out the Inn of Obadiah Snedecor. And Obadiah inherited the Inn from his father, Eliphalet Snedecor. And before Eliphalet, a man named Jackson ran the Inn and the adjoining mill. And the mill was built in the 18th century by William Nicoll.

And besides the millpond and the Connetquot River, the whole south shore of the Island drew fishermen and hunters out from New York City. First they came by the ferries to Brooklyn, making their way out through Jamaica, then the Hempstead Plains, turning along the South Country Road to stop at every road house, brook, lake, and trout pond they could find.

So with Oakdale as my starting point, I started fishing deeper and deeper waters. I started finding earlier and earlier accounts of anglers and deer hunters in the wilds of Islip. I came across profiles of legendary tavern owners bent on besting each other in ever more elaborate practical jokes. I uncovered tales of Tammany Hall judges, US Senators, Indian guides and former British soldiers. Epic horse races, devil trout, mint juleps, mermaids and more. Taken together it’s a landscape that combines elements of Mark Twain, Damon Runyon and every horse racing movie ever made. To top it all off, they called themselves Good Fellows long before Martin Scorsese picked up the term.

What to do with all these stories? I’m going to post them here, one by one, with some commentary and notes about the context of each. Some you may have heard, some will hopefully be new to you. If you have anything to add (or correct) feel free to email me or post a comment.