In the 1800s, after the Civil War, steamboats from New York City regularly traveled to and from the East End, unloading/loading passengers and goods. Ports of call included Sag Harbor, Orient, Greenport, Southold and New Suffolk. The eight hour journey on the wooden sidewheeler, WW. Coit , cost only two dollars! She was 172 feet long with a beam of 26 feet so she would have barely fit aside the present day New Suffolk Waterfront wharf.
With the help of our donors, the Waterfront painstakingly reconstructed the old Steamboat Wharf in the winter of 2020 finishing just in time for the summer season. It has become a favorite destination to watch the Wednesday evening Robins Island Sailboat Races and a sought after spot for fisherman to reel in a striper.
