Wainscott Sewing Society is 100 (1969)

by Amy Osborn Bassford

East Hampton Star, July 24 1969

The Wainscott sewing Society celebrated its 100th anniversary last Saturday evening with an “old fashioned country supper” in the Wainscott Chapel. The ladies served a traditional menu of baked ham, homemade baked beans, potato salad and coleslaw, with gingerbread and whipped cream for dessert - real whipped cream, from cows, not something you squeeze out of a plastic bottle!

The exact date of the founding of the society is not known, because early record books have not survived. But the Star of May 12, 1916, reported the celebration of the Society's 47th anniversary, at which a supper in the Chapel was attended by “between 100 and 200 ladies”.

The report noted that “the tables were beautifully decorated with sweet peas of a deep pink, the gift of the Misses Jenny and Florence Osborn.” A list of the charter members of the Society, compiled some years after its founding, exists in the files.

In the beginning, members met once a month at each other's homes sold diligently for the poor, and lightened their labors by much friendly to chat and a dish of tea. The dish of tea eventually became a lavish supper, to which each Hostess contributed the choices dishes she knew how to make.

Bundles for Orphans
By the early 1890’s, possibly earlier, the ladies had begun to put on an annual fair, and the funds raised by selling fancy articles, homemade cakes and cookies, ice cream, candy and toys, were used to help along their various worthy causes. In the early years, the fair was held in the schoolhouse, then the only building in Wainscott available for Community Affairs. Boxes of clothing were regularly sent to”The Home for the Friendless,” an orphan asylum in New York, contributions were made to other charitable organizations, and local civic projects were helped. The society worked to help pay for the fence that was built around the cemetery, and for the sidewalks on Main Street.

Sometime before 1903, another organization had been founded in Wainscott -- the Wainscott Improvement Society -- and in 1903, that Society bought a lot from Oliver S. Osborn, on which they propose to erect a Community Chapel. In 1907, Bridgehampton built a new school, and the old building was bought by the Wainscott Improvement Society and moved to their lot on Main Street, where it is served ever since as a community center.

Charter
For a number of years, the Sunday afternoon Sunday School and the Sunday evening prayer meeting that had formerly been held in the schoolhouse, we're continued in the Chapel, and religious services are still held there occasionally. Title to the property was held by the Village Improvement Society until 1953.

In that year, that organization conveyed title to the Wainscott Sewing Society, which had been incorporated in 1945 as a non-profit organization for “civic, social, charitable, philanthropic, eleemosynary & benevolent purposes.” The Wainscott Village Improvement Society disbanded not long afterward.

The Wainscott sewing Society contributes regularly to the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Cancer Fund, March of Dimes and the Wainscott Cemetery Association. During the Second World War, boxes of food and clothing were sent to refugee families in France and the Philippines. The ladies also organized and helped finance a fund for planting new trees on Wainscott Main Street.

The present officers of the Society are: Mrs. Leroy H. Osborn, president: Mrs. Leslie Wilson, vice president; and Mrs. Raymond H. Osborn, secretary-treasurer. Meetings are held monthly during the winter months, and the annual Fair still is held. (This summer the hundredth anniversary supper was substituted for the fair.)

Charter Members
Charter members of the society in 1869 were: Mrs. Abner strong, Mrs. Levi Hedges, Mrs. Henry van Scoy, Mrs. James Austin, Mrs. Samuel Milford, Mrs. Andrew Strong, Mrs. John S Osborne, Mrs. Isaac Hopping, Mrs. Jacob Hopping, Mrs. Nathan Osborn, Mrs. David Edwards, Mrs. Isaac King, Mrs. John Hand, Mrs. Libby Osborn, Mrs. Herman Strong, Mrs. Charles Hedges, Mrs. Albert Hand, Mrs. Cornelius Conklin, Mrs. James H topping, Miss Mary Wood, Mrs. Betsy Hand, Mrs. Dayton Hedges, and Mrs. Thomas Osborn.

100 Years of community service is something to be proud of. All Wainscott wishes the Sewing Society good luck for the century to come.