Hometown memoir

Kelly McMasters knows two Shirleys. The first is an Eden of transplanted borough-breds who ached for a piece of the "country" and found it on Suffolk County's South Shore.

[Walter Greenspan]

Shirley is a hamlet, not a town.

For those who may not be familiar with Shirley:

Shirley is a hamlet (an unincorporated community) in the southeast part of the Town of Brookhaven, in the south-central part of Suffolk County.

Beginning on the north and moving in a clockwise direction, the Hamlet of Shirley in the Town of Brookhaven is bordered on the north by the Hamlet of Yaphank and the Hamlet of Manorville; on the east by the Hamlet of Manorville, the Hamlet of Mastic and the Hamlet of Mastic Beach; on the south by Bellport Bay; and, on the west by the Hamlet of Brookhaven and the Hamlet of Yaphank.

For a map of the Hamlet of Shirley:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28...

The Hamlet of Shirley has a different border than does the "Shirley, NY 11967" ZIP code postal zone (i.e., a place can have a "Shirley, NY 11967" mailing address and not be in the Hamlet of Shirley and a place can have other than a "Shirley, NY 11967" mailing address and be in the Hamlet of Shirley): places that have a "Shirley, NY 11967" mailing address that are not in the Hamlet of Shirley are in the Hamlet of Mastic and the Hamlet of Mastic Beach; and, at the same time, there are places in the Hamlet of Shirley with a "Mastic, NY 11950" mailing address.

For a good set of town-by-town maps showing all the villages and hamlets in each of LI's 13 towns:

http://www.lipower.org/company/pubs/popsurvey...

[Not Compassionate]

This McMasters woman is wacko....She teaches? She should be confined in an institution.

[Ken Spooner]

As someone who is a recognized historian and former resident of the Shirley area, I was truly looking forward to the arrival of this book. Ms. McMasters contacted me several years ago for both information and potential people to interview for it.

After reading it, I have to say about the only thing I can agree with is that what happened to the Shirley area is indeed a sad tale. But I am also saddened that Ms. McMasters, who is a talented writer, would use her talent to distort history to support her thesis. There are just TOO MANY factual errors and half truths here about the basic history of the town and the area to be dismissed as just sloppy work. Because of that I can only say that her far bigger picture of the enviormental dangers both real and imaginary of having a nuclear facility looming in Shirley's back yard is greatly diminished. If you are interested in an in depth review with many of the books errors pointed out in detail just go to The Knapps Lived Here website and look on the left side of the main page in the green area. Or if this forum allows it, her is link : http://spoonercentral.com/2008/MyTake.html

[Ken Spooner]

Typos ... I hate 'em especially when I make them
HERE is the link:
http://spoonercentral.com/2008/MyTake.html

[Troll Killer]

I didn't know Mastoids could read or write. How anyone could write wistfully about Shirley, Mastic or Mastic Beach is beyond me. If McMasters is blind to the cesspit that the area is and has been for a long time, I guess it can be blamed on the tritium laced BNL ground water plume moving southward.