Business & Tech
Sayville Ferry: A Family Business with a Long History
For more than 100 years the Stein family has been ferrying people to Fire Island.
Every summer for more than 100 years, the Stein family has been taking beachgoers across the Great South Bay to the oceanfront communities of Fire Island.
Sayville Ferry has always been a family run business. Ken Stein, president of the company, is the fifth generation to take travelers between Sayville and Fire Island. The long history of ferries in Sayville starts with Ken's great-great-grandfather, Karl Stein, who founded Sayville Ferry in the late-1800s.
Karl was 15 years old when he hopped a freighter ship from Europe headed to New York City. He ended up in the Dutch-speaking community of West Sayville, where he married the daughter of a prominent family in town. When he was discouraged from going into the family business with his brother-in-laws, he started a mechanic shop in West Sayville.
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In those days, the only way to get to Fire Island was to hire a sailboat. There were no organized communities, just squatters and day trippers. Karl always loved sailing boats and started ferrying people to the barrier beach on weekends as a hobby and a way to make extra money.
The first official ferry boat was a 31-foot gaff rig named Mildred A. that set sail in 1894. In 1897, Karl launched a motorized ferry boat, but it still remained a side job. Karl's son Frederick started Stein's Boat Yard, but still did the ferries as a second job. Frederick had a son named Kenneth Stein Sr. that ran the family ferry business from the 1940s to 1960s. It was in this time period when towns on Fire Island started to become organized and ferrying people there became a full-time business.
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With three ferry boats, Ken Stein Sr. started most of the ferry routes that are still in place today. When Cherry Grove and The Pines were being built, he helped bring the heavy equipment to Fire Island that cleared the way for boardwalks and houses. The Pines honored his hard work by naming the last two walks in this new community after his daughters Sandy and Susan.
Ken Stein Sr. had a son, Kenneth Stein Jr., who successfully continued the family ferry business. Ken Jr.'s son Kenneth Stein III is currently at the helm of Sayville Ferry. Ken III started working there at age 14, moving his way through the ranks to become president. Many other family members have been a part of Sayville Ferry at one time. Ken's mother Judy Stein and sister Gwen also work there.
During the height of its season, Sayville Ferry has about 75 employees from ticket-takers to boat captains. It's also a popular summer job for students. Amy McCormack, home from college for the summer, works in the ticket window. She comes back every year after her sister got her the job four summers ago.
"It is a great place to work and interesting because I met so many different people traveling on the ferries," McCormack said.
Sayville Ferry Service's fleet includes six passenger boats and one freight boat that service four communities on Fire Island. On any given summer day they have about 1,000 people traveling on their boats. Ferries run daily from March 15 to Dec. 20 with the peak season during the summer months. From Dec. 21 to March 14, weather permitting, there is ferry service on weekends only to Cherry Grove and The Pines. The freight boat runs every day in the summer to bring supplies to the restaurants and stores at the beach.
Rob Karl rents a beach house every year at The Pines with his wife, two kids and dog.
"We love our vacation at the beach, but we have a lot of stuff we need to get to our rental house," Karl said. "The ferry staff always helps us as we try to get everything we packed on the ferry, including food for the week."
The beaches Sayville Ferry services are Cherry Grove, The Pines, Water Island and Sailors Haven. Cherry Grove and The Pines are year-round communities with about 80 percent of their residents coming from New York City. Most of them travel the Long Island Railroad to the Sayville Train Station, where taxis and buses wait to take passengers on a five-minute drive to the Sayville Ferry terminal. These two beach communities have plenty of restaurants and stores, but there are no public restrooms or lifeguards on the beaches.
Water Island is a more secluded community with no restaurants, stores, public bathrooms or lifeguards. Sailors Haven is part of Fire Island National Seashore and includes Sunken Forest. With no houses, this beach is geared toward day-trippers with lifeguards, public restrooms, nature walks and a snack stand.
