Tag Archives: Ben Sohm
Long Island bayman still plying the waters, preserving traditions at 76
Ben Sohm stands on the second floor of his Amity Harbor home, surveying his surroundings through an expansive bay window. Below him, Ketcham Creek rolls its way to the Great South Bay, visible in the distance. His personal armada of a half dozen skiffs, duck-hunting and deep-sea fishing boats, is assembled along the dock abutting his house. Around him, arrayed on shelves that surround the living room, is his collection of vintage duck decoys, many carved a century ago by the baymen of Seaford, where Sohm grew up. But the most telling item in his collection is framed on the wall, near the carved ducks and family photos: A faded copy of Frank Roach’s New York State hunting license, issued in 1919. It was Roach, Sohm’s maternal grandfather, who inaugurated him into the life of a bayman, a tradition Sohm carries on, with aplomb, even at his own grandfatherly age of 76. Video, >click to read< 09:56
