to sell 122 lots in the new subdivision while building a private harbor for yachts, a large landing dock, and a private park facing the harbor. The Smadbecks, who sold more than 700,000 lots around the country, had purchased the property from the Sammis family, which had owned it since buying most of Fire Island in 1855 when they built the Surf Hotel near the Fire Island Lighthouse, in what is now the community of Kismet. The basic Smadbeck layout of the Pines remains to this day, including the Botel which was designed to be a simple, no-frills, dormitory-style accommodation for those who docked their yachts in the harbor. Among the earliest property owners were Pola Negri, Xavier Cugat, Mary Martin and Joan McCracken. A 15-year-old Jane Fonda taught dance classes. Peggy Fears Peggy Fears, a Broadway showgirl, had discovered Lone Hill on an outing to a neighboring Fire Island community. Fears built the original yacht club. Part of the construction was a cinder block hotel which still stands today. She invested $10,000 and bought an inlet on Great South Bay. In 1959, she paid off the last of her debt on her property. It was then valued at $350,000. The now more known landscape of Fire Island Pines took shape after the Botel and associated yacht club buildings burned on May 31, 1959. Fears rebuilt Botel. While a resident of Fire Island, she had a stormy romantic relationship with Tedi Thurman, famed in the 1950s as the sexy voice of Miss Monitor on NBC's Monitor. Thurman was interviewed about her life with Fears for Crayton Robey's documentary film When Ocean Meets Sky (2003), which features Sara Ramirez as the voice of Peggy Fears. In 1966 she sold out her interest to John B. Whyte. John B. Whyte Former model John B. Whyte encouraged its reputation as a gay destination after buying the rebuilt Botel Pines and Dunes Yacht Club in the 1960s (Cherry Grove was already a gay destination when Whyte developed the Pines). The Botel, which was known as The Hotel Ciel from 2004 to 2012, is still the central landmark and only hotel in the Pines. The conversion to a gay destination proved divisive among the initial owners. A large sign near the dock read, "Welcome to Fire Island Pines A Family Community." It also proclaimed "We believe in a community that is clean both morally and