The history in the grounds of the Rams Head Inn on Shelter Island just got five times cuter. This past November, three lambs became the newest permanent guests to reside at Rams Head Inn’s waterfront location. Three-year-old Mary, seven-month-old Sweet Caroline, and 9-month-old George Hamilton can be seen grazing the lawns outside. In late April, Mary gave birth to two little lambs, Frankie and Dino, expanding the cute-ness to five.
Rams Head Inn was built in 1919 by pioneer Joan Covey. The Bennett Family purchased the Inn from Covey in the 1940s, and it has been independently owned ever since. Current steward Andrea Carter came into ownership of the Inn in 2021 and has been committed to preserving the rich history this Inn brings to Shelter Island.
So, “Why lambs?” you might ask. Why not? Seems to be the answer! The herd of five are South Down Baby Doll Sheep, whose ancestors originated in England and Scotland and are considered a Heritage Breed. They will only reach about 110 pounds in size and are the perfect addition to the Island, as their ancestors were bred in similar climates. There’s no longer a need for lawnmowers at the Rams Head Inn! Mary, Sweet Caroline, George Hamilton, Frankie, and Dino neatly chow down on the grass so that it remains just two inches off the ground. Their roaming pens are moved around often to ensure that over-grazing doesn’t occur. And get this! Andrea Carter’s English border collie, Mike, herds the lambs into their enclosures when needed. This pastoral scene feels fitting for the Inn’s long-standing history.
If these new additions weren’t enough to make you want to visit Rams Head Inn, let’s travel back to June 2, 1947. The Inn is most known for hosting the first Shelter Island Conference on the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. The three-day conference served as the first time, after the Manhattan Project and the attack on Pearl Harbor, that leading American physicists were able to gather. Interestingly enough, a major talking point at the Shelter Island conference was the “Lamb Shift”– a theory founded just a few weeks prior by American physicist Willis Lamb. The theory found that “when probing hydrogen atoms with microwave beams, one of the two possible quantum states had slightly more energy than predicted by the Dirac theory.” Although a seemingly small discovery, it was important in proving that quantum electrodynamics, or QEDs, were progressing.
Perhaps the additions of Mary, Sweet Caroline, George Hamilton, Frankie, and Dino can be seen as an ode to even more of the Inn’s rich history. You can visit them and see all that the Rams Head Inn has to offer at 108 S Ram Island Drive on Shelter Island.
