New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Islip

1775 Articles of Association: One Long Island Community’s Experience

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New York Articles of Association, 1775The residents of Huntington, on Long Island, were quick to react to the first battle of the American Revolution when the local militia in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts successfully repulsed a British attempt to seize their arms on April 19, 1775.

A week later in the city of New York, the Committee of Sixty, which had been created the previous November, expressed its opinion “That at the present alarming Juncture, it is highly adviseable [sic] that a Provincial Congress be immediately summoned.” [Read more…] about 1775 Articles of Association: One Long Island Community’s Experience

Wildlife Rescuers Save Ducks, Osprey, Alligator & Rattlesnake

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ECO Perkins with distressed osprey discovered in Suffolk County in July 2025On July 30, NYS Environmental Conversation Officer (ECO) Perkins responded to the Bay Shore Marina in Islip, in Suffolk County on Long Island for a report of an injured osprey observed in a parking lot for hours.

Officer Perkins arrived and discovered the bird moving slowly and unable to fly. [Read more…] about Wildlife Rescuers Save Ducks, Osprey, Alligator & Rattlesnake

Sister of St. Joseph Preserve Long Island Pine Barrens Acreage

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DEC, the Sisters of St Joseph, local environmental groups, and elected officials gathered in July 2025 to mark the protection of a 43-acre pine barrens woodland in Suffolk County, NYNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) recently announced the permanent protection of more than 43 acres of globally rare pine barrens owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, in the town of Islip on Long Island.

DEC acquired a conservation easement from the Sisters and will jointly manage the property with them for groundwater and habitat protection and public access to open space in an area historically under-served by parkland. [Read more…] about Sister of St. Joseph Preserve Long Island Pine Barrens Acreage

Long Island Architect Robert Beattie’s Legacy

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Mid-century modern Church of St. Lawrence the Martyr in Sayville, Long Island, Robert Beattie architectRobert Beattie was many things: an architect, a designer of iconic public buildings on Long Island, and a decorated World War II veteran. As an architect, Beattie’s specialty was mid-century modern architecture.

Working with clean lines, natural light, and an appreciation of the surrounding landscape, he designed many iconic buildings on Long Island including MacArthur Airport terminal in Islip, the core buildings of Suffolk County Community College’s Ammerman Campus, and St. Lawrence Church in Sayville, NY. [Read more…] about Long Island Architect Robert Beattie’s Legacy

Wildlife Rescues: A Rattler, Falcon, Fawn, Ducklings & Eagle

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Ducklings rescued from a storm drain in Suffolk County in June 2024New York Almanack regularly reports on wildlife rescues that take place around the state. Recently New York State Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) rescued a number of wild animals from around New York State, including a peregrine falcon in Manhattan, a whitetail deer fawn in the Catskills, ducklings from a storm drain on Long Island, a rattlesnake in Letchworth State Park and a bald eagle at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Graycliff in Erie County. [Read more…] about Wildlife Rescues: A Rattler, Falcon, Fawn, Ducklings & Eagle

Tracing the Roots of Bayard Cutting Arboretum

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The Manor House and Great Lawn at Bayard Cutting Arboretum in early spring (State Parks)Bayard Cutting Arboretum is a 691-acre New York state park situated along the Connetquot River on the south shore of Long Island in the town of Islip.

The former Westbrook estate of Mr. William Bayard Cutting (1850-1912), a hobby botanist and conifer enthusiast, holds a rich history of landscape design and botanical specimens dating back to the nineteenth century. [Read more…] about Tracing the Roots of Bayard Cutting Arboretum

National Wildlife Refuges in New York State: A Guide

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National Wildlife Refuge SignThe National Wildlife Refuge System began on March 14, 1904, when President Theodore Roosevelt established the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. Since then the system has expanded to include more than 570 different refuges. There are 13 National Wildlife Refuges in New York State: two in Western New York, two in the Lower Hudson Valley/Catskills region, and nine on Long Island. [Read more…] about National Wildlife Refuges in New York State: A Guide

Lincoln, Bryant, and Cooper: An Arbor Day Story

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An oak tree at the Edgewood Preserve (Peter Ward, 2024)There is a map drawn on the inside cover of an old book. On its handwritten pages, the book tells the story of the earliest days of Brentwood’s schools; the schools of a hamlet in the middle of Long Island, some forty miles from New York City.

On the map we see part of the first school, an octagonal building erected among the pine barrens more than a century and a half ago. Across from it, along the fence at the edge of the school yard are three circles. Each is labeled: Abraham Lincoln, William Cullen Bryant, and J. Fennimore Cooper. What do these names mean? [Read more…] about Lincoln, Bryant, and Cooper: An Arbor Day Story

Long Island Endangered Historic Places List for 2023

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Kings Park Psychiatric Center, Courtesy of Preserve KPPCLong Island properties in Brentwood, Huntington, Kings Park, North Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Riverhead, and Smithtown are included in Preservation Long Island’s biennial list of Endangered Historic Places.

Preservation Long Island’s 2023 Endangered Historic Places List features seven nominated sites that span Long Island from a lighthouse on the Sound off Kings Point, to an early power plant in Riverhead. From historic homesteads to an expansive former mental health campus, the latest list highlights the historical richness of the region. [Read more…] about Long Island Endangered Historic Places List for 2023

Cranberry Bogs of Long Island: Some History & Natural History

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A Suffolk County Cranberry Bog in the early 20th century (courtesy Suffolk County HIstorical Society)Nearly everyone has enjoyed the several products derived from the fruit of the cranberry, but few people are familiar with the ecology of this interesting plant or the role it has played in many local economies and histories.

Today the cranberry industry is an important. part of the agricultural economy only in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. But many other parts of the country were at one time in­volved in cranberry production. [Read more…] about Cranberry Bogs of Long Island: Some History & Natural History

How the Bayport Blue Point Phantoms Got Their Name

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long island history project logoOn the latest Long Island History Project podcast Stephanie Eberhard-Holgerson’s journalism class at Bayport Blue Point (BBP) High School in Islip tries to solve a mystery. At the suggestion of BBP’s librarian Pam Gustafson, the class has spent the last year looking into the school’s mascot, The Phantoms. The takeaway is that the straightforward question “where did the name come from” has yielded a very convoluted answer. [Read more…] about How the Bayport Blue Point Phantoms Got Their Name

Long Island In The 1980s

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long island history project logoBayport and its immediate vicinity in Islip on the south shore of Long Island have some deep ties to history. There’s the Bayport Aerodrome with its vintage airplanes, the Meadowcroft Estate of John Ellis Roosevelt, and the roadside sphinx of the Anchorage Inn from the early 1900s.

But what would all this mean to a teenager in the early 1980s? Today we find out with Bayport native Rob Walch who grew up in the area during the age of video games and the Islanders dynasty. [Read more…] about Long Island In The 1980s

Work Begins On Bayard Cutting Arboretum Visitors Center

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rendering of Bayard Cutting ArboretumA $9.3 million construction project has begun on a new Visitor Center, improved parking, and enhanced exhibits at Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park in Suffolk County on Long Island. [Read more…] about Work Begins On Bayard Cutting Arboretum Visitors Center

Poachers Using Nets Face Charges in Suffolk, Sullivan Counties

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Over-the-limit menhaden, short fluke, and undersized crab haulsAccording to a press release issued by DEC, on August 17th, NYS Environmental Conservation Officers Dickson and Pabes responded to the Captree Fishing Pier at Captree State Park in Suffolk County on Long Island after receiving reports of anglers using nets to catch undersized crabs and other species. [Read more…] about Poachers Using Nets Face Charges in Suffolk, Sullivan Counties

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