Jet fighters once roamed the skies above Long Island. Grumman, the aviation powerhouse behind such planes as the Hellcat and the Avenger, turned its attention to jets by the end of the Second World War. And to test those jets, they turned to men like Bruce Tuttle. [Read more…] about Grumman’s Long Island Test Pilot Bruce Tuttle
Long Island Sound
Watchable Wildlife: Harbor Seals
New York’s most abundant seal is the harbor seal (Phoca vitulina), which can be found in the state’s marine waters from late fall to late spring. Harbor seals can range in color from brown, tan, or gray to silvery-white. [Read more…] about Watchable Wildlife: Harbor Seals
Death By Fire And Ice: The Steamboat Lexington Calamity
In January 1840 the steamboat Lexington left Manhattan bound for Stonington, Connecticut, at four o’clock in the afternoon on a bitterly cold day carrying an estimated one hundred forty-seven passengers and crew and a cargo of, among other things, baled cotton.
After making her way up an ice-encrusted East River and into Long Island Sound, she caught fire off Eaton’s Neck on Long Island’s north shore at approximately seven o’clock. The fire quickly ignited the cotton stowed on board. [Read more…] about Death By Fire And Ice: The Steamboat Lexington Calamity
Records Reveal an Overlooked Hero of the Culper Spy Ring
In late 1777, Patriot and Long Island-native Selah Strong was arrested for what in present-day terms would be regarded as spying. While Selah’s spouse, Anna “Nancy” Strong, and his close friends would be considered part of George Washington’s Culper Spy Ring, only a few historians have included Selah as a member.
This network of spies operated during the Revolutionary War and smuggled information out of the British headquarters in New York City via British-occupied Long Island and across the Long Island Sound, eventually to the Commander-in-Chief himself. By re-examining primary sources for the first time in hundreds of years, Selah’s heroic role in the Culper Spy Ring finally comes to light. [Read more…] about Records Reveal an Overlooked Hero of the Culper Spy Ring
2022 Long Island Sound Seaweed Bioextraction Symposium
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the 2022 Long Island Sound Seaweed Bioextraction Symposium will be held virtually this year on May 18th and 19th, from 1 to 5 pm. [Read more…] about 2022 Long Island Sound Seaweed Bioextraction Symposium
New Whelk Regulations Effective May 11
Effective May 11th, 2022, the minimum size limit for whelk (sea snails) is 5½ inches shell length or 2¼ inches shell height for all marine waters of New York State except Long Island Sound Region (LIS). [Read more…] about New Whelk Regulations Effective May 11
1940s Tugboat, Barge Sunk For Artificial Reef
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced the deployment of two steel vessels, the Chickadee on the McAllister Grounds Reef and Barge 226 on Smithtown Reef, as part of the State’s ongoing efforts to expand New York’s network of artificial reefs.
These final deployments for 2021 continue to build on DEC’s efforts to develop a stronger, more diverse marine ecosystem and provide shelter for fish and other marine life off New York’s shores. [Read more…] about 1940s Tugboat, Barge Sunk For Artificial Reef
NYC Plans to Demolish Historic Hart Island Buildings
The city of New York plans to tear down most of the historic buildings on Hart Island, where more than one million people are buried in unmarked graves. The city declared an emergency, which bypasses cultural resource and environmental reviews.
New York State designated the entire island off the coast of the Bronx eligible for listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places in 2016. About 20 institutional and residential structures remain at the mile-long site, including a women’s insane asylum built in 1885 known as “The Pavilion,” a 1912 electrical generating dynamo building, and a 1930s Catholic chapel – 18 are planned to be demolished. [Read more…] about NYC Plans to Demolish Historic Hart Island Buildings