New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Suffolk County

History Plaque Installed At Hashamomuck Marine Waterway Access Site

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new plaque honoring the Reiter familyThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has unveiled a plaque and planted a tree to recognize the family of Carl D. and Helen Reiter, whose contribution in their names made possible the new Hashamomuck Marine Waterway Access Site in Southold, Suffolk County.

The site, opened last June, is DEC’s first and only unrestricted Waterway Access Site on the Peconic Bay and will provide public fishing and recreational boating access to this popular waterbody. [Read more…] about History Plaque Installed At Hashamomuck Marine Waterway Access Site

Art of Edward Lange Project Launched With Website, Events

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Edward Lange, [Northport, Lower Main Street], 1880 from the Collection of Preservation Long IslandPreservation Long Island has announced the Art of Edward Lange Project, a collaborative effort to reexamine the life and art of Edward Lange (1846–1912), a German immigrant and prolific landscape painter who worked in and around Huntington, Long Island during the 1870s and 1880s. Lange sketched and painted town centers, local businesses, and private residences. [Read more…] about Art of Edward Lange Project Launched With Website, Events

Early Auto Racing in New York

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a new york minute in history podcastOn this episode of A New York Minute in History, Devin and Lauren discuss a recently installed William G. Pomeroy marker recognizing a 1900 auto race in Suffolk County, New York, and the importance of racing in automobile history.

Was that race to Babylon really the first of its kind in the United States? And how did Watkins Glen International get its start? [Read more…] about Early Auto Racing in New York

Horrific Homicides & Long Island Judge Thomas Stark

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long island history project logoThomas M. Stark served as a judge in Suffolk County and New York State beginning in the early 1960s.

During his career he presided over a number of important cases but the one that loomed largest was the murder of the DeFeo family at their home in Amityville by their son Ronald in 1974. Stark’s daughter Ellen remembers hearing about the case over dinner while the rest of the world remembers it as the Amityville Horror case. [Read more…] about Horrific Homicides & Long Island Judge Thomas Stark

Long Island Section of NYS Birding Trail Goes Live

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Long Island NYS Birding TrailDEC has announced the grand opening of the Long Island segment of the New York State Birding Trail. The Long Island segment includes 20 locations throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties, providing a variety of quality birding experiences for New Yorkers and visitors to enjoy. [Read more…] about Long Island Section of NYS Birding Trail Goes Live

Oyster Slurpers: A Tale of Two Rivers

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The Cryes of the City of LondonFor thousands of years the Thames provided London’s inhabitants with a plentiful supply and variety of fish. Until the 1820s locally caught fish was the city’s staple diet. Subsequent pollution of the river drove many professional fishermen and their families into financial ruin because of the collapse of fish populations.

Up until the twentieth century New York Harbor oysters reigned as the quintessential New York food long before pizza, pretzels, bagels, or hot dogs took their place. The metropolis once was a Big Oyster. There too, reckless management of the marine environment led to the obliteration of a huge natural resource. [Read more…] about Oyster Slurpers: A Tale of Two Rivers

Woodhull Dam Fish Passage Construction Underway

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river herring courtesy DECDEC, Suffolk County, town of Southampton, and Peconic Estuary Partnership (PEP) announced the start of construction on a nearly $1 million fish passage through Woodhull Dam on the Little River in Riverhead.

The fish passage is essential to restoring critical spawning and maturation habitat for river herring and American eel and will help produce sustainable populations of fish species that are valuable resources for a healthy and productive marine ecosystem. [Read more…] about Woodhull Dam Fish Passage Construction Underway

DEC’s Opens New Division of Marine Resources Headquarters

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DEC, State Parks, and Suffolk County officials cutting the ribbon at DEC Marine Resources HeadquartersNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) new Marine Resources headquarters has opened in the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation’s Nissequogue River State Park, Kings Park, in Suffolk County. [Read more…] about DEC’s Opens New Division of Marine Resources Headquarters

British Forts on Long Island

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long island history project logoDavid Griffin has turned his architectural eye to the landscape of Long Island and to the history of the Revolutionary War-era fortifications built by the British.

His book, Lost British Forts of Long Island (History Press, 2017), documents the painstaking results: twelve locations throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties with evidence of our occupied past. Using maps, eye-witness accounts, and present day research, Griffin has uncovered much of what has been hiding in plain sight. [Read more…] about British Forts on Long Island