{"id":11189,"date":"2023-02-08T12:32:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T17:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usnomadstudio.com\/usnomads\/?p=11189"},"modified":"2023-11-11T14:13:46","modified_gmt":"2023-11-11T19:13:46","slug":"elementor-11189","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/usnomadstudio.com\/usnomads\/?p=11189","title":{"rendered":"New York: Long Island"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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NY: LONG ISLAND<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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New York<\/h1>

Long Island NY<\/h5>

Our home base is on Long Island, NY, and these are a few of our favorite places close to home.<\/p>

Overview:<\/strong> The whole island is essentially part of the New York City metro area, characterized by sprawling suburbs and shopping centers — however, there are some interesting outdoor locations to explore, where you can experience something of the raw natural beauty of coastal beaches, pine barrens and a little bit of obscure military history. This area is all paved roads apart from a few short fishing access dirt roads — however if you are in the region, it is definitely worth spending some time enjoying the outdoors here.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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TOPOGRAPHY:<\/strong> Long Island is the largest island adjoining the contiguous United States, extending approximately 118 miles east-northeast from the mouth of the Hudson River. It is separated from the mainland on the north by the Long Island Sound and bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the south and east. Twenty miles at its widest point, Long Island is composed of low plateaus on the north, longitudinal ridges of glacial moraine through the central parts of the island, and gently sloping plains to the south. The landscape reflects the island\u2019s geological formation from glacial movement and coastal erosion. High topography and rocky beaches characterize much of the north shore of Long Island, while the sandy outwash plain and beaches represent the lower topography of the south shore. Glacial retreat left its mark throughout the interior of the island as well, with relatively flat plains, lakes and ponds that were formed from the maximum retreat of the Wisconsin ice sheet more than 18,000 years ago.<\/p>

The East End of the island is made up of two forks. The North Fork is approximately 28 miles long, the southern – terminating at Montauk Point – is about 44 miles in length. Peconic and Gardiners Bays separate the two forks.<\/p>

HISTORY:<\/strong> The island’s indigenous inhabitants fell into two linguistic groups with the Montauk (who spoke a language of the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language group) at the eastern half of the island, and the Delaware or Lenape (who spoke an Algonquian language called the Munsee dialect) in the west. In 1524 they encountered Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America from Florida to New Brunswick. Then came the Dutch and the English who stayed.<\/p>

The Shinnecock<\/a> were one of the first indigenous tribes to come into contact with the European settlers (the place of “first contact” now called “Conscience Point” is one of our waypoints). The Shinnecock people were master whalers, expert fisherman, hunters and farmers, sustaining themselves from the lands and waters around them, and they help the settlers learn to live off the lands. During the early stages of European settlement life continued as usual for the Shinnecock, but as colonization progressed, clashes over land became more frequent. Initially the English settlers purchased and paid for the land they occupied, but by 1662 there were complaints of European occupation of lands they hadn’t paid for. By 1686 the situation had changed and the colonizers began systematically pushing the indigenous peoples out of their homelands. This was also the beginning of the push to “assimilate” indigenous people by force — the Shinnecock were forced into the English way of life, forced to have English names and wear European-style clothing, forced into Christianity and the Church. Though many Shinnecock people taught their traditions underground, it proved very detrimental to their traditional way of life.<\/p>

Today there are only two recognized tribes on Long Island: The Shinnecock Nation and the Unkechaug Nation. The Shinnecock Nation<\/a> has a Reservation in Southampton and the Unkechaugi<\/a> band of Poospatuck have a reservation in Mastic.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The East End<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Long Island’s “East End” consists of two “forks” — the North Fork and the South Fork, with each offering a different kind of ambiance. (While there is a lot of tourism and social activity out there, it is still possible to get out into the woods and onto some of the wilder beaches if you time it right and avoid the peak summer seasonal crowds). There is a cluster of State Parks on the east end of the South Fork that taken together provide some great opportunities for exploring.<\/p>

As you wander some of these more remote trails, you can get a feeling for what this area was like before the arrival of European settlers.<\/p>

Long Island’s landscape once consisted of prairie which gradually gave way to a transition zone of scrub oak, heath plants and scattered pitch pines as one moved from west to east. Little remains of these unique areas, but on the eastern most part of the island, where pines grew taller and denser, a good portion of the natural landscape was protected. These “Pine Barrens” once stretched for 250,000 acres from west of the Connetquot River to Hampton Bays.<\/p>

The sandy soil — glacial outwash of the last Ice Age — is so porous that many traditional crops fared poorly without extensive soil amendments. Native plants, however, adapted themselves to near desert-like conditions and frequent brush fires. Pitch pines, scrub oaks and the understory \u201cheath plants\u201d\u2014-blueberry, huckleberry, wintergreen and so on\u2014-contain pitches and resins that actually promote their own burning. However, these plants store much of their energy in large underground roots, so that when a brush fire blackens the earth they re-sprout in great abundance, while competing, non-native species do not.<\/p>

Post-World War II development changed the island’s landscape forever. The Pine Barrens, too, dwindled to about 100,000 acres — saved by the 1993 Pine Barrens Protection Act.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Walking Dunes Hike<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Shadmoor Cliffs<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Camp Hero Radar Tower<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Napeague Bay<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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EAST END: FAVORITE LOCATIONS<\/h2>

Some of our favorite places on the South Fork of the East End include the Shadmoor Cliffs, Napeague Bay, Camp Hero Radio Tower and the Walking Dunes hike.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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ABOUT THE LANDSCAPE<\/h5>

The Long Island Pine Barrens<\/a> is a large area of publicly protected pine barrens in Suffolk County covering more than 100,000 acres. It is Long Island\u2019s largest natural area and its last remaining wilderness. The region contains a remnant of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion, whose forests might once have covered a quarter million acres on Long Island. Formed by a unique set of geological conditions over the past 15,000 years, the Pine Barrens is one of the Northeast\u2019s greatest natural treasures. Dry upland areas are dominated by the pitch pine that gives the region its name, though in many areas black, scarlet and white oak share the tree canopy. The Long Island Pine Barrens also contains a diverse range of wetland communities, including marshes, heath bogs, red maple swamps and rare Atlantic white cedar swamps. Animals in the Long Island Pine Barrens include over 100 bird species, and the region boasts the greatest diversity of plant and animal species anywhere in the state of New York.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\nThis sometimes scrubby tree survives in near desert-like conditions by sending huge taproots and lateral roots far into sandy soil. It's plate-like bark, full of insulating air pockets, allows the tree to survive fires as hot as 2,000 degrees if the crown remains intact.

\n\nPitch pines are also self-pruning, dropping their lower branches as a way of keeping their feet out of a fire.

\n\nSoft, light, and durable, but too coarse-grained for fine woodwork, old virgin stands of pitch pine often ended up as railroad ties and joists in log houses. Much pitch pine was burned to create charcoal. At the turn of the 20th Century, pitch pine was a staple of the box-manufacturing industry. Pitch pines were also a source of turpentine.

\n\nThe \u201chumble\u201d pitch pine, then, has played an important role in the lives of those who have lived in its shadow. <\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Montauk Point State Park<\/span><\/h5>

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HIGHLIGHTS: Montauk Lighthouse,
Shoreline hiking trails<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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Camp Hero State Park<\/span><\/h5>

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HIGHLIGHTS: Abandoned military
sites, Old radar tower,
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Shadmoor Preserve
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HIGHLIGHTS: Bluff Overlooks
<\/span>Bluff Hiking Trails,
Abandoned Military Sites\u00a0
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Hither Hills State Park
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\"\"<\/p>

HIGHLIGHTS: Beachside
Campground<\/span>,
Coastal Hikes
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Napeague State Park
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\"\"<\/p>

HIGHLIGHTS: Walking Dunes
<\/span>Hike, Napeague Bay,\u00a0
Coastal Wilderness,
Promised Land Ruins
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Montauk Point<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Camp Hero<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Napeague<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Hither Hills<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Shadmoor Preserve<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t
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Montauk Point<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t