my way

I'll take advantage of a quiet (warm but windy) day to describe the territory that I usually cover every morning, spring to fall. This 10.5 acre East Quogue property is on Weesuck Creek at the point where it opens out and empties into Shinnecock Bay; opposite is the Pine Neck sanctuary, formerly belong to the De Ropp family and now a Nature Conservancy sanctuary. Our 10.5 was acquired from the Randall family (or a subsequent real estate investor who was going bankrupt) by my parents in the 1940s and consiste of about half wetlands, half uplands that had been cleared. Over the years, the upland areas grew back into woodlands dominated by Red Cedar, Pitch Pine and various oaks. More recently, Mockernut Hickory has replaced the oaks as the dominant tree over part of the woods. Red Maple and Tupelo have flourished in wet areas or where the water table is close to the surface. All of these trees, but especially the Pitch Pines, were severely impacted by Irene and Sandy particularly where they were exposed around the edges of the marsh. The marsh itself is formed around fresh water in the form of an old stream that used to originate north of Montauk Highway but now consists mostly of underground flow. The edge is fringed by a shrub layer consisting mostly of Ivo and Baccharis and there is a fair amount of invasive Phragmites. The main marsh grass is now Spartina alterniflora with a smaller area of S. Patens. The stream flow is still obvious at the top of the marsh -- what I call the head of the marsh -- but widens out into an open water area and then narrows again, making a turn north into a stable pond which, in turn, has a narrow exit north into Weesuck Creek. This entire stretch has a two-way flow with salt water coming in on the twice-a-day high tides that flow through the main stream bed but also, at very high tides, through a couple of secondary break-throughs. The far edge of the marsh, bordering Weesuck Creek, is enclosed by a miniature dune line interrupted only by one of those tidal break-throughs. Unless you are willing to wade through water at one end of the pond or the other or brave some marsh muck, this part of the property is only easily reachable from Bay Avenue across the town park that hosts our big Purple Martin colony.

My usual morning path takes me from the house though a lightly wooded area (many dead trees) down to the pond where I can survey the creek, part of bay and most of the marsh. I then follow a path along the edge of the marsh; depending on the tide, I either head straight out to the middle of the marsh -- a great spot with a 360 degree view
-- or keep skirting the edge. This turns right (west) following the narrowing wetlands to the head of the marsh where there is a formerly wooded area now opened up by storms and dominated by a mix of live trees, dead standing wood and lots of shrubs; some of the best birds are here. The path cuts into the woodland edge and out onto the old, original right-of-way near the point where it turns west to join Randall Lane. Now I can take that old right-of-way back to the house or continue onto Randall Lane and then through another patch of woods and another right-of-way out onto Weesuck Avenue by the back lot of Aldrich Boat Yard. This is partially wooded and partially open (they use the back lot to store boats) and often has good birds! To find my way back to the property, I can go to the end of Weesuck Avenue and then work my way along the creek shore; but if the tide is too high I have to trespass across a neighbor's yard. The woods here are what I call our 'north woods' and there is a path at the property line that leads down to a neighbor's dock situated at the mouth of the outflow from our pond -- another good spot to survey the creek. The part of these woods that faces the pond is much beat up by recent storms but I make my way across to a path along the edge of the pond and then, having completed a fairly large circle, I turn back toward the house. If I have the time and the prospects are good, I make a final small circuit by cutting through the woods to go up and back on the old right-of-way, ending at our driveway which is a sort of wooded glade in back of the house. 

Eric Salzman