#cathikesny

[cathikesny]

MUTTONTOWN PRESERVE - LONG ISLAND

Should we talk about a place that I HATE and will not return to ever again?

I bet you weren’t expecting that, were you?

Would you also be surprised that it is a place that allegedly has buried treasure from a King of Albania?

💰: FREE (aren't the worst things in life always free?)

⏰: 9:30am to 4:30pm, 365 days 

🌎: 34 Muttontown Lane, East Norwich, LI (Chelsea Mansion)

♿️: not really? The grounds around Chelsea Mansion are manageable but don’t go to Muttontown Preserve

🏃‍♀️: it’s 550 acres and a maze, but sure! call it beginner if you want.

🐶: No pets, but I’ve also seen people walking their dogs and maybe you need an animal to guide you out of this hellhole

🚗: park by Chelsea Mansion, if you read nothing else, just PARK BY CHELSEA MANSION

📸: high Instagramability by Chelsea Mansion

📍: ancestral land of the Matinecock chieftancy

Okay, TECHNICALLY, I DID return very briefly a few weeks ago BUT that was only to get pictures of WHERE NOT TO GO. And I did not step foot out of the parking lot. This place gave me PTSD.

Why create what will essentially equate to a “shitpost”, you may ask?

Why not just NOT include it? 

Because people should be WARNED. 

I looked at the google reviews recently and finally found out I was not alone. For years this place has haunted me.

How did my friend, @himynameisnotjoby and I get SO lost?

We literally had a paper map PROVIDED BY THE PRESERVE and we STILL got the kind of lost where we started to get legit worried and it was getting dark and we were only getting MORE lost. The kind of lost that involved scaling fences and bushwhacking and eventually listening for the sounds of cars and just following that and hoping it led us towards one of the main roads, which by the way IS how we got ourselves UN-lost eventually. 

Muttontown Preserve deserves a post because it is a DANGER to Long Islanders. 

The amount of reviews on Google that mention just how deeply lost people have gotten over the years was staggering, and also validating for Joby and I. One person even mentioned that you shouldn’t go there without a literal compass because THAT is how big the potential for getting hopelessly disoriented in this hellscape masquerading as a “Preserve” is. 

According to the Nassau County website, Muttontown Preserve is 550! ACRES, making it the largest nature preserve on Long Island. 

Those aren’t facts, THOSE ARE WARNINGS! 

The same website also claims that “The preserve includes miles of marked nature trails with local wildflowers, trees, birds…” blah blah blah. MARKED TRAILS, MY ASS.

Allegedly, the trail markings HAVE been improved in very recent years, but I refuse to go back and see if that’s true for myself so if you decide to go, you are doing so of your own volition. 

There are four things that lure people to the Muttontown Preserve (of Lost Souls): 

equestrian trails

“safe” hiking for normal people WHO JUST WANTED TO ENJOY A NICE WALK AT A NEW PARK

Chelsea Mansion 

The hidden treasures of the last King of Albanian

So, where does one start? 

I guess, do you have a horse? No? Then don't come here!

I honestly think this place would’ve been less scary if at least I had been on a horse because also when you get lost for AS LONG as Joby and I did that ill-fated day, you start to get tired, which is also scary. My legs were TORN UP from bugs and thorny bushes. A horse would’ve, in theory, solved that. But we didn't have horses and unless you have one though, don’t come here. And even if you do... don't come here.

PARKING SITUATION (THIS IS IMPORTANT):

The problem for Joby and I that harrowing day, I think, was that I learned about Muttontown Preserve because I drove past it randomly (probably on the way back from a different park in the area) and drove past the Equestrian Parking entrance off of Jericho Oyster Bay Road/Route 106 and thought that was the only parking area. 

DO NOT PARK AT THE EQUESTRIAN PARKING AREA OFF OF JERICHO OYSTER BAY ROAD/ROUTE 106! I DO NOT CARE THAT IT IS THE CLOSER PARKING AREA TO THE OLD KNOLLWOOD ESTATE AND KING ZOG’S TREASURE. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FIND THE TREASURE ANYWAY, YOU WILL PROBABLY NEVER FIND YOUR WAY OUT OF THE PRESERVE IF YOU GO IN SEARCH OF IT. AGAIN, I WILL NOT BLAMED ON NEWS 12 FOR YOUR DISAPPEARANCE. 

I’ll get back to King Zog and the alleged buried treasures and the burned down remains of Knollwood Estate in the next post. 

IF YOU INSIST ON COMING TO THIS CURSED PLACE, here is my advice: SKIP MUTTONTOWN PRESERVE ALTOGETHER. 

Okay, here is my ACTUAL ADVICE: drive up to Jericho Turnpike/Route 25A and park either at the parking lot next to Chelsea Mansion or you can find the entrance around the corner from the parking lot by Chelsea Mansion and park there because that is a trailhead that is usually supplied with maps.

If you want to hear about Chelsea Mansion and King Zog I of Albania's buried treasures, watch this space for a Chelsea Mansion post coming later this week.

and also, let me just reiterate, Muttontown Preserve makes my “RUN AWAY FROM” list. You have been thoroughly warned. 

[cathikesny]

OLD WESTBURY GARDENS

If you’re asking me, Old Westbury Gardens is probably one of the “Big Long Island Three”, the other two being Planting Fields Arboretum and Vanderbilt. “The Big Long Island Three” being old “Gatsby” estates that have been turned into gardens or preserves that like EVERYONE knows about and has been to at least once. 

💰 : winter rates are $8/adult, FREE if you reserve through the Long Island library museum pass program

⏰ : hours (and I think fees) vary by season, check the wesbite

🌎 : 71 Old Westbury Road, Old Westbury, Long Island

♿️ : honestly, the website claims to be technically handicapped accessible, but it's really not - they could do better

🏃‍♀️ : beginner, this place is meant for a casual stroll

🐶 : service animals only, no pets

🚗 : ample parking on site

📸 : HIGH Instagramability

📍: ancestral land of the Matinecock peoples.

Ironically though, I’ve actually only been to Old Westbury Gardens ONCE. Listen, I am a student right now and those tickets are just too expensive for my taste (although you can reserve them and get in for FREEEEE through your local library if you live on LI). I don’t understand how OWG doesn’t qualify as a botanical garden like NYBG or Brooklyn Botanical. Why is it just a regular “garden”? It’s legit just as impressive and beautiful and manicured as the big botanical gardens in the area, in my opinion. But, as per usual, I digress…

Old Westbury Gardens has been featured in so many tv shows and movies and was what Baz Luhrman used as inspiration for his ridiculous adaptation of The Great Gatsby with Leo DiCaprio (can we tell I hated that movie?). It’s truly a gorgeous and impeccably well-preserved early 1900s era Gold Coast mansion and the grounds are this bizarre garden oasis in an otherwise very busy section of Long Island suburbia.

HISTORY:

The estate was owned by the Phipps family, who gained their wealth through their association with Andrew Carnegie (of Carnegie Hall) and the Carnegie Steel Company, and upon research, it actually looks like the Phipps who built the mansion, also sponsored Amelia Earhart’s ill-fated flight across the Atlantic, which I thought was interesting and random enough to include. Anyway.. The Phipps family moved in and lived there as early as 1906 but the estate was converted into a museum and gardens in the 1950s and has served that purpose ever since.

The house and grounds have been used for movies like Hitch, Cruel Intentions, American Gangster and shows like Gossip Girl. It’s been used so thoroughly because every nook and cranny of Old Westbury Gardens is meticulously designed and planned and gorgeous. Even the entrance through the MASSIVE iron gates and the thin, tree-lined driveway demands drama, demands your attention and then you pull through and see the mansion from the distance and you can’t help but be genuinely awed. 

TRAIL RECOMMENDATION:

I DO and I DON'T have a specific trail recommendation. As this will NOT be the only post about OWG, the sort-of-recommendation is forthcoming in the next post, so watch this space!

I don't really have a specific recommendation because you should just attempt to experience every inch of this place. The walled gardens were really stunning. I would like to go back when the lilacs are really in season because I think that would be pretty spectacular but they make sure there is something pretty much year round, even in the winter, when they do light displays.

If I were made of money, or library reservations for free tickets, I would go legitimately every couple of weeks between March and September because there is that much to see and that much is often in bloom between the GIGANTIC rhododendron bushes in the front of the mansion to the rose garden in the back, something is always blooming and beautiful. 

I wish Old Westbury Gardens wasn’t so expensive (or I wasn't so poor.. lol). You can tell why it is though because of how well it is maintained. I highly recommend taking advantage of the free tickets through Long Island libraries if you live locally, and I recommend going at least once in general regardless of the price. It's worth it.

This, despite the admissions fee, makes my “Run, Don’t Walk” list because it’s truly a magnificent experience. 

P.S. Something unusual but occasional...

NEARBY FOOD RECOMMENDATIONS:

I’d also like to give a quick shout out to two of my favorite area restaurants if you’re looking for some food to eat after your long walk through the gardens.

Hildebrandt’s in Williston Park, just a few miles west; it’s an old ice cream shoppe from the 1920s that has remained in business by sheer will of force and local love and also because it has the greatest French onion soup and ice cream you’ll ever have in your entire life. I'd bet my life on it.

Spuntino in Westbury, near Roosevelt Field Mall, which is like a little Italian tapas and wine bar. They have great happy hour deals at the bar and literally the most incredible pepperoni personal pizza (picante) you’ve ever had.

These are OBVIOUSLY not sponsored posts, I just really love both restaurants and who doesn’t like a good food recommendation?

[cathikesny]

Cedarmere

It feels wrong to gatekeep this just because it's MY FAVORITE PLACE ON EARTH and I don't want people going there and messing it up or seeing me weep over its immense beauty and magic.

Okay, I'm being a little dramatic here but truly, Cedarmere IS my favorite place on earth and it IS filled with beauty and magic.

LET'S START WITH THE BASICS AS USUAL BEFORE I START WAXING POETIC ABOUT A PARK ON LONG ISLAND:

💰: FREE

⏰: the PARK is open from dusk until dawn, 365 days (as of now, due to Covid, the mansion remains closed unless specified on the website)

📍: 225 Bryant Ave., Roslyn Harbor, Long Island, NY

♿️: there IS handicapped parking, but this place doesn't have paved paths, so do with that handicapped parking what you will

🏃‍♀️: beginner intensity, this isn't so much about the hikes as it is the "vibes" and the strolls

🐶: as far as I'm aware, pets are not explicitly forbidden

🚗: two parking lots, the lower lot around the curve is my preferred

📸: moderate "Instagramability",

William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878) was a prolific poet, an abolitionist, an outspoken activist for worker's rights, the long time editor of The New York Evening Post, and was the main tenet of Cedarmere. (He's also a huge reason we have Central Park and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, so big ups to WCB for all he did for New York back in the day).

Bryant created an oasis on the North Shore of Long Island that I don't even remember finding for the first time anymore but I knew that when I did.. this was something special. It's a very small estate and only has some small hills and short paths around the mansion and pond and down to the boathouse. Cedarmere, again, isn't about "the hike"; it's solely about the feeling.. the magic.. the serenity.. the beauty.. the intentionality of each piece of the estate.

This place was made with care and love and it shows.

Cedarmere is maybe a weird first suggestion of places on Long Island to visit for a "hike" or an "adventure", especially since it's small and unknown and the Nassau County Museum of Art is just up the hill (on former Bryant property as well). I think off the beaten path, the unknown and unexpected, yet completely remarkable are worth all the time in the world and the best places to seek out.

TRAIL SUGGESTION:

I don't really have a "trail suggestion" because there really is only so much of this park to explore. It is very small and I think the only technical trail is around the large pond pictured below.

Cedarmere doesn't have the trails or breadth of space, but it does have features. It has a definitely peacefully haunted house, a beautifully restored boathouse, a serene, murky and gentle pond, a stone bridge, strategic lookout points for glorious sunset views of Hempstead Harbor, an overgrown reflecting pool leading to a dilapidated fountain that fills with tulip tree petals and radiates pink in the spring, and a boxwood maze that surrounds the most beautiful magnolia tree you've ever seen in your life. Pictures and words are not enough, this place is spectacularly beautiful in the Spring especially but really, always.

Cedarmere brings me peace just explaining it to you. It is a place that makes you exhale and feel safe and still.

DRIVING ROUTE:

This will probably be the first and last time I give a suggestion of HOW to drive to a particular park. This may sound bizarre but just hear me out, Roslyn is a phenomenally old little town that is just steeped in American history and it is deeply picturesque.

My preferred route for the full effect:

If you're driving up from the southern parts of Long Island, I recommend the scenic route of Roslyn Road going North (which will turn into Main Street once you cross into Roslyn). Some of the oldest structures and houses in Nassau County live on this street and are treated with such care by their current residents. You can always stop in on Gerry Park to your right, but that's just a lovely little unnecessary stop if you ask me. Once you hit the Clocktower, which you truly can't miss, the road forks and you want to stay to the right and drive through town, a whopping two blocks? and you will hit another fork in the road. This time, you want to turn LEFT onto Bryant Avenue (does it feel like you're getting close? You are!). You will pass Diane's Bakery on your left before you go under the viaduct, and if you're looking for a little something to eat before heading to Cedarmere or after leaving there, I do recommend stopping by this long-time Rosyln staple. Once you pass under the viaduct, you should soon see a white house on the curve of the road and maybe even a gravel-filled parking lot (this is where you will pull in for the handicapped parking). I NEVER park in the first gravel parking lot, personally, I ALWAYS round the bend and park behind the house around the curve on the left side of the road.

The website has more directions but that's certainly my route of choice, and yes, I have been here enough times that I have a literal way I prefer to get there.

I've been known to haunt this place regardless of the time of year or time of day. It is most special in Spring though I think (although that's probably my opinion on everywhere as I really love flowers...).

Cedarmere is magic.

Go and experience it as quickly as humanly possible.

This is like #1 on my "Run, Don't Walk" list of places to go.

Photo credit for the obviously not iPhone taken pictures goes to @himynameisnotjoby

[cathikesny]

LENOIR PRESERVE

Sometimes its really fun for me to introduce my boyfriend, Rob, who grew up in the area, to places in Westchester that he didn’t know existed previously. Lenoir Preserve is one of those places and I DO think passing by it in the car and saying “what was that?”, him shrugging and me saying “let’s check it out” absolutely counts. 

💰 : FREE

⏰ : open dawn to dusk, 365 days a year

🌎 : 19 Dudley St, Yonkers, Westchester

♿️ : ADA accessible and handicap specific spots

🏃‍♀️: please see link in bio for trail recommendations and intensities

🐶: service animals only, no pets

🚗 : parking lot on North Broadway by the mansion, parking lot on Dudley Street (off N. Broadway), by the Nature Center

📸 : moderate Instagramability, depending on your willingness to “break rules”

📍: Weckquaesgeek, Wappinger, Lenni Lenape ancestral home

The most recent time I came here with Rob, after I had decided to make this account, I looked at him as we were walking through the park and said “I don’t know how to sell this place when Untermyer is right down the road.” 

I still don’t really know how to sell it if you’re comparing it to Untermyer. Like, how do I convince someone who’s driving to the area to go here instead of Untermyer? The only mind-blowingly unique part about Lenoir Preserve is that Rob and I have seen a bald eagle there twice now. 

Lenoir Preserve has a few dedicated paths, one of which is very easy and nicely paved, one mansion that’s on the property (and under restoration currently) and a second mansion (that’s under restoration) with beautiful and dilapidated gardens that’s not.. quite… ON…. The property…., (more about that to come next) and is a really spectacular place to see some great birds, year round. Lenoir also has a dedicated butterfly garden, but that’s only really worth the visit in the summer months. As a park that has access to the Old Croton Aqueduct, it obviously also has fantastic views of the Hudson River and the Palisades across the way. 

BUT, it has none of the grandeur or maintained, manicured gardens of Untermyer. 

The sell for Lenoir Preserve, that I’ve been able to come up with is the following:

Untermyer draws a lot of tourists and a lot of people taking professional photos and a lot of people taking pictures for their Instagrams, and Lenoir is not like that and sometimes that is SO REFRESHING. 

Lenoir has really nice and well-maintained trails, that run the gamut of intensity from beginner to moderate

At least one bald eagle most definitely lives there, and I’m sorry, you don’t get how cool they are until you see them in person.

The bird feeders. We all know I’m a boring old person who loves me some birds but that’s a draw for me and if it’s not for you too, I don’t care. Let me love my birds, okay?

Lenoir Preserve is insanely steeped in history but really it’s the nature that makes this park so awesome. Every park is special because nature should be cherished and preserved every chance we can get. Lenoir wouldn’t be so spectacular if you weren’t able to “smresspass” onto the Alder Manor garden ruins, or if there weren’t freaking bald eagles and what feels like millions of woodpeckers, or it’s peacefulness compared to Untermyer, or its access to the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail, HOWEVER, Lenoir HAS all of those things, so it is 100000% as worth your time as its better known sibling down the road from it. 

HISTORY:

Lenoir, as a piece of land, has an interesting history dating back to before the colonization of North America. The land was most likely originally home to the Weckquaesgeek, who were a part of the larger Wappinger tribe who generally lived in the Yonkers area. The informational plaques at Lenoir Preserve indicate that the land was originally inhabited by the Lenni Lenape tribe (translates to “true people”) and they called the area “Keskeskick”, which isn’t necessarily wrong as the Lenni Lenape is a broad name for any native who lived between essentially the Hudson Valley down to the area around modern-day Philadelphia.

I don’t know the exact details, I’m sure they involved trickery, violence or misunderstandings, so I’ll put it in the nice way of saying, the Lenni Lenape were “pushed” out of the area in the 1600s and eventually a man named Frederick Philipse III, whose family had acquired the land two generations prior, then owned the property of what is now known as Lenoir Preserve. 

Frederick Philipse III was a loyalist and in 1776, he signed the “Declaration of Dependence”, pledging his loyalty to the King of England. And, I imagine if you have stumbled upon my blog and are from the New York area or even just have even a rudimentary knowledge of U.S. colonial history, you would understand that 1776 is when everyone was like, “fuck the King and fuck England.”….. 

So, I think you can probably guess how things went for Mr. Philipse III since we, inhabitants of the future, know who won the American Revolutionary War… 

As happened to many Loyalists in the Westchester area, Frederick Philipse III had his land and home stripped from him and it was sold off to two different families. In theory, according to the Lenoir historians, you can still see some of the ruins of the earliest stone homes built by the Philipse family and by the people who gained his property after him. I’ll admit though, I haven’t found those ruins yet as far as I’m aware.

Let me know if you do.

The mansion that sits on the property of Lenoir Preserve has been around since at least 1836, or at least that’s the first time it appears on any written record. It changed hands many times until Caleb C. Dula, a native of Lenoir, North Carolina, who amassed his wealth in the cigarette industry, bought the property in 1906. He named the mansion and property “Lenoir” after his hometown. 

In 1939, the Lenoir property was inherited by Mr. Dula’s niece, Mrs. Purl Wightman, who renamed the mansion after her husband’s surname but allowed the property as a whole to retain its Lenoir identity. As goes everything in New York, it seems, real estate developers caught wind of an eventually empty estate and attempted to demolish the history and create apartments or a country club.

Thankfully, the city of Yonkers and Westchester County decided to intervene and bought the property instead, allowing it to be turned into a nature refuge and museum. The interiors of the mansion have also since been used as the setting for TV shows like The Knick and The Following. 

TRAIL RECOMMENDATIONS:

My preferred trek (very beginner intensity): I advise parking in the lot located off Dudley Street. From there look for the trailhead sign for the Copper Beech Trail (0.2mi) straight from the parking lot (if you hit the Nature Center, you’ve missed the trailhead, turn around, it should be on your right if your back is facing the Nature Center). Take the Copper Beech Trail to the Meadow Loop paved path, which does in fact loop all the way back to the Dudley Street parking lot. 

IF you are feeling a little dangerous, perhaps you might partake in some light adventuring (AKA a word that rhymes with smresspassing… I deny EVERYTHING!) into/over/around/through the brick wall that denotes the property line between Lenoir Preserve and the old Alder Manor estate property. 

There ARE cameras so “smresspass” with caution… I feel like as long as you don’t vandalize anything, who cares if you take a little peek… right???? 

No? 

Okay, well anyway…. 

Don’t forget to keep your eyes to the skies throughout your stroll, as this preserve is very well known to be frequented by red-tailed hawks and AT LEAST one bald eagle, and also like a million woodpeckers.

An important stop for Rob and I, or really just me, before we head back to the car is the bird feeders outside of the Nature Center, which is where Rob and I first spotted the bald eagle actually. He wasn’t eating bird seed… but we were sitting there and he flew over, and Rob saw him first, which I think he would want me to mention. 

MEADOW LOOP TRAIL: The Meadow Loop Trail is easily accessible from both parking lots and is paved in its entirety making it beginner and ADA friendly. 

WOODLAND TRAIL (0.4 mi): it’s a quarter of a mile, Cat, how bad could it be? Like I’ve said before, Rob and I are what you’d call “lazy active” people and this trail is STEEP… like REALLY REALLY STEEP. I was huffing and puffing and my old lady knees were HURTING by the time we got back up to the top. HOWEVER, if you’d like to partake in some of the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail or even walk down to Untermyer, that can be achieved by taking the Woodland Trail and going south (left, if you’re looking at the Hudson). 

COPPER BEECH TRAIL (0.2mi): a wooded walk with very mediocre “elevation gain”. Also the place I suspect the eagle has his nest. 

Lenoir does not necessarily make my "Run, Don't Walk" list. But that doesn't mean I don't love it and think it's worth a check out.

[cathikesny]

Lenoir Preserve and Native American Heritage Month

As Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and more importantly, November is “Native American Heritage Month”, I wanted to make this post today. 

This will not be my main post about Lenoir Preserve but this is an important update for this page going forward.

Research about social media states that being authentic and showing your genuine personality are two ways to gain followers. Nowadays, though, bringing up things that could potentially trigger claims of “politics” or leaning one way or another can make an “influencer” lose a broader audience.  (I hope I'm never considered an influencer...)

With that being said, being authentic is much more important to me than gaining a “broad audience” or getting the most followers possible. My authenticity lies in my passion for the intersection of accurate history, social justice, and the recognition of personal privilege. Being a white woman, from a relatively middle class background, is my form of privilege and having this platform, however big or small it may get, means I need to use it to lift up voices that are not as often heard. 

November is “Native American Heritage Month” and I would like to make a pledge that was inspired by a favorite IG of mine, @thruhikers; that pledge being: I endeavor to research and recognize and uplift the plight of the tribes who’s ancestral homes we stole and colonized and pushed them out of on land where these parks that I post about reside on. 

 I decided to use Lenoir Preserve as the jumping off point for this pledge because they have done the bare minimum as a park to include some Native American history as it is related to the Preserve. They broadly explain that the land was originally occupied by the Lenni Lenape, which they defined as “true people” and that at some point in time they no longer lived there.

It was an attempt at acknowledgement, I suppose. 

There are no remnants of the Lenni Lenape that one could casually find on a walk around Lenoir Preserve, which is a travesty and is the result of centuries of colonization by the Dutch and the English and later just urbanization of modern New Yorkers.

I’m going to do my best to at the very least on IG, give you the name of the people who’s ancestral home you’d be visiting, and here on tumblr, I will always do my absolute best “former history major research attempt” to give you more information if you’d like to educate yourself about the people who lived here for thousands of years before us and treated this land with such respect and reverence. 

It feels impossible to me to be able to post about these wonderful parks, refuges, preserves, whatever, and then to just completely ignore that everywhere I post about is stolen land.

I have no interest in having followers who reject history regarding Native Americans or who think that they are somehow more entitled to the United States than people who are immigrating here now.

ALL AMERICANS are immigrants, except those who were here before the Europeans came.

I can EASILY trace my family coming here from Ireland in the 1700s and Germany in the 1800s. I come from a family of immigrants.

The Lenni Lenape people emigrated to North America when mastodons were still alive, so this is their land, and the least I can do is give them that recognition. 

ESPECIALLY THE DAY BEFORE AMERICAN THANKSGIVING… with its bastardized version of history where the Indigenous populations and the colonizers had a wonderful dinner and meeting of the minds, instead of the truth of the Native Americans teaching the colonizers how to properly farm the new land and how to hunt and forage and not die in North America, only to be then met with accidental and purposeful murder through diseases and then just erasure through forced migration or assimilation. 

I don’t have strong feelings about this at all OBVIOUSLY…. 

Recognizing the Native Americans who lived where I now live and visit is the least I can and will do, and if you don’t want to read about it on occasion, there are plenty of other places to get information about parks in New York State. 

Please watch this space for a true post about Lenoir Preserve coming this weekend and thanks for reading this far if you did!

credit for the map of the "13 tribes" of Long Island goes to a young man named Jeremy Dennis, who is a member of the Shinnecock nation out on the East End of Long Island who is trying to preserve Native history on Long Island with his incredible website which you can see more about here!

credit for the list of translations goes to Westchester Magazine who did a really incredible breakdown of Native history in the Hudson Valley that you can read here!

[cathikesny]

OLD WESTBURY GARDENS - EAST LIKE TRAIL

A big “news event” happened back in June that I was pretty devastated by and really pissed off about and I’m not gonna get into it as to not get overly “political” here… if I stayed inside and just looked at my phone and watched the news all day that day, I was going to lose my ever loving mind.

Thankfully, my boyfriend was coming to Long Island that weekend (we go to him in Westchester more because Long Island traffic SUCKSSS) and I sent him a text message on that beautiful summer morning. I wrote, “I bought tickets, the Garden closes at like 4pm, I’m just going to meet you there. I need to touch grass and see something nice or I’m gonna freaking lose it.”, at that point he knew to just say "yes" and off we went. 

💰 : winter rates are $8/adult, FREE if you reserve through the Long Island library museum pass program

⏰ : hours (and I think fees) vary by season, check the wesbite

🌎 : 71 Old Westbury Road, Old Westbury, Long Island

♿️ : honestly, the website claims to be technically handicapped accessible, but it's really not - they could do better

🏃‍♀️ : beginner, this place is meant for a casual stroll

🐶 : service animals only, no pets

🚗 : ample parking on site

📸 : HIGH Instagramability

📍: ancestral land of the Matinecock peoples

"Touching some grass" was the right decision.

Nature CALMS people, or at least, nature calms me. Bougie gardens also calm me but that’s besides the point.

Hydrangeas, pictured below, a real summer favorite of mine, were fully in bloom and buzzing with pollenating bees, the rose garden was filled with different varietals climbing trellises that covered walkways… it was a beautiful first introduction to the Gardens that I had always known were five minutes away from where I grew up but I had never been to, and it served its purpose as a very efficient distraction.

HOWEVER!!!!

If you’ve been here since the beginning, you have come to understand that I get VERY excited about animal and bird sightings, like, guys, I get excited about chipmunks (BECAUSE YOU NEVER SEE THEM ON LONG ISLAND AND THEY ARE ADORABLE!)…

You can all probably guess where this is going…

As my boyfriend, Rob and I were casually strolling along the edge of the East Lake, which you can find if you go to the right when looking at the backside of the mansion, towards the Temple of Love (which is just a stone gazebo that’s under construction..) we saw FROGS AND TURTLES AND OMG I WAS SO EXCITED.

Rob and I started crouching closer to the edge of the lake and suddenly I realized there was a little frog in the water and a little frog no more than six inches from us that was completely unfazed and a very cooperative model for several giggle-filled minutes right up until he PLOPPED himself straight back into the water and swam away. We were completely tickled and were now completely obsessed with pointing out more frogs and turtles, which there were like dozens of to our complete delight. 

Little did we know, the very best was waiting for us at the end of the loop of the East Lake trail, by the old swimming pool and the steps down to the lake…

We were graced by something that I literally will not forget for probably the rest of my life: a huge snapping turtle.

I mean, if this thing wasn’t thirty pounds and like 75 years old, I would be STUNNED. He was just as curious of us as we were of him and we sat on those stairs for thirty minutes contemplating whether or not we could actually touch his shell without losing a finger. We decided my luck wasn’t generally good enough to even attempt, but Rob ALMOST did, and then chickened out at the last second, but I named the turtle Lenny and if you see him on your visit tell him I sent you and I love him. 

No, but seriously, if you go to Old Westbury Gardens and see Lenny the Turtle, please come back here and tell me. It will make my year.

[cathikesny]

Have you ever been somewhere and seen something so out of place that you’ve wondered “….am I, like, hallucinating right now?” I don’t do drugs, but this was a thing where I looked at my boyfriend, Rob and was like… “are we high? What is happening? What the hell are we seeing right now?”

This happened to us at Wantagh Park.

💰: FREE

⏰: Open 365 days, roughly from dusk until dawn

📍: 1 King Road, Wantagh, Long Island (DO NOT GET ON THE PARKWAY ACCIDENTALLY)

♿️: ADA Accessible, all paths are paved

🏃‍♀️: Beginner level of intensity

🐶: “Only Allowed In the Dog Run”… people walk their dogs here and no one cares it seems

🚗: LOTS OF PARKING, I say park by the baseball fields and walk along the marina to get to the park

📸: Moderate “Instagramability”

Let me backtrack quickly, first, because this park has just a LOT to offer besides what this stupid post will be about. It is a multipurpose facility run by and for the town of Wantagh. It hosts the community public pool (which actually looked really nice even in the off-season when we first went), a mini-golf course, athletic facilities/fields, nice playgrounds, a skating arena, boat launch, tons of picnic areas, a dog park, a marina, somehow even more?!? 

I’m here to talk about the “<u>Fitness Trail</u>” though.. sort of. All of the information listed above is in regards to the “Fitness Trail”. It’s nice for, like, a morning walk with your dog or chosen loved one and also views of Jones Beach and the “Pencil” and theater… honestly, whatever. That’s great. Back to what is actually so MUCH cooler here. 

<u>So here’s the story</u>:

There Rob and I were, just checking out a park for the first time that I knew would at least have views of canals. I had very low expectations, and I had very little research done. WE JUST WANTED SOMEWHERE TO WALK LUNCH OFF AND IT WAS NICE OUT AND THIS WAS SIMPLY... there!

I remind you, there we still were just minding our business walking along the marina and joking about the boat names and how the swans and ducks had clearly been fed by people over time because they kept following along with us… I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH, UNSUSPECTEDLY JUST MINDING OUR OWN BUSINESS and then we got to the picnic/lighthouse area and I heard just a really out of place, extremely LOUD bird call (btw, we are low-key becoming birders, please don’t judge us…me....I’m the birder and he sometimes thinks it’s cool) and I looked around and up in the tree above us were GREEN TROPICAL BIRDS?!?!?! ummmmm……?????? This is Long Island? The NORTHeast? Are they lost???

Honestly, it’s low-key embarrassing how long Rob and I stood there gawking at this tree full of deafeningly loud green birds above us, contemplating if they were parrots? Are they parakeets? Did some domesticated ones get out at some point and just have a ton of babies in the wild? Rob started googling. We followed them around the park. We literally have NO EVIDENCE TO PROVE WE SAW THESE BIRDS. We took not a single picture or video. We were, I think, too baffled. When I told him I was making this post and I had to go back to GET THE PROOF (which I only barely did, just to warn), he was like “what did you expect? It was so confusing. We were thrown off and they blended in with the trees!” All fair points.

Turns out they were Monk Parakeets. Very smoochable little heads if you ask me.

They are really rare for this area (meaning they have no business being here) and are indigenous to Argentina and South America, but for whatever reason, according to a local news article, they decided to migrate to New York during the pandemic and take up residence on Long Island, regardless of high housing prices. 

Ridiculous. But, I guess New York is still the place to be. 

This particular LARGE flock of Monk Parakeets have adjusted to the extreme temperatures and just LIVE IN THIS EFFING PARK IN WANTAGH ALL. YEAR. LONG. I don’t get it one bit. It is so weird. It is so cool and deeply funny and I am clearly overly obsessed with their presence. 

If you want your best chance of seeing them, park by the entrance to the public pool facility instead of the beginning of the baseball fields (which I thought was a good place to park because we enjoyed our little extra marina walk). Across the parking lot from the pool entrance is an athletic field with big, tall floodlights. You should see a very large nest in one of those lights. That is their home. They may have bought more real estate, but this is the one I know about with certainty. There are usually some adults hanging out protecting their property. They are so cute and bizarre and fun. It really does feel worth going JUST FOR THEM, but….

The rest of this park is great too. The trails are paved completely and have nice views, a mini beach section, tons of activities for the whole family and a free boat launch if you’re fancy... but honestly, I come back to see the wild parakeets. I also (went in early November) saw a Brant which is another rare to this area type of goose that was very cute and stout. So, this place is like rare bird heaven. (See Brant below, allowing himself to be abandoned by his flock so I could take a picture of him, I assume).

Screenshots of are of the Cornell Lab Merlin Bird ID App, which has become a real must have for my walks if not solely for the sound ID. You really never know what wildlife surrounds you. 

[cathikesny]

Wantagh Park! 💰: FREE ⏰: Open 365 days, roughly from dusk until dawn 📍: 1 King Road, Wantagh, Long Island (DO NOT GET ON THE PARKWAY ACCIDENTALLY) ♿️: ADA Accessible, all paths are paved 🏃‍♀️: Beginner level of intensity 🐶: “Only Allowed In the Dog Run”… people walk their dogs here and no one cares it seems 🚗: LOTS OF PARKING, I say park by the baseball fields and walk along the marina to get to the park 📸: Moderate “Instagramability” Have you ever been somewhere and seen something so out of place that you wondered “….am I, like, hallucinating right now?” This happened to my boyfriend and I here. Okay, this place is like nice for a morning walk of your dog and has tons of different facilities and also views of Jones Beach and the “Pencil” and theater… honestly, whatever. That’s great. There’s something MUCH cooler here. There we were just checking out a park for the first time that I knew would at least have views of canals, just minding our business walking along the marina’s and joking about the boat names and how the swans and ducks had clearly been fed by people over time because they kept following along with us… JUST MINDING OUR BUSINESS and then we got to the picnic/lighthouse area and I heard just a really out of place bird call (btw, we are low-key becoming birders, please don’t judge) and I looked around and up in the tree above us were GREEN TROPICAL BIRDS?!?!?! Honestly, it’s low-key embarrassing how long Rob and I stood there gawking at this tree full of loud ass green birds above us, contemplating if they were parrots? Are they parakeets? Did some domesticated ones get out at some point and just have a ton of babies in the wild? Rob started googling. We followed them around the park. We literally have NO EVIDENCE TO PROVE WE SAW THESE BIRDS. We took not a single picture or video. We were, I think, too baffled. Check the comments for the rest of the story or the link in bio for even more! #longisland #longislandny #liny #cathikesny #wantagh #wantaghpark #birdsofinstagram #birdersofinstagram #birding #getoutside #park #newyork #newyork_instagram #newyork_ig #jonesbeach #beach #parakeets (at Wantagh Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkkWQWauiJ9/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=