I grew up on Long Island. East Hampton to be exact. The area of town I lived in was called nor'west. Down to nor'west woods in the local vernacular. I played in those woods and became quite familiar with them. I don't know the exact size of the area but they were my " hundred acre woods. " I had many adventures in there. I had several " forts " scattered throughout the wood. The largest animal in those woods would be deer. That's it. Nothing larger than that and nothing dangerous. No poisonous snakes or any animal to be concerned about.
Back in those days there was a lot I wasn't aware of about those woods. As is often the case you are ill informed about what is in your own backyard. I wasn't aware that there was once a thriving seaport down to nor'west. Whaling ships and merchant ships coming and going. A thriving little community. I didn't know that ended about 1885 or so. In 1873 there were sixteen farm houses and a public school there, an old map shows that. I was unaware of any of that. There was even a mill built there alongside Hands creek. All of that was long gone by the 1960's. In less than a hundred years it had all gone back to wood. A long wharf was built in Sag Harbor on the opposite bank of the bay and that spelled the end of nor'west. Commerce died and so did the settlement. Now I find that my own Grandmother lived there at one time. At some point in the early part of the twentieth century. I have ancestors buried there.
I have begun doing some research on the area. I have read some books about it and the local newspaper has articles in their archives. This research is in it's early stages. I have already discovered something that I found quite interesting. There were once a herd of buffalo done to nor'west. A rather wealthy and prominent citizen of the town of East Hampton, Mr. David Gardiner, had them brought from the west. He owned a large tract of land there and those buffalo roamed free there. I was just surprised to hear that I lived where the " deer and buffalo " roamed ! Who knew ? I discovered that those buffalo bred with the local cattle and were called catalo. Many years later Canadian scientist would repeat that feat. Unfortunately in both instances the catalo were unable to reproduce.
It was this same Mr. Gardiner that secured a new home for my Grandmother. I was recently corrected on that point. Previously I thought it was a Tommy Gardiner. It is quite the tale actually. Now grandmother Bennett worked for the gardiners on their island. Yes the Gardiners own there own private Island and have done so for 375 years but that is another story. Anyway, the story goes that Grandmother was working on the island and had her baby with her, my Aunt Edith. Aunt Edith was looking out an open window with her pacifier in her mouth. A buffalo wandered up to the house and startled her. She dropped her pacifier out that window and ran crying to Grandma. The buffalo stole her pacifier and she never got it back. At least that is the story I was told.
So much history I missed out on. If I had only asked more questions or listened more carefully back then. I am finding that history isn't just the significant events that took place. In fact the history I find most interesting is the little personal histories. The everyday things from years ago fascinate me. I knew of a big hollow alongside the Springy Banks road growing up. I didn't know it was a buffalo wallow ! Pretty cool if you consider it was probably the only buffalo wallow on Long Island or maybe even the East Coast. Well that might be an exaggeration as I have heard of Buffalo at Montauk but not sure of the year. The wallow at Springy Banks is probably the oldest though. There is a "dreen" right off of Springy Banks called soak hide. It was so named because the local Indians, opps Native Americans, soaked their hides there. It was part of the curing process. I knew about that as a kid and now wish I had explored that further. Ah well, live and learn. There is a lot of history in our own backyard if we but look. Very cool stuff.
Back in those days there was a lot I wasn't aware of about those woods. As is often the case you are ill informed about what is in your own backyard. I wasn't aware that there was once a thriving seaport down to nor'west. Whaling ships and merchant ships coming and going. A thriving little community. I didn't know that ended about 1885 or so. In 1873 there were sixteen farm houses and a public school there, an old map shows that. I was unaware of any of that. There was even a mill built there alongside Hands creek. All of that was long gone by the 1960's. In less than a hundred years it had all gone back to wood. A long wharf was built in Sag Harbor on the opposite bank of the bay and that spelled the end of nor'west. Commerce died and so did the settlement. Now I find that my own Grandmother lived there at one time. At some point in the early part of the twentieth century. I have ancestors buried there.
I have begun doing some research on the area. I have read some books about it and the local newspaper has articles in their archives. This research is in it's early stages. I have already discovered something that I found quite interesting. There were once a herd of buffalo done to nor'west. A rather wealthy and prominent citizen of the town of East Hampton, Mr. David Gardiner, had them brought from the west. He owned a large tract of land there and those buffalo roamed free there. I was just surprised to hear that I lived where the " deer and buffalo " roamed ! Who knew ? I discovered that those buffalo bred with the local cattle and were called catalo. Many years later Canadian scientist would repeat that feat. Unfortunately in both instances the catalo were unable to reproduce.
It was this same Mr. Gardiner that secured a new home for my Grandmother. I was recently corrected on that point. Previously I thought it was a Tommy Gardiner. It is quite the tale actually. Now grandmother Bennett worked for the gardiners on their island. Yes the Gardiners own there own private Island and have done so for 375 years but that is another story. Anyway, the story goes that Grandmother was working on the island and had her baby with her, my Aunt Edith. Aunt Edith was looking out an open window with her pacifier in her mouth. A buffalo wandered up to the house and startled her. She dropped her pacifier out that window and ran crying to Grandma. The buffalo stole her pacifier and she never got it back. At least that is the story I was told.
So much history I missed out on. If I had only asked more questions or listened more carefully back then. I am finding that history isn't just the significant events that took place. In fact the history I find most interesting is the little personal histories. The everyday things from years ago fascinate me. I knew of a big hollow alongside the Springy Banks road growing up. I didn't know it was a buffalo wallow ! Pretty cool if you consider it was probably the only buffalo wallow on Long Island or maybe even the East Coast. Well that might be an exaggeration as I have heard of Buffalo at Montauk but not sure of the year. The wallow at Springy Banks is probably the oldest though. There is a "dreen" right off of Springy Banks called soak hide. It was so named because the local Indians, opps Native Americans, soaked their hides there. It was part of the curing process. I knew about that as a kid and now wish I had explored that further. Ah well, live and learn. There is a lot of history in our own backyard if we but look. Very cool stuff.
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