Delaware Water Gap

Location:   Port Jervis, New York
Year:   1793

The Delaware Water Gap, where the Delaware River cuts through the Appalachian Mountains is a natural geological formation on the borders of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. An area of extreme natural beauty and striking biodiversity, it is a popular recreational area. 

First settled in antiquity by the Lenape Indians, the area drew early explorers. In 1793, Antoine Dutot came to the area with plans to build a city. He is reported to have said, "What a place for a water wheel!" when he saw the Gap. His reaction to the great natural beauty of the place, however, went unrecorded.

Jamaica Bay

Location:   Long Island
Year:   1972

Jamaica Bay is an 18,000-acre wetland estuary, sometimes described as a tidal lagoon, surrounded by Rockaway Peninsula to the South, Brooklyn to the northwest, and Queens to the northeast. Until about 100 years ago it was also known as Grassy Bay.

One of New York City's most extraordinary natural resources, Jamaica Bay remains an undeveloped marshland near the heart of New York City.

Comprising an area almost equal to that of Manhattan, the shallow, brackish bay consists of numerous islands, a labyrinth of waterways, meadowlands, and two freshwater ponds. Some of the islands and channels, like Canarsie Pol, have been altered by man over the years.

The wetlands provide a unique environment for both wildlife preservation and urban recreation. The region currently hosts over 325 species of birds, 50 species of butterflies, and 100 species of finfish. A favorite stop for migratory waterfowl, the area is an integral part of the larger, regional ecosystem.  20% of all North American bird species use Jamaica Bay as a gathering place.

The bay is very similar to, though separated by the neck of the Rockaway Peninsula, from Long Island's Great South Bay. Prior to European settlement, Jamaica Bay was the province of the Canarsie Indians who lived all along its northern circumference, Though their villages reached inland as far as Bushwick, Canarsie and Winnipeague (now Bergen Beach) were their two largest towns. A major landmark for the Native Americans of Paumanok was an immense pyramid-shaped pile of shells which stood in the area of today's Canarsie Pier.

The Canarsie used the rich bay as a source of game, fish, and shellfish, which were their greatest food sources, and their major commodities for trade. Circa 1614, they sold the bay and its shorelines to the Dutch. By the time of the British takeover in 1664, the Canarsie people had vanished as an identifiable ethnic group.

Pollution has been, and remains, a problem, since the area is both a wildlife refuge and a recreation area. Despite Jamaica Bay's overall undeveloped condition, the area all around the bay is heavily developed, with airports and residential areas. New York City's oldest airport, Floyd Bennett Field, opened in 1930, was converted to military use in the 1940s, and was closed in 1972. Rockaway Naval Air Station on the Rockaway Peninsula, had a similar history. 

John F. Kennedy International Airport, on the north shore of the bay, was opened in 1948 as New York International Airport. It became known as Idlewild (after the flowers that had grown in the area's marshy soil) in the 1950s, and was renamed in memory of President Kennedy in 1963. One of the busiest airports in the United States, planes overfly Jamaica Bay many scores of times daily.   

Conditions around the bay and in the bay were such that the bay began to die in the 1950s. Concerned that the death of the bay would have devastating consequences to the ecosystem, the U.S. Government established Gateway National Recreation Area in 1972. Its Jamaica Bay Unit comprises almost all of the Jamaica Bay shoreline. The old Floyd Bennett Field property comprises another Unit, as does the Rockaway Peninsula. Since the establishment of Gateway, the region's natural environment has made a comeback, though issues remain. 

The Center

Location:   Pratt's Hollow, New York

Year:   ???

 

The tiny hamlet of Pratt's Hollow is due south of the town of Oneida, and lies roughly equidistant between Syracuse and Utica.  Lying at N 42° 55.366 W 075° 36.182 in Madison County, it is the geographical center of New York State. There is a sign on the church at the crossroads marking the spot.

Cuba, New York

Location:   Cuba, New York
Year:   1822

The Township and Village of Cuba lie in southwest-central New York State. Cuba was once part of the Township of Friendship, New York (from whence comes Friendship Cottage Cheese), and Cuba is still an important dairying town. 

Some local historians assert that Cuba was named for an ancient Roman goddess. Others claim that it was named for the island of Cuba. This may be a distinction without a difference, as Cuba the island was named for a town in Iberia which was named for the Roman goddess. The area has several towns with Spanish names, such as Salamanca, Mexico, and Bolivar. At the time these towns were founded, the Latin American nations were establishing their independence from Spain, and local residents honored their wish for liberty by adopting these names.

By far the most famous person from Cuba is Charles Ingalls, "Pa" in the Little House on the Prairie series, who was born in Cuba in 1836. His grandmother was Margaret Delano, a shared ancestor of New York-born President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 

The Big Duck

Location:   Flanders, N.Y.
Year:   1931

The Big Duck is a ferrocement building constructed in the shape of a giant duck. It is 18 feet wide at its widest, 30 feet long, and 20 feet tall at the top of the head. The duck's eyes are made out of Model-T taillights. 

It was originally situated in Riverhead, New York, and used by duck farmer Martin Maurer to promote his duck farm. In 1937, it was moved to Route 24 in Flanders, where it stands today. 

Long Island ducks are as definitive as Maine lobsters, Idaho potatoes, New York cheesecake, and Maryland crabs. Duck farming was the major industry on eastern Long Island in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Almost 100 duck farms were in operation in its peak years just before World War II. There are very few left. After the war, suburban sprawl swallowed up much of the duck farming area, and on the North Fork vineyards have all but replaced duck farms.

For much of its history, The Big Duck provoked mocking merriment in passersby. It is now a Long Island landmark regarded fondly by all.

Since the Big Duck closed for business in 1987, it has been a museum dedicated to the history of the Long Island duck, and this curious little building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The word "duck" is now used in architecture to describe any building where form follows function. 

Fishers Island

Location:   Fishers Island
Year:   1640

Fishers Island (or in Pequot "Munatawkit") is a 4-square mile island  just two miles off the coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island. It is part of New York State even though its zip code and central telephone exchange correspond to Connecticut.  

Like the rest of Suffolk County, Fishers Island was originally part of the Colony of Connecticut when Connecticut was founded in 1640.  However, when the Duke of York received his land grants in 1664 and founded New York, the language of the grant included "all islands" in the area. Since the Duke of York was the son of a king (Charles I) and the brother of a king (Charles II) and would eventually be King (James II), his claims took precedence over Connecticut's. It also did not help Connecticut's case that the assassins of Charles I were given asylum in Connecticut. 

 
The land grant actually also included Block Island, the coastal islands of Providence Plantations (R.I.),  Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. The Duke of York sold these off or traded them for favors, but kept Fishers Island and Suffolk County out of spite.  

Fishers Island has a population of about 300. In the 19th Century, a brickworks was maintained there using the clay that makes up most of the island's substratum. 

Now it is a place of expensive summer homes, whose year 'round residents either commute by ferry to New England for work or manage the island's seasonal tourist industry.

New York By The Numbers

Location:   New York State
Year:   1664

New York became the tenth of the original 13 Colonies when it was established by the Duke of York in 1664. New Jersey was originally part of New York, but was gifted away by the Duke. The New York Colony had previously belonged to the Dutch as "New Netherlands." Their claims went back to the 1609 explorations by Henry Hudson. 

New York became the third State to ratify the Articles of Confederation in February of 1778.

New York became the eleventh State to ratify the Constitution in July of 1788. 

New York's John Jay served as President of the Continental Congress in 1778-79, before the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.  He later became the first Chief Justice of the United States (1789-1792) under the Constitution. He resigned because he did not have enough to do as Chief Justice: in those early years, the Court heard only four cases during his tenure, three in his third year and one in his fourth.

No New Yorkers served as President after the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.

There have been four Constitutional Presidents from New York:  the eighth, Martin Van Buren (1837-1841), the thirteenth, Millard Fillmore (1850-1853), the twenty-sixth, Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), and the thirty-second, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945), the only man to be elected to the office four times. 

Currently, the population of New York State is over 19,000,000, and growing. It is the State with the largest rate of immigration. New York State was the most populous State for most the nation's history. It was overtaken by California in 1962, and has since been passed by Texas. It is expected to fall to fourth, after Florida, in 2014. New York City, with over eight million residents, is the nation's largest city, and is more populous than Los Angeles (# 2) and Chicago (# 3) combined.