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Spending Another Day at Montauk Point
By PAUL STOUTENBURGII
I can't remember when I first visited
Montauk. Surely it wasn't in the Gold
Rush days that rode on the crest of
enthusiasm just before the Great
Depression. Then much of Montauk was
seen as the new frontier for
entrepreneurs of progress of that day.
Great plans were laid out for that end of
na��r�ca
the island. Plans, if they had worked out,
that would have made the area a second
Miami beach.
Remnants of those grandiose plans still
stand. The tall 10- story -high office
building in the heart of the village, the
huge, dominating Montauk Manor high
to the north that was to be the showplace
of the vacationer and the less
conspicuous, but now coming into use,
acres and acres of subdivided land for
those who would come to Montauk to buy
a piece of the pie.
Today much of what was planned has
become a reality. People have come and
bought and the old unused office building
is getting an expensive face lifting. How
Montauk will handle this wave of outside
pressure is hard to say.
I've been going out to Montauk, either
to the point or to the c&mpgrounds or to
walk its lonely beaches, for over 35
years. In those early years of my
involvement with the natural world, Gil
Raynor, one of Long Island's greatest
naturalists, took me to the site of the rare
and beautiful arethusa bulbosa orchid.
This was a great privilege, for botanists
who know the hiding places of such rare
plants seldom divulge their locations.
They guard them much like a fisherman
guards his favorite fishing spot.
Tenting Years Ago
Then there were the early days of
marriage when Barbara and I tented in
the then inaccessible walking dunes area
of Napeague. We launched a boat at the
end of an old tarred road just over the
railroad tracks and moved our gear way
Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
MONTAUK LIGHTHOUSE - -The great clay cliffs to ramparts that protect the land from the continual
the southwest of this historic light are the sole bombardment of the Atlantic Ocean.
out on the point away from everyone. In
those early days of youth, we borrowed a
tent, took boxes of cooking utensils from
home and slept on blankets in the soft
sand of the beach. We have pictures of
those get- acquainted years and the
memories remain as fresh and tender as
if they were but a summer ago.
Later we took great walks throughout
the area of Montauk with the wonderful
young and young -at- heart. We walked to
the great cliffs to the south where the
steeples of clay hold a buttress against
the great Atlantic. We walked for miles
on the northern beach where there was
not a sign of man to be seen. Much of this
area, thank goodness, has been set aside
as park land. Such foresight is hard to
come by today when dollars and
developing pressures are so great.
Of course, whenever we went out we
had to take binoculars and field guides to
the point for it was there we would see
birds from the far north that only
occasionally dip down into our area.
Names like the Iceland gull, glaucous
gull, kittiwake, dovekie, murre and
gannet quickened the heartbeat even
though we'd often be there in the cold of
winter. We'd often see the eider ducks
with their elegant colors along with the
most spectacular of all sea ducks, the
harlequin. These rare glimpses,into an
unknown world of birds from the north
has made Montauk Point a mecca for
birders from all over the country. Any
day you might see cars from Delaware,
Connecticut, or Pennsylvania with
birders anxious to see what's out there.
Sometimes Quantity Not Rarity
Sometimes the rarities would not be
there but rafts of scoters by the
thousands or huge flocks of mergansers
milling back and forth were enough of a
spectacle to make the trip worthwhile. If
we couldn't find birds we might find seals
for this is one of their favorite frolicking
places along our coast.
All these memories flash before me as
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we once again visited the point over the
weekend. This time we were
introducing a new member of the family
to this wonderful outdoor spot. We had
our grandson while his mom and dad
went to the city for the day.
I'm afraid a three -year old's interest in
looking through binoculars is somewhat
limited at this stage of his life. As a
matter of fact, he was more fascinated in
looking through the wrong way. Seems
he could see better, he thought.
The real fascination of the point to him
was the beach. As we walked along, his
curious eyes picked out a wide variety of
items, including skate egg cases and long
trails of kelp, all which had to come back
with us.
We were glad we had taken him along
to one of our favorite spots and only hope
that he appreciated some of its charm.
Honored
Kathleen M. Rutkoske of Laurel
has been named to Who's Who
Among Students in American
Universities and Colleges. A
senior at Wells College in Aurora,
N.Y., she is a mathematics major.