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September 17, 1992 - Park Offers a Taste of Pine Barrensi+% CUSTOM JEWELRY DESIGN • JEWELRY REPAIR FINE COLLECTIBLES - PORCELAIN DOLLS WILDFLOWER GIFTS, INC. 11 W. MONTAUK HWY., HAMPTON BAYS LAYAWAYS ACCEPTED 728 -2693 50 Nugent Street Southampton, L.I., N.Y. 11968 283 -5890 Interior Decorators Complete Decorating Services Montauk Highway Eastport, L.I., N.Y. 11941 325 -0176 D o y o u h a v e a Passion for Pasta? M o n d a y n i g h t s y o u c a n Satisfy Yourself a n d s a v e y o u r b u d g e t, t o o Pasta Specials - $8.95 including Caesar Salad and garlic bread THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS I SEPTEMBER 17, 1992 Focus on Nature Park Offers a Taste of Pine Barrens By Paul Sloutenburgh Having been a teacher during my working years, I maintain that the best way to edu- cate is to have the student become involved with the subject. I guess that's why I spend so much time in the outdoors, for it's there I can engage with the things I want to learn about and the real enjoyment comes in. Case in point: I wanted to get closer to and learn more about the Pine Barrens we have here on Long Island, and so Barbara and I spent a day and night in one of our lesser -known parks in the Town of Southampton, Sears Bel- low County Park. Many of us have passed the signs just outside Hampton Bays heading west on Montauk Highway or on the Hamp- ton Bays - Riverhead Road (Rt. 24) just west of the Troopers' headquarters —you know, the area everyone slows down for. The beauty of this park is that it is not over- crowded on weekdays, at least as far as we could see, and it has the added attraction of having a lovely kettle pond with a small swimming beach and picnic area. All resi- dents and lovers of the outdoors should be- come familiar with this pine barren park; take lunch in and sit by the pond and feel and smell the pine barrens that surround you. The pine barrens that most of us see when- ever we take the Expressway are just a rem- nant of what was once a quarter of a million acres of pine barrens that spread from east to west through the heart of Long Island. With our ever-expanding development today, there is less than 100,000 acres of this mag- nificent and little -known area left. To many, magnificent may seem too flowery a word for what looks like a mass of scrub pines and bushes, but there's more to this scrubby area than meets the eye. Most of the soils, which are a result of the outwash plains of past glaciers, are sandy, dry and generally not suited for growing things, except for those species that through the process of evolution have adapted to this harsh environment. Because of the restricted type of growth and because the soil was never suitable for farming, the pine barrens for many years were left alone. Often fire rages through them but, again because of the particular types of plants that grow there, the charred and burned areas soon spring back. A perfect example of the area's vitality is the resistance to fire of the pitch pine. Most fires pass quickly through the "tinder box" of the pine barrens, but because of the pitch pines' thick bark, many live through the in- ferno that sweeps through every 10 to 20 years. The cones on most pines mature in the Chefs Face Off (Continued from Page 18) that sucker," said Mr. Steadman, the author of "Restaurant Biz is Showbiz!" He com- mended several of the entries for having "true chili flavor" and tasting "good and hot." He echoed the satisfaction of both the competitors and spectators when he ob- served, "The atmosphere is great and the chili here is excellent." Ms. Matz said that plans are already underway for next year's cookoff, which she hopes will attract the attention of the Inter- national Chili Society and the Chili Appre- ciation Society International. By next fall, anyone who might have suf- fered from heartache after losing the com- petition or heartburn in the effort to digest the fine Southwestern fare will surely have a chance to recover and come back for an- other try. 'Zhe Birdutatehers Companion Seed • Feeders • Birdhouses i�7 Binoculars • Field Guides Baffles Everything far the Birder' ? Closed Sunday 288 -8536 s 82 Old Riverhead Road Westhampton Beach Nonh Mall second year and therefore there's a contin- uous release of seeds. This is true of the pitch pine but they also have another trick that helps to insure their survival; some of their cones hold their seeds tightly closed until fire heats them and they release the winged seeds. Fire is also essential for killing off the scrub that grows among and below the pines. If there was no fire, the scrub oaks would soon outgrow the pines and shade them into oblivion. So here we see that fire is an essen- tial ingredient for keeping the pine barrens in a healthy state. Along with the scrub oaks that make up the understory we find low bush blueberry and black huckleberry mingled with sheep lau- rel, staggerbush, bracken fern and others. When conditions are right, a solid mat of bearberry covers the ground along with a wide variety of lichens that can survive in this hot, dry area. Each of these plants has its own special way of meeting the different growing conditions found in the area. Many would be surprised to see that the pine barrens contain ponds, streams and bogs that blend in with this unique area. Bel- lows Pond, for example, is a gem of crystal clear water that one would not expect to find amongst the pines. We had brought our ca- noe in hopes of putting it in the pond but were told it was not allowed. We could put it in Sears Pond, two miles up a "By Permit Only" road. We immediately signed in and were soon off to Sears Pond. I'd been in there years ago before the county had taken it over, and yet it seemed all new to me. The roads are sandy but firm; we had no trouble in getting there and soon had the canoe in the water. There was only one other boat on the pond with two men fishing and so we h=aded to the south edge. The water along this edge was lined with water lilies and a beautiful tiny purple flower on a single stem. fester we looked it up and found it to be one of the bladderworts —these plants have underwater bladders that cap- ture minute organisms, one of the many car - niverous plants found throughout these pond and swamp areas. Further along we'd see a yellow bladderwort that had its feet in the muddy bog near the edge. Behind the wet edge was the swamp loosestrife that had ag- gressively taken over, and in back of that the tall sweet pepperbush still showed a few white spikes of its sweet - scented flowers, blending in with the greenery that sur- rounded the pond. Dominating the woods around the pond were swamp maples that will soon be turn- ing into their crimson and gold fall foliage. But the most impressive trees in this wet edge were the white cedars, once a most sought -after tree for the timber trade. The white cedar is unique in that it can grow with its feet in the water; Long Island is at the edge of its northern range. We saw no deer although their tracks around the water's edge were everywhere. We saw a few duck Painted turtles inhabit many of the ponds, streams and rivers of Long Island. —Paul Sloutenburgh Photo blinds along the shore, telling us that during the season ducks must use the area. It was good to see the park was still in its pristine condition with only a few roads and many hiking trails throughout. Except for the camp area there was little sign of man's dis- turbance. Once again we had to salute those politicians who had the foresight to set aside this valuable natural resource for the peo- ple of Suffolk. In these economically de- pressed times we can be thankful that the people's lands are still safe and hopefully will always be there for us to enjoy. My only hope would be that more people would drive in with a picnic lunch or tent to stay over in our county parks for they are there for you to learn from and to enjoy. Artist Isadore Seltzer Turns Author (Continued from Page 18) Seltzer notes with a smile. For "Tattoo," a movie with Bruce Dern, Mr. Seltzer was called in to design all the tat- toos. "I painted them on the bodies," he re- calls, "working with a crew of about 15." The cast, forbidden to shower "for days on end" since the art work was not permanent, got rather cranky and the movie bombed. But for Mr. Seltzer it was great fun. Working first on plaster casts of the principals, before the ac- tors actually became human canvases, he particularly enjoyed the novelty of "working in three dimensions." With all this, however, there remained some creative territory yet unexplored. While he had illustrated other people's books, including two for children published by MacMillan —one in 1989 (This Is the Bread I Baked for Ned by Crescent Dragonwagon) and a second in 1990 What's On My Plate? by Ruth Belov Gross) —Mr. Seltzer had yet to write one of his own. Nor had he expressed his lifelong fascination with architecture in any formal way in his art. Born in St. Louis, the ninth of 10 children — all of whom liked to draw —Mr. Seltzer re- members designing houses as a teenager and thinking he would like to be an architect. "Then I went to art school," he recalls, "and it was a little more juicy." He abandoned the idea of formal architec- tural studies but has never stopped studying the houses American live in. Having spent 10 years on the West Coast before moving East to be in the city that everyone recog- nized as "the center for illustration," he is familiar with both coasts and a lot of what lies in between. Whenever he travels, he says he rents a bike. carries a sketch pad and sur- veys the structures that shelter American. "American architecture is down to earth and real," he says. "It comes out of the needs of the people." Indigenous architects, he AWNING & SHUTTERcoRP. a division of Long Island Shade & Blinds EUROPEAN RETRACTABLEAWNING SYSTEMS • Full Awning Shop -Tennis Screens • Exterior Rolling Shutters • Pool Covers • Hurricane Storm Panels • Motorized Systems 369 -9750 1285 Rt. 58 • Riverhead , PERIODONTICS - ORAL IMPLANT,,,,; DENTAL HYGIENISTS: SERVICES INCLUDE: - Terri Heimroth, RDH Maintenance Care -Linda Gordon, RUH -Non - Surgical Therapy -Laura Moore, RDH •Late; Treatment -Nitrous Oxide Sedation Mitchell T. Cantor, DMD, MSD -Second Opinions A professional team providing gentle care appropriate to the needs of mer clients maintains, have traditionally taken climate and terrain into account in this country and built "site- specific houses." Noting that his book is "more about groups of people and their need," and how the arch- itecture of their houses expresses those needs than about architecture per se, he says that he presented his thoughts on the houses and their inhabitants without making any partic- ular concessions to the age of his targeted There remained some creative territory yet unexplored. readers (roughly six to 10 years old). "Ina funny way, it was like talking to my- self," he says of writing the book. The residences depicted include pueblos, log cabins, stone houses, frame and brick structures, houseboats, trailers and a beach home that anybody who has ever visited a Dune Road in any Hampton village or ham- let will immediately recognize. Like all of Mr. Seltzer's appealing and colorful illustra- tions, ills not an actual house. Mr. Seltzer takes liberties for the sake of emphasis and art, but the reader's sense is always of a house that could exist. The text, praised as "upbeat and consist- ently informative" in Publishers Weekly, does a lot to explain the extraordinary diver- sity of America's domestic architecture, without either talking down to its readers — something Mr. Seltzer was determined to avoid—or getting too technical— something he was warned against by his colleagues and editors. Mr. Seltzer stresses that he didn't comb the countryside for "museum houses" or man- sion of the kind that are specially outfitted to show tourists how people once lived. The houses he includes are in a style that has been continuously lived in, "including the pueblo," he notes, which has a 600 -year his- tory. He wants his young readers to under- stand the transformations that a house undergoes "through being lived in," as well as the conditions that gave rise to its style in the first place. A few yards down the road, the beach hou- ses of which Mr. Seltzer's example is "a more playful version" are beginning to fill up with a full complement of weekenders and their holiday houseguests. H any among them were to pick up Mr. Seltzer's look, they might be interested to learn that the site of their weekend festivities is actually a mod- ernist beach house as site-specific to its time and place as any of the other examples in- cluded in The Hottse I Live In. Among other interesting things that the particular contours of such a structure are capable of revealing, says the author, are the lack of hand craftsmanship that had come to be taken for granted by the time such beach houses were built, the level of technological proficiency that had been attained, and the almost universal taste of the times for sun - filled interiors. "It wouldn't work on a mountain," says Mr. Seltzer of the beach house, and it cer- tainly wouldn't work in a city or out in the suburbs. The structure he had in mind in his book, and which is amply illustrated along the East End beachfront, "is distinctly a beach house," he says, but not a beach house of the '50s or a beach house of the post- modern variety, "which is slipping right back into the 1920s shingle style." It is "a very current vintage." NASCAR POSTERS and COLLECTIBLES THE HOBBY STOP DOLL HOUSES • MINIATURES - CRAFTS TRAINS - MODELS • RC VEHICLES Monday through Saturday 10:30 -6, Open Sunday Opposite Bank of New York 481 Montauk Highway,East Quogue 653 -6376 Complete Plumbing & Heating Supplies - Visit Our Showroom Open Weekdays 7:30 -4:40, Sat 8:00 -12:00 Closed Lunch 12 -12 :30 Montauk Highway, Wainscott THINK SPRING! Plan For Next Year - Build Now Ask About Our Fall Deals on New Pool Construction. GUNITE POOLS VINYL POOLS SPAS What we put into pools and spas to keep you happy and relaxed. OP(NI s 39 construction and installation awards.. . +� 85 years of experience ... a world of reliability .. . �� a continuous flow of personal service ... rN"'� and an unsinkable guarantee of satisfation! rSrp&aara 1972 Kazdin Pools & Spas ffir •S<', l3ioCaare 835 North Highway, Southampton, NY 11968 283 -4884 298.3800 653 -0665 A 14 Main Street - Southampton • 283 -6206 THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS I SEPTEMBER 17, 1992 Focus on Nature Park Offers a Taste of Pine Barrens By Paul Sloutenburgh Having been a teacher during my working years, I maintain that the best way to edu- cate is to have the student become involved with the subject. I guess that's why I spend so much time in the outdoors, for it's there I can engage with the things I want to learn about and the real enjoyment comes in. Case in point: I wanted to get closer to and learn more about the Pine Barrens we have here on Long Island, and so Barbara and I spent a day and night in one of our lesser -known parks in the Town of Southampton, Sears Bel- low County Park. Many of us have passed the signs just outside Hampton Bays heading west on Montauk Highway or on the Hamp- ton Bays - Riverhead Road (Rt. 24) just west of the Troopers' headquarters —you know, the area everyone slows down for. The beauty of this park is that it is not over- crowded on weekdays, at least as far as we could see, and it has the added attraction of having a lovely kettle pond with a small swimming beach and picnic area. All resi- dents and lovers of the outdoors should be- come familiar with this pine barren park; take lunch in and sit by the pond and feel and smell the pine barrens that surround you. The pine barrens that most of us see when- ever we take the Expressway are just a rem- nant of what was once a quarter of a million acres of pine barrens that spread from east to west through the heart of Long Island. With our ever-expanding development today, there is less than 100,000 acres of this mag- nificent and little -known area left. To many, magnificent may seem too flowery a word for what looks like a mass of scrub pines and bushes, but there's more to this scrubby area than meets the eye. Most of the soils, which are a result of the outwash plains of past glaciers, are sandy, dry and generally not suited for growing things, except for those species that through the process of evolution have adapted to this harsh environment. Because of the restricted type of growth and because the soil was never suitable for farming, the pine barrens for many years were left alone. Often fire rages through them but, again because of the particular types of plants that grow there, the charred and burned areas soon spring back. A perfect example of the area's vitality is the resistance to fire of the pitch pine. Most fires pass quickly through the "tinder box" of the pine barrens, but because of the pitch pines' thick bark, many live through the in- ferno that sweeps through every 10 to 20 years. The cones on most pines mature in the Chefs Face Off (Continued from Page 18) that sucker," said Mr. Steadman, the author of "Restaurant Biz is Showbiz!" He com- mended several of the entries for having "true chili flavor" and tasting "good and hot." He echoed the satisfaction of both the competitors and spectators when he ob- served, "The atmosphere is great and the chili here is excellent." Ms. Matz said that plans are already underway for next year's cookoff, which she hopes will attract the attention of the Inter- national Chili Society and the Chili Appre- ciation Society International. By next fall, anyone who might have suf- fered from heartache after losing the com- petition or heartburn in the effort to digest the fine Southwestern fare will surely have a chance to recover and come back for an- other try. 'Zhe Birdutatehers Companion Seed • Feeders • Birdhouses i�7 Binoculars • Field Guides Baffles Everything far the Birder' ? Closed Sunday 288 -8536 s 82 Old Riverhead Road Westhampton Beach Nonh Mall second year and therefore there's a contin- uous release of seeds. This is true of the pitch pine but they also have another trick that helps to insure their survival; some of their cones hold their seeds tightly closed until fire heats them and they release the winged seeds. Fire is also essential for killing off the scrub that grows among and below the pines. If there was no fire, the scrub oaks would soon outgrow the pines and shade them into oblivion. So here we see that fire is an essen- tial ingredient for keeping the pine barrens in a healthy state. Along with the scrub oaks that make up the understory we find low bush blueberry and black huckleberry mingled with sheep lau- rel, staggerbush, bracken fern and others. When conditions are right, a solid mat of bearberry covers the ground along with a wide variety of lichens that can survive in this hot, dry area. Each of these plants has its own special way of meeting the different growing conditions found in the area. Many would be surprised to see that the pine barrens contain ponds, streams and bogs that blend in with this unique area. Bel- lows Pond, for example, is a gem of crystal clear water that one would not expect to find amongst the pines. We had brought our ca- noe in hopes of putting it in the pond but were told it was not allowed. We could put it in Sears Pond, two miles up a "By Permit Only" road. We immediately signed in and were soon off to Sears Pond. I'd been in there years ago before the county had taken it over, and yet it seemed all new to me. The roads are sandy but firm; we had no trouble in getting there and soon had the canoe in the water. There was only one other boat on the pond with two men fishing and so we h=aded to the south edge. The water along this edge was lined with water lilies and a beautiful tiny purple flower on a single stem. fester we looked it up and found it to be one of the bladderworts —these plants have underwater bladders that cap- ture minute organisms, one of the many car - niverous plants found throughout these pond and swamp areas. Further along we'd see a yellow bladderwort that had its feet in the muddy bog near the edge. Behind the wet edge was the swamp loosestrife that had ag- gressively taken over, and in back of that the tall sweet pepperbush still showed a few white spikes of its sweet - scented flowers, blending in with the greenery that sur- rounded the pond. Dominating the woods around the pond were swamp maples that will soon be turn- ing into their crimson and gold fall foliage. But the most impressive trees in this wet edge were the white cedars, once a most sought -after tree for the timber trade. The white cedar is unique in that it can grow with its feet in the water; Long Island is at the edge of its northern range. We saw no deer although their tracks around the water's edge were everywhere. We saw a few duck Painted turtles inhabit many of the ponds, streams and rivers of Long Island. —Paul Sloutenburgh Photo blinds along the shore, telling us that during the season ducks must use the area. It was good to see the park was still in its pristine condition with only a few roads and many hiking trails throughout. Except for the camp area there was little sign of man's dis- turbance. Once again we had to salute those politicians who had the foresight to set aside this valuable natural resource for the peo- ple of Suffolk. In these economically de- pressed times we can be thankful that the people's lands are still safe and hopefully will always be there for us to enjoy. My only hope would be that more people would drive in with a picnic lunch or tent to stay over in our county parks for they are there for you to learn from and to enjoy. Artist Isadore Seltzer Turns Author (Continued from Page 18) Seltzer notes with a smile. For "Tattoo," a movie with Bruce Dern, Mr. Seltzer was called in to design all the tat- toos. "I painted them on the bodies," he re- calls, "working with a crew of about 15." The cast, forbidden to shower "for days on end" since the art work was not permanent, got rather cranky and the movie bombed. But for Mr. Seltzer it was great fun. Working first on plaster casts of the principals, before the ac- tors actually became human canvases, he particularly enjoyed the novelty of "working in three dimensions." With all this, however, there remained some creative territory yet unexplored. While he had illustrated other people's books, including two for children published by MacMillan —one in 1989 (This Is the Bread I Baked for Ned by Crescent Dragonwagon) and a second in 1990 What's On My Plate? by Ruth Belov Gross) —Mr. Seltzer had yet to write one of his own. Nor had he expressed his lifelong fascination with architecture in any formal way in his art. Born in St. Louis, the ninth of 10 children — all of whom liked to draw —Mr. Seltzer re- members designing houses as a teenager and thinking he would like to be an architect. "Then I went to art school," he recalls, "and it was a little more juicy." He abandoned the idea of formal architec- tural studies but has never stopped studying the houses American live in. Having spent 10 years on the West Coast before moving East to be in the city that everyone recog- nized as "the center for illustration," he is familiar with both coasts and a lot of what lies in between. Whenever he travels, he says he rents a bike. carries a sketch pad and sur- veys the structures that shelter American. "American architecture is down to earth and real," he says. "It comes out of the needs of the people." Indigenous architects, he AWNING & SHUTTERcoRP. a division of Long Island Shade & Blinds EUROPEAN RETRACTABLEAWNING SYSTEMS • Full Awning Shop -Tennis Screens • Exterior Rolling Shutters • Pool Covers • Hurricane Storm Panels • Motorized Systems 369 -9750 1285 Rt. 58 • Riverhead , PERIODONTICS - ORAL IMPLANT,,,,; DENTAL HYGIENISTS: SERVICES INCLUDE: - Terri Heimroth, RDH Maintenance Care -Linda Gordon, RUH -Non - Surgical Therapy -Laura Moore, RDH •Late; Treatment -Nitrous Oxide Sedation Mitchell T. Cantor, DMD, MSD -Second Opinions A professional team providing gentle care appropriate to the needs of mer clients maintains, have traditionally taken climate and terrain into account in this country and built "site- specific houses." Noting that his book is "more about groups of people and their need," and how the arch- itecture of their houses expresses those needs than about architecture per se, he says that he presented his thoughts on the houses and their inhabitants without making any partic- ular concessions to the age of his targeted There remained some creative territory yet unexplored. readers (roughly six to 10 years old). "Ina funny way, it was like talking to my- self," he says of writing the book. The residences depicted include pueblos, log cabins, stone houses, frame and brick structures, houseboats, trailers and a beach home that anybody who has ever visited a Dune Road in any Hampton village or ham- let will immediately recognize. Like all of Mr. Seltzer's appealing and colorful illustra- tions, ills not an actual house. Mr. Seltzer takes liberties for the sake of emphasis and art, but the reader's sense is always of a house that could exist. The text, praised as "upbeat and consist- ently informative" in Publishers Weekly, does a lot to explain the extraordinary diver- sity of America's domestic architecture, without either talking down to its readers — something Mr. Seltzer was determined to avoid—or getting too technical— something he was warned against by his colleagues and editors. Mr. Seltzer stresses that he didn't comb the countryside for "museum houses" or man- sion of the kind that are specially outfitted to show tourists how people once lived. The houses he includes are in a style that has been continuously lived in, "including the pueblo," he notes, which has a 600 -year his- tory. He wants his young readers to under- stand the transformations that a house undergoes "through being lived in," as well as the conditions that gave rise to its style in the first place. A few yards down the road, the beach hou- ses of which Mr. Seltzer's example is "a more playful version" are beginning to fill up with a full complement of weekenders and their holiday houseguests. H any among them were to pick up Mr. Seltzer's look, they might be interested to learn that the site of their weekend festivities is actually a mod- ernist beach house as site-specific to its time and place as any of the other examples in- cluded in The Hottse I Live In. Among other interesting things that the particular contours of such a structure are capable of revealing, says the author, are the lack of hand craftsmanship that had come to be taken for granted by the time such beach houses were built, the level of technological proficiency that had been attained, and the almost universal taste of the times for sun - filled interiors. "It wouldn't work on a mountain," says Mr. Seltzer of the beach house, and it cer- tainly wouldn't work in a city or out in the suburbs. The structure he had in mind in his book, and which is amply illustrated along the East End beachfront, "is distinctly a beach house," he says, but not a beach house of the '50s or a beach house of the post- modern variety, "which is slipping right back into the 1920s shingle style." It is "a very current vintage." NASCAR POSTERS and COLLECTIBLES THE HOBBY STOP DOLL HOUSES • MINIATURES - CRAFTS TRAINS - MODELS • RC VEHICLES Monday through Saturday 10:30 -6, Open Sunday Opposite Bank of New York 481 Montauk Highway,East Quogue 653 -6376 Complete Plumbing & Heating Supplies - Visit Our Showroom Open Weekdays 7:30 -4:40, Sat 8:00 -12:00 Closed Lunch 12 -12 :30 Montauk Highway, Wainscott THINK SPRING! Plan For Next Year - Build Now Ask About Our Fall Deals on New Pool Construction. GUNITE POOLS VINYL POOLS SPAS What we put into pools and spas to keep you happy and relaxed. OP(NI s 39 construction and installation awards.. . +� 85 years of experience ... a world of reliability .. . �� a continuous flow of personal service ... rN"'� and an unsinkable guarantee of satisfation! rSrp&aara 1972 Kazdin Pools & Spas ffir •S<', l3ioCaare 835 North Highway, Southampton, NY 11968 283 -4884 298.3800 653 -0665