September 04, 1997 - Idyllic Return to Thousand IslandsSeptember 4, 1997 • The Suffolk Mme's •'`5A
Idyllic Return to Thousand Islands
Have you ever been to the Thousand
Islands? Thirty years ago we took our kids
and camped at Grassy Point State Park
there. Though we always wanted to return
we never quite made it until this year,
when our son rented a cabin on one of the
islands in this great recreational waterway
and invited us to
go along for the Focus
OCUS
Barbara packed On
the car until she
said she couldn't Nature
fit even a tea bag
more into it. We by Paul
left at 4 a.m. and Stoutenburgh
seeing it was Sun-
day we buzzed through the city in no time.
Past the city we struck out for Route 80
and then to 81 north all the way up to our
destination on the St. Lawrence River.
Eight hours later we pulled into the boat
ramp at Wellesley Island, where we rent-
ed a boat and soon were heading for the
rustic cabin four miles up bay.
It was quite an experience trying to
determine what island was ours, seeing
the whole area is strewn with big and
small islands. The thing that you are
immediately struck by as soon as you get
on the water is how crystal -clear all the
water is. I couldn't remember it as clear
30 years ago when we were last up there.
We're told it is because of the invasion of
billions of tiny filtering zebra mussels we
soon found everywhere in this great
waterway. These mussels have their down
side in that they are clogging the intakes
of engines, municipal water works and
just about anything they can settle on. So
new is this invader from Europe that it's
not even known what effect it will have on
the marine life of the river. Another exam-
ple of an introduced species where there
are no natural predators to control its
growth.
We found our cabin, one of six, on a
grassy slope overlooking the river, a place
where we'd watch beautiful sunsets day
after day. It couldn't have been better.
Soon a big fire was started outdoors and
we began to settle into our new adventure.
Each day something new would unfold.
We spent days just fishing and visiting
our neighboring islands. The kids caught
perch and bluegills, some large, some
small. The ease of catching them remind-
ed me of years ago when blowfish were
everywhere in our bays. As kids we could
use clams, mussels, bread, bacon and even
pieces of chewing gum for bait. All you
had to do was drop your line over the side
of the boat and watch the blowfish come
around. Ten or 20 would be an easy catch,
but then the cleaning of them is what took
time until you learned the hang of it. The
best way 1 found was to cut in back of the
head and then pull the meat out. All that
was left to do was to cut the tail and fin
off. It was as easy as that. If you cleaned a
lot of them your fingers would get all
roughed up and white from their coarse
sandpapery skin. To eat them, brown and
crisp, was like eating com on the cob,
only one back bone and nothing else. To
this day I think
they are just about
the best eating fish
you can get.
The bluegills and
perch the kids
caught didn't have
the rough skin of
the blowfish, but
what they lacked in
that protection they
made up for in their
spiny fins that took
a little practice in
learning how to
hold them when
you took the hook
out. They were
pretty fish was iri-
descent greens and
blues backlighted
with yellow. I
guess they are the
typical freshwater
pan fish and it was-
n't long until they
were sizzling in the
pan for dinner.
Each night we had
a big outdoor fire, a
convenient garbage
disposal, especially for the fish bones, etc.
We saw some Havahart traps down by the
dock so we knew raccoons were on the
prowl, which meant we had to be espe-
cially careful with leaving foodstuff out-
side.
boats tied up. Like the docks, each house
had its own special architecture. You
could clearly tell the new from the old.
The old had the old- fashioned up -and-
down windows, while the modem had the
spacious picture windows of today.
We saw mostly ring - billed gulls up
there, probably because they nest in the
nearby inland lakes. Years ago when I was
going to college up on Lake Ontario,
Barbara and I and the kids took off one
day to photograph this petite little gull. We
see them down here on the island and gen-
erally speaking they are the smallest of
our gulls, quite similar to our herring gull.
We ate outside most of the time, cook-
ing over the grill with charcoal or using a
one -burner gas stove or occasionally even
over the open fire and, of course, there
were always marshmallows on sticks at
night. Usually it was early to bed after a
story of something we had seen or done
during the day. The strenuous pace the
kids led made sleeping come easy. Some
nights we played cards that Barbara had
thoughtfully brought along. It's remark-
able how kids enjoy the games we also
played so long ago.
Swimming, of course, we all did but I
must say the kids outswam most of us. We
had brought a
snorkel and face
mask along and in
the clear water it
fascinated everyone
for it seemed as if
we were swimming
in an aquarium.
Schools of little
perch and bluegills
in the sparkling
water with its green
grass waving was a
sight I'm sure we'll
all remember. Each
day reminded us
what a paradise this
area is.
One day the
younger ones took a
six -mile hike with
their father while
we stayed behind to
catch up on squar-
ing the cabin away
that somehow got a
bit deep at times.
We also set about
getting dinner,
knowing all too
well that food
would be the reward the hikers would be
looking for when they returned. Sure
enough, about 7 p.m. we heard voices
coming through the woods, the youngest
camper with his collection of frogs, toads,
snakes, giant millipedes and salamanders
plus a wide collection of flowers, mosses
and mushrooms that were brought back to
be identified. They were in a plastic con-
tainer they had found that he proudly
called his "nature bag."
Our days were full and each day blend-
ed into the next with side trips to muse-
ums, nature walks, Canadian villages and,
of course, trips to rocky islands where the
kids were put ashore to claim them for
their very own. It surely shows what the
outdoor holds for both young and old.
Suffolk Times photo by Paul Stoutenburgh
RING- BILLED GULL —While our herring gull and great black- backed gull
nest on neighboring islands here on the East End, the little ring - billed gull
nests on inland freshwater lakes. This photo was taken on "Long Island" in
Oneida Lake almost 40 years ago.
Island After Island
One could spend an entire vacation just
cruising in and around the many islands
that dot the St. Lawrence. Each had its
own little and sometimes big house on it.
If the islands were large enough a regular
community of cottages would be there.
Each had its different kind of dock with
9 ■ wwim Swwlt�
Ya5 a ■aYYA WiaVll<
75 Years Ago
Sept. 1, 1922
Rabbit Lane Colony: A special meeting of the
Rabbit Lane Association was held on Saturday, Aug. 23, on
the beach. After a short business session everyone enjoyed
their box suppers and beverages were served. Mr. Kenneth
Metcalf played the xylophone, Mr. George Koch and friends
played the banjo and guitar. Everyone joined in the singing
and a gay old time was had by all.
50 Years Ago
Aug. 29, 1947
L.I. Potato Deal Behind Schedule: The 1947
potato deal on Long Island is at least two weeks and some
33,000 cars behind normal schedule. Up to Aug. 26, 1946,
6,377 railroad cars of potatoes had.been shipped and that was
in a period when heavy field piling was going on. Up to Aug.
27 this year, 3,398 cars had gone out, and there has been no
piling. Government purchases of around 100 cars a day con-
tinued to be the mainstay of a weak market.
We rented a boat and went to "Long
Island" in Oneida Lake where they nested
and I photographed from a blind while
Barbara took the kids some distance away
in the boat. Those were wonderful care-
free days.
Back at the cabin there was always
something to do or see. We watched a tiny
wren as it fed its young under the eaves of
the cottage. A real late record for nesting,
I would say, for this little brown whip of a
bird. Yet there she was, her bill full of
insects, going back and forth from dawn
to dark.
25 Years Ago
Aug. 31, 1972
Beekeeper Says It's Lots of Fun: Recent calls to
F.E. Smith of Flanders to come take away the bees have includ-
ed summonses from Brecknock Hall, the Valley National Bank
and the Episcopal Church, all in Greenport.
Mr. Smith, who has been in the trade for two years, travels
around all over the East End and will go anywhere in Suffolk
County as long as his customers are willing to pay for his gas
(he charges 10 cents a mile). He charges $3.50 an hour if bee
removal involves tearing into a building and then restoring it
with carpentry work, but will remove swarms for free if they
are just hanging from a tree or roof. He keeps as many of the
bees as possible, adding them to his own apiary which now
comprises 15 colonies or hives.
Does he ever get stung? He most certainly does. On one
occasion he collected no less than 100 stings in a day.
Normally the bee -sting count is between four and six, accord-
ing to Smith, who also claims that his work is "lots of fun."
Sometimes
We're
Down
In The
Dumps
NORTH FORK SANITATION SERVICE
Garbage & Rubbish Removal
Roy A. Schelin, Prop. 765 -2868