Gardiner County Park
West Bay Shore, Islip, Suffolk County
231 acres

Directions:

Take the Roibert Moses Cause south and get off at exit C2 onto Montauk Highway (Route 27A) east; drive 0.75 of a mile to the entrance on the right.

History:

Original property of Suffolk's first non-native landowners.

It became part of the historic Sagtikos Manor Estate.

Sagtikos Manor Estate (north side of Montauk Highway, West Bay Shore)

In 1692 -- From the Secatogue Indians, Stephanus Van Cortlandt, the first native-born mayor of New York City, purchases 1,200 acres extending from the Great South Bay to the middle of Long Island. He built a manor house that same year, naming it “Sagtikos,” an Indian word meaning “snake that hisses.”

1758 --  Sagtikos Manor passes into the possession of the Thompson and Gardiner families.
Revolutionary War  --  British General Sir Henry Clinton and his officers quarter at the Manor.

1790  -- George Washington stays in the mansion while touring Long Island.

1976  --  The mansion is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The mansion is open to the public.
Sources: Cynthia Blair (http://www.newsday.com/features/custom/names)

McAllister, 2000:73-74

Habitats:

old fields, second growth woods, marsh

Facilities and Activities:

Nature trails, hiking, jogging in this nature-oriented public park on the Great South Bay. 

PLANTS:

Acer rubrum (red maple)

Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)