The Connetquot River

The Connetquot River begins as a small creek and becomes a wide river near its southern end, meandering 11 miles from the center of Long Island through the Pine Barrens into the Great South Bay. Underground springs supply it with cool, clean, fresh water. The river is part of the South Shore Estuary Reserve, an interconnected system of rivers, streams, wetlands, and bays stretching from the town of Hempstead to the town of Southampton, with a management plan intended to protect its long-term ecological and recreational resources. Connetquot is a Native American word meaning "at the great long river." The river's abundant plant and animal life provided food for the Secatogue tribe, who found oysters and clams in the bay and eel and trout in the river. Brook trout are native to the rivers of the northeastern coast of North America, while eels come from spawning grounds in the Atlantic Ocean to mature here. The Secatogue may have used small fish to fertilize soil. Since the 1880s, the pond called Herring Pond has received thousands of spawning alewives each spring, and during that period the Cuttings allowed estate workers to harvest the fish, which were so plentiful they could be raked onto the shore in huge numbers and pickled in salt brine for later use. Today, only a few alewives make the spring run.

Great River, New York · United States