The Connetquot River

The Connetquot River begins as a small creek and grows into a wide river near its southern end. , The body of water in front of you is the Connetquot River. It meanders 11 miles from the center of Long Island, through the Pine Barrens, and into the Great South Bay. Underground springs feed the river with a constant supply of cool, clean, fresh water. The Connetquot is part of the South Shore Estuary Reserve, a system of interconnected rivers, streams, wetlands, and bays. The reserve stretches from the town of Hempstead to the town of Southampton. A management plan insures the long-term health of the reserve's ecological and recreational resources., What's in a Name? , Connetquot is a Native American word meaning "at the great long river." The Connetquot River's abundant plant and animal life provided a rich and varied food source for the Secatogue tribe that 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. Eels, however, arrive from their spawning grounds in the Atlantic Ocean to mature here. The Secatogue may have used small fish to fertilize soil., Alewives in Herring Pond , Since the 1880s, the pond to your left has been called “Herring Pond.” Each spring, thousands of alewives, a type of herring, gathered here to spawn. During the spawning period, the Cuttings permitted their estate workers to harvest the alewives, which were so plentiful that they could be raked on to the shore in huge numbers. The alewives were pickled in barrels with salt brine to preserve for later use. Today, only a few alewives make the spring run.