A Walk Through Whitney Pond Park

The name Whitney looms large in U. S. history. Nowhere is the family's influence greater than on Long Island (New York). Their property on the Gold Coast of the island is of another age, an age of the Gatsbys, Phipps and Vanderbilts. The Whitneys were philanthropists. A small legacy of that beneficence is a modest park tucked in a commercial corner of Manhasset Village. The land once belonged to the Whitney family and today is open to the public.

My husband and I sometimes visit the park because it is quiet and often not very populated (except perhaps by geese and ducks). The pictures today show some of what we saw on our visit last week.

The entrance to Whitney Pond Park lets everyone know that dogs are welcome, as this sign indicates.

However the canine guests must follow rules, as this sign suggests. and respect other visitors in the park.

There are usually many geese and ducks present. This visit we saw only two geese. These birds were obviously habituated to humans because they approached, as though looking for something to eat.

Here's a shot of one of the pair. This one is quite close, and actually engaging with us, as you can see in the photo.

The shot below, which seems to show a heavily wooded area, actually borders a concrete parking lot and a large Macy's department store. However, the beauty of the park is not in any way affected by the proximity of this commerce. I believe you can see a bit of the barbecue pits and picnic tables available to the public. I've never seen anyone use this picnic facility.

Another shot of what appears to be a dense wood, but is in fact merely a strip of old growth trees and wild brush.

This line of trees barely conceals the road behind. But still, on this side of the trees, it is quiet and the illusion of being in a rural setting is quite complete.

There is, in fact, a determined effort to respect the natural habitat. The No Mow sign indicates to landscapers that the area has been set aside as a reserve for nature. This sign sits almost in a stream bed that runs through the park. You see a puddle in the foreground of this shot, a suggestion of what lies in the brush.

A bee feeding on what I believe to be mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum), a native plant of Long Island.

We couldn't see any turtles, carp (quite common in the area) or other aquatic life in the pond. However, there were ripples throughout. I took a shot, closeup, to see if my camera would reveal what was hidden from the naked eye. Sure enough, there appeared in the camera image what seemed to be thousands of tiny fish swimming around. You can see them in this shot.

We also saw one bird I cannot identify. It is certainly a water fowl and was most surely feasting on the fish. This animal was quite timid and flew off as we approached.

We noted what seemed to be berries growing in one of the trees. I can't identify the tree or the berry.

Near the entrance to the park I saw a large rock, obviously left there as part of the natural scenery. A little lady bug was crawling across the rock, but I couldn't get a good shot. The best I could do I have cut out and pasted next to the rock. If you look very closely, you will see the tiny lady bug.

There was a swampy area in one part of the pond. The swamp administrators seem to be allowing this pond to go through a natural pond life cycle.

This shot might be of a leaf to an American sycamore (native to Long Island) tree. I looked up pictures of native trees and that seemed to fit the bill.

One of the native flowers planted in the park's Pollinator Garden was this plant, which I believe to be a Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). Once again, I looked up pictures of native plants and this seemed to be right.

Another native plant may be Blazing star (Liatris spicata).

While the park is a preserve for natural plant species, it is also very much designed for people to enjoy. There is, for example this playground.

And there are swimming pools. This building I believe services the three pools that are open to local residents for a very modest fee. Across from this park is a low income housing development. Children from that community regularly cross the street and use the facilities of the park.

The picture below shows an area for picnic tables. You can see handball courts to the left. Behind these courts are tennis courts. I believe the tennis courts do charge a fee.You can also see in this picture that Community Drive, a rather large thoroughfare, borders the park.

Another shot, below, shows the park's tennis courts. These courts are almost always in use. You can see the courtesy sign for Veteran parking, very near to the park entrance. Courtesies such as this for veterans are quite common on Long Island.

I was surprised to see dying leaves in the otherwise healthy plants.

This is simply a view of the pond. I didn't catch the ripples in the shot.

This sign announces the presence of the pollinator garden. It is in this garden that I saw the native flower plants, and the bee feeding on pollen (picture higher up in the blog).

There was a stretch of rotted pier, closed to the public. I'm not sure why the park let this fall into such a state of disrepair. It would have been lovely to walk on the pier and have the sense of being even closer to the water.

Here is another shot of the pier. I had taken this a few years ago (in winter) at the park and posted it on LIL the LMAC Gallery. In this photo the pier is in much better shape, but still was closed to the public.

_{Credit: LMAC Gallery. Public domain}

That's my Wednesday walk. I think it's wonderful that such a peaceful quiet place exists for all to enjoy. Down the road is a huge hospital complex. Behind the trees a large department store. Across the small access road, police and fire stations. But in the park, none of that exists.

Peace, health and Happy Wednesday to everyone.
WednesdayWalk
All pictures in this post were taken by me last week at Whitney Pond Park. The only exception to that is the last photo, which was taken by me a couple of years ago and posted to the LIL Gallery. Many of these pictures will also find their way eventually into the gallery and then be in the public domain.

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