Sites & Wildflowers on Mysterious Plum Island NY...
On Wednesday, Roxanne and I toured the very mysterious and interesting Plum Island, NY, home of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center. Tours of the island are rare, and this one was made available through Mystic Seaport. Plum Island is named for the Beach Plums that were seen there when the island was discovered by the Dutch. The day was delightful and interesting. The pictures that follow record some of the wildflowers and sites we experienced.
Just one of the very interesting things we discussed on the tour was the research done at PIADC on Hoof and Mouth Disease (follow link at your own peril). I learned that this is one of the most contagious diseases anywhere (affects animals with hooves… not people) and there is a lot of effort expended on the island (and internationally, everywhere) to contain this disease because of the not-so-very-insignificant economic consequences of the disease.
Regarding wildflowers, there is nothing particularly unique about Plum Island from the rest of this region, EXCEPT that the feds are very careful to keep the island deer-free. It turns out that deer are susceptible to hoof and mouth disease and are ALSO incredible swimmers. So, from time to time, they swim out from Long Island and Connecticut to Plum Island where they are promptly dispatched by security forces. All very interesting of course, because the foliage on Plum Island is NOT EATEN TO DEATH by rats-on-stilts… emmmm… deer. Consequently, the undergrowth is LUSH… LUSH…. LUSH.
Solidago (Goldenrod) in bloom:
Phytolacca americana (American Pokeweed)… very lovely and purple… note the lush poison ivy below….
Rhus copallina (Winged Sumac)… lots of flower in their early and later (more reddish) stages)...
The final resting place of Col Thomas Gardener… buried here because he dies of small pox and they did not want it to spread to Gerdener’s Island where the rest of the family lived. Plum Island got an early start in the disease department.
Blackberries still to be had...
Plum Gut with Orient Point Light in the distance. The water here is incredibly disturbed…
Plum Island Light… really a striking building. Nice light and shadow when we were there.
Very lovely & seldom used beach..
Remains of Ft. Terry, a part of the very extensive and hardly ever used Coastal Artilliery Corps that built forts and batteries all over the coast of the U.S. after the Spanish American War.
Milkweed seeds getting deposited all around...
Big Gull and Little Gull Is in a line with Fisher’s Island in the distance.
