A salt marsh restoration project was conducted on the grounds of the William Floyd Estate.
|
|
The William Floyd Estate originally comprised several thousand acres of prime farm land bordering Moriches Bay and west of the Forge River. The land was a prosperous plantation in the eighteenth century, peaking under the management of William's son Nicoll.
Nicoll's son John Gelston Floyd was a lawyer and state senator, and not as interested in maintaining the farm. John spent the last years of his life as an invalid, and the land declined as well. After John's death, the remaining 2,200 acres were divided up among heirs. Under the tenure of John Gelston, Jr., the parcel on which the house sits became a place for outdoor recreation and hunting.
In 1965, when the Estate became a detached unit of Fire Island National Seashore, it was primarily being used as wildlife habitat. The family had built ponds and planted flowers to attract game. Today, the National Park Service manages the grounds as a cultural landscape, maintaining the fields, forest, ponds, and marsh as nearly as possible to the preservation date of 1974.
Whenever you visit the William Floyd Estate grounds, always protect yourself from ticks. During the summer and early fall, you should also be prepared to avoid mosquitoes.
|
