The Patchogue-Medford Library Salutes the Town on its Anniversary Brookhaven Town (Suffolk County, Long Island, N.Y.) @ 350 Years Part I: Brookhaven’s Geologic Formation & Geographic Orientation To ca. 10,000 Years Before Present comp. & ed. by Mark H. Rothenberg © 2003 Mark H. Rothenberg The Patchogue-Medford Library Salutes the Town on its Anniversary

Editor’s Note What follows, I hope, will amuse, inform, receive its fair share of constructive criticism, suggestions, elaboration, chuckles, wonder, & learning. It is a series of (occasionally reverent, more often irreverent) remarks & vignettes on Town history, in Microsoft PowerPoint format, drawn mainly from, and usually including primary Town, colonial, and state documents, that gradually work their way forward in time. It is hoped that historians and scholars will study the area more closely, documenting their work, the latter being essential to improving the quality of information passed on about local history, rendering it more fascinating. What is recounted took place on (or is related to) one tiny stretch of the Earth, now called Brookhaven Town, that has at times had an impact, well out of proportion to its size, on its region, colony, state, nation, and on the rest of the planet. When reading history, it’s always good to remember: (a) that that other time your studying was once today’s here and now, (b) that many things taken for granted today were not what people then took for granted then, or had not happened yet, so they weren’t factored into people’s thinking, beliefs, or habits of living, (c) that people then, as now lived in a wider cultural context, a key to understanding them, (d) that everyone lives within a specific time frame, partly conditioned by a context. This is not a vacuum of meaningless recitations and dates. To think so is to lose track of life itself: what’s worth seeing, hearing, understanding. There are more connections between the large and small event than are always apparent, between the famous and the unknown, than are often recognized. Here is a glimpse of life, as once lived, in Brookhaven.

Where in the World & What is Brookhaven Town? The Town of Brookhaven is is a large municipality located in central Suffolk County, on Long Island, in southeastern New York State. It is one of the ten Towns of Suffolk County, N.Y., which are the county’s main political & geographic subdivisions. Towns contain numerous incorporated and unincorporated villages. Brookhaven is bordered by Riverhead and Southampton Towns to the east, Smithtown and Islip Towns to the west, Long Island Sound to the north, Great South Bay, Fire Island (of which it includes a large section) and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The panel to the right was selected as a frequent reminder that the, Town bounded by water to N. & S., has a long maritime history. Brookhaven overlapping-box-like dimensions inscribe some 323.5 square miles of suburbia, suburban farmland, parks, historic places, businesses, beaches, lakes, creeks, nature preserves, pine barrens, villages, and more, all in about 20 miles, from east to west and 14 mi. from north to south, rendering it the 3rd largest town in the State. It extends from the villages of Stony Brook to Wading River in the north, Lake Ronkonkoma to Calverton in the center, and, with an eastward jog in the map, from Blue Point to Eastport, in the south. Each town includes incorporated & unincorporated villages. Brookhaven Town has approximately 63 such villages, and a 2000 U.S. Census population of 448,519. Traffic gridlock is a specialty.

Brookhaven Town’s Geologic History in a Nutshell [Initial Outline Only – To Be Developed & Expanded] Glaciations Terminal moraine – deposits marking the limit of glacier Ronkonkoma Moraine Black sand slightly radioactive belt – Harbor Hill Moraine Kettle Holes & Kettle Hole Lakes – e.g., Lake Ronkonkoma Glacial Erratics – large rocks glacially moved to the middle of nowhere Peneplain – downhill river floodplain from glacial outwash to N. Shoreline Erosion N. Shore Bluffs (e.g., endangered lighthouses) – N. Coast of Town – deposited by retreating glacier -- Later PJEF, scene of Sand Mining Barrier Beaches – notably Fire Island – wind, water, storms, hurricanes, new inlets formed and sealed, even in historic times Hills Bald Hill (Coram area) is tallest – both shores visible on a good day Bodies of Water Small Rivers & Creeks (Streams) Carmans (or Connecticut), Patchogue, Peconic, Nissequogue, & many smaller streams Lakes – natural (and much later, man-made) Lake Ronkonkoma Artists Lake – later scene of an art colony Bays – N. & S. Coasts, generally deeper in N., fairly shallow in S. Pine Barrens – nature’s water purification system – affects supply of drinkable, useable water

Brookhaven’s General & Glacial Topography T o w n [U.S. Geological Survey] Major Landforms of L.I., N.Y.

Pleistocene Glacial Landscape Alterations Brookhaven’s Northern & Central Moraines Central and Southern Glacial Outwash Plains To the right: Brookhaven Town area map (and the immediately bordering region of Suffolk County, Long Island), from Bradford B. Van Diver’s Roadside Geology of New York. Mountain Press, 1985. It conveys a sense of the pivotal role of Pleistocene glaciation in creating the modern physical geography of the Brookhaven, L.I., area, showing geological influences that developed and shaped the area’s ecosystems.

Northern Brookhaven Geology E Miller Place to Middle Island N S W Source: Fuller, Myron Leslie. The Geology of Long Island, New York. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Interior Dept. Geological Survey, 1914: p. 115.