~Just Some Words About Seaweed in the Early Days of the North -{&}- South Forks of Long Island, New York~
BY DANNY McCARTHY
Over a fall weekend while taking a ride in New Suffolk, New York, I came across a resident holding a yard sale. A particular intriguing item the resident exchanged for free was a package of a SEASONED SEAWEED SNACK.
I thought: Aha! Seaweed ~ Great story.
"For her marriage on Oct. {stet} 15 to Dr. Thomas Angell Worthin of Ann Arbor, {Michigan}, Miss Virginia Carver Whittier will wear her mother's wedding gown of white satin and applique lace, as ordered in Paris by her maternal grandmother, the late Mrs. Virginia E. Carver. The bride to be is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Tupper Whittier of Brooklyn and Seaweed Landing, Mattituck.
Going online to the suffolkhistoricnewspapers website I ended up coming across the knowledge that there was a Seaweed Landing in Mattituck.
According to page 307 in SOUTHOLD TOWN RECORDS 1683-1856 VOL. III LIBER D, "...Your memoralists would further represent that with seines they procure many millions of fish from the waters of the Sound & bays: - - and seaweed from the Creeks, with which they annually enrich their lands - - That from a comparative state of sterility this Town has become noted for the many thousands of bushels of wheat yearly exported with a corresponding plenty of other agricultural products & stock. --
The Liber D printed version of the Town Records are available at all of the Historical Societies and here is the link to the original handwritten book:?
Before the general use of fish for manure, a large proportion of bread stuff was imported for consumption. - - Should the inhabitants be deprived the right of resort to the waters to procure fish & seaweed by their own labour, or compelled to pay an equivalent for them, or to purchase manure, their lands cannot be cultivated with profit. - - In the enjoyment of those privileges with enterprise & industry they procure a respectable livelihood: without them, dismay & emigration stare them in the face. --"
In my "Land Ho! A Main Attraction" link regarding Cutchogue, New York, I said: "In A Rose of the Nineties, Rosalind Case Newell wrote that the Peconic Bay pounding seas actually piled rows of seaweed along the beach. The windrows would include hundreds of escallops. She continued saying that the New Suffolk shore was lined with little grey-shingled escallop houses. The dredging, opening and shipping of escallops was an industry that was employed by many of the locals
A Rose of the Nineties is available from the Southold Historical Museum:
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https://www.southoldhistorical.org/product-page/rose-of-the-nineties/
Here’s a recipe for success with good ingredients as taken from the pages of Rose Remembers by Rosalind Case Newell {"Rose Remembers" is out-of-stock}:
Dry escallops well in a cloth. You’ll have to change it once or twice. “A piece of old cotton sheet or whatever is much better than paper towels.” Crush 12 or more saltines to a coarse powder with a rolling pin. Saltines are tastier than bread crumbs. Beat one egg in a soup dish with a fork (not a beater). Cut small slices as thin as you can from a strip of fat back with a very sharp knife with enough pieces to cover the bottom of the pan. The fat back will slice easier when frozen. Cut the rind off first. Try out these pieces in an iron frying pan, watching and turning carefully and constantly. Drain them on a paper towel. Dust the escallops with flour, pepper and salt and put them in egg. Then dip them out with a split spoon so they won’t be too wet, and roll them in the cracker crumbs. When the fat is smoking hot, put in the escallops and they will start to brown at once. Turn them over. Add butter if you think they are going to burn. As soon as they are brown on both sides, they’re done. A couple of minutes is all they need. Serve them at once. Rosalind Case Newell said that the job is so quick that you could cook the escallops while your guests are getting to the table. She went on to say: “My biggest frying pan holds eighty escallops and I figure on 20 to a person.”
In Professor Marilyn E. Weigold's volume titled "PECONIC BAY Four Centuries of History on Long Island's North and South Forks" I found this on pages 78-79:
"More enduring than wood as an income-generating sideline for East End farmers was seaweed. It littered the shores of Peconic Bay and was there for the taking. Whether used for insulation or in barnyards, seaweed was in demand, its fragrance notwithstanding. Of course, years ago bay area residents were accustomed to the smells of of nature. That was their aromatherapy! In the sanitized East End of today, however, odors, as opposed to fragrances, are unacceptable, so much so much so that they make front-page news. In the late summer of 1999 the East Hampton Star ran a one-page article dealing public concern about foul odors wafting through Sag Harbor (or "Gag Harbor," as some of the locals were calling it). The sewage treatment plant was suspect, but the real cause of the problem was the buildup of excess seaweed in the vicinity of Havens Beach. This 'parfum de Sag Harbor' dissipated within days but, while it lasted, dining al fresco was not an option.
Odiferous seaweed was the subject of another East Hampton Star article in 2010. Juxtaposing past and present, the paper noted that historically seaweed was there for the taking by the residents of the East End towns. Yet some people objected to the idea of strangers crossing their property to reach the beach. A landowner in the Northwest area of East Hampton insisted that he owned the beach and could prevent the public from accessing it. In 1861 he was sued by the town trustees, who maintained that the Dongan Patent, granted by New York colonial governor Thomas Dongan in 1686, had guaranteed access to the beaches to all residents. The landowner fought back by hiring attorneys and in the process drove himself to the poorhouse because the ensuing legal battle lasted twenty years. More than a century later, the attorneys took a different position on beach access to gather seaweed. In 2010 when a commercial nursery sought permission to scoop up seaweed for use in organic horticulture, its request was denied because of the potential environmental impact. Aside from the threat to endangered piping plovers if the seaweed were gathered during the birds' nesting period, seaweed anchored the sand and for that reason its removal was viewed as detrimental...."
Professor Weigold's "PECONIC BAY..." volume is available from amazon.com:
Over the years being an archivist, I recall seeing a photo of the Cutchogue Old House having this caption: "Black and white photograph of north wall of original building looking easterly showing roof line of original kitchen wing. Original beveled short clapboards and straw and seaweed filled wall. The lean to roof is of later date."
There is a Seaweed Landing in Rhode Island:
https://greenhillrocks.com/seaweed-landing/