Spinney Hills, East Quogue facts for kids
Spinney Hills is a special natural area located in East Quogue, New York. It sits on the eastern edge of the Long Island Central Pine Barrens, a unique forest region. People visit Spinney Hills for activities like hiking, hunting, and exploring trails on dirt bikes or ATVs. The trails here are very sandy, almost like a beach!
What's in a Name?
Spinney Hills got its name from Spinney Road. This old road used to connect the hills from the East Quogue side to Sears Bellows County Park and Flanders. Flanders is famous for the Big Duck, a giant duck-shaped building! The road was changed when the Sunrise Highway was built.
How Spinney Hills Was Formed
Spinney Hills was shaped a very long time ago, during the last ice age. Huge glaciers left behind piles of rock and sand, creating these hills. The soil is very sandy, which means it soaks up most of the rain. Because of this, you won't find many ponds or rivers here.
There's a shallow natural underground water storage area called an aquifer in Spinney Hills. This is where most of the rainwater in the area is stored, like a giant underground sponge!
Part of a Bigger Ridge
These hills are actually part of a long chain of hills called the Ronkonkoma Moraine. This ridge stretches from east to west and forms the "backbone" of Long Island. Much of this area is still wild and undeveloped. There's a sand mine to the west and a place called Southampton Pines to the east.
There have been disagreements about what should happen to this land. It's one of the last large wild areas left on Long Island, so many people want to protect it.
Animals and Plants
Spinney Hills is home to many white-tailed deer. They thrive here because there aren't many natural predators to hunt them.
In some higher parts of the hills, the landscape looks almost like a desert or a high mountain area. You'll see sandy, open spaces with very small plants. The Dwarf Pitch Pine trees that grow here are usually not much taller than twenty feet. This is because the soil is dry and doesn't have many nutrients.
The Pine Barrens region has a "desert effect." This means it can be warmer during the day and cooler at night compared to the coast, which is only a few miles away. From some of the higher peaks in Spinney Hills, you can even see the Atlantic Ocean and Peconic Bay!
