If you are traveling east on Flander's Road from Riverhead, NY, you will
see the Big Duck about 1/4 mile before you get to Flander's Bay
Farm. The giant waterfowl icon has been alongside of the road in
Flanders for decades although it was moved into the pine barrens east
of us a few years ago. But now it's back where it was, in the
original location that I remember it in as a kid. We used to go
to the duck to buy poultry and eggs (of course) until the early
1980's. You can still go inside it to buy duck related souvenirs
and it's especially nice all lit up with Christmas
lights during the holiday season.
The duck stands at a former Long Island duck farm; actually, it's
reason for being. When it was built, Long Island was one of the
biggest producers of the white peking duck in the United States and the
Flander's area had some very large duck producers. This duck was
built in the 1930's. It's hard to
find a real farm-bred Long Island duck these days. I worry about
agriculture and sustainable regional food production. Long Island
was in great shape at one time, a leader in pickling with acres of
farmland in peppers, cucumbers and cabbage. Then there was the
Long Island potato crop which surpassed every state except for Maine
and Idaho at one time. I hate to mention the bay scallop and blue
point oyster which were shipped to New York City by local baymen by the
boatload in the 1930's, the acres of bogs producing barrels of
cranberrys for the local markets and the magnificent harvest of wild
blueberries every summer.
The Duck is the time-worn testament to Long Island's one time
agriculture glory. Nice neighbor.
