Description
An impressive array of habitats and glacial handiwork grace the David Weld Sanctuary on Long Island’s North Shore. Trails cross an old field dotted with red cedars, loop around a red maple swamp, pass colossal tulip trees, climb a 50-foot bluff overlooking the Long Island Sound and lead eventually to a kettle hole, a 60-foot-deep depression formed when a massive block of glacial ice melted in place. There are also 1,800 feet of beachfront and a number of enormous boulders scattered throughout the woods and along the shore.
The sanctuary was donated by Mr. and Mrs. David Weld between 1969 and 1979. Additional land was donated by and acquired from the Woodys and the Millers, neighbors of the Welds. In the 1930s, Alden Blodgett and his wife, famed author and actress Cornelia Otis Skinner, bought the land and built a cabin on the bluff. This structure, known as the watchmen’s cabin, burned in a violent wind storm on December 30, 1987.