Beautiful day to explore the 1.1-mile loop at the Cranberry Bog (aka Woodull Bog) in Riverhead, sheltered at the crest of the Peconic River. The hiking trails cut through 165-acre wetlands that actually served as the largest cranberry farm on Long Island years ago. There's a picturesque wooden bridge that crosses over the bog as well as pretty views of Sweezey's Pond. Apparently lots of wildlife to be seen, though today most of the animal kingdom was in hiding.
A brief history: Cranberries were once referred to as “red gold.” In the late 1800s, some locals here realized the Long Island Pine Barrens - a thriving ecosystem of coastal plain ponds, swamps, marshes, grasslands, and streams - were an ideal place to grow and harvest cranberries. At that time almost three dozen cranberry bogs came to be on Long Island, most along the Peconic River, the largest being Woodhull Bog started by the Woodhull brothers in 1885. They produced over 21,000 bushels of cranberries yearly, surpassing all other cranberry farms on LI for more than 40 years.
In the early 1900s, the East End was the third largest cranberry producer in the U.S., but by mid-century, lack of modern production methods forced cranberry farmers out the national competition. By 1976, the last remaining cranberry bog — the Davis Bog in Manorville — finally closed its remaining cranberry harvesting operations.
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