Long Island Attractions

When a lot of folks think about Long Island, they picture socialites sunbathing on the beach and shopping in the Hamptons. While people do sunbathe-the North Shore hosts the Long Island Sound while the South Shore hosts the Atlantic Ocean-there is a lot to do on the island year-round.

The Big Duck
A couple of years ago while driving along a scenic route, my parents and I came across this building in the shape of a duck. "Oh, that's the Long Island duck," my Dad said in reference to a local professional baseball team of the same name. Well, we now knew the inspiration for the ballclub, but what the heck was this Godzilla-sized duck built out of concrete doing on the side of a Long Island road? We got out of the car and went inside the "belly," which is a quaint gift shop operated by the Friends for Long Island Heritage, and bought duck-themed pencils and magnets.

Built in 1931 by local duck farmer Martin Maurer, it originally housed a poultry store and announced to consumers that they were in duck farm country. After Maurer passed, the Duck was threatened by development, but its charm won enough people over for it to be saved. Now owned by Suffolk County, the Duck is on the National Register of Historic Places, and celebrates the holiday season with locals and tourists alike, and is even adorned with Christmas lights! Can you imagine this symbolism of pastoral times destroyed to build a strip mall?
The Duck is located on Flanders Road in Flanders, New York, exit 71 off the LIE
631-852-8290