A New Book Looks Back At The Days When Ducks Ruled The Roost On Long Island

If you ask her point blank, Susan Van Scoy, Ph.D., a professor of art history at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue, will admit that she didn’t come to her latest project knowing a lot about ducks, other than the fact that she enjoyed ordering them in restaurants.

But now, she possesses a depth of knowledge that extends far beyond the palate pleasing characteristics of her subject when served on a plate.

“They trample each other in the dark, especially during a storm, so they always have to have a light on,” said Dr. Van Scoy when asked to share a favorite bit of duck lore during a recent interview.

That’s just one of the details Dr. Van Scoy picked up in the course of writing “The Big Duck and Eastern Long Island’s Duck Farming Industry,” a new Images of America book by Arcadia Publishing which comes out this week. As the title suggests, the Big Duck, that perennial roadside attraction we all know and love, does, indeed, have a starring role here. But a deeper dive reveals that the book also tells the history of duck farming on eastern Long Island through dozens of rare images and accompanying captions.

“I started to do research and realized that the last book on duck farming was written in 1949, and there was no book on the Big Duck,” said Dr. Van Scoy when asked why she wanted to pursue this topic. “I saw a void that needed to be filled. I also found these great photographs that the public has never seen before.”

Images from the National Archives and the Library of Commerce were treasure troves for Dr. Van Scoy, as were libraries, museums and various historical societies. But the real riches, she notes, were found in the attics, garages and basements of the families of former East End duck farmers. Dr. Van Scoy estimates that half the photographs in her book came directly from them.

The history of ducks on Long Island is an interesting one as it dates back to 1873 when a Connecticut farmer obtained four Pekin ducks from China and began breeding them. At the time, he, like most farmers, was raisin Muscovy ducks which take five to six months to reach slaughter weight. But Pekin ducks, he realized, were ready for market in just 12 weeks.

At some point between 1873 and 1883, the Pekin duck arrived on Long Island and soon took on a new name—Long Island duck.

“We don’t know how the Pekin ducks came from Connecticut, but the first duck farm here was most likely Atlantic Duck Farm in Speonk which was owned by the Hallock family who had raised ducks since 1858,” explained Dr. Van Scoy, adding that the farm was wiped out during the hurricane of 1938.

“Every Long Island duck was a descendant from those first four ducks—one drake and three ducks—who were brought to Connecticut in 1873,” said Dr. Van Scoy, explaining that the majority of duck farms here were concentrated in a fairly small area between Eastport and Riverhead, with the majority of them situated on the creeks and bays.

“There was this fallacy about ducks that if they swam in water, they’d be more fertile, but that was not true,” said Dr. Van Scoy. “Ducks aren’t born knowing how to swim. There was this belief they would be healthier in the water and they would often mate there too.”

Fallacy not withstanding, it turns out the duck breed soon lived up to its new moniker and was well-suited to Long Island’s sandy soils and water-fringed byways. Duck production flourished on the island throughout the 20th century. By the 1940s, there were 90 duck farms in the towns of Brookhaven, Southampton and Riverhead. Total production from Suffolk County farms peaked in 1959 at nearly eight million ducks annually and as recently as 1974, the farms were still producing seven million ducks a year.

But with those millions of ducks came tons of waste which took a heavy toll on the environment, both in terms of shoreline degradation and oxygen depletion in waters, to say nothing of the stench. In the 1970s H. Lee Dennison, Suffolk County’s first executive, pledged to make Suffolk a duck-less county, and he did. Federal and state regulations for waste treatment and clean water were enacted and duck farmers were told to either invest millions of dollars into treatment centers or close up shop.

Most of the farms chose to close, with some relocating to other states.

“Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue is the only one that complied with the changing regulations and they are still in operation,” said Dr. Van Scoy.

Owned by Douglas Corwin, Dr. Van Scoy notes that 60 percent of Crescent’s ducks are now sold to Asia. The farm also produces 4 percent of this nation’s total duck supply.

“He sells a million ducks a year and partners with D’Artagnan and Bell and Evans,” explained Dr. Van Scoy, noting that Browder’s Birds in Mattituck also produces ducks, albeit on a much smaller scale, along with chickens, turkeys, and sheep.

“Suffolk County has been rehabilitating a lot of the old duck farms, purchasing the properties, testing the toxicity and reopening them as open spaces,” said Dr. Van Scoy, pointing to Robinson Duck Farm in Brookhaven and Mud Creek Park in Patchogue, both of which have been reclaimed as dog parks, as examples.

Though the millions of ducks may be long gone in Flanders, a single important one remains—the Big Duck on Route 24. As an art historian, it was this duck that originally piqued Dr. Van Scoy’s interest in the topic.

Though moved more than once during its life (most recently in 2007 when it was moved from Sears-Bellows Pond County Park back to its original location, The Big Duck has stood sentinel over this stretch of roadway since 1931 when it was built by duck farmer Martin Maurer as a way to attract customers. Over the decades it served not only as a landmark for bored kids on the long drive out to the South Fork, but also as a roadside stand where parents could pick up something to cook for dinner.

By the mid-1980s, no more ducks were being sold there. By then, the artists had discovered it thanks to husband and wife architects Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown who made the landmark famous when they coined the term “duck architecture” in their 1972 book “Learning From Las Vegas.”

“In it, they said that any building that takes the shape of its function is a duck, no matter the shape,” explained Dr. Van Scoy. “So the milk bottle in Boston Harbor that sells ice cream is considered a ‘duck.’”

The Big Duck and the surrounding Big Duck Ranch are both on the National Register of Historic Places. These days, the duck functions as a gift shop and visitor center, its glowing red eyes (taillights from a Model T Ford) are a testament to a history that may be gone, but is not forgotten.

It’s true, you can’t buy the makings for dinner there anymore. But The Big Duck still serves as a welcoming beacon for restless kids on the long journey east who want to know just one thing … “Are we there yet?”

The Big Duck will always be there to tell you that—and so much more.

On Tuesday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m., the Flanders Village Historical Society and Friends of The Big Duck will host an author talk and book signing with Dr. Van Scoy at the David W. Crohan Community Center, 655 Flanders Road (Route 24) in Flanders. Her book “The Big Duck and Eastern Long Island’s Duck Farming Industry” will be available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds going to the Friends of The Big Duck. Refreshments will be served.

Friends of The Big Duck meets on the first Tuesday of the month at the David W. Crohan Community Center. For information, visit bigduck.org or “Friends of The Big Duck” on Facebook.