Letters

How’d It Happen?

I, June Morris, my husband, Harvey Sr., and son, Harvey Jr., settled in Water Mill in the mid-1950s. We soon fell upon the little park on Rose Hill Road in Water Mill. We used it a lot for quite some time. We met new friends, used the park to play with our son. It was used all summer for many years by the Sisters of Mercy, vacationing at the Mother House “Sisters of Mercy.”

There it was for many years — beautiful old trees, a nice green grass area, safe roads, one that went in on the south side and out on the north side. A very safe way of going to the park. There was a small opening down by the water’s edge of Mecox Bay, where one could put in a rowboat, sailboat or ice boat in the early days. It’s still there.

I was so shocked when I got a call from the Sisters of Mercy wanting to know why they were tearing the park down. I jumped in my car. Yes, they were destroying it!

I was in that park with a friend on January 18, 2018. It was as it had always been — a few ice boats coming in off the Mecox Bay area. They were packing up their boats and heading home. They told us they had a great day of ice boating, while I was sitting there in my car.

I did not see any permit signs. I did not see any surveying stakes or markers for boundary lines. I did not see any signs for a “public notice.”

The question remains in my mind: How can a Board of Trustees let something like this happen to a piece of beautiful property for many people to enjoy?

June C. Maires

Water Mill