In These Woods, by Nanci LaGarenne
I live in a house surrounded by nature. It is for all the world like a tree cottage on the ground. Every view from inside is a window to the life of trees. There are oaks, of course, since we live in a place out here full of oaks, with Oak Lane and Wooded Oak a nod to the canopies that shade us on hot summer days. There are also cedars and pines and two huge cryptomeria we planted 28 years ago framing our driveway.
Water rushes down two small waterfalls in our homemade pond, reminding us we are always connected to that flowing life force of which we are all approximately 69 percent. Crows and bluebirds caw and chirp every morning, swooping by trees. The crows are so loud one imagines it’s a “Jurassic Park” movie.
Someone visiting once said, “You live in a national park here, it’s wonderful.” I took it as a huge compliment, since he lives in Montauk where an Atlantic Ocean view greets him every morning from his front deck.
Cardinals have made a nest in the holly bush in our back garden; I watch them through the kitchen window. A chipmunk has taken up residence in our fountain this spring. My husband has named him Alvin. My neighbor’s cat, Oscar, a.k.a. Morris, takes the sun on our garden bench most days.
Our potbellied pig, Garth Brooks, limps out of his keep for a breakfast of oat cereal and a drink of water. He’s old, 16 years now. We lost Daisy Mae a few winters back. She was 15 and had a bad chest. Garth is fine on his own; it wasn’t a happy pig union, more a roommates-not-by-choice arrangement. We rescued the piggies by way of the Pig Rescue Network. We had to be screened to be acceptable pig-adoptive “parents.” Daisy was bossy and pushy. Now Garth is a happy bachelor, having the pig run and digs all to himself.
Box turtles wander into the garden each summer. We have one visiting now. His name is Clyde. Cleo joined him just the other day. We had a baby deer quite a few years ago, drinking from the waterfall. She couldn’t figure out how to get back out of the yard. We gave her some space, went inside so not to frighten her, and she figured it out, going back into the woods whence she came.
The woods, by the way, are where we live. Whalebone Woods. Or The Bone, as the kids call it. Freetown was the name the original settlers gave this area, because freed slaves from Gardiner’s Island and East Hampton and Native American Montauketts lived here, on the northern edge of the village. The first neighborhood dedicated to working-class town residents. Diversity abounding.
Today, born and raised Bubs and adoptees “from away” reside side by side. All living happily and proud here. A community. That is an honor we don’t take lightly. We formed a group of neighbors in 2009. We’re more than 200 members. We called ourselves the Freetown Neighborhood Advisory Committee. We thought we needed a proper name to be heard. Really we are just people who care about our neighborhood, the town’s drinking water wells, which are located here, the aquifer, and we care deeply about all the families here and our quality of life.
It is an awesome neighborhood. Quiet, in touch, aware, and beautiful. We did what we had to to stop further development. You see, the town’s drinking water, mine and yours, and the groundwater, was in peril if disturbed. The Soak Hides dreen runs underneath to Three Mile Harbor. The ocean is about a mile away at Main Beach, or two miles and a bit if you want to head east to Amagansett’s Indian Wells Beach.
We just love nature here. And we aim to keep it unspoiled and undamaged by toxins and man’s interference as much as we possibly can. We are all for small business and entrepreneurship. We are less for huge commercial operations in a residential neighborhood, on a small road with no sidewalks. We are for common sense and safety first for all residents. For their children and grandchildren and elderly parents and everyone who resides here and enjoys strolling, running, stopping to chat by the front fence or porch or driveway, and just being out in nature. We won’t sacrifice that.
We hope everyone can understand how we feel and can reckon with that serious sentiment and pledge: to preserve our community. We know the town’s governing body hears us and has heard us in the past. We fight so hard for our neighborhood and the fragile environment. We are very dedicated, to say the least. Relentless at best.
All we ask is to live here in Freetown with our families safely and without huge trucks barreling up and down our small roads, and to respect the groundwater and land and wildlife dwellings and put “preserving our community,” which is our motto, first and foremost.
A new season emerges, the height of summer approaches. We don’t want to rush it or dread it, but cherish it and work hard to reap benefits for winter sustainability. To respect one another and our town is all we ask. We promise to lead by example. We live in harmony in these woods we deem it a privilege to be residents of, for as long as we can.
Nanci LaGarenne is the author of the novels "Refuge" and "Cheap Fish."