The Big Duck and Eastern Long Island's Duck Farming Industry traces the fascinating and largely unknown history of the "Long Island Duck"--a fixture on the menus of fine dining establishments around the world. The first duck farm, Atlantic Duck Farm, opened on Long Island in Speonk in 1858; however, raising ducks did not take hold until the Pekin duck breed arrived from China in 1873. Due to Long Island's waterfront properties, temperate climate, and sandy soil, along with modernization of the farming industry, duck production grew rapidly, increasing from approximately 200,000 ducks per year in 1897 to two million ducks in 1922. By 1940, nearly 100 duck farms were concentrated mainly between Eastport and Riverhead. Today, due to environmental regulations and soaring costs, only one Long Island duck farm survives--Corwin's Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue. However, many influences of the Long Island duck industry remain, such as the Big Duck, a duck-shaped building conceived by Martin Maurer in 1931 that was used to sell poultry and duck eggs, inspiring the famous term "duck" architecture.

During World War II, a group of potato farmers opened the first migrant labor camp in Suffolk County to house farmworkers from Jamaica. Over the next twenty years, more than one hundred camps of various sizes would be built throughout the region. Thousands of migrant workers lured by promises of good wages and decent housing flocked to Eastern Long Island, where they were often cheated out of pay and housed in deadly slum-like conditions. Preyed on by corrupt camp operators and entrapped in a feudal system that left them mired in debt, laborers struggled and, in some cases, perished in the shadow of New York's affluence. Author Mark A. Torres reveals the dreadful history of Long Island's migrant labor camps from their inception to their peak in 1960 and their steady decline in the following decades.

American Motorcyclist magazine, the official journal of the American Motorcyclist Associaton, tells the stories of the people who make motorcycling the sport that it is. It's available monthly to AMA members. Become a part of the largest, most diverse and most enthusiastic group of riders in the country by visiting our website or calling 800-AMA-JOIN.

Presents information on points of interest, accommodations, restaurants, nightlife, outdoor activities, and shopping in New York State.