Rattlesnake Brook

Rattlesnake Brook

A friend once said to me that Rattlesnake Brook was a ridiculous name because there are no rattlesnakes on Long Island, but years ago, rattlesnakes did in fact exist on Long Island and could even be found in Oakdale. Back in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, Suffolk County News published stories about residents finding and killing rattlesnakes.  Often the articles ended with a statement on how many rattles were on the dead snake’s tail. Most of the reported encounters with rattlesnakes in Oakdale occurred in the area now known as Connetquot River State Park, not far from Rattlesnake Brook.  A history of the Southside Sportsmen’s Club (now Connetquot River State Park) stated that Roland Redmond, who was a President of the Southside Sportsmen’s Club around the 1890s, would “pick up and show off rattlesnakes which he would catch behind the head with a pronged stick and yank into an ordinary gunnysack.” By the mid-1930s, rattlesnakes were reported to be extinct on Long island. So, as I stood beside Rattlesnake Brook amongst the tall grass and weeds to take this photograph, I had no fear of a snake bite, but I did worry about getting bitten by a deer tick.  Times change.