Thread by @gauravsabnis

"Why was it left alone for 75 years?"

Lawyer back then got it as in kind payment from client who went bankrupt. His family already had lots of actual houses, so didn't build anything here. In fact demolished an old structure, removed old power connections & water pipes.

https://twitter.com/gauravsabnis/status/1665076150438117377

These thick vines are the coolest and literally creepiest evidence of this land being left absolutely alone for 75 years, (except by local teens looking for privacy, a local shopkeeper winkingly told us).

Those are wild grape vines! Yeah. Grape. Not kidding. Most are dead.

I've hiked all over the northeast and never seen a wildgrape vine network like this, cos most people cut them off when they are much shorter, attaching themselves to a hardwood tree. Be it home owners, park rangers, or forest service folks.

Vines going 75 feet high! 😳

And these are sturdy vines! Friends who visit happily hang off them Tarzan style. An acrobatic person could legit go from one part of the property to another using these antediluvian seeming jumbo grape vines.

That I'm curious if others have seen anywhere else in NY or nearby.

A botany teacher friend went absolutely nuts exploring the different species and oddities here, different from the usual maintained and curated northeastern woods. Plus it's watershed land right next to a stream. Gets moisture all year round.

A practical temperate rainforest.

Every post online about tending to these vines is how to curb their growth tho they are NOT an invasive species.

Like this one. And btw almost every 70' deciduous tree on our land has a vine companion.

Can't find advice other than pruning em lol.

@_a_muse @asiyakhantrees

Heh, totally. And we plan to leave it untouched, except controlling invasive species.

These vines are local. So if they attach to a tree, that's between the two of them. I don't need to curate and make up this land. Nor build anything on it.

https://twitter.com/shrixyz/status/1665313560124334080?s=19

Ooh yes indeed. The old Viking name for Northeast America was Vinland, most likely deriving from these wild grape vines that were everywhere.

Btw some local wineries have started experimenting with making wines from these wild grapes too recently.

https://twitter.com/Jagz_Swaich/status/1665312317419012096?s=19

A fella from the family that previously owned the land told us that #OurWawar might also likely have a lot of old growth trees cos given the sloping nature of the land, it was NEVER used for farming. It once had a casino attached to a nearby resort but very few trees were cut.

Even today, the property behind us is part of a 600 acre resort, whose buildings are all a mile away. The woods behind our property are just wild land for guests to go exploring. But it is still at least nominally tended to. So not as many wild grape vines as our unchecked land.

A neighbor told us that for decades, this was a place teenagers came to quietly smoke, drink, & more.

"It was a teenager's dream! Quiet. Safe. Close to the road. Good phone coverage. Fish. Swimming hole. Ah memories! Don't worry, word has gone around y'all bought it. 🤣"

But otherwise, mostly untouched for centuries.

This is arguably the closest to how all these forests would have looked before the Europeans came over. Rampant wild grape vines everywhere along with tall hard wood trees. And lots of wild turkeys.

Maybe our continuing to leave the land alone is why our camera traps catch so much wildlife every week!

Behold, first ever daytime pic of a fox or a coyote at #OurWawar. I still can't tell which. @SubkrishnaRao could. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…