Pride and Produce: The Origin, Evolution, and Survival of the Drowned Lands, the Hudson Valley

The human heart of New York State's "Black Dirt" region is Pine Island, population 2,000, a hamlet in the town of Warwick in the South-Central section of Orange County, just 60 miles from New York City. Here, citizens live on outcrops of limestone that rise out of the fertile soil, like islands in a lake – islands in what was indeed once a massive swamp left by melting glaciers 12,000 years ago. Most Pine Islanders are farmers or connected to farming, people enticing out of the crumbly muck...