Mount Misery Traditional Cache

One of Mount Misery's many legends is of an ancient curse set upon the land by its earliest inhabitants, the Matinnecock Indians.  The land was purchased from the chief Raseokan in the mid 1600's. At the time the Matinnecock didn’t understand the concept of owning land. Their territory was originally called Katanomocke. All deeds were confirmed by Wyandance, chief of the Montauks. He was considered one of the most powerful of the Native American chiefs on Long Island.

The first purchase was made in 1641 and the price paid was land was thirty needles, six hatchets, six shovels, six coats, six bottles, thirty eel spears, ten fathoms of wampum and then knives. It is stated in the History of the original Township of Huntington that the Indians were cheated by the whites. It’s because of this that many feel that the land was cursed. Some say it got its name because of its unfarmable land and all the steep hills.

            Another story is that of an insane asylum in the mid to late 1700's that was burned down by a patient named Mary due to the harsh treatments those patients had to undergo. Years later it was rebuilt and, again,   burned down but this time under mysterious circumstances. It was rebuilt once more and, rumor had it that it was used as a CIA Black Ops Military Hospital. Supposedly they were experimenting on people with time travel, psychic warfare and mind altering drug experiments performed on veterans that were secretly shipped up here from North Carolina after WWII. Unfortunately there are no records or historical facts showing that any of these hospitals existed.  Some say at night you can see the girl that burned down the hospital in her white gown walking in the woods. Others claim to have seen the “burning specters” of the victims that perished in the fire as well as hearing the moans and screams.  Residents who heard the moans of misery of the patients in agony through the woods, named the area "Mount Misery"  

(Of course most of this a bunch of urban legends, but I find it interesting since I live in the area and drove these roads in high school days)

Directions to cache:  Get on Old Country road's highest point between round Swamp Rd & Route 110, then turn North on Mount Misery Road which dead-ends because of Northern State Parkway (Don’t get confused  with the other half of Mt Misery Road that continues on Northern side of the parkway)   Park on the east side of Mount Misery road at the Phaetons Drive intersection and find a trailhead that leads you east, into the woods of Gwynne Park.  As you head a few hundred feet downhill on the path, about 30 feet before an intersection, look uphill to the right for a faint trail that heads south to the cache. GZ is about 30 yards east of this faint trail, near a fallen tree. >