Caumsett park, damaged by Ida, to partly reopen Sunday

The North Shore's 1,500-acre Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve will partly reopen Sunday morning, though it may take as long as a month to clear all the trees, branches and other debris left over from Ida, an official said Saturday.

"We wanted to open it for at least half of the … [holiday] weekend, when people are going out for a last gasp of beautiful weather," said George Gorman, regional director of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

"We've cleared the main loop, the one that goes around the entire park," he said.

What was left of Hurricane Ida drenched the tristate region Wednesday night and severely damaged the park.

Electricity and water have been restored; the top of the tree that fell onto the chimney and corner of the Colonial Revival Summer Cottage has been removed, though not yet its trunk.

Fishermen's Drive, which leads to the beach, and the road to the barn were re-leveled by state transportation workers, but trails will be closed until dangling branches are removed.

Visitors to the Lloyd Harbor park, Gorman said, "will see uprooted trees, cut-up trees on the shoulder of the multi-use path."

And in the south area of the park, 150 to 200 trees, all "uprooted, or twisted, or broken off limbs," still must be hauled off.

"We will be working on opening up the side trails, and also assessing the wooded areas in the northern area of the park beginning Tuesday," he added.