Belle Santora said, "I'll tell you where the mystery picture in the Feb. 15 issue is taken. It's Beekman Beach and the picture is taken from the parking lot and it is a tree uprooted from the sand. On the right side is the western waterfront where they are doing all the excavating."

[Ms. Santora is correct. The photograph was taken by Robert Fitzpatrick.]

Ms. Santora remembered when she was a little girl, growing up in Oyster Bay.

"When I was a little girl, we used to get snow in October, at least two to three feet deep that stayed down on the ground all winter. Then heavy rains came and there was an icy crust on the top. A lot of people fell as they walked on the ice. My father was one of them. He broke his collarbone. Then he got cleats to wear on his shoes.

"With the snow staying there, you didn't see the ground until April. You had snow all the time - and the Bay would freeze over. You could walk to Centre Island and I know people who did it."

She remembered snowy days in Oyster Bay. "For a long while we lived on what is now the Storrs estate. When my father left that job, our home was on School Street, between Burtis and Weeks Avenue. The house is still there. It was so easy when schools were closed because of snow. I went up to school anyway because it was so close, and the church was across the road. Of course there were no stores up there," she added.

Back to the present, she said, "Not too long ago there was ice along the West Shore Road. I wonder how the swans are doing."

Mike Dunne called to solve the mystery picture in the Feb. 15 issue of the Oyster Bay Enterprise Pilot. He said, "My guess is that it's Morgan's Island inlet. I do a lot of fishing in the area," said the Bayville resident. (What is so interesting is that we now have a glimpse into what that area looks like.)

The Mystery Phantom caller identified the photo saying, "A tree fell down or tumbled down by the new bulkheaded area at Jakobson Shipyard, just about where the creek enters the bay. I used to go fishing there when Jakobsons was going 24 hours a day. They had big spotlights out there, daily and on weekends. As a kid I used to swing down from that tree. There is still a piece of rope hanging from a limb. I'd swing from one side of the tree to the other. The tree hung over the beach about 50 years ago," he said as he called himself "The old gray phantom."

"There was a lot more sand then. That was probably why the tree fell down - that the sand eroded away or the tree rotted away."

The "old gray phantom" also said that he has been enjoying chamber music at Coe Hall. He was there recently and is going there again for a concert on March 18.

Billy Minicozzi too aced the location. He said, "It's a tree down at the boat ramp off West Shore Road."

- DFK