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DRIVING: Roundabout on Long Island
2004 September 10
By BETH GREENFIELD

THE notion of a bucolic Sunday drive on Long Island may bewilder anyone who has suffered through a
traffic-clogged crawl back to New York from the Hamptons. But Long Island is funny that way. Just
when you think you've got its number, it will unsettle you, in a lovely way, by tossing unexpected
gems in your path. And nowhere is that truer than along the North Shore, where Route 25A and its
tiny spurs wend their way through winsome villages, canopies of trees, bedrocks of history and
sweeping, sandy vistas.

Route 25A itself stretches for 55 miles from Great Neck to Calverton, where it merges with Route 25;
the section from Great Neck to Port Jefferson has been designated a New York State Heritage Trail. The
route has served as a conduit for leaders, from George Washington to Theodore Roosevelt, and as a
road to riches for barons, from the Astors to the Vanderbilts, who built opulent mansions nearby
during the Gatsbyesque Gold Coast period of the early 20th century. Today, it carries suburbanites
tucked into air-conditioned S.U.V.'s, and a western Nassau stretch is lined with chain stores. But stick
it out, and 25A will reward you with the charms of a country lane.

A doable stretch for a leisurely trip starts at Port Washington, 25 miles from Midtown Manhattan, and
ends at Kings Park and Gov. Alfred E. Smith/Sunken Meadow State Park, 50 miles east of the city.

The road is the northernmost east-west route in this part of the island, closest to Long Island Sound.
But because the shoreline juts up and down wildly, creating peninsulas that resemble dinosaur heads
on maps, you'll often have to take smaller side roads up north to the water, then go down and up
again to get to the next peek of shore. That only adds to the excitement of the drive: you meander
along, knowing that the water lies in wait, but each time it pops into view it's still a stunning, beautiful
surprise.

For a historical perspective, a good first stop is the secluded Sands Point Preserve in Port Washington.
It's an appealing tangle of wooded trails, but it's also home to Falaise, one of the few remaining Gold
Coast mansions, now run as a museum. Sands Point is a sleepy site, below the radar. The house,
accessible only in guided tours, was built in 1923 for Harry F. Guggenheim, who founded Newsday.
It's a massive French-eclectic structure with steeply pitched roofs and a round, medieval tower, its
insides frozen in time with collections of 16th-century paintings and furniture.

Another combination of nature and history awaits 13 miles to the northeast, off 25A in Oyster Bay,
which sits like a pearl in the crook of land that forms Oyster Bay Harbor. It's a classic American village
with a few twists: a strollable Main Street with a smattering of Italian delis, a harbor sprouting a forest
of thin white sailboat masts and a favorite son named Billy Joel.

But way before Billy Joel, Oyster Bay claimed Theodore Roosevelt. At Sagamore Hill you'll find Teddy's
rambling Queen Anne house perched atop a peaceful, breezy knoll. You can enter the house only
through a tour led by a National Parks Service ranger (which is fascinating if you have the time), but
you're free to roam the orchards and pastures of the sweeping grounds.

Also worth a stop is the ex-president's grave site, down the road in the 300-year-old Youngs
Memorial Cemetery. Next door is the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary, the first national Audubon
songbird sanctuary. It's a haven with a floor of fragrant wood chips and a ceiling of towering pine and
oak branches. Goldfinches and tufted titmice flutter in the trees, and winding paths beckon you to
stroll through sun-dappled forest.

Farther east you can find a more vigorous hike. Drive through the precious, blink-and-you'll-miss-it
village of Cold Spring Harbor and then due north to the Lloyd Neck peninsula and Caumsett State
Historic Park. Skim up across the isthmus that connects Lloyd Neck to the mainland and catch
breathtaking views of Cold Spring Harbor. The spectacular 1,500-acre park offers a bit of everything:
meadows; marshes; gardens by Frederick Law Olmsted; groves of tupelo and beech trees; a barn of
cows; trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding; and a rocky shoreline for swimming and fishing.

For more beachy pleasures, continue on to the neighboring peninsula of Eatons Neck. To get there,
head back down to 25A and journey through hip Huntington, quaint Northport and the exclusive
community of Asharoken, perched along a lengthy isthmus. When you hit Eatons Neck, you'll see the
entrance for a Coast Guard station. You will need to call ahead to gain access to the base, where you
can visit the second-oldest lighthouse on Long Island (the oldest is Montauk), built in 1799 after more
than 200 ships crashed against treacherous reefs. Though you can no longer go inside, the bright
white lighthouse is still amazing to see up close, especially as it sits, surreal and anachronistic, within
a small suburban cul-de-sac of Coast Guard housing.

Continue to the tip of the peninsula and you'll arrive at windswept Hobart Beach — the park for this
small community, a resort destination from the 1930's to 50's that lured luminaries like Eugene O'Neill
and Marlene Dietrich. The spit of sand is a fine place to catch a sunset before heading back to the city,
though a better spot is 15 miles east, at Sunken Meadow State Park.

The Jones Beach of the North Shore, Sunken Meadow has nature trails, golf courses and a curious
rooster-hen duo that roams the property. But the high point is, simply, the wide sandy beach, flanked
by the silvery sound and an expanse of boardwalk.

On a recent evening, David Bingham, a 76-year-old insurance salesman who lives in nearby East
Northport, was stretching on the boards, where he says he walks and runs every single day, even in
the snow. "You'd have to look the world over to find a more beautiful place than Long Island," he
declared, squinting into the slowly sinking sun.

The New York Times