History, culture and great food - there’s much more to Long Island than TV sitcoms show us, writes Stephanie Holmes
Where:
At the southern tip of New York State, east of New York City. Long Island is divided into four counties – Queens and Kings (Brooklyn), which fall under New York City's jurisdiction, and Nassau and Suffolk. The east end of the island in Suffolk County is made up of the North and South Forks.
Why go:
It takes barely any time at all to get from the cacophonic chaos of New York City to the peace and calm of Long Island. The Long Island Rail Road provides easy access to many of the most desirable towns on the map, so you can go for a day trip or a short getaway from the city that never sleeps.
Long Island is perhaps best known to Kiwis as the home of the Hamptons, the beach playground of Manhattan's rich and famous. If, like me, you get most of your New York knowledge from re-runs of Sex and the City, you'll know the Hamptons as the location Carrie and the girls go to for their summer holidays.
However, there's much more to Long Island than location episodes of your favourite comedy-drama. You'll also find fishing ports, farms, vineyards, harbour towns, lighthouses, and a rich history dating back thousands of years, from indigenous Native American history, to colonisation by Dutch and English settlers, to its booming whaling, shipbuilding and fishing industries, to a modern day tourism hotspot.
Long Island came under English rule in 1664 and was a strategic area for General George Washington during the American Revolution in the late 1700s. In the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, wealthy Americans and Europeans built lavish estates on Long Island's North Shore, earning it the nickname The Gold Coast. Poet Walt Whitman was born here, and famous summer residents over the years have included Charlie Chaplin, financier J.P. Morgan, President Theodore Roosevelt, the Vanderbilts, and industrialist John Paul Getty. It's widely believed the Gold Coast mansions were the inspiration behind F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby.
Nassau and Suffolk Counties are still ranked among the most expensive areas to live in the United States, with many of the Gold Coast mansions now reborn as hotels and golf resorts.
How to get there:
The beautiful new Moynihan Train Hall at midtown Manhattan's Penn Station offers an easy link to the Long Island Rail Road, which has 10 branch lines taking you to destinations across Nassau and Suffolk Counties. If you have a few days to spend out of the city, I recommend getting the train to Huntington and renting a car from there. Long Island is much bigger than you might think and you'll want the freedom to explore easily, especially if you're carting luggage around with you.
If you only have time for a day trip, take the train to Greenport or Montauk to get a small taste of what LI has to offer.
Where to stay:
I stayed at the gorgeous Sound View Motel in Greenport, which couldn't be more ocean-front if it tried – the waves literally lap against the wooden struts of the verandah outside. Rooms have stunning sunset views and the sound of the ocean to soothe you to sleep – a very different night-time soundtrack than Manhattan's constant sirens and car-horns.
Local produce is championed in the on-site restaurant Halyard, and there's a pool, beach bar, lobster shack, and piano bar. Complimentary beach-cruiser bicycles are parked out front if you want to take a ride into town or along the coastal road.
Greenport is a lovely seaport village, named by Forbes magazine in 2011 as one of the prettiest towns in the United States. That might be more than a decade ago, but it's lost nothing in the way of charm. Restaurants jut out over the harbour front, and there's a laidback, friendly feel as you meander between the quaint main street stores, boutiques and cafes.
It's full of history, too, having been at various times an important whaling port, home to a bustling shipbuilding and fishing industry, and an oyster processing centre. Now, it's more focused on tourism and really comes alive during the summer months. Visitors can find out more about Greenport's history at the Maritime Museum, the East End Seaport Museum and the Long Island Railroad Museum.
We also spent a night at the very grand Oheka Castle in Huntington, which you'll recognise if you've seen Citizen Kane (photos of the castle were used to portray Xanadu), Taylor Swift's Blank Space video, or TV series Succession's "boar on the floor" scene.
Built in 1919 as the country home of financier and philanthropist Otto Hermann Kahn, it's the largest private home in New York, the second largest in the United States and since 2004 has been on the National Register of Historic Places.
After his death in 1934, the estate was sold and fell into a state of disrepair – not least because of a documented 100 arson attempts between 1979 and 1983. The building itself survived thanks to Kahn's foresight – after losing a former home to fire, he made sure Oheka was constructed using steel and concrete to make it fireproof.
Long Island developer Gary Melius purchased the property in 1984, undertaking the US's largest private residential renovation project. When the project became too costly, he sold to new owners in 1988, but when they also walked away years later, Melius reacquired it to finish the job. He lives on-site and will happily tell you more about Oheka's riches-to-rags-to-riches tale. Look out for him in the courtyard enjoying evening drinks with friends. And keep an eye out for famous folk, too – as well as a popular filming location, the castle is regularly used as a venue for celebrity weddings.
While it's a stunning building, with beautifully-tended grounds, as a hotel, it felt quite tired. New Zealanders who equate luxury with places like Cape Kidnappers or Huka Lodge, would feel quite disappointed with the facilities at Oheka – on our visit, windows were dirty, carpets were stained, and the continental breakfast involved packets of instant oats and individually wrapped Nutrigrain bars.
So perhaps don't stay the night but you absolutely should visit Oheka for an evening drink in the courtyard at Gatsby Hour, or for one of the daily guided tours where you can find out all about the castle's fascinating past. Mansion tours begin at 11am daily, reservations essential.
What to see, do and eat:
Lighthouses and windmills
European-style windmills dot Long Island's landscape – a 1997 New York Times' article stated the area was home to more historic windmills than any other part of the country. If you're driving around the east end of Long Island, you'll find many opportunities to stop for a photo opportunity – look out for the Beebe Windmill in Bridgehampton, Gardiner Mill in East Hampton, and the Shinnecock Windmill in Southampton, among others.
It's also an ideal destination for lighthouse lovers – more than 25 were built from 1796 onwards to help guide ships on their path into New York Harbour. Two of its most famous are at Montauk Point and Fire Island, the latter of which we visited and climbed up its 182 steps for 360-degree views out to Great South Bay and the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean.
The lighthouse standing on Fire Island today is the second on this site – the first was completed in 1826 but soon decommissioned - at 22m it wasn't tall enough to be of any use to incoming ships. The current lighthouse is a more imposing 51m and was first lit in 1858, switching to electric in 1938. Decommissioned in the 1970s, the lighthouse would have been demolished had it not been for a group of passionate locals who grouped together to form the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society (FLIPS) who raised more than US$1.3 million to save and restore it.
Returned to active duty in 1986, the lighthouse is now owned, maintained and operated by FLIPS, so visitor fees help with its preservation. Volunteers will give you an in-depth guided tour to explain more about its history and what else to see and do on the island.
Food
If you're going to eat one thing when you're in Long Island, make it a lobster roll. It's a local delicacy and you'll find it on menus everywhere. I tried one at Noah's, a Greenport restaurant I would highly recommend, not only for its rolls but also for its inventive farm-to-table menu and locally focused wine list.
Also in Greenport, Crazy Beans is the perfect place to experience a classic American diner breakfast. Its black and white checkerboard floor, red vinyl seats, Formica tables and vintage memorabilia-filled walls give you the quintessential diner experience. The menu of pancakes, waffles, breakfast burritos and eggs every way will set you up for a day's exploring.
Other highlights included Baja fish tacos and shrimp quesadillas at Love Lane Kitchen in Mattituck, Italian-style meatballs and a creamy chardonnay at Del Vino winery, and New York-style pizza at Rosa's in Huntington, washed down by local craft beers at Six Harbors Brewing.
Farm shops and wineries
As well as beaches and fancy mansions, Long Island also has a thriving agricultural industry, with more than 14,000 hectares of farmland, mostly found on the North Fork. This means you'll experience an abundance of local produce on restaurant and cafe menus and, if you're self-driving, you can pull in to numerous family-run produce stands, pumpkin patches and pick-your-own orchards and farms.
Load up on fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers for your self-catering accommodation, or pick up freshly baked fruit pies and doughnuts for your road-trip snacks. We visited Wickham's Fruit Farm and Harbes Family Farm, but there's plenty more to choose from wherever you are around the North Fork.
Grapes are also grown in this region and you'll find picturesque boutique wineries (draw straws to pick a sober driver) where you can enjoy tastings, lunches and platters. We enjoyed a peaceful afternoon at Terre Vite, a 3-acre vineyard that has been producing varietals including sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and merlot for more than 20 years.
We sat under sun umbrellas in the Tuscan-style garden where hummingbirds flitted between the flowers while we sipped from our wine flights. It was a lovely way to while away an afternoon and - even though we were still technically in New York, Manhattan felt very far away indeed.
GETTING THERE Air New Zealand flies direct from Auckland to New York’s JFK airport three times a week. airnz.co.nz
DETAILS For more things to see and do in the region, go to iloveny.com and discoverlongisland.com
The 'Southern Link' will directly connect Aotearoa to Argentina by year's end.