By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com
Long Islanders don’t have to travel far to enjoy one of the best summer vacation places in the world, with one of the best white-sand beaches in the world (Jones Beach State Park), glamorous (if laid back) Hamptons resorts (Gurney’s Inn); historic and world-class attractions that can stand up to any from Old Bethpage Village Restoration to the Cradle of Aviation Museum. And if you are looking to immerse in America’s 250th anniversary, Long Island played key roles in the War for Independence and after, when George Washington did a tour thanking Long Islanders for their role in securing victory. Here are ideas for a Long Island staycation:
The Nassau County Museum of Art (NCMA) is a total destination in its own right: a premier art museum on the historic 145-acre William Cullen Bryant Preserve, featuring major rotating exhibitions, a sculpture park, formal gardens, and nature trails. The Saltzman Fine Art Building, the centerpiece of the museum, is a three-story, Georgian-style 19th century mansion formerly known as the Frick Estate (“Clayton”). Outdoor Sculpture Park is one of the largest publicly accessible sculpture parks on the East Coast with 40 major works by 30 celebrated sculptors. The William Cullen Bryant Preserve includes an arboretum, formal gardens, ponds, and nearly 6 miles of marked walking trails, named for the 19th-century poet and conservationist who originally owned a portion of the estate. The Manes Family Art & Education Center, opened in 2017, offers art classes for adults and children, workshops, and the Millstone Reading Lab. (Nassau County Museum of Art One Museum Drive Roslyn Harbor, NY 11576(516) 484-9338info@nassaumuseum.org
Long Island Children’s Museum offers 14 hands-on, interactive exhibit galleries, a 140-seat theater and four classroom-size learning studios. Indoor and outdoor gallery spaces are interdisciplinary, age-appropriate and intergenerational, fostering independent and cooperative exploration, and encouraging concept development and skills building. Ride the historic 1912 Nunley’s Carousel (originally installed in 1912 on the Brooklyn waterfront in Canarsie’s Golden City Park. (1 Davis Ave., Garden City, NY 11530 on Museum Row, 516-224-5800, www.licm.org)
Cradle of Aviation Museum is a premier aerospace museum celebrating Long Island’s vital role in aviation and space exploration. Located on the historic grounds of the former Mitchel Air Force Base, you visit eight chronological galleries housing 75 historic air and spacecraft, tracing 100 years of aerospace development, from early hot air balloons to an actual Apollo Lunar Module (built on Long Island). See famous aircraft designed on Long Island (such as the Grumman F-14 Tomcat and the A-10 Thunderbolt II) and even sit in various restored cockpits. The museum features the JetBlue Sky Theater Planetarium (a giant dome theater) and interactive STEM learning labs. Part of Nassau County’s Museum Row (Charles Lindbergh Blvd, Garden City, NY 11530, 516-572-4111, cradleofaviation.org).
American Airpower Museum, located on the former site of Republic Aviation at Republic Airport in East Farmingdale, where you can roam around an array of fascinating aviation artifacts and aircraft including a Republic F-84 first generation jet fighter, a rare example of the swept-wing RF-84F reconnaissance variant, and a Republic F-105 Thunderchief. The factory’s last production aircraft was the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II. Most unusual: You can take a flight on the legendary “pilot maker” of WWII the North American AT-6D “Texan”, the American Airpower Museum’s WWII Douglas C-47 “Skytrain” Troop Transport, and the open cockpit WACO UPF-7 WWII Trainer. Most extraordinary: the Museum’s C-47 D-Day Living History Flight experience pairs participants with living history re-enactors who take you back in time to learn about the crucial mission to liberate Europe and end the Nazi regime. (1230 New Hwy, Farmingdale,631-293-6398, www.americanairpowermuseum.com)
Adventureland, Long Island’s longest-running family amusement park dating back to 1962, offers 30 rides including new rides new rides for its 2026 season “The Ram Pirat Ship” and the new Merry Go Round, Double-decker Venetian Carousel. Also, Turbulence, Long Island’s only spinning roller coaster; the Mystery Mansion dark ride; and classics like the Ferris wheel; water attractions; an indoor arcade and restaurant. The 2026 entertainment lineup features drone light shows, a new Saturday Night DJ show “Party on the Midway”, and returning favorites Amazing Louie, Team Fun and Royal Events’ princess and superhero characters. For schedules, visit https://adventureland.us (2245 Broad Hollow Road (RT. 110), Farmingdale, 631-694-6868).
Long Island Aquarium features interactive exhibits and experiences: The Living Coral Reef, one of the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere; Lost City of Atlantis Shark Exhibit, a 120,000-gallon shark habitat (you can even book a Shark Dive and get in the water with them); Interactive Touch Tanks of sea stars, horseshoe crabs, and fee stingrays in Ray Bay; “Butterflies, Bugs & Bees” garden, sea lion shows, penguins, and river otters. Encounter Experiences includepenguin meet-and-greets, snorkel adventures and mermaid swims (431 East Main Street, Riverhead NY 11901, 631.208.9200, www.longislandaquarium.com/)
Long Island Music, Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF), founded in 2004, is dedicated to celebrating and preserving Long Island’s musical and entertainment heritage. Its official “Hall of Fame Museum” displays original musical instruments, famous awards, apparel, and other memorabilia from many of the wide variety of Long Island talent represented by the 130 musicians and music industry executives inducted includes Billy Joel, Blue Oyster Cult, KISS, LL Cool J, Debbie Gibson, Louis Armstrong, the Stray Cats, and Run-DMC, and most recently, Music Executive Dennis Arfa, Billy Joel’s longtime booking agent and chairman of the Music Division at Independent Artist Group, (Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, 97 Main St., Stony Brook, NY 11790, 631-689-5888, www.limusichalloffame.org).
Garvies Point Preserve: the museum’s exhibits offer Long Island and New York State geology and Long Island Native American culture and archaeology. Geology exhibits illustrate Long Island’s glacial history and explain the formation of today’s land features. Dramatic post-glacial changes in climate and sea level are detailed in dioramas to show the evolution of our landscape during the past 20,000 years. Local leaf fossils and concretions (“Indian paint pots”) are also on display. (50 Barry Drive, Glen Cove, NY 11542, https://www.garviespointmuseum.com/preserve.php)
Best beaches: World famous Jones Beach State Park, the 2,400-acre jewel of Long Island, offers 6.5 miles of beautiful white-sand beach on the Atlantic Ocean, offering the miles-long boardwalk, Art-Deco era buildings including the Boardwalk Café and Gatsby on the Ocean Restaurant; miniature golf, shuffleboard, basketball, corn hole, paddle tennis, table tennis and pickleball; Jones Beach Energy & Nature Center, pool swimming, sunbathing, bicycling, surfing, and visiting the playgrounds and splash pad; concerts at Northwell Health Theater and boardwalk bandshell. Other best beaches: Robert Moses State Park, Long Beach and Fire Island.
Best biking: Long Island’s longest traffic free, paved bike path is the 13-mile Bethpage Bikeway, a scenic trail that goes through 2 state parks, 2 wetland preserves and 2 town parks. The full trail goes from Brady Park at the northernmost top through Bethpage State Park, into Trailview State Park, ending at Woodbury Road. You can connect (after biking along Merrick Road) to the Jones Beach Bikeway from Cedar Creek Park along Wantagh Parkway to Jones Beach, then connect to the 13.7-mile Ocean Parkway Coastal Greenway paved multi-use trail running along the barrier island from Jones Beach State Park to Captree State Park.
(Something to look forward to: the Long Island Greenway, ultimately 200 miles of connected bike paths spanning Long Island from Montauk, connecting to the Empire State Trail Network in Manhattan.)
If you are Bethpage State Park on a summer Sunday (June-September), check out the polo matches:
Camping: Wildwood State Park, Hither Hills State Park, Heckscher State Park, Montauk County Park. (Book camping at New York State Parks at through https://newyorkstateparks.reserveamerica.com/ or by calling 1-800-456-2267; see www.discoverlongisland.com/where-to-stay/campgrounds-rv-parks)
Want to feel like you are in Cape Cod without leaving Long Island? Shelter island nestled between the North and South Forks can only accessed by ferry from either Greenport on the North Fork or North Haven on the South Fork. It’s known for its natural beauty, hiking, biking, birdwatching and breathtaking kayaking. One third of the 27-square mile island is a nature preserve. (try to be there when they have a moonlight hike, but protect yourself from ticks). Organize your stay: www.discoverlongisland.com/places-to-go/shelter-island.
Explore, Discover Long Island History
Old Bethpage Village Restoration is a 209-acre living history museum in Old Bethpage that recreates a mid-19th-century American rural village. Opened in 1970, it features 50 mid-1800s homes, inn, Methodist church, schoolhouse and general store, historic structures rescued from demolition and relocated across Long Island. Costumed interpreters in 19th century attire demonstrate historical trades like blacksmithing, tailoring, and farming; also check out events and happenings including patriotic observances, vintage base ball tournaments, the sprawling Long Island Fair, and festive holiday traditions. (1303 Round Swamp Road, Old Bethpage, NY, oldbethpagevillagerestoration.org)
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site was the home of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, from 1885 until his death in 1919 and the “Summer White House” during his presidency (1901–1909). Explore 83 acres of natural surroundings, historic buildings and trails. House Tours, areavailable Friday–Sunday by advance reservation only on Recreation.gov. Visit the Old Orchard Museum (open Thursday (1-4:30 PM), Friday–Sunday (12-4:30 PM). (20 Sagamore Hill Rd, Oyster Bay, NY 11771, 516 922-4788, www.nps.gov/sahi/index.htm).
Complete your visit at nearby historical and natural attractions, including the Village of Oyster Bay, Young’s Cemetery (Roosevelt gravesite), Planting Fields, the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center, and other parks and museums.
Gold Coast Mansions, castles, estates and gardens built by New York’s elite high upon the North Shore bluffs during the 1920s “Gold Coast” era, are immortalized in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. Several, including the castles at Sands Point Preserve, the Vanderbilt Museum and Oheka Castle, are open to the public for tours.
Old Westbury Gardens, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a spectacular 200-acre historic estate in Nassau County. Built in 1906, it features Westbury House, theformer country home of Carnegie Steel Company fortune heir John Shaffer Phipps and his family, now open as a museum, filled with fine 18th-century English antiques, decorative arts, and artwork left as they were during the family’s residency; and 70+ acres of formal gardens, tranquil ponds, lakes, and wooded pathways. It offers a wide range of historical, cultural, artistic, educational, horticultural events. Theme events are offered this summer in conjunction with its major exhibit, Sean Kenney’s Nature Connects® Made with LEGO® bricks, an award-winning, record-breaking exhibition that uses beautiful works of art made from simple toy bricks to explore animal endangerment, the balance of ecosystems, and mankind’srelationship with nature (through September 7). Details, tickets at: www.oldwestburygardens.org/sean-kenneys-nature-connects, www.oldwestburygardens.org.
Sands Point Preserve, on the original Guggenheim Estate is a 216-acre park including four historic mansions – Hempstead House, Falaise (one of the few intact historic houses remaining on Long Island’s North Shore, furnished in antiques), Castle Gould (not open for visits but can be admired) and Mille Fleur, and the Phil Dejana Learning Center. Six marked hiking trails weave through natural and landscaped areas. The woods, mile-long beach and cliffs, lawns, gardens and freshwater pond provide habitats for a variety of plants and animals an a bucolic scene for visitors. (Sands Point Preserve Conservancy, 127 Middle Neck Road, Sands Point, New York 11050, 516-571-7901, www.sandspointpreserveconservancy.org).
Also: Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park (440 Montauk Highway); Caumsett Historic State Park (25 Lloyd Harbor Road)); Oheka Castle (mansion tours available, 135 West Gate Drive); Planting Fields (1395 Planting Fields Road); Sagtikos Manor (677 West Montauk Hwy); Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum & Reichert Planetarium (180 Little Neck Road).
Lighthouses: Long Island’s rich maritime history is manifest in several iconic beacons. Montauk Point Lighthouse 2000 Montauk Highway, Montauk. Authorized by George Washington in 1792, the oldest lighthouse in NYS; climb the 137-step tower and explore the museum). Fire Island Lighthouse: eastern end of Robert Moses State Park (accessible via Parking Field 5). features guided tower tours and offers stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean and Great South Bay. Horton Point Lighthouse,3575 Lighthouse Road in Southold,. commissioned by George Washington, features a museum operated by the Southold Historical Museum and tranquil hiking trails down to the Long Island Sound. Long Beach Bar Lighthouse (“Bug Light”): off the coast of Orient Beach State Park, can be viewed by taking a scenic walk along the beach, via kayak, or through seasonal boat tours with the East End Seaport Museum. Orient Point Lighthouse, located in the treacherous waters of Plum Gut and nicknamed “The Coffee Pot” doe its shape, is not accessible by land but can be viewed via the Cross Sound Ferry or from Orient Point State Park.
For a real adventure, a perfect America 250th adventure is to follow the Culper Spy Trail. Largely following Route 25A (Long Island Heritage Trail), President George Washington traveled this route in 1790 by horse-drawn carriage on a mission to thank his Long Island supporters and the ‘Culper Spy Ring’ for their help in winning the American Revolution (hence the many places that boast “George Washington slept here”). Among the Revolutionary War sites: Raynham Hall in Oyster Bay, where Robert Townsend became a part of the spy ring; the Arsenal in Huntington; the Conklin House’ Joseph Lloyd Manor, the Brewster House in Stony Brook where American patriot Caleb Brewster spied on British soldiers; and Sherwood-Jayne Farm, home of Loyalist William Jayne aka “Big Bill the Tory”. See where the Battle of Setauket was fought near the Setauket Presbyterian Church on Caroline Ave.; Strongs Neck Road, where Anna Smith Strong and Abraham Woodhull lived, a key location for the spies; Thompson House where spies’ names are in the doctor’s book. See: https://www.discoverlongisland.com/plan-your-trip/famous-long-island/george-washingtons-spy-trail/; a four-day getaway: https://www.discoverlongisland.com/plan-your-trip/trip-ideas/a-historical-getaway/, and find more Long Island 250 events: https://www.discoverlongisland.com/longisland250/.
Sagtikos Manor: Built in 1697, and expanded in 1772 and 1902, the estate served as headquarters for the British Army on Long Island for a brief time during the Revolutionary War. President George Washington stayed here during his tour of Long Island in 1790. The manor house is furnished with original family pieces just as it was when the last owner moved out in 1963. On the manor grounds there is a carriage house, walled garden (under restoration) and family cemetery. Donations accepted. Tours May – September (677 West Montauk Hwy)
Special Places to Stay:
Gurney’s Montauk Resort & Seawater Spa is a legendary, year-round oceanfront resort in Montauk. famous for its 30,000-square-foot wellness center, private 2,000-foot beach, and the only ocean-fed, saltwater indoor pool in the US (290 Old Montauk Highway, 6631-668-2345, www.gurneysresorts.com/montauk)
The Southampton Inn’s 90 guest rooms are individually designed, melding coastal elegance with traditional Hamptons character. Bright, airy and outfitted with modern amenities, our rooms are relaxing and refreshing, offering an idyllic lodging experience on Long Island’s East End. Walk, jog, or bicycle through the streets of Southampton Village to experience world-class shopping, beaches, and dining (91 Hill Street, Southampton, NY 11968, 631-203-8129, https://southamptoninn.com/).
For more ideas, visit Discover Long Island, 330 Motor Parkway, Suite 203, Hauppauge, NY 11788, 877-386-6654, tourism@discoverlongisland.com, discoverlongisland.com. and I Love NY, https://www.iloveny.com/places-to-go/long-island/.
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