LONG ISLAND’S GOLD COAST

My passion is to travel where architecture enhances topographical beauty; a calling that often leads me to France, where the sheer beauty, permanency, and history of castles and chateaux delight me as much as the actual landscape. Here, on Long Island, we’re lucky that former travelers with means constructed their own such luxurious retreats, often with walking paths and water views of our northern and southern shores. The following destinations showcase those realizations and are super-easy-to-access by train or car, via Long Island Expressway and/or the pretty parkway routes.

SANDS POINT PRESERVE
The one-lane bridge leads to 216 acres with six marked trails (leashed dogs welcome), woods and fields, rose gardens, a pond, a Great Lawn, and a pedestrian-only road leading down to Hempstead House Beach from which there are incredible expansive views of the Long Island Sound. There are picnic and checker tables, benches, and a playground, and four spectacular structures. Financier Howard Gould constructed the massive, limestone 100,000 square foot Gould Castle around 1900, and modeled it after Ireland’s Kilkenny Castle. (Restrooms are open, here.) His wife didn’t like it, so he built the 40-room Hempstead House, at half the size, though the first and second floors measure 1.5 acres! In 1917, mining tycoon Daniel Guggenheim bought the property; subsequently, he gave 90 acres of it to his son, Harry, who built Falaise, a French Norman waterfront mansion, where he and his third wife, Newsday founder Alicia Patterson, lived. Daniel’s widow, Florence, downsized to Mille Fleurs; she offered British refugee children the use of Hempstead House and donated 162 acres to the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences. In 1971, Nassau County acquired 127 acres of the original estate, plus the 90-acre parcel that Harry bequeathed, and established the non-profit Sands Point Preserve.

Getting there: Long Island Expressway, Exit 36 North. (Searingtown Road leads north—with name changes—until you reach Sands Point Preserve.) Or, take the Long Island Railroad to Port Washington, plus taxi or bus N23.

Info: sandspointpreserveconservancy.org. (Check the calendar for tours, concerts and events at Hempstead House and docent-led tours at Falaise.) 

OHEKA CASTLE
A century ago, Otto Hermann Kahn built the country’s second-largest home on 443-acres on the island’s highest plot overlooking Cold Spring Harbor. He hired the Olmsted Brothers of Central Park fame to design his formal garden, eight reflecting pools, and three fountains. After 1934, when Kahn passed, the property had various uses and was ultimately abandoned. In 1984, developer Gary Melius purchased the castle and 23 surrounding acres; he’s devoted years and $40 million to restore the Gold Coast manse’s original opulence. Today, it’s popular as a hotel, wedding, and events venue; for lunch, brunch and dinner at the OHK bar and restaurant and for scheduled historic mansion tours. Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, it’s also affiliated with Historic Hotels of America.

Getting There: Drive Northern State Parkway to Exit 39, Round Swamp Road to Oheka Castle. Or take the LIRR to Cold Spring Harbor and a cab. Info: oheka.com

SUFFOLK COUNTY
VANDERBILT MUSEUM
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum is an idyllic weekend destination. The 43-acre grounds house a museum, a planetarium, a seaplane hangar, and Eagle’s Nest. Visitors can tour William K. Vanderbilt II’s Spanish Revival-style, 24-room mansion with exterior iron grillwork, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Museum galleries showcase Willie K’s. collection of fish and marine life. When the collector opened The Hall of Fishes to the public, in 1922, he arranged for artisans from the American Museum of Natural History to create the nine wild-animal and marine-life dioramas. Willie K. was also a pioneer race car driver who built Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, a prototype for a toll road, for his races.

Getting there: Drive on Northern State Parkway, to Exit 42 North to Centerport. Note, it’s just a few miles east of Oheka Castle. Or, take the LIRR to Huntington.
Info: vanderiltmuseum.org

BAYARD CUTTING ARBORETUM
This estate is a magical tree museum with botanical gardens and plant-lined walkways leading to the banks of the scenic Connetquot River. The Tudor Style manor was the home of William Bayard Cutting; in his memory, his wife, Olivia Murray, and daughter, Olivia Bayard James, gifted the property to New York State. There are garden and house tours and the Hidden Oak Café in the original family manor, offers tea, pastries and a lovely garden view.

Getting There: Drive LIE or Northern State to Sagtikos Parkway south, east (left lane) to Heckscher Parkway to Route 27A East. Or the LIRR to Great River, on the Montauk line.