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Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday November 10, 2008

SCENIC HISTORY ON LONG ISLAND’S HERITAGE TRAIL

Contact: Kristen Matejka, Director of Marketing and Communications LICVB&SC
631 951-3900 xt.317

HAUPPAUGE, NY -(November 10, 2008)- A scenic drive along Long Island’s North Shore Heritage Trail not only takes you through winding tree-lined roads and quaint harbor villages, but takes you back in time through America’s history.

Long Island, NY, Sagamore Hill Visit Revolutionary War sites, or the home of one of America’s best-loved presidents, Teddy Roosevelt. Or experience the birthplace Poet Walt Whitman or visit the seaside castle perches of some of America’s wealthiest leaders of industry. In fact a portion of the Heritage Trail, known as the Gold Coast, is immortalized in the F. Scott Fitzgerald book, The Great Gatsby.

Dating back to the early 1700’s, the Heritage Trail runs primarily along Rte. 25A, also once known as “King’s Highway,” and is one of the first roads on Long Island. Traveling through Nassau and Suffolk counties, it runs parallel along the Long Island Sound. The eye-catching greenery and surrounding beaches have always attracted some of the most affluent and influential people in American history.

One of your first stops on the Heritage Trail should be the Nassau County Museum of Art. Located in Roslyn Harbor, the exquisite property was once the estate of Walter K. Frick. The museum is a Georgian Style Gold Coast mansion and houses a permanent collection of over 600 works. It also features special events and exhibitions throughout the year. The Sculpture Garden here is the largest publicly-accessible of its kind on the East Coast. The garden contains abstract, contemporary and expressionist pieces, all of which are placed to interact with the natural environment and features works by Lichtenstein, Calder, Botero, Tom Otterness, Rodin, Chaim Gross, Smith, Nagare, Barnett Newman, Richard Serra and others.

Another point of interest is the Garvies Point Museum and Preserve. According to the preserve, exhibits here cover prehistoric Indian culture, archaeology and the area’s geologic past. Visitors are provided an overview of the geological development of the region including how the drifting and collisions of ancient continents created the rocks and land features we see today. The formation of Long Island’s topography by Ice Age (Pleistocene) glaciers is shown in models and dioramas. Geological specimens as well as numerous Native American artifacts are also displayed. The museum’s classical dioramas of local Native American scenes are a highlight.

One of the oldest historic homes along the trail is the Raynham Hall Museum. It was once the home of President Washington’s Culper Spy Ring and for a time served as the British headquarters during the Revolutionary War. The historic house was built circa 1738. It features both the main colonial and a Victorian villa. Both have been accurately furnished accordingly. The gardens have been designed to correspond to the two historical periods represented by the house, the colonial and Victorian. Each is based on landscaping principles of the period and includes historically accurate plantings.

You won’t want to miss Sagamore Hill National Historic Site along the Heritage Trail. This site is the former home of our 26th president Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt, who is remembered for his outspoken personality and exuberance, fell in love with Long Island for its natural beauty and recreation. Roosevelt decided to settle down in Cove Neck, near Oyster Bay. He hired the architects, Lamb and Rich to build the Victorian Mansion at Sagamore Hill in 1885. He lived there with his wife Edith, raising six children for the rest of his life. During his presidency, Roosevelt used Sagamore Hill as a “Summer White House” from 1901-1909, hosting luminaries from around the country and around the world. Sagamore Hill remained his home until his death on January 6, 1919. He was sixty years old and buried nearby at the Youngs Memorial Cemetery which now serves as the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary.

Long Island is also home to American’s greatest poets- Walt Whitman. Born in Huntington, Whitman found inspiration in the comforting shores of Long Island.

“One of Whitman's greatest poems, "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking," is on one level a reminiscence of his boyhood on the Long Island shore and of how his desire to be a poet arose in that landscape.”

Today, The Walt Whitman Birthplace is a New York State Historical Site. Whitman, who was fascinated when he saw his own works in print, would be proud that such works are maintained at the site along with 130 Whitman portraits, letters, manuscripts, artifacts, and Whitman's voice on tape.

The Heckscher Museum of Art, located in Huntington is notably one of the oldest museums on Long Island. Permanent home to the famous painting, “Eclipse of the Sun” (1926), by the German-American Expressionist George Grosz, the museum showcases a collection of more than 2,000 works from Renaissance masters to contemporary Long Island artists, plus changing exhibitions and arts programs. George Grosz’s importance is not only reflected through his art, but his role in the community, more specifically, the museum itself. The Germany-born Grosz fled into Queens, New York from Europe following the rise of Nazism. Grosz then moved to Huntington and lived there from 1947 to 1959. It was during that time, he became a major influence in the artistic community.

Vanderbilt Museum, Mansion and Planetarium in Centerport are an attraction that stands on its own. William K. Vanderbilt’s 43-acre estate houses his former 24-room Moroccan-style “Eagles Nest” mansion overlooking Northport Harbor. The estate houses a marine museum, planetarium and of course, the historic Gold Coast mansion which features antique furnishings, paintings, family photographs and gardens. The planetarium was added to the estate in 1971. It features a 60-foot sky theater with 11,369 stars and an observatory with a 16-inch, 860 power reflecting telescope.

In the small town of Saint James you will find the Mills Pond House Gallery, a Greek manor house that serves as an art gallery and home to the Smithtown Township Arts Council. Built circa 1838, the gallery features fine art and sculpture; poetry readings, concerts, puppet shows, art classes for children.”

Once a social gathering place for residents and visitors alike, The 1751 Stony Brook Grist Mill is now on the National Register of Historic Places. What makes the Grist Mill so important was its location. Its accessibility was very important to travelers sailing into Long Island as well as the local farmers in the community. Ships would sail into the nearby Stony Brook Harbor bringing in visitors along with the locals to grind their grains to make flour. The miller’s payment was a percentage of the flour’s weight. The Grist Mill is located near Mills Pond. The pond itself was the used to operate the mill and all of the other water-powered machines within. Today, the Grist Mill is fully operational and offers grain milling demonstrations. The mill also has an old country store where you can buy jams, jellies, duck decoys and more.

There are many more historic stops along the way, and you can request a FREE North Shore Heritage Guide by calling 1-877-386-6654.


The Long Island Convention & Visitors Bureau and Sports Commission (LICVB&SC) was established in 1979 as the official tourism promotion agency for the destination’s travel and tourism industry. Based on Long Island in Hauppauge, NY, the LICVB&SC contributes to the economic development and quality of life on Long Island by promoting the region as a world-class destination for tourism, meetings and conventions, trade shows, sporting events, and related activities. For more information about Long Island, please contact the Long Island Convention & Visitors Bureau and Sports Commission by calling 1-877-586-6654 or visit www.discoverlongisland.com.

Press Contact Email: kmatejka@discoverlongisland.com


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