First, let’s begin by explaining the colloquial use of the time period “South Shore” right here on Lengthy Island, on this case Suffolk County particularly.
If somebody in Suffolk says they’re from the South Shore, they’re referring to the handfuls of communities that run alongside the shoreline — from Amityville to Eastport — largely straddling Dawn Freeway.
Nevertheless, if you happen to enterprise too far east into Eastport, you’ll find yourself in Southampton City, which is the beginning of the South Fork, often known as the Hamptons. And that’s a completely totally different animal.
Nobody from Southampton is from the South Shore, if that makes any sense.
Nonetheless, this 40-mile stretch is dwelling to among the most numerous communities on Lengthy Island. We’re speaking ethnically, racially, economically, geologically and bodily.
This vibrant sub-region is dotted with bustling and rising downtowns, most of which developed round practice stations and inside strolling distances to the Nice South Bay to the south. Round and between the downtowns you’ll discover groundwater rivers and tree-lined suburban neighborhoods that boast among the finest colleges within the nation.
And it’s all underscored by a string of famend, white-sand barrier seashores.
There’s a lot to do, from theaters, bars, breweries and eating places, to county, municipal and state parks, seashores and marinas. And naturally, the crown jewel: Hearth island, which is considered one of simply 10 nationwide seashores managed by the U.S. Nationwide Park Service.
So if you happen to’re a South Shore native, customer, or trying to relocate, let Higher Lengthy Island be your information. Scroll down for an inventory of issues to do, eat, watch, see, and simply expertise on Suffolk County’s South Shore. And examine again, as a result of we’re at all times updating our journey guides to life on Lengthy Island.
The downtowns
In case you’re going out on the South Shore, heading to considered one of its many downtowns is the transfer, as a result of you possibly can skip from place to position with out getting again in a automotive. There are sports activities bars, esteemed eating places, music and dwell efficiency venues, in addition to DIY spots and date evening choices.
The clear favourite among the many youth proper now could be downtown Patchogue, which has over 40 bars and eating places, in addition to the landmark Blue Level Brewery and two music venues: Stereo Backyard and 89 North, with Painters’ Restaurant’ being one other scorching spot for dwell music about 13 minutes east by automotive. And when summer season arrives, the scene alongside the riverfront is a continuous celebration.
Bay Shore is a detailed second, with a number of much less bars however extra finer eating choices than Patchogue.
Lindenhurst is our selection for craft beer lovers, with 4 breweries inside strolling distance on Wellwood Avenue and two extra in close by Copiague and Amityville. Babylon can also be a certain wager, as a result of the LIRR station runs proper by way of the downtown with loads of ingesting and eating choices, all a brief stroll from each other. Bellport, Sayville and Middle Moriches every provide extra of a quaint eating expertise.
This can be a enormous drawback for Suffolk County’s South Shore, and we hope elected officers will make it a precedence to assist facilitate the constructing of extra resorts, and begin pondering extra outdoors the field in relation to zoning and allowing for mattress and breakfasts. The South Shore desperately wants lodging, particularly for friends coming in for weddings, as there are dozens of catering halls on and close to the water.
There are some resorts across the airport to the north, however alongside the shoreline and Dawn Freeway you’ll discover few we may suggest. Many are decaying, road-trip period motels utilized by Social Providers.
Boutique choices are restricted and small, however very nice, and embrace Bellport Inn and Temperance Corridor, that are each in Bellport, in addition to the Ocean Bay Home, which is on the water in Bay Shore.
Hearth Island has some great choices, comparable to The Palms (Ocean Seaside), Hearth Island Boatel (Kismet) and Hearth Island Seaside Home (Ocean Bay Park) on the western aspect of the island, and The Grove Resort (Cherry Grove) and the Pines Bluff Overlook (Hearth Island Pines) within the center. Examine the web sites for his or her months of operation, as Hearth Island is a seasonal spot. It’s also possible to go glamping at Watch Hill (and even Sailors Haven), additionally on Hearth Island. The glamping is superior; simply pack the bug spray!
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Transportation
MacArthur Airport (ISP)
Mates don’t let mates decide them up at JFK or LaGuardia airports in Queens, as a result of all the expertise is harrowing and nerve-wracking, as these are the one airports in the US the place you pull up and instantly begin getting hollered and screamed at by law enforcement officials and airport staff, merely for being there. To not point out the visitors getting again by way of Queens and Nassau and out to Suffolk County.
MacArthur Airport, a couple of six-minute drive north of Dawn Freeway, is kind of the other expertise, and the one approach to fly to Lengthy Island if you happen to’re trying to keep away from main complications. You possibly can curler skate from this airport and be in downtown Sayville in 20 minutes. Airways: Southwest, Frontier or Breeze. Be aware: We’d moderately switch twice to finish up at MacArthur, moderately than go to Queens.
Lengthy Island Rail Highway
The LIRR will take you from NYC all the way in which to Montauk (by way of the Hamptons) by way of the Babylon, then Montauk traces. The native trains cease at each city on the South Shore, so you possibly can tour the area out of your window seat! (It would take awhile.) However, fares simply went up. Count on to pay round $15 off-peak, a method, and $20 for a peak-time ticket, a method. That is the busiest commuter railroad in North America. You may suppose all that quantity would make it one of many least expensive, however it’s fairly the other.
Car
That is the popular approach to bop across the South Shore. Heavy visitors usually loosens up after you get by way of Nassau County, which is to the speedy west. There are not any visitors lights on Dawn Freeway after Lindenhurst, so it’s fairly clean crusing from “Lindy” on east, until it’s rush hour. We propose Dawn. Simply don’t name it The Dawn Freeway; you don’t wish to seem like a vacationer.
Southern State Parkway runs largely alongside Dawn Freeway however ends in East Islip. The Southern State, as Lengthy Islanders name it, was constructed within the late-Twenties to convey summer season vacationers out from town to get pleasure from Lengthy Island’s state park system. Now it’s a form of observe for 20-somethings in low cost vehicles with sound-makers to chase one another round. Be cautious. This can be a curvy street that was constructed for pleasure, not pace.
There’s a variety of efficiency venues within the area, from these providing skilled reveals to essentially nice neighborhood theaters and humanities facilities. Two of Lengthy Island’s three skilled theaters are situated on the South Shore: The Argyle Theatre in Babylon and The Gateway in Bellport.
Maintaining with the villages and downtowns, Patchogue is dwelling to Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts, and Bay Shore has just lately seen its performing arts heart, The Boulton Middle, reopen after a COVID-related shutdown that lingered for over three years.
Group theater spots embrace Bayway Arts Middle in East Islip, CM Performing Arts Middle in Oakdale, and the Clare Rose Playhouse on the St. Joseph’s College Lengthy Island campus in Patchogue. Faucet any of the above hyperlinks for present schedules and to buy tickets.
Suffolk County has one professional crew and so they play in Central Islip: the Lengthy Island Geese. We are able to let you know that this can be a actually great baseball-watching expertise that’s inexpensive for a household. There’s additionally an intimate, old-time feeling to Fairfield Properties Ballpark. The Geese play within the North Division of the Atlantic League of Skilled Baseball, and have gained a number of titles. Many former MLB gamers have performed for the Geese, together with Dontrelle Willis, Ramon Castro, Daniel Murphy, even former Braves reliever John Rocker, who as soon as famously derided New Yorkers.
Lengthy Island’s lone main skilled sports activities crew, the New York Islanders, play in Elmont, which borders Queens in Nassau County, however UBS Area is fairly simply accessible by automotive or Lengthy Island Rail Highway.
Waterfront eating
The perfect villages and hamlets (as we name unincorporated communities on Lengthy Island) for waterfront eating on the South Shore are Patchogue, Oakdale, Bay Shore and Babylon, however virtually each village and hamlet provides choices, if only some. Many are seasonal, however nonetheless many are open year-round.
Hearth Island provides loads of waterfront eating choices, however there’s just one that’s constructed straight on the dunes of the Atlantic Ocean (versus dealing with the bay), and that’s On line casino Café at Davis Park (take the ferry from Patchogue).
The Seashores
These are among the finest seashores on the earth, and the water will get clearer as you get out east. In recent times, pods of dolphins and humpback whales have come to please beachgoers, with whales usually feeding on faculty fish proper inside view. Seals and snowy owls come go to within the winter. Most, if not all, of the general public seashores provide meals and alcoholic drinks at designated “seashore bars,” with the largest being Salt Shack at Cedar Seaside. However all of the seashore bars are a good time, usually with music enjoying into the evening throughout the summer season months.
Jones Seaside Island
Jones Seaside Island stretches east into Suffolk County and isn’t simply remoted to the world designated as Jones Seaside State Park in Nassau County to the west. There are three nice seashores accessible by automotive on Jones Seaside Island, all managed by the City of Babylon: Gilgo and Cedar seashores are open to the general public, however the neighboring Overlook Seaside to the east is for city residents-only in the summertime.
Robert Moses State Park
Robert Moses State Park is a gem and is definitely situated on the westernmost tip of Hearth Island. It’s accessible by automotive journey over the breathtaking Robert Moses Causeway (pictured).
Smiths Level County Park
Smith Level is accessible by automotive over the Smith Level Bridge, and is just like Robert Moses in some ways, besides at Smiths Level you possibly can pitch a tent and keep the evening on the bayside campgrounds — and even take your 4×4 on what’s referred to as the Outer Seaside. The one caveat for driving on the seashore is you want a allow. Click on right here for particulars on permits. And bear in mind to deflate these tires, or you’ll get caught!
What’s colloquially known as Hearth Island (despite the fact that it consists of Robert Moses and Smiths Level) is barely accessible for guests by way of ferry. Right here you’ll discover seashore home communities, retailers, eating places and evening life. There are not any vehicles allowed. (Except you’re a employee). Solely bikes and little pink wagons on Hearth Island.
Ferries
The ferries from the South Shore have one vacation spot and one vacation spot solely: Hearth Island. There are three areas from which to set sail (from west to east), both Bay Shore, Sayville or Patchogue.
Bay Shore
Hearth Island Ferries offers ferry service between Bay Shore and the Hearth Island communities of Kismet, Saltaire, Truthful Harbor, Dunewood, Atlantique, Ocean Seaside, Seaview, and Ocean Seaside. Regardless of the place you go, it’s a couple of 30-minute journey, a method.
Just some gadgets price noting: You may’t convey bikes on the ferries, however canine are allowed (although some communities don’t enable canine on the seashores.) There are not any bogs on the boats, so go forward of time on the terminal. Lastly, don’t miss the final boat off Hearth Island at evening!
Sayville Ferry Service has been taking beachgoers throughout the Nice South Bay to Hearth Island since 1894. And nonetheless ushers residents and guests from Sayville to Hearth Island’s legendary LGBT communities of Cherry Grove and Hearth Island Pines, in addition to Water Island and the Sunken Forest at Sailors Haven. The ferries function out of a marina on Browns River.
Patchogue
There are two ferry terminals on Patchogue River. The Davis Park Ferry Co. runs all boats forwards and backwards between Patchogue and the neighborhood Davis Park, in addition to the Watch Hill wilderness.
The handle for the Patchogue-Davis Park Ferry Terminal is 80 Brightwood Road in Patchogue, on the city’s Sandspit Marina. Faucet right here for the ferry schedules to Davis Park, and for tickets. Parking is out there on the city marina, and it’s discounted for Brookhaven City residents. Don’t even trouble in search of on-street parking.
The Patchogue-Watch Hill Ferry Terminal is operated by the Nationwide Park Service and is situated at 150 West Avenue. From this terminal, seasonal passenger ferry service is offered to Watch Hill by Davis Park Ferry Co., a certified NPS vendor. Parking right here is free and plentiful.
