Friday Afternoon in Glen Cove: Morgan Park

After a long week, it was nice to spend an hour or so in one of our favorite spots on the North Shore of Long Island, Morgan Park, at the mouth of Hempstead Harbor and overlooking Long Island Sound.

It was built as a memorial by J.P. Morgan to his late wife.

Acquiring the lands surrounding the former steamboat landing, the estate of another millionaire, and the site of an enormous Civil War-era hotel, Morgan brought some of the most skilled landscape architects in New York to work on the design and construction of the park.

When it was completed in 1932, Morgan leased the park to the residents of Glen Cove and Locust Valley for a period of 999 years -- for one dollar.

Morgan Park is the site of the City of Glen Cove's annual Fourth of July Fireworks and the popular Morgan Park Summer Music Festival, held at the stage during July and August.

There were a handful of people around this afternoon, as well as a large flock of seagulls at the pier and a lot of workers readying the park for summer. We've always loved coming here when we've lived in Locust Valley, as we are now. It's great to walk along the beach, especially after a winter in landlocked Arizona.

Saturday Morning in Locust Valley: Breakfast at Bailey Arboretum

After five months in the Sonoran Desert and Los Angeles Basin, it was great on this cloudy, drizzly, cool morning to immerse ourselves in the verdant, luscious woods of Bailey Arboretum, which we walked to from our temporary perch in Locust Valley. We had a nice morning walking the trails and the gardens of Bailey Arboretum.

Friday Evening in Bayville: Dinner at Ransom Beach

After more than five months in Arizona and Southern California, we escaped (a very mild) winter in New York and are now back for summer on the island on which we were born -- Long Island (yes, Brooklyn is part of Long Island).

This evening around 7 p.m., we drove by one of our favorite places on the North Shore, Ransom Beach

in beautiful and funky Bayville, hanging out on the sand and rocks we've loved since we were in college in the 1970s and used to come here to escape in our forest green '70 Pontiac Custom S or our little gold '73 Mercury Comet. Sometimes we came with a friend (girl), but mostly alone.

Once, on a overcast winter afternoon during the Carter administration, we wrote a really bad poem here.

This evening we just walked around and went across the street to Ralph's to get one of their really good pizzas for dinner.

Ransom Beach is formally called Charles E. Ransom Beach. When we got home tonight, we finally decided to find out about Charles E. Ransom and discovered that he was a politician from Sea Cliff who never lost an election and served as Clerk of the Town of Oyster Bay, Clerk of the County of Nassau, and Supervisor of the Town of Oyster Bay. He compiled a collection of vintage photographs and narratives in his book Gaslight and Gingerbread: A Photographic Recollection of Old Sea Cliff.

Here's what Newsday said about this gorgeous place named after him:

Ransom Beach runs for 800 feet on the Long Island Sound in Bayville and is one the best North Shore beaches. It’s a simple beach with gentle waves, ideal for those looking to relax.

Ransom Beach does not have a concession stand onsite but there are many small restaurants across the street where beach goers can stop in for pizza, Greek meals, or ice cream. Boaters can travel to Crab Shack in Connecticut, just 30 minutes across the Sound. On a clear day visitors will catch a clear, picturesque view of Connecticut across the water.

The popular live concert series, Music Under the Stars, is held during the summer. Fishing is permitted; however, dogs are not. Entry to the beach is free. There is a parking fee though local residents can just walk in.

Tonight we're grateful that we are an honorary local resident and could enjoy an hour remembering past good times in Ransom Beach, which we mention visiting in the May 28, 1990 diary entry in our book Summer in New York.

We hope to be back in Bayville again real soon.