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Gilded Age fortunes left their mark all over Glen Cove, a small city on Long Island's North Shore where the Pratt family of Standard Oil built a cluster of grand estates around Dosoris and J.P. Morgan Jr. kept a summer home on East Island. Several of those mansions survive as a hotel, a college campus and a public nature preserve overlooking Long Island Sound.
The best place to feel that history is Welwyn Preserve, the former Harold I. Pratt estate, whose Georgian mansion now houses the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County and whose woodland trails lead to a stony beach. Nearby Garvies Point Museum explains the island's glacial geology and Native American past beside bluffs full of clay and boulders.
Glen Cove also has a strong Italian-American community, celebrated each summer at the lively Feast of St. Rocco. Downtown has restaurants and shops around Glen Street, and waterfront Morgan Memorial Park offers views across Hempstead Harbor. Sea Cliff and Oyster Bay are both short drives away.
A Nassau County preserve on the former Harold I. Pratt estate, with trails winding through tulip-tree forest, past ponds and old garden walls down to a quiet beach on Long Island Sound. Spring wildflowers and fall color are lovely. Parking is free, and the beach trail is about a mile each way, with some muddy stretches.
Set inside the Georgian-style Pratt mansion at Welwyn Preserve, this museum tells the history of the Holocaust through survivor testimony, artifacts and exhibits on tolerance and human rights. Allow about an hour and a half. Check opening hours, as they vary and group visits are common on weekdays.
A county museum devoted to Long Island's glacial geology and the archaeology of its Native American peoples, with stone tools, pottery and mineral displays. Behind it, trails lead through woods to a beach beneath colorful clay bluffs. Kids love hunting for interesting stones. Small admission fee; closed some weekdays.
A waterfront park donated by J.P. Morgan Jr. in memory of his wife, with lawns sloping down to Hempstead Harbor, a small beach, a playground and a stage for summer concerts. Sunsets over the harbor are the highlight. Parking may require a city permit in summer, so check rules for nonresidents before you drive.
The grand Georgian mansion of John Teele Pratt, built in the early 20th century on the Dosoris estate, is now a hotel and conference center set on landscaped grounds. Even if you are not staying, its restaurant and lawns offer a glimpse of Gold Coast life. Ask at the front desk before wandering the grounds.
A multi-day summer festival run by the Church of St. Rocco, with a religious procession, rides, live music and stands selling zeppole, sausage and peppers and other Italian-American favorites. It is one of the biggest feasts on Long Island. Go on a weeknight evening for smaller crowds, and bring cash for food stands.
The compact downtown around Glen Street, School Street and Village Square, with Italian and Latin American restaurants, cafes, bakeries and local shops. A municipal parking garage makes it easy to stop for dinner after a day at the preserves. Summer brings outdoor dining and occasional street events.
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Log in to add photosPhoto: Michael Sean Gallagher, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
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Photo: DanTD, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
