Located in Huntington, on the North Shore, Coindre Hall is a French Chateau style mansion built in 1912.  Originally a private home the hall, and it's attached 34 acres of grounds, is now a public park.

The grounds are beautiful, with an extraordinary view of Huntington Harbor.

The park itself isn't really big enough for much of a hike, but you can attach a stroll along the beaches and yachting clubs of the harbor and extend your walk as long as you like.

Directions

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Photos of Coindre Hall

Resources

Yelp Page – Coindre Hall

Park Office – Coindre Hall

Wikipedia Page – Coindre Hall

A little know preserve in Smithtown.  Not easy to find, but worth the search.  The Greenbelt Trail goes through this, but we found that the best walk was along the banks of the Nesequogue River, where there are some spectacular views.

If you do walk along the river, pay attention to the tides!  We almost had to do some wading on our way back.

Directions

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Photos of Arthur Kunz Park

Here are some additional resources about Sunken Meadow Park

• NY-NJ-CT Botany Online Arthur Kunz Park Page

This article claims that bottles made by manufacturer SIGG contain a chemical called BPA (Bisphenol A), which has been linked to health problems.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but we should all take pains to educate ourselves to the potential dangers of our gear.

Makamah Preserve is a small but pleasant nature preserve off 25A in Northport, just south of Crab Meadow.

It's great for a short walk with the family.  My favorite part is a small, swampy lake near the entrance on Makamah Road.

There's a trailhead on 25A, but in my experience the path from there is usually overgrown.  A better way to enter is to drive left on Makamah Road (off 25A).  After a few minutes, you'll come to a small entrance on the left.  You can park on the road.

There are several paths in the preserve, none of them too long. 

Directions

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A Short Trail in Makamah Preserve

Here's a pleasant, 2 mile loop that should take no more than an hour or so.  It starts at the entrance on Makamah Road.  (This was recorded with Motion X on my iPhone.)

Photos of Makamah Preserve

Resources

• Makamah Preserve on Flikr
• Kings Park Heritage Museum – Makamah Preserve
• NY-NJ-CT Botany Online – Makamah Preserve

Nowadays, I have an iPhone, with a great GPS application, so it's not much of a problem.  But before I got it, I was very familiar with the phenomenon described in this New York Times article about hiking around in circles.

We hope you come back often!

A long, leisurely path in Blydenburgh County Park.  Very pretty.

Directions
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Photos of Stump Pond.

A wonderful state park to the north of Huntington.  One of my favorites!

Directions

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Photos of Caumsett