INTRO
Northport
I
Looking to the southeast, pick up a flashing green #1 buoy at the southern end of West Beach (which is to the by John Galluzzo east) that will start your voyage into Northport Bay. Follow the markers through the channel into f you were looking for Northport back in the 1600s, you the bay to the east, passing Winkle Point wouldn’t have found it by that name. But if you had asked along and Duck Island Bluff to the north. Find a flashing red #8 buoy off the northern the shore for Great Cow Harbor? Well, now you’re talking. end of Little Neck Point--its seawall will be facing you as you approach--and Northport is a community that has lived many happy lives. head southeast into Northport Harbor. Once inside the Cows? Yes, farming was the earliest pursuit of the Dutch harbor, don’t rely on your NOAA chart too much. The aids settlers. Harbor? Shipbuilding and the oyster industry had to navigation from that point forward are privately owned their heydays, too. During the late days of the 19th century, and maintained. when city dwellers vacationed in places where steamboats and For those of you on vessels up to 60 feet in length, you trains could take them, Northport became a center of tourism. have to look no farther than Seymour’s Boatyard, which has And it’s that timestamp that still defines the community. been serving boaters in Northport since 1923. Tie up there, Victorian splendor is the norm on Main Street, where and within 15 minutes, their crew boasts, you’ll be sitting many of the homes of the old “oyster barons” still stand today, down to dinner in one of downtown Northport’s most and if you look down, so, too, do the tracks from the trolley charming restaurants. The same can be said for tossing lines that once ran straight to the waterfront. on the dock at the Britannia Yacht Center. Walk out the If you’d like to find Northport from the east, round Eaton’s front door of that facility--if you can get past the showers, Neck. Coming from the west, round Lloyd Point and slide wifi, dockside cable TV, dinner at the Whale’s Tail Cafe, slowly down the coast to the east-southeast. No matter which way you’ve approached, by the time you reach the #8 flashing and more--and you’re on the major roadway leading into red bell buoy, you’ll realize you’re being funneled directly into historic Northport, as tranquil a place as you will find this Huntington Bay. summer.
www.captainsguidemagazines.com
CAPTAIN’S SEASIDE GUIDE 2013
7