North Fork Lighthouse Easy Ride · part 3

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Scenic stretch in Old Bethpage

   Step into Old Bethpage Village Restoration and Long Island's suburbs vanish: a nineteenth-century farming village of houses, barns, a church, a tavern and a blacksmith's shop, many of them moved here from elsewhere on the island to save them from demolition. Costumed staff work the fields and crafts, and the contrast with the busy roads outside is striking.

   Read the complete Scenic stretch in Old Bethpage write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Scenic stretch in Old Bethpage is where the day begins. Next is Photo stop near Fort Salonga.

2. 2. Photo stop near Fort Salonga

   Fort Salonga takes its name from a British stronghold of the Revolutionary War. Fort Slongo stood on a bluff above Long Island Sound, and in 1781 American troops crossed the water from Connecticut and raided it. Nothing much remains, but the name lives on in this leafy corner of the North Shore, between Kings Park and Northport, where wooded hills drop to rocky beaches and the Sound glitters to the north.

   Read the complete Photo stop near Fort Salonga write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Photo stop near Fort Salonga comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is North Fork Lighthouse Easy Ride checkpoint 8.

3. 3. Kearny

   Kearny is a Scottish town that happens to be in New Jersey. In the late nineteenth century, thread mills and linoleum factories run by Scottish companies drew workers from Scotland and Northern Ireland to this hilly strip of land between the Passaic and Hackensack rivers, and they brought with them their churches, pipe bands and, above all, football. For decades Kearny was known as Soccer Town USA, producing an unusual number of players for the US national team, and the sport still matters here more than in most American towns.

   Read the complete Kearny write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 155 km. Next is Back to North.

4. 4. Back to North

   Parsippany is a large, sprawling township in Morris County, with more than fifty thousand people, a lot of offices and a patchwork of highways, and it belongs to the belt of suburbs that runs west of Newark into the New Jersey hills. Its name may come from a Native word of uncertain meaning. To the north and west, the landscape starts to change, with ridges, lakes and woods of the Highlands rising, and the point lies right on the transition.

   Read the complete North write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back to North closes the day.