Long Island has 1180 miles of coastline. Along it you can begin to understand why every Long Islander feels a connection to the ocean. From the North Shore marinas where salt eats away at anchor chains and motor wires, to the South Shore beaches where you can taste that same salt as it drifts in the breeze and you watch the sunset.

When most people think of Long Island, they think of the beaches. But growing up here, I explored the woods and farms just as much as the coast. In these places, you get a sense of time passing as the colors shift and the sounds of birds singing and animals rustling in the brush come and go with the seasons.

When winter comes to Long Island, everything becomes still. The colors and crowds of summer are long gone, and the scenery has shifted into pale tones of blue and beige. It is a place in waiting. And when the sun finally returns, the vibrancy of a life on the coast comes with it.

Long Island has a long history, but perhaps the most famous part of it is its connection to the golden age of the 1920s. The North Shore is lined with the mansions of former barons of this era. Their manicured gardens and austere citadels of wealth stand in stark contrast to the natural worlds of the coast and country, as well as the suburban neighborhoods of Long Island's newer residents.