Today We Visited An Old Haunt: Northport

Cabin fever drove the three of us out of the house today. The air was brisk, the sun was shining, and we all needed an excuse to get outdoors. Our destination: Northport, Long Island. A sleepy little town where time has stood almost still. Northport is where my husband and I lived before we bought our first home in Huntington where we now live.

Northport is where our life as a family began. My husband and I shared an amazing apartment in a small complex built right along the shore of Northport Harbor. We had our own balcony and enjoyed watching the weather arrive from Connecticut for the three years we lived there. When I got pregnant we had to move; no children were allowed in the complex.

Interest rates were at an all-time high in the late 70’s…15% to 17%, if you can believe that. We searched and searched for a more permanent nest in Northport, but we just could not afford to stay.

We found a cozy two-bedroom ranch in nearby Huntington where we spent the next 15 years raising our two children. We moved to a bigger house when they were young teenagers and have lived here for almost 20 years. It’s been a comfortable, workable house for us and Huntington is a “happening” town. Some consider it the best place to live on Long Island.

But Northport still calls to us. We parked the car near the small park along the waterfront, bought some coffee and apple turnovers at the Copenhagen Bakery, and walked to a bench where we could sit and sun ourselves by the harbor.

I was reminded of just how nautical a place it is. After sunning a bit, we continue our walk along the harbor.

There’s a lovely dock with benches at the end of it where you can sit and look out at the mouth of the harbor, which is exactly what we did while we did some more sunbathing. Here’s my daughter with the dock in the background.

Northport is a doggie town. There are dogs of all sizes, shapes and colors being walked through the park. We used to bring our beloved yellow lab, Daisy, here because it is such a dog friendly place.

We left the park to walk up Main Street which used to have a trolley run down the street right to the harbor. The tracks are still in the road. Here are some of the facades on Main Street from earlier in the century.

We slowly ambled up Main Street with all the dog walkers and all the other people also out for a stretch of the legs. We ended up at a favorite place when my husband decided he’d like some New England chowder and a locally brewed IPA. Just our luck…due to the number of people out today they had run out of chowder. No problem…we settled for French Onion Soup and a beer.

As you can see, my husband is happy with his grub and his pint.

Enough of this flim-flamming. Time to head for home. We walked back down the street past one of my favorite shops filled with intriguing home decorating items.

Before we got back into our car, we turned to say one last goodbye to one of our favorite haunts…Northport. We even talked about the possibility of moving back there in a few years when we downsize. It was a perfect afternoon.