Suffolk County

Understand

Both Nassau and Suffolk Counties are usually divided into the North Shore, which is on the Long Island Sound, and South Shore, which is on the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, in the extreme east of Suffolk County, there is a North Fork (ending in Orient Point) and a South Fork (ending in Montauk Point). There are several offshore islands, including Fire Island and Shelter Island, which are popular beach and summer home locations, respectively. The island together is about 120 miles in length and some 25 miles, depending on location, in width. Suffolk is vastly populated suburbs to the west and bordering Nassau County, near New York City. As one travels east in Suffolk county you encounter rural farm lands, nearer Riverhead, and traveling to Montauk Point. The eastern part of the county, especially the North Fork, is reminiscent of New England.

History

Suffolk County stands as one of the original counties of New York State. It is one of the twelve original counties created in 1683. Suffolk County was once referred to as "East Riding of Yorkshire". Its borders have moved very little since then. Suffolk County once bordered Queens County on the west, but that changed in 1899 when those portions of Queens became Nassau County.

Other destinations

• Fire Island
• Fire Island National Seashore
• Shelter Island
• North Fork
• The Hamptons

Get in

By plane

Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP), Ronkonkoma, Town of Islip. Connections throughout the country. Breeze, Frontier, Southwest.

Shuttle service between MacArthur Airport and the Ronkonkoma train station: Colonial Transportation of Long Island (516-589-3500) offers shuttle service between MacArthur Airport and the Ronkonkoma train station (LIRR). Departs the train station daily at 5:30AM, then departs the airport on the hour and half-hour from 6AM until 10:30PM. Curbside pick up at the airport is directly in front of baggage claim. The shuttle will pick up and drop off at the North Platform of the Ronkonkoma train station. $5.00 per person.

By train

Suffolk County is served by the Long Island Rail Road.

By car

Long Island is easily accessible through the Long Island Expressway (I-495; it is commonly referred to as the LIE), Northern State Parkway, and Southern State Parkway (all of which run east to west). If you have an address you can essentially find it off of one of these roads.

By bus

Long Island Bus has a few routes connecting Suffolk County and its western neighbor Nassau County. Always check the schedules as the service may be infrequent.

By ferry

There are connections to Bridgeport in Connecticut from Port Jefferson.

There are also connections to New London in Connecticut from Orient Point.

Get around

Most people in Suffolk County get around by car. For short trips, there are generally taxis that wait for arriving trains at LIRR stations but may otherwise need to be called; don't expect to hail taxis on the streets. There is a network of Suffolk County buses, but they are often slow and in many cases run infrequently, so depending on the route and time of arrival and departure, it may be impractical to depend on them as part of a day trip. In order to access some islands off the shore of Long Island, such as Fire Island, a ferry may be convenient or even required.

Stay safe

Suffolk County is in general a very safe place to visit, as is most of Long Island. However, some areas have problems with gang and drug activity. It is wise to avoid sections of Brentwood, Copiague, Central Islip, Huntington Station, North Amityville, North Bay Shore, North Bellport, and Wyandanch at night.

Areas of Mastic and Mastic Beach should also be avoided at night, as these areas also frequently experience issues with crime.

Towns

Suffolk county consists of the following ten towns:

• Babylon including Babylon village, Lindenhurst, Copiague, Deer Park, Gilgo, and Wheatley Heights, and Wyandanch.
• Amityville
• Brookhaven includes the villages of Belle Terre, Bellport, Lake Grove, Mastic Beach, Old Field, Patchogue, Poquott, Shoreham, Brookhaven hamlet, Centereach, Center Moriches, Coram, Fire Island Pines, Shirley, and Yaphank.
• Port Jefferson, Mount Sinai, Stony Brook
• East Hampton including the hamlets of Amagansett, Wainscott, Napeague, and Springs
• Montauk and Sag Harbor
• Huntington
• Melville, Northport (New York)
• Islip, including the villages of Brightwaters, Islandia, Ocean Beach, Saltaire, and Sayville
• Bay Shore
• Riverhead
• Shelter Island
• Smithtown
• Southampton
• Westhampton Beach
• Southold