COMPARISONS ARE ODIOUS, but I can’t help making them. As I travel the byways of Long Island’s South Fork, where I moved recently, a little voice inside me keeps saying, “It’s just not as beautiful as the Hudson Valley” (where I had a weekend place for several years).
But this area is starting to grow on me. It doesn’t have the dramatic Catskill mountain backdrop, but it does have the mighty Atlantic and endless bays and coves.
I decided to make a list, comparing the two regions in various categories to see how they stack up.
HUDSON VALLEY / SOUTH FORK
- mountain views / water views
- stacked stone walls / split rail fences
- clapboard siding / cedar shingles
- day lilies / privet hedges
- funky thrift shops / fancy thrift shops
- Sonny Rollins / Billy Joel
- minor wines / serious wines
- Taconic State Parkway / Long Island Expressway
- dairy barns / marinas
Which do you prefer? Feel free to add to the list.
Main Beach, East Hampton
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Laid Back/Laid Off
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While I can appreciate the proximity to the beach, I LOVE riding Metro-North on the Hudson Valley line and driving along the Taconic Parkway during the fall.
And, Hudson Valley’s got all dem apples!
Both areas are ‘old country’; I suppose it would just be a matter of personal preference.
State Capitol — Disappearing capital
Washington Irving — Truman Capote
Frederic Church — Jackson Pollack
Shale — Shells
Fly fishing — Surf casting
Vassar, Bard, Marist — Shinnecock, Maidstone, Noyac
Indian Point — Shoreham (RIP)
Drip hoses — Drip painting
Metro North — LIRR
Horse farms — Horse shows
Solar panels — Windmills
Apples — Potatoes
The Dutch — The English
Rt 9 — Rt 27
Freeborn Lane — Abraham’s Path
Zone 5 — Zone 7
The north is death, loneliness, ghosts, awakening. The east is sex, rebirth, hotels, awakening. Both are holy. But I want to go back east. I don’t want to die here, in the north. I want to be reborn.