A Ride Around the Lake Pt 6 - Lake Shore Road

This photo set starts a bit further down past Parsnip's where Smithtown Blvd becomes Lake Shore Road. This particular photo is from in front of the local artist's house who would make the Indian Princess of Lake Ronkonkoma carving just a year later:

Wood carvings on Lake Shore Road - Summer 2015

Here through the trees you get a view of the Town of Islip beach on the other side:

Lake Ronkonkoma Lake Shore Road with view of Town of Islip Beach - Summer 2015

This is also where you'll find St. Mary's Episcopal Church:

St. Mary's Episcopal Church on Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

I think I was focusing too much on getting the sidewalk in frame and ended up cutting the back part of the building off. 

Further down is the Welcome to Lake Ronkonkoma sign:

Welcome to Lake Ronkonkoma sign on Lake Shore Road - Summer 2015

On the grass island with the Welcome sign is a plaque and another smaller sign. Since there's no sidewalk or designated crossing onto the island, however, I imagine nobody reads the plaque. 

Off to the right there's a slip lane so people in cars can continue around a blind corner down Lake Shore Road towards a wedding venue and an assisted living facility without having to take their foot off the gas. Not a great design choice in my humble opinion. Maybe I'm biased as a cyclist, but I say put a modal filter so only bikes and pedestrians can continue down that way and have cars turn right at the light.

Off to the left on the corner where Lake Shore Road becomes Portion Road is an Eagle Scout project from 2006. It features a stone wall with a plaque and two benches on either side:

Eagle Scout Project on Lake Shore Rd - Summer 2015

Here's what the wall looks like closer up:

Eagle Scout Project on Lake Shore Rd - Summer 2015

And here is the inscription:

Eagle Scout Project on Lake Shore Road - Summer 2015

It reads:

"The Lake of Haunting Mystery

"Lake Ronkonkoma was once home to four Native American tribes known as the Nissequogues, Setaukets, Secatogues, and Unkechaugs. The term "Ronkonkomack" is translated according to the Algonquin language "boundary fishing place" which is understood as the four tribes fished and hunted within their boundary of the lake. The Indians believed the lake was bottomless with a terrible whirlpool as the hatch to the beyond. They also told the early settlers of the Indian Chief who imposed a curse on the lake after his daughter drowned while canoeing, against his wishes; with a young man. According to the curse, a man would drown in the lake every year after as the legend goes. 

"Forbidden by her family to marry out of her race, the Indian maiden used the waters of Lake Ronkonkoma to carry messages, written on pieces of tree bark, through an underground stream to her white lover, miles away on the Connetquot River.

"After seven long years of separation, Princess Ronkonkoma of the Setauket Tribe set out in a canoe on the lake one night, only to be found dead floating down the river the following day.

"Her spirit may still roam the shores of the lake named after her. In mourning, for the drowned Indian Princess, the waters of Lake Ronkonkoma may, as some say, rise and recede every seven years.

"Though there is no proof of the existence of Princess Ronkonkoma the legend lives on. But there is much more to this lake that its legends. The history dates back to 1655, when the Setauket Tribe bartered the Lake Ronkonkoma shoreline in exchange for the white man's valuables, Ronkonkoma has many colorful translations, among them are "glittering white sand", "healing waters" and to most historians "boundary fishing place". In the late 1700's, farming was the chief occupation for the local townspeople. In 1795, Portion Road was built, a path just wide enough for someone on horseback or by foot, then widened to permit wagons. Little by little the lake front developed into a fashionable haven for the wealthier people who had Summer estates here. A sweeping change came over the area with the expansion of the Long Island Rail Road in 1844. By the 1900's, Lake Ronkonkoma was transformed from a sleepy little farming community to a well-known Summer resort. In 1908, William Vanderbilt began building Motor Parkway which stretched from Jamaica Queens to the banks of Lake Ronkonkoma. In the late 1920's, the porches of gabled mansions overlooking the lake were splashed in sunshine with the sounds of a couple of thousand middles class people who came to spend the Summer. By 1950 - 1980's people began building housing developments and started calling Lake Ronkonkoma home.

"So at this site may it bring peace and serenity to those who take the time to enjoy the beauty of this wonderful piece of history called Lake Ronkonkoma."

I know ghost stories might seem like harmless fun, but if people are regularly drowning in the lake, I'd hope people are trying to figure out why instead of just shrugging and saying "it's Princess Ronkonkoma again (even though there is no proof of the existence of Princess Ronkonkoma)!"

I like the end note though, and that's exactly what I'm advocating for: make the lake something people can enjoy looking at, swimming in and walking and riding around, and not just an obstacle to get around in your car.

Just beyond the welcome sign is Windows on the Lake, the wedding venue I mentioned before:

Windows on the Lake on Lake Shore Road - Summer 2015

I couldn't really get a good shot of it because there's nowhere safe to stop. The perspective in the pictures above and below are from where the sidewalk randomly starts a little way's down the road where I could park my bike without leaving it in the narrow shoulder.

I liked this shot because the geese were crossing right by the wildlife crossing sign like it was their designated spot:

Canada Geese crossing Lake Shore Road - Summer 2015

Through the trees here you can see the Town of Islip beach on the other side of the lake:

Lake Shore Road with Lake Ronkonkoma Watershed sign - Summer 2015

The blue sign on the right reads: "Lake Ronkonkoma Watershed - ours to protect."

I took the picture below at the end of Harding Road to show how dangerous it is both for pedestrians and cyclists:

Lake Shore Road at the end of Harding Road - Summer 2015

This is a little bit past what is now Larry's Landing. Notice the sidewalk ends before this, the informal walking path ends completely, and the shoulder narrows before a blind curve. The safest way to navigate this on a bike is to ride in the middle of the lane so that cars coming up behind you will see you sooner and so they don't try to pass you in a blind curve. Not ideal and it'll likely annoy any drivers behind you, but you have little choice with no shoulder like that. 

A lot of people think riding against traffic is safer, but it's not. People pulling out of the driveways and side streets on the left aren't going to be expecting traffic coming from the wrong direction and will be looking to the left when they pull up to the corner and they may start rolling into the lane before looking right.

Anyhoo, back to the pretty pictures:

Lake Ronkonkoma from Lake Shore Road - Summer 2015

There's not any signs or paved paths leading to it, but there's another beach here on the Southeast shore of the lake, albeit this one's a bit more rocky:

Southeast Shore of Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

Got another shot of my sick wheels by the water:

Beach Club Estate seen from Across Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

I'm pretty sure that's Beach Club Estate on the other side of the water, please correct me if I'm wrong.

From here there's an informal trail leading down to the water:

Southeast Shore of Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

And through the trees you can see where people made a seating area out of some driftwood and 4x4s:

Southeast Shore of Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

But before I went down there, I spotted a toad:

Toad on Southeast shore of Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

I believe it was an American Toad, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Toad on Southeast shore of Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

Here's a shot of the seating area mentioned above with Raynor Beach visible in the background:

Southeast shore of Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

This shot below is facing North:

Southeast Shore of Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

Here I walk a bit north and got a slightly different angle so you can see more of the opposite shore:

Southeast Shore of Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

From the right, the long white building is Lake Towers Apartments which if my memory serves me has a plaque on it from 1924. Immediately left of that is the back deck of Parsnip's, then where Bavarian Inn used to be, then that longer stretch is the derelict part of Lake Shore Road, and on the far left is the County Beach on the Town of Smithtown side.

And here you can see how I know people sit here:

Garbage on Southeast shore of Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

Beer cans and boxes, water bottles, and empty packs of cigarettes. The amount of garbage I came across on these stops was pretty sad. It seemed like the only place where the shoreline was cleaned up after was Raynor Beach and the Town of Islip Beach. 

And this is the way back up to Lake Shore Road, same way I went in:

Southeast shore of Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

 

Again I'll end on a high note with some waterfowl on a nicer section of the lake towards Raynor Beach:

Lake Ronkonkoma - Summer 2015

In my next post I get off the bike again and take a look around Raynor Park.