Welwyn Preserve County Park

From NYC take the Belt (Cross Island) Parkway to exit 30. From there go east abut 8 miles on the Long Island Expressway (Route 495) to exit 39. Go north on Glen Cove Road 6.2 miles, bearing left at a major fork near the end. Turn north (right) onto Brewster; go 0.5 mile. Turn north (left) onto Dosoris Lane; go 0.7 mile. Go left for 0.4 mile on New Woods Road. At Crescent Beach Road, proceed for about 0.1 mile to the Welwyn gate on the right. Park at the left of the main house.

GPS coordinates to park entrance:  40.881008, -73.642108

GPS coordinates to Holocaust Memorial & Education Center: 40.884054, -73.641673

Located in Glen Cove on the famous "Gold Coast" of Long Island's North Shore, this lovely piece of land, at one time an estate, now offers a fine example of the tall moist hardwood forests that used to dominate the area.

The Preserve features four blazed trails that are easy to walk.  Approaching from the parking area, the path to the left of the mansion is a direct walk down hill to the beach where one can hike along the shore with views across the Long Island Sound. Trails to the right and back of the mansion are more rugged.  Trail maps are available on site.   

What is now Welwyn Preserve once belonged to Harold Irving Pratt, son of oil magnate and philanthropist Charles Pratt of the late 1800s. The estate includes a Georgian-style mansion, now used by the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, and several smaller service buildings.

The Preserve offers an impressive abundance of hardwood trees which are protected and have been allowed to mature. Of particular interests are the tulip trees, also known as yellow poplars. The yellow poplar is a tall, beautiful tree, and is the most naturally occurring on Long Island. In addition, a variety of wildflowers may be enjoyed in April and May.  Other trees and shrubs are here, including a stand of Austrian black pines, as the result of extensive landscaping carried out in the earlier parts of the last century. The Pratts contracted the work to members of the Olmsted family, whose famous patriarch, Frederick Law Olmsted, designed Central Park.