Cold Spring Harbor Mix-Up

Before we ever left home, I googled the towns surrounding Huntington, our base, for "What To Do In (town name)?"  Cold Spring Harbor offered the Stone Crop Gardens with a description of the gardens and they sounded lovely.  And it was Spring... so I noted the address which wasn't very helpful -- 81 Stone Crop Lane.

View from the new library

My bro-in-law, Charlie, is a regular customer at the new and very posh Cold Spring Harbor Library, which has a sensational view over the trees and the water below it.  That's Connecticutt in the background.

Naturally, viewing panoramas made us hungry so we repaired to the Gourmet Whaler on the town's main drag.  The Gourmet Whaler has touristy souvenirs, local foodstuffs and a little restaurant, all very cozy indeed.

I had a marvelous mushroom and onion quiche and 'way too much salad.  The quiche was good because the sweetness of the onions blended very nicely with the faint, earthy taste of the mushrooms.  The rest of them had various sandwiches.

The Gourmet Whaler, 111 Main Street, Cold Spring Harbor, NY  631-659-2977.

Though we'd driven around the town looking, we hadn't found Stone Crop Lane with its 400 acres of gardens.  So we asked the woman who owns the Whaler.  She thought and then said, "I've never heard of the place!  Let's ask my husband, Sean.  He'll know where it is." 

Except that Sean, after much head scratching, admitted that he, too, had never heard of it.

Just then a friend of my Bro-in-law walked in so he asked him about it.  Again, "Never heard of it."  When we left, Charlie and Richie said together, "Ah-hah!  The Post Office (pointing) right across the street!  They'll damned sure know!" and off they sprinted.

Shortly they returned.  "We found it!" they crowed.  "It's in upstate New York in Cold SpringsS Harbor!"

We slunk away.  We now had half of the village wondering where the hell Stone Crop Gardens was.