MWA's Biweekly Guide to the Area's Best Waterfront Spots

It's no secret that the coastlines of New York and New Jersey have become generally much cleaner and more accessible -- but many people don't know how to get to the new waterfront parks, paths and piers that have opened in recent years. Likewise, some of the area's oldest waterfronts remain elusive to visitors. WaterWire to the rescue! Read on, and make this the summer that you discover more of this urban archipelago's beautiful shoreline. (For previous Waterfront Day Trips, click here.)

Day Trip #6

City Island: New England in the Bronx

Stroll down City Island Avenue and you'll swear you're in New England. This folksy village of crab shacks and yacht clubs can't possibly have a Bronx zip code.

But a short ride on the BX29 from the Pelham Bay Park station at the end of the #6 subway line brings you to this quaint, nautical community only 1½ miles long and a half mile wide at its widest point. (While the best way, of course, to reach City Island is by boat, advocates take note: there is no ferry service to the island.)

City Island was settled in 1685. The island's first commercial business was the production of salt using solar power to evaporate seawater, established in 1820. Soon after, Orrin Fordham, a Connecticut ship builder, planted oysters off City Island, the first American to farm the bivalves. This revolutionized the oyster business and contributed to the ascent of New York to the top of the oyster market at the end of the 19th century. By the 18th century, the tiny island had become a major shipbuilding center, known for construction of luxury and racing yachts, including a number of America's Cup winners. At left, the 12-meter Constellation under construction in a City Island shipyard in the 1960s.

Today City Island boasts numerous marinas and yacht clubs, fishing boats and lobstering businesses, bait and tackle shops, and many restaurants with seafood on their menus. Picturesque and relaxing, the island can be explored in a day. Antique stores, art galleries, craft shops and restaurants dot the main street, City Island Avenue, while hundreds of boats bob at the edges.
At right, a Columbia University sailor practices off City Island.

Click here for the City Island Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors a free seaside trolley that picks up passengers at the Pelham Bay Station on the first Friday of every month. The City Island Historical Society and Nautical Museum is open every Saturday and Sunday, 1pm-5pm, at 190 Fordham Street.

Where to eat? Get your fill of clam chowder, fried calamari, frogs legs, clams on the half shell, steamed lobster, all kinds of fish and, yes, burgers, hot dogs and other non-seafood fare at these and other fine City Island eateries:

- Johnny's Reef Restaurant, 2 City Island Avenue, 718-885-2090
- The Original Crab Shanty, 361 City Island Avenue, 718-885-1810
- City Island Lobster House, 691 Bridge Street, 718-885-1459
- Sammy's Fish Box, 41 City Island Avenue, 718-885-0920
- City Island Diner, 304 City Island Avenue, 718-885-0362
- The Harbor Restaurant, 565 City Island Avenue, 718-885-1373

Grab a lobster roll, pull up a picnic table and admire the view. Seagulls have claimed pilings. The water sparkles, the boats go by. Life is good.