You don’t even have to live in Freeport to love the place. Because Freeport is, well, a free port, open to the sea, open to the land. Freeport is the best of America, from colonial settlers, to Broadway stars, to a multitude of cultures and colors that have brought their talents and dreams here. You can see Freeport’s spectacular history in the mural painted by the late Fran Streit that towers over the lobby of the Freeport Recreation Center.
Freeport “Rec” is home to the Long Island Arts Council, a great skating rink, fitness center, children’s camps and senior programs, a first-class indoor and a beautifully landscaped outdoor pool. That’s “tax dollars at work” in a very tangible way.
The Nautical Mile is a dining destination that also boasts a minigolf course, a casino and fishing cruises. You can see the small boat Al Grover skippered across the Atlantic amongst six-story waves. For several years after he returned, he hosted masses by the canal. Faith is a lot of what Freeport is all about.
You see, Freeport is a village of dreamers. They plan all sorts of improvements, and because they do, many of them actually happen; witness the streetscaping, downtown and waterfront revitalization programs and planting of thousands of trees. Who knows, someday we may also see an aquarium or an artists’ colony.
Freeport has local, quick response police and fire departments, its own electric and water utilities, business development programs, caring service organizations, a top-notch day care center in Hi-Hello, a beautiful, outstanding public library, a lively historical society and magnet schools with a stellar staff.
Freeporters love a parade or a party. They know how to have fun. They have pride in their village.
Village Hall, designed to evoke the spirit of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, symbolizes the democratic heritage of our republic. Almost any Monday night, Freeporters can stop by and watch their local government in action, and speak up in favor or against what is planned there, whether it is a multi-million dollar budget or a one-day block party. - Linda Toscano
Baldwin by Joan Delaney
The mantra of Realtors is “location, location, location.” If that is the case, the community of Baldwin is well situated, only 45 minutes on the Long Island Rail Road from Manhattan. It has many cultural delights and is easily accessible by car or public transportation to a host of beaches, marinas, preserves, state parks, gardens, museums, universities, malls and major and minor league ball parks.
Although sited amid such a selection of attractions, Baldwin also has a rich community life. Within its borders, there are seven neighborhood public elementary schools and a comprehensive middle school and high school with a full slate of curricular and extra-curricular activities. Providing choice is a K-8 Catholic elementary school as well as the K-5 Promise Lutheran Day School, which specializes in meeting the needs of both gifted and developmentally delayed students. A host of religious congregations play an active role in community life, with several ecumenical initiatives and community projects undertaken during the year.
Basic services are excellent, with highly rated community hospitals nearby and teaching hospitals within easy reach. A volunteer fire department with well-trained EMT workers is well known for its promptness and expertise. Sanitary District Number 2 provides local oversight with recycling, refuse and special pick-ups, all efficiently accomplished.
At Coes Neck Park and Baldwin Park are tennis and basketball courts, ball fields, running and walking paths, skateboarding, hockey, sprinklers, swings and gym equipment for children and community rooms for a variety of classes and programs.
The annual Memorial Day Parade highlights Baldwin’s cohesiveness, with adults and children representing all phases of local life – Rotary, Lions and Kiwanis, the Chamber of Commerce, fraternal and senior groups, veterans, the historical society, bands and athletes march in turn with decorative floats illustrating patriotic commitments both past and present. Nautical motifs pay tribute to the community’s founding as a fishing and mill town bordering the open bay and fingered with several canals.
The crown jewel of the community is the recently expanded Baldwin Public Library, which reflects the interests and needs of this diverse community in its print and technology materials and in the cultural and practical programs offered.
But it is a walk through the residential streets that most embodies why people love Baldwin. Whether home is a bungalow or glass-walled house on the bay, a Victorian clapboard with a wrap-around porch on a tree-lined street, a traditional colonial overlooking one of three ponds or a modern ranch, split or splanch, the architecture of Baldwin illustrates homeowner variety and pride. It is only the long-awaited revitalization of the community’s Grand Avenue which still remains to provide the final enhancements that will keep alive the slogan “Beautiful Baldwin,” first coined by Realtor Charles Luerssen in the early 1900s.