Oyster Bay Railroad Museum

Oyster Bay's Victorian station opened on June 24, 1889, when the Oyster Bay Extension Railroad, a Long Island Railroad subsidiary, extended the line east from Locust Valley onto land donated by Col. Robert Townsend, complete with a porte cochere wide enough for horse-drawn carriages. Theodore Roosevelt commuted regularly through the station after becoming president of the New York City Police Board in 1895, and once he reached the presidency in 1901 a major expansion was planned for the expected surge of visitors: the 1902 renovations, designed by Bradford Lee Gilbert — also the architect of the 1898 renovations to Grand Central Station — removed the porte cochere, added 400-foot weather sheds and a large fireplace with tiled hearth, and finished the exterior in a special stucco containing real oyster shells. The former station and the Oyster Bay Long Island Rail Road turntable were each listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 6, 2005. Today the restored 1889 station and turntable form the heart of the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum, which runs caboose and passenger-car shuttle rides on operating days and during special events.