For your enjoyment, continue reading to learn about the history of skiing on Long Island!
Long Island at various times from the end of World War II until 1980 was home to commercial or municipal ski areas in Mill Neck, Old Bethpage, Huntington Station, Smithtown and Farmingville.
AN UPHILL SLIDE. Skiers hold the tow rope on the ski lift as they go up a hill at Bethpage State Park on Jan. 8, 1958. The park offered a single rope tow on the 18th hole of the Green Course from 1948 until the early 1970s
Long Islanders used to flock each winter to the Bald Hill Ski Bowl in Farmingville, which according to the Farmingville Historical Society, opened in 1965 and was 344 feet tall. It closed its doors for good after the 1980 season, never to open again. Today, the Brookhaven Amphitheater sits where those old slopes once traversed the land.
Merrywood Ski Area, located at Smithtown Landing, featured an intermediate slope and a novice slope, which ran next to each other, with a tow rope for each. The ski area in its initial form opened in the winter of 1962-63, according to this Golfdom golfing magazine article, which goes into great detail about the Merrywood golf club and ski area.
The Oyster Bay Ski Center opened around 1947 and is considered to be the first on Long Island. The area operated, natural snow permitting, weekday evenings and weekend days. The runs were 600 to 800 feet.The area originally had two rope tows, with a third added in 1951, powered by the rear wheel of a pickup truck.
Tickets cost 75 cents.