Grass Island

Grass Island in Guilford is not an island, but a little swoop of beach between Long Island Sound and the East River. You reach it by walking to the edge of a Madison neighborhood where houses are raised on stilts and boats are as numerous as cars. You continuing walking when the road stops, onto the sand where you're not sure if you are technically allowed to go. You walk around the perimeter, where the land meets the water, stepping on piles of shells and seaweed-draped stones. You go because you know the red shack is there, around the corner, somehow still standing after all these years. And when you reach it, you turn around, and walk back.

(To walk to Grass Island, I parked at the East River State Boat Launch in Madison. The shack is also visible from the Guilford Town Marina.)