Massapequa, New York
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Massapequa is a hamlet (and a census-designated place) located in Nassau County, New York. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had a total population of 22,652.
Massapequa is a suburb on Long Island and is a community in the Town of Oyster Bay.
[edit] Geography
Massapequa is on the southern part of Long Island.
Massapequa is located at 40°40'13" North, 73°28'16" West (40.670403, -73.471150)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 10.4 km² (4.0 mi²). 9.5 km² (3.7 mi²) of it is land and 1.0 km² (0.4 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 9.20% water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there are 22,652 people, 7,417 households, 6,297 families, and a growing number of cats residing in the CDP. The population density is 2,396.2/km² (6,207.5/mi²). There are 7,514 housing units at an average density of 794.8/km² (2,059.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP is 97.42% White, 0.17% African American, 0.02% Native American, 1.27% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.37% from other races, and 0.73% from two or more races. 2.59% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 7,417 households out of which 38.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.4% are married couples living together, 8.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 15.1% are non-families. 12.5% of all households are made up of individuals and 6.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.05 and the average family size is 3.33.
In the CDP the population is spread out with 25.6% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 39 years. For every 100 females there are 94.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 92.0 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP is $83,806, and the median income for a family is $88,571. Males have a median income of $62,231 versus $40,920 for females. The per capita income for the CDP is $32,532. 2.3% of the population and 1.7% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 2.0% of those under the age of 18 and 2.2% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
During the 1960's and the 1970's, Massapequa School District had seven elementary schools (Carmans Road, East Lake, Birch Lane, Fairfield, Unqua, Hawthorne, Lockhart), two junior high schools (McKenna and Ames) and two high schools, Massapequa and Alfred G. Berner. Berner is located five minutes away from the infamous "Amityville Horror" house. In the 1990's the Massapequa school district restructured the district by leasing Carmans Road elementry to Nassau BOCES and Hawthorne Elementry to the Nassau County Police Academy. John P. Mckenna Jr. High school was converted to a elementry school, while Alfred G. Berner became the new middle school. J. Lewis Ames Jr. High School is also no longer a middle school, but now the "Ames Campus" of Massapequa High School, which is where the 9th grade currently attends.
[edit] Famous residents
Ron Kovic, the Baldwin Brothers, Bobby Slayton, Mark Lamonica, Steve Guttenberg, Stuttering John, the Baldinger brothers, Leanne Zinn and Gina Beltrani (known for their Jello Jello commericals on TV, their invention of the Sporknifage, their videos on YouTube and also the infamous WTW movie series), The Rivieras, Brian Kilmeade, Peggy Noonan, Greg Terzian, members of the Stray Cats, actress and Warhol superstar Candy Darling and Jerry Seinfeld all grew up in Massapequa. (Seinfeld even quipped on his album I'm Telling You for the Last Time that Massapequa was Indian for "by the mall".) Other famous long term residents included celebrity Christine Jorgensen, Rosie O'Donnell (attended Massapequa High School), famed architect Billy Cohen, composer Marvin Hamlisch, author Robert Sobel, singer Dee Snider and several members of the band Biohazard (band).
Some infamous people who hail from Massapequa: Carlo Gambino, Roy DeMeo, Jessica Hahn, Lee Hirsch, and Joey Buttafuoco.
[edit] History
[edit] The Massapequa Indians
By the mid-1950's, bulldozers and housing crews had almost completely cleared through the south shore of Massapequa to make way for new homes in what is now Harbour Green. In doing so they paved over what was one of the last remnants of Massapequa's ancient past still in existence.
Before the Jones' built their first home in Massapequa, and before the Powell family settled in Farmingdale, the Massapequa Indians controlled the area. The Massapequas, also known as the Marsapague Indians, were just one of several Indian tribes on Long Island under the control of Sachem Tackapausha. Their land extended from Seaford to Islip, with their principal village in Massapequa.
The south shore of Long Island was more than suitable for the Indians, being in close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, along with a vast woodland abundant with deer and game animals.
The men, known as braves, wore moccasins and loin-cloth and often dressed in decorated leather or deerskin. Some painted their faces red and black, while holding over their arm a six foot bow with arrows. The women, known as squaws, wore leggings which came up to their knees and a robe. They usually remained unclothed from the waist up for most of the year.
The Massapequas had no single spiritual being which they adhered to, nor did they attend church. In observance of their religious beliefs, the Indians held festivals in honor of the gods of fire, sun, wind, earth, sea, day, night, and the four seasons.
In the summertime when the weather was warm and the Indians farmed the land, living in encampments usually near the bay and suitable farmland. In the winter time, the Indians moved to more sheltered fortifications.
When the Dutch settlers first came into contact with the Massapequa Indians, they called these ancient encampments "forts."
There were two principal forts of the Massapequas in the area called Fort Neck, located east of Massapequa Shores and west of Nassau Shores in what is now known as Harbour Green. One of the forts was engulfed by the bay, and the other was leveled by construction crews when Harbour Green was developed.
The last of the forts remained undisturbed as a monument to the lives and civilization of the Massapequa Indians until the early mid-1930's. After being rediscovered, archaeologists and historians flocked to Massapequa to see one of the last remaining Indian forts still in existence.
But it was long before the discovery of the ruins at Fort Neck that historians, authors, poets, and older residents fabled about the only battle between the Native Americans and the Europeans to ever occur on Long Island. Many historians in the last century have cast doubt about the date and place of the battle, while others categorically deny that it ever took place.
The earliest accounts of the battle date back to the early 19th century, 150 years after the battle is alleged to have taken place. Known as The Battle of Fort Neck, the most common date used for the history books is 1653.
Between the years 1652 and 1654, a war in Europe raged between the English and the Dutch. It was thought at the time that during the spring of 1653, the Dutch government had been considering the expulsion of the English from their settlements in Dutch controlled Long Island. Needless to say, the colonists at Hempstead were alarmed for the safety of their homes.
At the time, a Dutch fleet was expected from Europe and it was suspected that the Dutch governor was urging the Long Island Indians to join in a raid of the English settlements.
Nine Long Island Indian Chiefs sent a messenger to Stamford, Connecticut to inform the English that the Dutch had offered them guns, ammunition and clothing if they allied with them to destroy the English. Captain John Underhill was sent to New Amsterdam (New York) to investigate the allegations of a Dutch conspiracy.
On May 24, Underhill wrote to the Commissioners of the United Colonies and told them that the settlements in New Amsterdam were in danger. Soon after, the people of Hempstead wrote to Connecticut verifying that they were in danger and that they wanted ammunition and weapons.
At that time Dutch governor William Kieft, who had perpetrated a great deal of cruelties on the Long Island Indians over the years, restricted the hunting and fishing rights of the Indians. The Massapequas resented the loss of their land. From Fort Neck, the Massapequas sent out raids to destroy the crops of the neighboring colonists, which were English, driving away cattle and horses. Eventually the Massapequas killed two or three settlers.
Because of this hostility to the English by the Massapequa Indians, the colonists at Hempstead feared that the convergence of natives at Fort Neck was a planing stage for an eventual raid intended to destroy the English settlements.
In the summer of 1653, the colonists at Hempstead took up arms and assembled under the leadership of Captain Underhill, proceeding to march toward South Oyster Bay.
Upon hearing that the English were making their way toward Fort Neck, the Massapequas sent their women and children to a small island just south of Massapequa, known as Squaw Island, for their safety. The rest remained at Fort Neck.
The embankment that the Indians used for protection was much unlike a European fort, rather it was a natural fortification. It was built upon high land, over looking the Massapequa Meadows. Ditches were dug around the high land, about three feet deep and six feet across. Wooden poles were driven into the ground, around which wild Hawthorne trees were planted in a zig-zag formation.
It was nearly impossible for other Indians to raid the fort and cause harm to its inhabitants, but not the forces under the control of Captain Underhill.
At the break of dawn, Underhill's forces of 120 men stormed the mud walls of Fort Neck and slaughtered about the same number of Massapequa Indians. Underhill quickly took control of the fort, keeping it in his control to prevent any future uprising by the native Indians.
Underhill and his men then collected the bodies of the defeated Massapequas and piled them up on the brow of a hill. He and his men then sat down on the side of the hill to eat their breakfast.
More than a hundred years later, Samuel Jones wrote that the spot where the bodies of the natives were piled up was "tinged with a reddish cast, which the old people said was occasioned by the blood of the Indians."
And to many historians, this was the first and only battle between the natives and the Europeans on Long Island. Fort Neck remained overgrown and hidden for more than two hundred years. In 1935 John T. Fox and William Claude of Seaford made headlines when they uncovered 24 skeletons of Indians buried in shallow graves, a short distance from the fort. The site attracted a great deal of publicity. Birdsall Jackson, a trusted antiquarian of the period, visited the site and announced that it was the remains of the Massapequas who were massacred by John Underhill.
In the 1940's the no-battle theorists resumed their skepticism that the battle ever took place. And by 1953, the Harbour Green real estate development covered over the ruins of Fort Neck and the history of the Massapequas.
Some Massapequas lived for a few decades, making deals with the Jone's family and selling Bethpage to Thomas Powell, but their civilization, respect, and culture were gone forever.
All that remains is a park at the corner of Fairfax Road and Cedar Shore Drive which marks the spot where the fort once stood, and possibly, where the lives and families of the Massapequa Indians were destroyed.
Citing Reference: http://www.antonnews.com/massapequanobserver/1998/04/24/opinion/
[edit] Massapequa’s Great Water Deal
On March 17, 1658, the section of Massapequa commonly referred to then as “The Meadows” was purchased from the Marsapequa Indians.
The bargained agreement between colonists, Tackapausha (the sachem of Marsapequa) and his young brother, Chopeyconnaws, is recorded in the Oyster Bay Town Hall.
The east boundary of land is believed to be the banks of the Narrasketuck River, a narrow body of water that ended a few hundred yards south of a trail known today as Merrick Road. Today, the river is located east and parallel to Clocks Boulevard.
The westerly boundary of the meadows is believed to be the Arrasquonque Creek that we now call Seaford Creek. The northern boundary was said to be about where the present community of Bethpage is situated.
The articles bargained for in the sale of the Massapequa Meadows were four kettles, two guns, three coats of trucking cloth, two gallons of strong water, two swords, four pairs of shoes, four pairs of stockings, two close cloth coats, eight pounds of gunpowder and eight pounds of shot. The agreement stated that the articles had to be delivered to the Indians before the first day of July.
The Marsapequa Indians were friendly and helpful. They taught the colonists how to grow crops and make use of natural resources. So even after they agreed to sell their land, the colonists allowed the Indians to fish and hunt the meadows as they had been accustomed to.
The deed was signed and delivered with marks of “X” and “O,” and the area was named after the Indians. “Marsapequa” means “Great Water Land.”
The Oyster Bay Town Board has preserved an area and erecetd a historic marker near Fairfax and Gloucester Roads where the Marsapequa Indians were believed to have lived within a stockaded fort in dome-shaped shelters similar to those of Navajo hogans and Eskimo igloos. The site was later referred to by colonists as Fort Neck.
It wasn’t until about 1890 that the present name, Massapequa, was used. Until that time, the area was known as Fort Neck and later as South Oyster Bay.
Laying south of the historic Indian fort location is the uninhabited Squaw Island. Legend has it that this was a place where the Indians would take their women and children for safekeeping when encounters with the colonists were anticipated.
[edit] Carman’s Grist Mill
Just prior to 1700, Thomas Carmen, a miller, moved from Connecticut, into what is now known as the West Amityville area. Attracted by a wide fast flowing stream and a huge meadow along its banks, he could see a suitable site for the area’s first grist mill.
The stream was damned, creating a pond in the area of what is now the Alfred G. Berner Jr. Middle School athletic field. The mill was located at the southeastern end of the mill pond, about 1000 feet of what is now Merrick Road. Merrick Road several names over the years: Kings Highway, South Turnpike, South Country Road, Brooklyn to Sag Harbour Road and Montauk Highway. The intersection was called Carman’s Corners.
Accordingly, the mill was constructed of massive hewn timbers. Nails were hand made. The machinery was operated by water power that turned a huge wheel connected to gears that moved millstones.
The millstones, probably about five feet in diameter and nearly one ton each, were most likely imported from Europe.
Many neighbors to the north would travel south in their wagons with grain for the mill. This was a part of an old Indian trail leading to the meadows. It soon became Carmens Lane and later Carmans Road. Carmen Road was also the name given to one of the district's elementary schools.
A second grist mill was built on the west side of the pond and was sold in 1886 to Dr. William Polk. He continued the operation of the grist mill for over 20 years.
In 1914 the Mill Pond Damn broke. The old building was also in need of costly repairs, therefore ending the service of a fine old grist and flower mill extending from 1700 to 1914.
[edit] The Old Brick House
Massapequa’s first non-Indian dwelling was known as “The Old Brick House.” It was built at the head of Brick House Creek, now known as Massapequa Creek, by Major Thomas Jones, the first European settler of Fort Neck (Massapequa).
The house is believed to have been built in 1696, and was considered very substantial for its time. It was located on Merrick Road where the First Church of Christ Scientist now stands.
The house had brick walls, a steep gabled roof, chimneys on each gable and a lower portion covered by a lean-to roof.
According to old tales, the brick house became deserted in the early 1700s, shortly after the death of Major Thomas Jones. Gradually, it fell into disrepair, and those who attempted to live there constantly reported hearing noises in the attic.
Other strange occurrences were rumored to happen at the house as well. One of the windows in the gable refused to remain closed. No matter how the window was fastened, nailed or boarded shut, it would always blow open again.
At one point, a bricklayer was called in to brick up the window. No sooner had he finished, however, when the bricks and morter were blown out of the window again.
Rumors then began that the house was haunted by the ghost of Major Thomas Jones. Few people could be induced to pass the old house at night, and it was eyed with suspicion by day. Gradually, it crumbled away and the orchards around it went to ruin as well. The house was finally torn down in 1836.
[edit] Servants Cottage
The Elbert Floyd-Jones Servants’ Cottage is now part of the Massapequa Historic Complex.
In the early days of Massapequa, the small, quaint cottage was home to servants of the Floyd-Jones family. Later, it became the home of families such as the Gotterts (1912-24), who were among the middle-class residents of the Massapequas.
In the late 1940s or early 1950s, Helen Bagnall, a prominent member of Grace Episcopal Church rented the cottage and installed electricity for the first time. At this time, heat for the cottage still came from a coal stove, and a supply of coal was kept on the porch.
Finally, in the 1960s, a bathroom and sink were installed. The famous Baldwin brothers of acting fame actually lived for a while in the cottage while their Nassau Shores home was being completely repainted.
In 1986, the cottage was moved from its original location to its present home adjacent to Old Grace Church. Today, it is owned by the Historical Society of the Massapequas and is home to a museum housing Indian collectibles and antique furnishings. It has been designated as a landmark by the Town of Oyster Bay.
[edit] South Oyster Bay Railroad Station
The Long Island Rail Road reached Farmingdale in 1841, and residents of South Oyster Bay (Massapequa) journeyed to that village for transportation. It was not until 1867 that the South Side Railroad, a competitor of the Long Island Rail Road, extended a line through South Oyster Bay to Babylon.
The South Side company went bankrupt in 1874, and was reorganized as the Southern Railroad. In 1876, the Long Island Rail Road began to operate the line under lease, but in 1879, the Southern Rail Road also went bankrupt.
The Southern Rail Road was succeeded by the Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad Co., which was finally merged with the Long Island Rail Road in 1889. The Long Island Rail Road, often beset by financial difficulties of its own through the years, has operated the line through Massapequa ever since.
In 1900, the Long Island Rail Road became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Rail Road, but has operated as a completely independent company as the result of a reorganization that bought it out of bankruptcy in 1954.
The local train station was originally located on the west side of Hicksville Road at Sunrise Highway and was called South Oyster Bay Railroad Station. When the station was moved to its present location on the east side of Broadway about 1890, the name was changed to Massapequa.
The Massapequa Park railroad station was opened late in 1933, and the right of way was elevated in 1953. At that time, a new station was built for Massapequa on the 1890 site.
[edit] A Hotel and Resort Community
Soon after the railroad came, South Oyster Bay (Massapequa) became popular as a summer resort town. The Great South Bay was a mecca for hunting and fishing, and twelve hotels were located in the Massapequas.
One of the most famous of these hotels was the Vanderwater Hotel, formerly located at the corner of Hicksville and Merrick Roads.
Opened in 1796, the lavish establishment was an original stagecoach stop and was run by four generations of the Vanderwater family. Famous guests included Chester A. Arthur, the 21st president of the United States, and General Joseph Hooker, commander of the Union Army during the Civil War before the appointment of General Ulysses S. Grant.
Another famous hotel was the Massapequa Hotel. Wealthy urbanites would come to Massapequa with their nurses and maids to stay with them.
Unfortunately, the hotels became victims of fire and development, and no longer exist today.
[edit] The Jones Cemetery
Located on the south side of Merrick Road, east of Massapequa Avenue, it was the family burial grounds of the Jones family. Jones Beach is named after this family.
It is a farm cemetery, and was laid out about 1779 one-half to one acre in extent. Originally it was located some 50 feet south of Merrick Road, but in later years the road was shifted, until now it passes right by the graveyard. The cemetery was fenced in by the town in the late 1950’s. These farm burial grounds were generally laid out in an obscure part of the estate. Little did the Jones family realize that their burial ground would eventually face on one of the busiest roads in southern Long Island.
Many members of the family are interred here. There are two large marble vaults, a number of foot and headstones of white marble and a few more modern granite markers. There are also three very unusual small natural stone markers on the graves of three of our early pioneers. One bears the inscription “WXI,” the others are blank.
[edit] Brooklyn Water Works Pumping Station
The former Brooklyn Water Works Pumping Station is located on Sunrise Highway at Lake Shore Drive, alongside the Massapequa Reservoir, its banks adjacent to the west side of the Brady Community Park.
In 1888, 10 years before the structure of New York City and the five boroughs' system of government, Massapequa's reservoir was already supplying Brooklynites with their drinking water. Four deep reservoirs were constructed between Massapequa and Baldwin just to the north of the railroad tracks, known then as the Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad.
When Brooklyn Water Works contracted to build the reservoirs, narrow work train tracks had to be laid to transport materials. A road was also cut along the south side of the railway and served as a service road to bring supplies and was called Pipeline Boulevard by the workmen. Large truckloads of stone for the construction of the spillways and to line the banks also traveled the boulevard. On completion of the project the road was paved and used by the public and given the name Sunrise Highway. However, it ended at about where the Sears Shopping Center is now situated until the early 1930s. In order to run water to Brooklyn, an aqueduct constructed of bricks, large pipes and two pumping stations had to be built. One of the two pumping stations, with a Gothic design and heavy wood-exposed timbers, was located where the brick building now stands. The other station, built between Freeport and Baldwin just north of the tracks, also still stands.
The locations for the reservoirs were selected by the Brooklyn water company because of the many spring-fed streams to the north that included the Hempstead Plains to the west and Bethpage area to the north. In the late '80s, the pumping of water from the Long Island reservoirs was halted due to the threat of pollution. The Massapequa reservoir at no time ever supplied water to local residents, When the Massapequas were settled, private houses had their own wells. The water was brought to the surface by use of hand pumps and then later by electricity. At about 1930 or '31, the Massapequa Water District was formed and water mains were laid and connected to the water district's own deep well fields situated in several locations of the Massapequas.
The Historical Society of the Massapequas has adopted the former Brooklyn Water Works Pumping Station. The society has assumed responsibility to keep this building looking good, as well as preserving a bit of Massapequa's history.
[edit] The Old Haunted Massapequa Brick House
For over one hundred and fifty years there was an old brick house that stood on a large tract of land known as Fort Neck in Massapequa. People today would know the area as Merrick Road, just across the street from the Massapequa Preserve. But back in the early nineteenth century, it was known as the haunted house sitting just west of the pirate's grave.
In Denton's History of New York, written at the turn of the century, the house was described as "an ancient dwelling on Fort Neck, which a century ago or more was known as the haunted house, and had many strange and wonderful stories connected with it, and a lonely grave marked by an old tombstone some little distance from the house, on the banks of a small stream; a most solitary spot."
And the New York Mirror once wrote that "this venerable edifice is still standing though much dilapidated, and is an object of awe to all the people in the neighborhood. The traveler cannot fail to be struck with its crumbling ruins as his eye first falls upon it from the turnpike." Furman's Antiquities of Long Island (1827) described the legacy of the house's owner. "Tradition says that at the time of his death a large black crow hovered over his bed, and when his life was extinct the crow made its exit through the west end of the house... The hole through which the crow made its departure cannot be stopped, and as soon as it's closed, it is opened by some unknown means." The "Pirate's Grave" that Denton described and Furman named, belongs to the "haunted house's" builder, Major Thomas Jones and his loving wife Freelove, the first Europeans to settle Massapequa. A couple whom if there was a motion picture made to chronicle their lives, the drama and excitement might be enough to sink Titanic .
There's not much of Jones' early life that can be accounted for, other than the fact that he was probably born about 1665 in a town called Strabane, located in Tyrone County within the current borders of Northern Ireland. His family had strong roots in England, but historical accounts say that they were of Welsh decent.
In Europe Jones was loyal to his monarch, King James II, and to his religion, the Episcopal Church.
Under James' direction, Jones acted as a privateer, looting the ships of nations that weren't at peace with his ruler. Without this royal command, it would be said that Jones worked as a pirate.
So loyal was he, that in 1690 Jones joined in defending the sovereignty of his royal master at the Battle of the Boyne during the Revolution of 1688, the historic struggle for the English Crown which ended the Stuart reign of power.
But, unfortunately for Jones, it was this loyalty to a dethroned monarch which caused the exile from his place of birth.
When the war ended in 1691, King James II handed his crown over to William and Mary. The new monarchy granted many civil and religious liberties to the British subjects, and, fortunately for Jones, treated James' supporters with a great deal of leniency. William and Mary permitted the defeated soldiers to leave Ireland for any other country other than England or Scotland. As a result, tens of thousands of people migrated to France.
However Jones had his sights on another horizon. That year he left Ireland and landed at Port Royal at the island of Jamaica. While there Jones' made an earning for a short while in the privateering business.
Several months later he left Jamaica and landed in Rhode Island where he received a commission as captain from New York's Governor, Col. Fletcher. With this military position, Jones continued in the privateering business halting Spanish ships in the water and stealing their valuables. It's undoubtedly because of this occupation that Jones received a reputation as a pirate for generations.
Also through this occupation Jones met up with Captain Thomas Townsend, a major Long Island land owner. Years earlier, Townsend, a Quaker, received a license from the governor to purchase lands from the Indians -- and purchase land he did. Over thirty years, the Townsend family bought and sold large tracts of land from Oyster Bay down to the south shore.
Townsend was uniquely fond of Captain Thomas Jones, of whom he wrote that he had a "a natural love and affection for."
While staying with Captain Townsend at his home in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, Jones was introduced to Townsend's daughter, Freelove.
Thomas and Freelove married soon after and moved to Oyster Bay in 1696. They lived for a short time in a house built by Townsend in 1660, not far from Oyster Bay Harbor.
In June of that year, Captain Townsend gave to his daughter and son-in-law some 300 acres of land in South Oyster Bay as a gift. Townsend had purchased the land known as Fort Neck on January 21, 1679 from Sachem Tackapausa on behalf of the Massapequa Indians in two separate transactions.
When Freelove and Thomas Jones moved to Fort Neck, they located to an area known as the Massapequa Meadows where they decided to build their home. Jones new property bordered to the north by a vast woodland extending untouched and undeveloped, and to the south by the Great South Bay.
They built their two-story brick house right along the bank of Massapequa River and an old Indian path which was known as the Turnpike (today motorists refer to it as Merrick Road).
In Jones' time, Massapequa River ran south from the Massapequa Meadows along what was later carved out to be Alhambra Shore, and north along what is now part of the Massapequa Preserve. His land, Fort Neck, is the current site of Biltmore Shores. To the west of Fort Neck was West Neck (Massapequa Shores) and to the east was Unqua Neck (Nassau Shores).
For the next 20 years Thomas and Freelove lived and established the first settlement family in Massapequa, raising seven children, three boys and four girls.
Jones was active and influential in the early history of the Town of Oyster Bay, then within the jurisdiction of Queens County. In 1702 Jones was appointed Captain of the Queens County Militia, High Sheriff of Queens County in 1704, and Major of the Queens County Regiment just two years later.
In 1710 Jones was commissioned Ranger General of the island of Nassau, the name granted to Long Island. The office gave Jones the right to monopolize the entire whale and fish industry on Long Island. And after years of land acquisitions with the Indians and from other lands granted to him by his father-in-law, he oversaw six thousand acres of land at the time of his death.
And when the time came, on December 13, 1713, he was buried not far from his brick house behind what is known today as Old Grace Church. Freelove outlived Thomas by about a decade, and his oldest son was just 14 years old at the time of his father's death.
But the legacy that Major Thomas Jones carved out for his family continued throughout the centuries. A strong-faithed Episcopal, the Jones family continued to adhere to the faith and his wife, a Quaker, was baptized Episcopal after their marriage.
And long after Thomas' death, the old brick house that later generations would fable as haunted and recite ghost stories of, would continue to be loved and memorialized by his descendants. So much so that it was considered a major loss to the Jones' families heritage when it was destroyed in 1837.
In his poem, On the Destruction of the Brick House at Massapequa, David Floyd-Jones wrote:
His Sons for many generations here Have Lived nor ever felt misfortune's tide Dash its stern waves against them-sorrow's tear Hath seldom dimmed their eye-aged they did Within thy walls no longer shall their children dwell Thou hallowed pile; loven een in ruins, fare thee well.
[edit] Fox Laid Foundation for Biltmore Shores
Have you ever wondered how those Spanish-style stucco houses came to be built in Biltmore Shores? If they remind you somehow of California, it’s for good reason: the original developer of Biltmore Shores in 1926 was the highly successful film magnate, William Fox.
The original Fox Film Corporation started in 1915 in Brooklyn. Thanks to the huge popularity of stars such as Tom Mix and Theda Bara, Fox owned $50 million in real estate throughout the United States by 1926. Therefore, when he joined Joseph Frankel, a clothing manufacturer, in developing the south shore of Long Island to provide seaside homes for middle class families, he claimed he was only doing it as a good deed.
“I don’t care if I never make a dollar out of Biltmore Shores... My thrill will come when I see a happy, healthy community,” Fox said in a newspaper interview shortly before the grand opening of the development.
Biltmore Shores, built on 557 acres in Massapequa, and Merrick Gables, a similar development in Merrick, constituted the most extensive real estate enterprise on Long Island at that time.
The formal opening ceremonies must have been the biggest thing to happen in Massapequa since the Indians and colonists had it out at old Fort Neck. Over 1,000 guests were invited to travel from New York City on a specially chartered train. The guests included Governor Alfred Smith, Mayor Jimmy Walker and entertainers Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor.
Original plans called for an 18-hole golf course, a lagoon and a 200 room hotel. Only the lagoon came into being. At 770 feet by 150 feet, it was the largest man-made lagoon on Long Island, Fox claimed. A club, situated on the present site of the Christian Science Church, was built for the homeowners.
One of the original residents of Biltmore Shores was the inventor of the permanent wave, Charles Nestle. He owned the most elaborate house of all, at 100 Biltmore Blvd.
While all the houses are white stucco with red tile roofs and black wrought iron balconies and trim, the former Nestle home has an extremely beautiful wrought iron fence running along the front side and an intricate fountain in the side yard. The house is embellished with all manner of cupolas and cement acorns, and is probably the biggest house of the group.
Mr. Nestle lost his house in the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929. Fox had his troubles as well, when Fox stock dropped from $119 per share to $1 per share in two days. He and Frankel sold out to the Harmon National Real Estate Corporation of New York City.
All the houses have weathered the years very well. A typical house has beautiful parquet floors with boarders, arched doorways and thick walls. The black and white tiled bathroom walls have held up very well. The rooms are large, and it is not unusual to find a dining room large enough to hold a piano with ease. Stained glass graces many windows, and living rooms have fireplaces and cathedral ceilings. Delicate wrought iron bannisters are the rule.
Fox’s vision of a happy, healthy community has come to pass. Fortunately, another of his visions proved to be false. He predicted that by 1960, the population of Long Island would be 12.6 million!
Citing Reference: http://www.angelfire.com/ny/Massapequa/history.html
[edit] Weather
Massapequa has a climate that is very similar to other coastal areas of the Northeastern United States; it has warm, humid summers and cold winters, but the Atlantic Ocean helps bring afternoon sea breezes that temper the heat in the warmer months and limit the frequency and severity of thunderstorms. However, severe thunderstorms are not uncommon, especially when they approach the island from the mainland (Bronx, Westchester and Connecticut) in the northwest.In the wintertime, temperatures are warmer than areas further inland (especially in the night and early morning hours), sometimes causing a snowstorm further inland to fall as rain on the island. However, measurable snow falls every winter, and in many winters one or more intense storms called Nor'easters produce blizzard conditions with snowfalls of 1-2 feet (30-60 cm) and near-hurricane force winds. Long Island temperatures also vary from west to east, with the western part of the island warmer on most occasions than the east. This is due to two factors; one because the western part is closer to the mainland and the other is the western part is more developed causing what is known as the "urban heat island" effect.
On August 25, 2006, a small F0 tornado struck Massapequa.
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
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