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Our Heritage
The Long Island North Shore Heritage Area embodies the unique history, resources, and culture of the north shore region. The Long Island North Shore Heritage Area Management Plan reflects this uniqueness and hopes to encourage others to join in the protection and celebration of the region.
Our History: Just a Beginning
The North Shore of Long Island is one of the longest-settled places in North America. Its first migrants, attracted by the temperate climate, were Native Americans. By the 16th Century, Native Americans were joined by Europeans. Native Americans located the best places to live and the Europeans took their lead. Whether they were Connecticut Yankees from across Long Island Sound or the new New Yorkers transplanted from a growing New Amsterdam, those of European descent and culture had almost completely overwhelmed Native Americans and their way of life by the 19th Century.
The region played a central role in the formation of the fledgling nation. Nathan Hale, the Connecticut patriot who had "but one life to lose for [his] country" was on a spy mission here when he was captured and executed by the British. Several years later, George Washington again turned to Long Island's patriots to outwit the British. In 1778, a group of young men and women formed what would become known as the Culper Spy Ring. It operated clandestinely until 1783, when the Revolutionary War ended. The story of the Spy Ring has all the intrigue of a first-rate spy story: assumed names, code words, invisible ink, secret drop boxes, even a laundry-line signal involving a ladies petticoat and white handkerchiefs. The ring had astonishing success, and was able to answer Washington's specific questions regarding British troops and their movements. As president, Washington visited Long Island to thank his spies, traveling a route that generally parallels the Scenic and Historic Route 25A Corridor.
The diversity of the people who settled here was shaped, in no small measure, by the action of ice and water on the topography of the shoreline of Long Island Sound. The North Shore's western harbors and bays provided abundant natural resources to support Native Americans, protection for later whaling and shipping communities, and, yet later, provided playgrounds for pleasure craft.
The fertile soils of the east end, deposited by retreating glacial ice, created an agricultural paradise. Rural charm and rustic beauty have made the North Shore's east end and North Fork a sought-after second home destination; now it is home to our constant struggle between development pressure and preservation of farming.
The 21st Century and Beyond
At the dawn of the 21st Century, the North Shore of Long Island is home to almost a million people. Yet this area retains coherent character and legacy, earning it a special place in the State of New York. The region north of the ice tide's terminal moraine - now defined by state Route 25 and the Long Island Expressway (from Great Neck to Orient Point and north to the border of Connecticut) - has been designated the first New York State Heritage Area on Long Island.
The Long Island North Shore Heritage Area abounds in natural, cultural, and historic resources that are important to us and illustrative of our stories. Yet these resources, and the stories they tell, have not yet been fully understood, interpreted and preserved. To reverse this trend, the Heritage Area will tell the stories of the Long Island North Shore Heritage Area to protect, inform about, and enhance the beneficial use of the region's intrinsic resources. These efforts, in turn, will enhance our region's quality of life.
