The North Shore of Long Island is the area along the northern coast of New York's Long Island bordering Long Island Sound. Known for its extreme wealth and lavish estates, the North Shore exploded into affluence at the turn of the 20th century, earning it the nickname the Gold Coast. Historically, this term refers to the coastline communities in the towns of

North Hempstead North Hempstead is one of three towns in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 237,639 at the 2020 census. History The area was first settled by Europeans around 1643 and became part of the town of Hemps ...

(such as

Great Neck Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point, and Russell Gardens, and a number of unincor ...

and Port Washington) and Oyster Bay in Nassau County and the Town of Huntington in Suffolk County, although the town of Smithtown east of here is also known for its affluence. The easternmost Gold Coast mansion is the Geissler Estate, located just west of Indian Hills Country Club in

Fort Salonga Fort Salonga, also known as NYSDHP Unique Site No. A103-08-0036, is an archeological site in the vicinity of Fort Salonga, New York that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It is the site of the Revolutionary War Britis ...

, within the Town of Huntington. Being a remnant of

glacial moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice she ...

, the North Shore is somewhat hilly, and its beaches are more rocky than those on the flat, sandy

outwash An outwash plain, also called a sandur (plural: ''sandurs''), sandr or sandar, is a plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying rock surface and ca ...

plain of the South Shore along the Atlantic Ocean. Large boulders known as glacial erratics are scattered across the area.

History

Colonial Era

The North Shore was first settled by Europeans in the mid-1600s. Much of the area was initially controlled by the Dutch colony of

New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva P ...

. Towns in the eastern part of the North Shore were settled by the English under the jurisdiction of the

New Haven Colony The New Haven Colony was a small English colony in North America from 1638 to 1664 primarily in parts of what is now the state of Connecticut, but also with outposts in modern-day New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The history of ...

and Connecticut Colony. This arrangement ended in 1664 with the English takeover of New Netherland, when all of Long Island was transferred into the new

Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the U ...

. In its early days the North Shore was largely agricultural. Whaling was also a component of the early economy, as is commemorated in Cold Spring Harbor's Whaling Museum & Education Center.

Gilded Era

During the

Second Industrial Revolution The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid scientific discovery, standardization, mass production and industrialization from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. The Fi ...

, great fortunes were made in steel, transportation and other industries. Beginning in the early 1890s, lavish private estates were erected on what became known as the "Gold Coast" of Long Island. In all, over 500 mansions were built during this spree, concentrated in . Among those were expansive faux chateaux and castles belonging to the

Vanderbilts The Vanderbilt family is an American family who gained prominence during the Gilded Age. Their success began with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the family expanded into various other areas of industry and philanthr ...

, Astors, Whitneys,

Charles Pratt Charles Pratt (October 2, 1830 – May 4, 1891) was an American businessman. Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and he established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. He then lived with his growing fam ...

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

, F. W. Woolworth, and others.

Otto Kahn Otto Hermann Kahn (February 21, 1867 – March 29, 1934) was a German-born American investment banker, collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. Kahn was a well-known figure, appearing on the cover of ''Time'' magazine and was sometime ...

Oheka Castle Oheka Castle, also known as the Otto Kahn Estate, is a hotel located on the North Shore of Long Island, in West Hills, New York, also known as the "Gold Coast," a hamlet in the town of Huntington. It was the country home of investment finan ...

was reputed to be the second largest private home in the United States, second only to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Alternatively, some eschewed formal mansions and erected large shingle-style and clapboard "cottages", such as Theodore Roosevelt's Sagamore Hill. Old_Westbury_Gardens_Mansion

The greatest architects, landscapers, decorators and firms were employed, including

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect. He was also a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms. He designed many houses for the rich, in addition ...

John Russell Pope John Russell Pope (April 24, 1874 – August 27, 1937) was an American architect whose firm is widely known for designing major public buildings, including the National Archives and Records Administration building (completed in 1935), the Jeff ...

Guy Lowell Guy Lowell (August 6, 1870 – February 4, 1927), was an American architect and landscape architect. Biography Born in Boston, Lowell was the son of Mary Walcott (Goodrich) and Edward Jackson Lowell, and a member of Boston's well-known Lowe ...

, and

Carrère and Hastings Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère ( ; November 9, 1858 – March 1, 1911) and Thomas Hastings (March 11, 1860 – October 22, 1929), was one of the outstanding American Beaux-Arts architecture firms. Located in New York City ...

. Architectural styles included

English Tudor English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, French Chateau, Georgian, Gothic, Mediterranean, Norman, Roman, Spanish, and combinations of these. Rooms, outdoor structures, and entire buildings were dismantled in Europe and reassembled on the North Shore. Complementing the great houses were formal gardens, gazebos, greenhouses, stables, guest houses, gate houses, swimming pools, reflecting pools, ponds, children’s playhouses, pleasure palaces, golf courses, and tennis courts. Activities such as horse riding, hunting, fishing, fox hunting, polo, yachting, golf, swimming, tennis, skeet shooting and winter sports, were held at the estates or exclusive clubs nearby such as the Beaver Dam Club, the

Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club The Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club is one of the older yacht clubs in the Western Hemisphere, ranking 18th after the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, New York Yacht Club, Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, Mobile Yacht Club, Pass Christian Yacht Club ...

(1871), Meadow Brook Club (1881), Manhasset Bay Yacht Club (1892), Piping Rock Club (1912), and Creek Club (1923). Privacy was maintained with the huge land holdings, hedges and trees, fences, gates and gate houses, private roads, and lack of maps showing the location of the estates.

Post-War era

Following World War II many Gold Coast mansions were demolished and their estates subdivided into suburban-style developments. Only about 200 of the original 500 survive. As fortunes faded some of the largest or most prominent Gilded Era showpieces, such as

Daniel Guggenheim Daniel Guggenheim (July 9, 1856 – September 28, 1930) was an American mining magnate and philanthropist, and a son of Meyer and Barbara Guggenheim. By 1910 he directed the world's most important group of mining interests. He was forced out ...

's Gould-Guggenheim Estate, Theodore Roosevelt's Sagamore Hill, William Vanderbilt II's Eagle's Nest, the

Alexander P. de Seversky Alexander Nikolaievich Prokofiev de Seversky (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Проко́фьев-Се́верский) (June 7, 1894 – August 24, 1974) was a Russian-American aviation pioneer, inventor, and inf ...

Mansion, Otto Kahn's

, and John Shaffer Phipps' Westbury House were turned into museum homes, conference centers, and resorts. Others repurposed for non-residential uses include

Herbert L. Pratt Herbert Lee Pratt (November 21, 1871 – February 3, 1945) was an American businessman and a leading figure in the United States oil industry. In 1923, he became head of Standard Oil of New York; his father Charles Pratt was a founder of Astr ...

's Glen Cove country home, "The Braes", turned into the

Webb Institute Webb Institute is a private college focused on engineering and located in Glen Cove, New York. Each graduate of Webb Institute earns a Bachelor of Science degree in naval architecture and marine engineering. Successful candidates for admission r ...

Walter Chrysler Walter Percy Chrysler (April 2, 1875 – August 18, 1940) was an American industrial pioneer in the automotive industry, American automotive industry executive and the founder and namesake of American Chrysler Corporation. Early life Chrysler wa ...

's Kings Point estate, "Forker House", turned into the

United States Merchant Marine Academy The United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA or Kings Point) is a United States service academy in Kings Point, New York. It trains its midshipmen (as students at the academy are called) to serve as officers in the United States Merchant ...

, and U.S. Steel heir Childs Frick's "Clayton" the

Nassau County Museum of Art The Nassau County Museum of Art (NCMA) is located east of New York City on the former Frick "Clayton" Estate, a property in Roslyn Harbor in the heart of Long Island’s Gold Coast. The main museum building, named in honor of art collectors a ...

Geography

Delineated perceptually by the Queens-Nassau border, the North Shore is marked by a series of necks (peninsulas) and populated harbors. North Hempstead, Oyster Bay and Huntington Towns comprise the land ownership of this area, which is noted for its preservation of Gilded Age Estates. Beyond here, the North Shore becomes Towns of Smithtown and Brookhaven, where a similar trend of peninsulas and sheltered harbors are the sites of hamlets and towns such as Stony Brook, Port Jefferson, Wading River, etc.. Once the island splits into two forks at its east end, the North Shore's hills largely flatten out (and enter the Town of Riverhead) to an out-wash plain and becomes largely rural (and enters the Town of Southold), with an economic stronghold on agriculture, particularly in the shape of wineries and vineyards. This recent trend, beginning in the 1980s with the conversion of potato farms, has given the North Fork the distinction of being the most productive agricultural area in New York State. Despite this, North Fork, contrasts starkly with the more populated and more well-known South Fork's

Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End of Long Island, consist of the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, which together comprise the South Fork of Long Island, in Suffolk County, New York. The Hamptons are a popular seaside resort and one of ...

. The North Fork terminates at Orient Point, where the Cross Sound Ferry Company has a terminal for ferries bound for New London, CT. and Block Island, RI. Greenport, a village in Southold midway between Orient and Riverhead, is a major economic center for the North Fork and as such, is the eastern terminus of the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line. The North Fork is also geographically tied to a separate township, Shelter Island, an island in the Peconic Bay accessible via ferry that leaves from Greenport, adjacent to the railroad station. The island also has a ferry on its south side that connects with North Haven on the South Fork.

In popular culture

In literature, the North Shore is the setting of

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

's 1925 novel ''

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby ...

,'' which centered on the area's wealth and the aspiration of the title character to be accepted into its high society. The novel's "West Egg" and "East Egg" were fictionalized versions of the real North Shore villages of Kings Point and Sands Point, respectively. The ''Gold Coast'' by Nelson DeMille is a novel set in the area. The distinctive

upper class Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...

speech pattern known as " Locust Valley lockjaw" takes its name from the North Shore's

Locust Valley Locust Valley is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 3,406 at the 2010 census. History The rollin ...

area. The aristocratic cachet persists despite suburban infill converting much of the North Shore into commuter towns.

Extant Gold Coast estates

* Caumsett, formerly the Marshall Field III Estate *

Coindre Hall Coindre Hall, originally called West Neck Farm, is a 40-room, mansion in the style of a medieval French château completed in 1912 for pharmaceutical magnate George McKesson Brown. Coindre Hall sits on of rolling land overlooking Huntington Har ...

* Delamater-Bevin Mansion * Greentree * Harry E. Donnell House * Hempstead House * John E. Aldred Estate * Killenworth *

, formerly The Clayton Estate *

Old Westbury Gardens __NOTOC__ Old Westbury Gardens is the former estate of businessman John Shaffer Phipps (1874–1958), an heir to the Phipps family fortune, in Nassau County, New York. Located at 71 Old Westbury Road in Old Westbury, the property was converted i ...

, formerly Forker House *

Vanderbilt Museum The Vanderbilt Museum is located in Centerport on the North Shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, USA. Named for William Vanderbilt II (1878–1944), it is located on his former estate, Eagle's Nest. History William K. Vanderbi ...

, formerly The Braes *

Welwyn Preserve Welwyn Preserve County Park is a public nature reserve in Glen Cove, on the North Shore of Long Island in New York State. Welwyn Preserve was originally Welwyn Estate, the estate of the industrialist Harold I. Pratt. The main house, Welwyn, wa ...

, formerly the Welwyn Estate

Demolished mansions

Some mansions burned down, others that were abandoned were vandalized or overtaken by vegetation. Many were torn down to make room for developments, as the Great Depression, poor financial decisions, increasing requirements for upkeep, and increasing income taxes depleted family fortunes. Some of the notable mansions that are now gone are included in the table below with some of their features.

List of communities

Asharoken Asharoken is a village in the Town of Huntington in Suffolk County, on the North Shore of Long Island in New York. The population was 654 at the 2010 census. History Asharoken incorporated as a village in 1925, so as to have a greater ability ...

* Baxter Estates * Bayville * Belle Terre * Brookville * Calverton *

Carle Place Carle Place (also known historically as Frog Hollow and Mineola Park) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The CDP's population was 4,981 at ...

* Centerport * Centre Island * Cold Spring Harbor *

Commack Commack ( ) is a hamlet and census designated place (CDP) that roughly corresponds to the hamlet by the same name in the towns of Huntington and Smithtown in Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York. The CDP's population was 36,124 at the 20 ...

* Cove Neck *

Dix Hills Dix Hills is an affluent hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) on Long Island in the town of Huntington in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 26,892 at the 2010 census. In the past, Dix Hills and some of its neighbors have proposed ...

* East Hills * East Setauket * East Shoreham *

East Northport East Northport is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Huntington, New York, Huntington in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 20,217 at th ...

* East Norwich * East Williston * Eatons Neck * Elwood * Flower Hill *

Garden City Park Garden City Park is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 7, ...

* Glen Cove * Glen Head * Glenwood Landing *

* Great Neck Estates * Greenport *

Halesite Halesite is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Huntington in Suffolk County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 2,498 at the 2010 census. History Halesite is named after N ...

* Harbor Hills * Head of the Harbor * Herricks * Huntington * Huntington Bay * Huntington Station * Kensington * Kings Park * Kings Point * Lake Success * Lattingtown * Laurel Hollow *

Lloyd Harbor Lloyd Harbor is a village in the Town of Huntington in Suffolk County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village's population was 3,660. History In 1654, the Matinecock Native America ...

Manhasset Manhasset is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Manhasset area. The population was 8,176 at the 2020 United States ce ...

* Manhasset Hills * Manorhaven *

Matinecock Matinecock is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 810 at the 2010 census. History Matinecock incorporated as a village on April 2, 1928, in order to ...

* Mattituck * Mill Neck * Miller Place * Mineola *

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...

Muttontown Muttontown is a village located within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 3,497 at the 2010 census. History During colonial times, the area was used to raise sheep for wool and ...

* New Cassel * New Hyde Park * Nissequogue * North Hills * North New Hyde Park * Northport * Oyster Bay * Oyster Bay Cove * Old Brookville * Old Field *

Old Westbury Old Westbury is a village in the Towns of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 4,671 at the 2010 census. The Incorporated Village of Old Westbury i ...

* Orient *

Plandome Plandome is a village in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered part of the Greater Manhasset area, which is anchored by Manhasset. The population was 1,349 ...

Plandome Manor Plandome Manor is a Village (New York), village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The majority of the village is considered part o ...

* Poquott *

Port Jefferson Port Jefferson (informally known as "Port Jeff") is an incorporated village in the town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island. Officially known as the Incorporated Village of Port Jefferson, the population ...

* Port Jefferson Station * Port Washington North * Port Washington * Ridge * Rocky Point * Roslyn * Roslyn Estates * Roslyn Harbor * Roslyn Heights * Saddle Rock * Saddle Rock Estates * Sands Point *

Sea Cliff Seacliff or Sea Cliff or Sea Cliffe may refer to: ;Places ''Australia'' *Seacliff, South Australia, suburb of Adelaide * Seacliff Park, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide *Sea Cliff Bridge, in Illawarra, New South Wales ''New Zealand'' *Seacl ...

Setauket Setauket is a hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Brookhaven, New York, Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States, on the North Shore (Long Island), Nort ...

* Shoreham * Smithtown * Sound Beach * Southold *

South Huntington South Huntington is an affluent hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the Town of Huntington in Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 9,422 at the 2010 census. Residents have a Huntington Stat ...

* Stony Brook * Strongs Neck * Syosset * Terryville * Thomaston * Upper Brookville * Wading River * West Hills * Williston Park * Woodbury

References

Citations

General sources

* ''AIA Architectural Guide to Nassau and Suffolk Counties''. American Institute of Architects. Long Island Chapter, 1992. * Frelinghuysen, Alice Cooney. ''Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall: An Artist's Country Estate''. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006. * Hewitt, Mark Alan. ''The Architect and the American Country House, 1890–1940''. Yale Univ. Press. 1990. * MacKay, Robert B. ''Long Island Country Houses and Their Architects 1860–1940''. W. W. Norton, 1997. * Mateyunas, Paul J. ''North Shore Long Island: Country Houses 1890–1950''. Acanthus Press, 2007. * Mensing, Kenneth G. and Rita Langdon. ''Hillwood: The Long Island estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post''. Long Island University, 2008. * Randall, Monica. ''The Mansions of Long Island's Gold Coast''. Rizzoli, 1979. * Randall, Monica. ''Winfield: Living in the Shadow of Woolworths''. Thomas Dunne, 2003. * Sclare, Lisa and Donald. ''Beaux-Arts Estates: A Guide to the Architecture of Long Island''. Viking Press, 1980. * Spinzia, Raymond E. and Judith A. ''Long Island's Prominent North Shore Families: Their Estates and Their Country Homes'' Vol. 1–2. VirtualBookworm.com, 2006. * Wilson, Richard Guy. ''Harbor Hill: Portrait of a House''. W. W. Norton, 2008.

External links

Old Long Island - Dedicated to the preservation of Long Island's Gold Coast estates

LIGC - Over 700 tags identifying Long Island's Gold Coast mansions and gardens
at

Wikimapia Wikimapia is a geographic online encyclopedia project. The project implements an interactive "clickable" web map that utilizes Google Maps with a geographically-referenced wiki system, with the aim to mark and describe all geographical objects ...

Gold Coast Mansions of Long Island, New York

Long Island's Gold Coast Past and Present

"Gold Coast Mansions"
��episode of the PBS television documentary series ''Treasures of New York''
History, NYIT de Seversky Mansion
{{authority control American upper class Geography of Long Island Geography of Nassau County, New York Geography of Queens, New York Geography of Suffolk County, New York Long Island Sound New York metropolitan area