The Sands-Willets Homestead is a historic house and museum located within the Incorporated Village of Flower Hill in Nassau County, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, in

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, United States. It is operated as a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

by the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society, is designated as a Village of Flower Hill Landmark and a New York State Landmark, and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Description

Main House

The Sands-Willets Homestead is a 20-room, shingled 2-story building with an enlarged porch and

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. The west wing dates to about 1735. It was originally a four-bay, -story house with end chimneys over a full-sized basement. The main portion of the house is a

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

–style dwelling built during the first half of the 19th century. When he home was built, it was the centerpiece of a 240-acre (97 ha) farm. At the time, the property stretched from Manhasset Bay at its western edge to Hempstead Harbor at its eastern edge, which was convenient for shipping produce to New York City and points beyond. Over time, sections of the farm would be sold to developers and often turned into

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

housing developments A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

, ultimately leading to the property nowadays having an area of less than . The Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society purchased the home from Eliza Willets in 1976, for the purpose of preserving and restoring it, and turning it into a museum, research, and educational center.

Barn and garden

A contributing barn and a garden are also located on the property. The barn, which dates to the late 17th Century, was moved to the property in 1978. ''See also:''

2020s renovations and accessibility upgrades

The Historical Society received a grant for capital improvements, in December 2020. A $125,525 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation enabled the Society to renovate building's porch, and make other improvements, which enabled individuals in wheelchairs, or pushing baby stollers, to share in tours. The renovations were made in ways that preserve the original heritage value of the house.

In popular culture

Scenes for the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

series ''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and ...

'' were filmed in the Sands-Willets House.

References

External links

Sands-Willets House (Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society website)
Flower Hill, New York Historic house museums in New York (state) Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Greek Revival houses in New York (state) Houses completed in 1735 Houses in Nassau County, New York Museums in Nassau County, New York Tourist attractions in Nassau County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Nassau County, New York {{NewYork-museum-stub New York State Register of Historic Places in Nassau County