Little Neck Bay is an

embayment A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

in western

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, off

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

. Little Neck Bay forms the western boundary of the

Great Neck Peninsula Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

, the eastern boundary of which is

Manhasset Bay Manhasset Bay, New York, is an embayment in western Long Island off Long Island Sound. Description Manhasset Bay forms the northeastern boundary of the Great Neck Peninsula and the southwestern boundary of Cow Neck (Port Washington Peninsula ...

. The political boundary between Nassau County and the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

runs through the bay, bordering the neighborhood of Douglaston–Little Neck.

Description

At the entrance to the bay, on the western point – known as Willets Point – is Fort Totten, which was built to protect the entrance to the tidal strait known as the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

. At the eastern side of the entrance is Elm Point (the end of Steamboat Road in Kings Point). The bay is about a mile wide at the entrance and extends back just under two miles.U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (1918) ''United States Coast Pilot'' U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, D.C., p. 234 Originally, on the western and southern sides of the bay there were extensive salt marshes. Saddle Rock is located on the eastern side of the bay about half-way in. The bay is shallower than Manhasset Bay, being only deep at the entrance, with most of the back bay being less than deep. Alley Pond Park and

Cross Island Parkway The Cross Island Parkway is a parkway in New York City, part of the Belt System running along the perimeter of the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. The Cross Island Parkway runs from the Whitestone Expressway (Interstate 678 or I-678) in ...

are on the southern and southwestern shore, and Alley Creek drains into the bay. Traditionally, the

Algonquin Algonquin or Algonquian—and the variation Algonki(a)n—may refer to: Languages and peoples *Algonquian languages, a large subfamily of Native American languages in a wide swath of eastern North America from Canada to Virginia **Algonquin la ...

who lived around Little Neck Bay when

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

ans came were considered to be from a tribe known as the

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 ...

. However, that view has been challenged. Later, from the 1860s through the 1890s, small

hard clam The hard clam (''Mercenaria mercenaria''), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Prince ...

s (quahogs) from Little Neck Bay were served in the best restaurants of New York and several European capitals. Eventually, the term "littleneck" or "littleneck clam" came to be used as a size category for all hard clams, regardless of origin. Saddle-rock oysters are also found in the bay. The bay was closed to harvesting in 1909 due to pollution."Little Neck Bay" ''Webster's Geographical Dictionary'' (revised edition 1964) G.&C. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass., p. 622,

References

{{Coord, 40.793, N, 73.763, W, type:waterbody_region:US-NY, display=title Bays of New York (state) Long Island Sound Bodies of water of Nassau County, New York Bays of Queens County, New York Douglaston–Little Neck, Queens

Description

See also

References