Centre Island

A Center of Life Among the Very Rich

Beginnings: Formed by glaciers 25,000 years ago, Centre Island, actually a claw-shaped peninsula, hosted its first summer residents a mere 10,000 years ago, when the Matinecocks came in their dugout canoes to fish, hunt and gather shellfish. Apparently they were rewarded. The first Dutch explorer in Oyster Bay Harbor in 1639 reported ``oysters a foot long and broad in proportion.'' The island's sand dunes and wetlands are relatively unchanged, but its oysters are smaller.

Island for Sale: The earl of Sterling, who had a patent from Charles I for most of Long Island, sold Centre Island plus Lloyd Neck to a sailor named Mathew Sinderland for 10 shillings in 1639 - unknown to the Matinecocks, who sold it to the Dutch in 1650. Thus there was hot contention until 1666, when the town of Oyster Bay bought Centre Island, though it's not clear from whom. The island was then sold to Joseph Ludlam, who later sold the lower half to Thomas Smith. The families were leading farmers for generations. The island was then known as Hog Island (for a cartographer, not an animal).

The Revolution: George Washington ordered a whaleboat raid on Hog Island, where Thomas Smith, King's Justice for Oyster Bay, lived. Smith, a Loyalist harassed by Patriots throughout the war, was respected enough to remain in office after the Revolution.

Turning Points: Hog Island became Centre Island, probably because it's in the center of Oyster Bay Harbor, about 1844. The island blossomed as a summer colony in the late 1800s. The opening of the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club in 1871 brought leading yachtsmen to the island. After World War I, the proliferation of beach bungalows caused concern among residents, who incorporated as a village in 1926. The village continues to be an enclave of the very rich on large estates. Residents have included William T. Moore, president of Moore-McCormack steamship lines; Roosevelts, Pells, and other prominent and wealthy families.