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Oyster Bay

There's only been one president from Long Island, and he lived in the Town of Oyster Bay. Theodore Roosevelt built his only house, Sagamore Hill, in Cove Neck in 1885, and during his presidency, 1901-1909, the Victorian mansion served as the summer White House.

Long before any Roosevelts arrived, Matinecock Indians inhabited the area. The first English settlers joined them in 1640: brothers Edward and Timothy Tomlins and others from Lynn, Mass. The Dutch, who had jurisdiction over the area, kicked them out, but four years later another group of Englishmen arrived. Then, in 1653, colonists Peter Wright, Samuel Mayo and the Rev. William Leverich came from Cape Cod and settled near Oyster Bay Harbor, purchasing a large part of what is now the town from the Indians. This came five years after Robert Williams of Hempstead had bought a tract comprising what is now Hicksville and adjoining areas.

The first recorded town meeting was held Dec. 13, 1660. Oyster Bay was officially brought under English control seven years later, through a patent issued by Gov. Edmund Andros. A 1683 representative assembly called by Gov. Thomas Dongan created county boundaries, and Oyster Bay became part of Queens. Additional land purchases came later in the 17th Century. Thomas Powell made the Bethpage Purchase from the Massapequa Indians in 1695. Thomas Jones became the first white man to settle in Massapequa, then known as Fort Neck, in 1696.

In the Revolution most residents were Loyalists, and British troops occupied Oyster Bay hamlet, with their headquarters at Raynham Hall, now a museum owned by the town.

In the late 19th Century, the Long Island Rail Road, steamboats and improved roads brought new residents. Farmland was developed for housing, and communities such as Sea Cliff became resorts. Wealthy city residents began to buy large tracts to establish estates on the emerging Gold Coast, a few of which remain, if in different form.

Arguably, one of the most important aspects of town history was an event that never happened: In the early 1970s, Robert Moses wanted to build a bridge through Oyster Bay to Westchester. The span would have vastly changed life in that part of town, but the idea was defeated by political and environmental opposition on the North Shore.