Elwood: Small-town appeal with a 'cozy, welcoming feeling'

Known for its small school district — with an enrollment of about 2,200 students — the area only got its own library in 2004. In 2009 it moved into the former Blockbuster on Jericho Turnpike, an unusually small footprint.

“Like the school district, we are small relatively speaking for Long Island, and it creates a homey, cozy kind of welcoming feeling,” said Susan Goldberg, director of the Elwood Public Library. “We certainly feel that's how we are at the library and I think that's true for the whole community. At the library we generally recognize all our patrons and call them by name.”

Goldberg said that The Seasons at Elwood, which opened on the site of the former Oak Tree Farm Dairy in 2018 as a 55-plus townhome community, has brought new patrons. “We're seeing people from the surrounding communities who are moving into Elwood, and they’re enjoying it as a retirement community, which is also something nice,” she said.

Elwood was once known for its farmland, and while homes have replaced the majority of them, there are still two that do a booming farmstand business on Elwood Road, Carlson's and DeLea, though both technically have East Northport addresses. In addition, Makinajian Poultry Farm & Country Store has been a fixture on Cuba Hill Road since 1948, where customers can get fresh poultry, eggs and other products, all while watching birds walk around the property.

It’s across the street from 17½-acre Elwood Park, with rolling hills, a playground, bocce courts, a soccer field, horseshoe pits, a picnic pavilion and sprinkler park. The Elwood Quad movie theater, which has been in the area since the 1960s, is due to reopen soon after a COVID-related closure.

The hamlet is near three train stations — Northport, Greenlawn and Huntington — and though it doesn’t have its own village, residents have easy access to all the shopping and restaurants in the surrounding towns.

While the majority of the home styles are Colonials, ranches and expanded Capes, there are a variety of pricing options, according to Nordeen Accardi, an agent with Coldwell Banker American Homes in Huntington. The Beaconsfield subdivision, which was built in the 1950s in East Northport, contains street names beginning with “El” and houses as low as $350,000. There are other East Northport homes on ½- to full-acre lots in the $600,000 to $900,000 range. On the higher end are 1- to 2-acre properties in Old Chester Hills with a Huntington address for more than $1 million.

School districts, graduation rates, Elwood (97%), South Huntington (93%)

Parks Berkeley Jackson County Park, Elwood Park

Libraries Elwood, South Huntington

Hospitals Huntington Hospital, St. Catherine of Sienna Hospital

Transit Suffolk County Transit Routes 54, H40

SOURCES: 2020 Census; 2020 American Community Survey; OneKey MLS; LIRR, data.nysed.gov 

This center-hall Colonial built in 1970 on 0.42 acre with four bedrooms and 2½ baths has a circular driveway and in-ground heated pool. There is an entrance foyer, French doors to the living room, a dining room with a swing door to the eat-in-kitchen, two pantries, a laundry/mud room and great room with a fireplace and sliding doors. Taxes are $14,911. Kelley Taylor, Douglas Elliman Real Estate, 631-549-4400.

This Cape built in 1950 on 0.34 acre has four bedrooms, two baths and a detached two-car garage with a storage loft. There is a covered porch, new hardwood floors on the first floor, a fireplace in both the formal living room and family room, and a new oil burner. Taxes are $11,245. Rosemary and Robert DeLorenzo, Signature Premier Properties, 631-360-2800.

Whistler Hill Ln.

Little Plains Rd.

Built 1965

Valentine Ave.