Living in Mill Neck on the Gold Coast

Bounded by Beaver Lake, Mill Neck Bay and Oyster Bay Harbor, Mill Neck is a residential village where minimum lot sizes range from 8,000 square feet to 5 acres.

Protected nature preserves and walking trails lend bucolic ambience. The Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf also makes its home here. "It's a beautiful village . . . and very private," says Michael Gorwits of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

"It's nice living in a small community," says Mona O'Rourke, an associate broker at Piping Rock Associates, who has resided in the village for more than five decades.

Years ago, O'Rourke and her husband purchased 33.1 acres, built what is now Calf Farm Road and subdivided the land. "I named it Calf Farm because it really was a calf farm," she says, noting many of the 5-acre parcels here are horse properties lined by white fences.

Perhaps the most exclusive area is along upper and lower Horseshoe Road, where older estates are occupied by established families, agents say.

The area known as Mill Neck Estates, off West Shore Road, is a small waterfront community where properties are about a half-acre. Prices here start in the $600,000 range, Porter says.

Right now, homes priced $2 million and less are moving quickly, Porter says.

Town: Oyster Bay

Area: 2.6 square miles

ZIP code: 11765

Population: 800

Median age: 52.3

Median household income: $155,250

Median home value: $2,500,000*

LIRR time to NYC: From Locust Valley 66 minutes to 73 minutes at peak

Monthly ticket: $276

School district: Locust Valley; Oyster Bay-East Norwich