[nygirl1]

Massapequa is a hamlet on the south shore of Long Island in Nassau County. The Biltmore estates are a sub-section for the area’s wealthier residents along the waterfront and canal systems. The region was settled in the 17th century by the Dutch who built a small fort in the area. Woodland was cleared for council grounds on land Indian tribes thrived on. By the late 18th century a number of estates owned by wealthy Long Island families dotted the region, many, Tory families loyal to the British Crown. These families were exiled and their properties were confiscated by American Patriots after the war. The area grew slowly during the 19th century. Most who settled in Massapequa were farmers, Quakers, wealthy families, those who came to harvest oysters and thrive among other maritime industries. The rail services of the Southside railroad reached Massapequa and like many other areas in Nassau County along waterfronts, Massapequa developed as a resort community. Establishments built up in town, bungalows and rental homes were built throughout the area and Hotels were constructed to accommodate vacationers from the city. A community had built up around these industries, old and new and institutions like schools and a post office were established. After the turn of the century as the bulk of the neighborhood had developed in what is considered the northern section of Massapequa, the south was still a wooded thicket covered in oak brush until the 1920’s when a real estate company bought up land in the area and began to develop graceful homes for the upper middle classes of New York City to move to and live in year round. As white flight created a larger demand, pre-fabs, popularized during the Levittown developments popped up all over Massapequa. Waves of second generation Italian, Irish, German and Jewish middle-working classes came to Massapequa. Booms occurred again during the 1970’s and 1980’s and continued through the 1990’s. The area is characterized by its working class population in the north the majority of which is today 3rd and 4th generation American but taking on Hispanic new comers while the Biltmore-Estates consists of a wealthier, white collar- upper class. Some say Biltmore-Estates is also home to Italians connected to the mafia but there is no real proof of this, though one can imagine.