Neptune's Needle

Area; 1,723 sq miles; 118 miles long, and 12 - 20 miles wide, SE N.Y.; largest island of the continental U.S. Separated from Staten Isl. by The Verrazzano Narrows, from Manhattan and the Bronx by the East River, and from Conn. on the north by the L.I. Sound; on the south is the Atlantic Ocean.

Eastern Long Island has 2 flukelike peninsulas separated by Great and Little Peconic Bays. The N fluke, terminating in Orient Point, follows part of the Harbor Hill moraine, a hilly ridge that extends W along N L.I. to The Narrows and was deposited by melting ice during the last stage of the Pleistocene epoch.

The S fluke, terminating in Montauk Point, follows the Ronkonkoma moraine, a somewhat older morainal ridge that extends W to join the Harbor Hill moraine at L. Success. Low, wooded hills, capped by glacial deposits, lie N of the moraines and contrast with a broad, low-lying outwash plain to S; the highest point on the isl. is c.400 ft. above sea level. With no large streams, water supply is limited and is obtained from groundwater.

Both the Dutch and the English established farming, whaling, and fishing settlements on L.I.in the 1640s, with English settlement spearheaded by Lion Gardiner in 1639. but it remained sparsely settled until RR, bridges, and highways provided easy access to N.Y. city. The earliest towns on the eastern end were Southold, Southampton and east Hampton.

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Compiler

Peter Richards