Wantagh, New York
Wantagh, New York | ||
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FIPS code 36-78146[2] | | |
GNIS feature ID | 0968763[3] | |
Website | www |
Wantagh (
Wantagh is known as "The Gateway to Jones Beach".[5]
History
The Wantagh area was inhabited by the Merokee (or Merikoke) tribe of the
Early settler accounts refer to Wantagh as "Jerusalem". The
The oldest original settlers of the Wantagh/Jerusalem area were the Jackson and Seaman families, and their marks are still visible today. For example, the Cherrywood shopping center (at the corner of Jerusalem and Wantagh avenues) was the site of prominent settler Capt. John Seaman's estate, which was named Cherrywood. Wantagh is home to a number of New York State Historical Markers (9 of Nassau County's 25),[10] including:
- Cherrywood, Capt. John Seaman's 300-acre (1.2 km2) estate and home, from 1644, on the corner of Wantagh and Jerusalem avenues
- 1666 Jackson House, the home of Col. John Jackson, Brig. Gen. Jacob Shearman Jackson, and Samuel Jackson Jones (in 1923), on Merrick Road east of Riverside Drive
- The Grist Mill Site, granted to Col. John Jackson on the Jerusalem River in 1704, on Merrick Road east of Riverside Drive
- The Cornbury Patent, given by Queen Anne conferring the present-day site of Jones Beach to Major Thomas Jones, whose family would later provide the land that would become Jones Beach State Park in 1929
- The 1644 home of Robert Jackson, Jerusalem's pioneer settler, on Wantagh Avenue south of Hempstead Avenue
- North Jerusalem Road, originally constructed in 1644 between Hempstead and Jerusalem
- The 1777 home of Richard Jackson, Captain in the Queens County Militia in the Revolutionary War, and where his daughter, Jane, lived with her husband, ex-Hessian soldier Lt. John Althause, on Wantagh Avenue and Island Road
The Samuel and Elbert Jackson House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.[11]
The oldest cemetery in Wantagh is the Jackson Cemetery, located just north of the St. Frances de Chantal Roman Catholic Church on Wantagh Avenue.[12] There are 63 confirmed graves that include descendants from the Seaman and Jackson families, with the most notable including Thomas Jackson, who served in the Revolutionary War in the Second New York Regiment and participated in the Battle of Long Island and the storming of Fort St. George under Major Talmadge in 1780, and who was the original landowner of the site of land around the Wantagh Public Library; and General Jacob Seaman Jackson, a brigadier general in the War of 1812 and senior warden of Long Island's first chartered Masonic lodge in 1797.
The Rierson burial plot was located in what has been redeveloped into Bunker Avenue. This cemetery includes members of the Rierson family who were Loyalists during the Revolutionary War.[12]
The Jerusalem Society of Friends Cemetery is located behind (east of) the current Christian Tabernacle Church. The Society of Friends were Quakers who maintained meeting houses in Jericho, Bethpage, and Hempstead, and met in then-Jerusalem as early as 1697. Capt. John Seaman allowed the Society to conduct meetings on his land in 1699, but the congregation later traveled to Bethpage to worship. The Jerusalem Society of Friends purchased land from another Seaman, Arden Seaman, and then constructed their own meeting house on the site of the current Christian Tabernacle Church in 1827, and added the cemetery in 1861. By the 1940s, the congregation had dwindled significantly, and the property was sold in 1952 to the newly formed Wantagh Baptist Church and then recently sold to the newly formed Christian Tabernacle Church in 2007. The cemetery contains the graves of three Civil War veterans: Lt. H.R. Jackson, Gilbert Seaman, of the 139th Regiment of NY Volunteers, and Charles Wilson, of the 119th Regiment of NY Volunteers and who was wounded in Gettysburg.[12]
The St. John of Jerusalem Cemetery served the German
The area that became today's Wantagh continued primarily as a farming area until the construction of Sunrise Highway and Jones Beach in the early 20th century, when tourism and fishing took hold, centering on Jones Beach. The Long Island Rail Road has served the town since 1885 (and possibly as early as 1867), but the town did not take on a suburban character until the housing development between the 1950s and 1970s. The LIRR tracks were completely elevated in 1968, along with neighboring
Former U.S.
Geography
Wantagh is located at 40°40′29″N 73°30′38″W / 40.67472°N 73.51056°W (40.674697, -73.510548).[13]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.1 square miles (11 km2), of which 3.8 square miles (9.8 km2) is land and 0.3 square miles (0.78 km2), or 7.25%, is water.
Wantagh has a warm temperate climate (type Cfa) with cool winters, hot summers, and mild springs and falls. Precipitation is spread uniformly throughout the year, but peaks slightly in early winter and early spring. It is located in hardiness zone 8a due to its south shore location, while most of Long Island is situated in zone 7b.
Climate data for Wantagh, NY, 1991-2020 normals | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 41.8 (5.4) |
43.6 (6.4) |
49.9 (9.9) |
59.6 (15.3) |
69.6 (20.9) |
79.4 (26.3) |
85.1 (29.5) |
83.6 (28.7) |
77.6 (25.3) |
66.8 (19.3) |
55.7 (13.2) |
46.9 (8.3) |
63.3 (17.4) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 34.7 (1.5) |
36.2 (2.3) |
42.3 (5.7) |
51.3 (10.7) |
61.2 (16.2) |
71.0 (21.7) |
76.9 (24.9) |
75.6 (24.2) |
69.1 (20.6) |
58.3 (14.6) |
47.8 (8.8) |
39.9 (4.4) |
55.4 (13.0) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 27.5 (−2.5) |
28.8 (−1.8) |
34.7 (1.5) |
43.0 (6.1) |
52.9 (11.6) |
62.6 (17.0) |
68.7 (20.4) |
67.7 (19.8) |
60.7 (15.9) |
49.8 (9.9) |
39.9 (4.4) |
32.9 (0.5) |
47.4 (8.6) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 3.33 (85) |
2.81 (71) |
4.06 (103) |
3.81 (97) |
3.34 (85) |
3.77 (96) |
3.24 (82) |
3.72 (94) |
3.64 (92) |
3.66 (93) |
3.07 (78) |
4.35 (110) |
42.80 (1,087) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 10.3 | 9.1 | 10.6 | 11.4 | 10.6 | 9.5 | 8.4 | 8.4 | 7.9 | 8.3 | 8.5 | 10.7 | 113.7 |
Source: NOAA[14][15] |
Demographics
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | 18,613 | — | |
U.S. Decennial Census[16] |
This article needs to be updated.(April 2013) |
As of the
There were 6,179 households, out of which 41.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.8% were married couples living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 15.6% were non-families. 13.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.06 and the average family size was 3.37.
Parks and recreation
Parks located within the hamlet include:[17]
- Cedar Creek Park (commonly referred to as being within Wantagh, but in actuality is just within neighboring Seaford’s borders)
- Twin Lakes Preserve
- Mill Pond
- Wantagh Park
- Jones Beach State Park
Education
Secondary:
- Wantagh Senior High School
- MacArthur High School
Junior High School:
- Wantagh Middle School
Elementary:
- Wantagh Elementary School
- Mandalay Elementary School
- Forest Lake Elementary School
Wantagh is primarily located within the boundaries of (and is thus served by) the Wantagh Union Free School District.[17] However, small areas towards the eastern edges of the hamlet are served by the Seaford Union Free School District.[17] And students living in portions of Wantagh north of Jerusalem Avenue are served by the Levittown Union Free School District.[18] As such, students who reside in Wantagh and attend public schools will go to school in one of these districts depending on where in the hamlet they live.[17]
Library
Wantagh is located within the boundaries of (and is thus served by) the Wantagh Library District and the Seaford Library District.[17] The boundaries of these districts within the hamlet roughly correspond with those of the school districts.[17]
Transportation
Rail
Bus
Bus service in Wantagh is provided by the
Road
Notable people
- Vincent Accardi – Guitarist from the band Brand New.
- Keaton Nigel Cooke – Actor/singer.
- Craig D. Button – WHS graduate and US Air Force pilot noted for his mysterious flight and crash.
- Rob Cesternino – third-place finisher in Survivor: The Amazon; also appeared on Survivor: All-Stars. Currently host of Rob Has a Podcast.
- Ed Emshwiller – filmmaker, science fiction illustrator, and video artist lived in Wantagh for many years before relocating to California in 1979.
- mixed martial artist.
- Trent Kowalik – Tony Award-winning star of Billy Elliot the Musical.
- John Mateer – Musician and filmmaker. Filmed viral video of destruction to his Wantagh home during Hurricane Sandy.[22]
- Jigsaw Jonesseries.
- Jason Reich – Emmy Award-winning television writer (The Daily Show); graduated from Wantagh High School in 1994.
- Lonny Ross – Actor/comedian (30 Rock); graduated from Wantagh High School in 1995.
- Professional wrestler
- Gary J. Shapiro – President and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association; author.
- Frances Townsend – US Homeland Security Adviser under President George W. Bush.[23]
- Alan Zweibel – Author and comedy writer; went to Forest Lake Elementary School in the late 1950s.
- Allen Weisselberg – Chief financial officer of The Trump Organization who sits at the center of an inquiry into the finances of the Trump family; Weisselberg lived in Wantagh from 1978 to 2013.[24]
References
- ^ "ArcGIS REST Services Directory". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ a b "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
- ^ "20 Best Apartments for Rent in Wantagh, NY (With pictures)!".
- ^ E.M. Ruttenber, History of the Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, 1872.
- ^ "Hugh Chisholm", Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911 Edition, p. 983.
- ^ "The Information Window of the Wantagh Preservation Society, October 2004" (PDF).
- ^ "The Information Window of the Wantagh Preservation Society, November 2004" (PDF).
- ^ "NYS Museum: Historic Markers".
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ a b c d "bklyn-genealogy-info.com - This domain is for sale!". bklyn-genealogy-info.com.
- ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
- ^ "NOWData - NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- ^ "Summary of Monthly Normals 1991-2020". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
- ^ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Long Island Index: Interactive Map". www.longislandindexmaps.org. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ^ "About Levittown Public Schools".
- ^ "Parking, Bus and Taxi Information - Wantagh Station" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 28, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
- ^ "Babylon Branch Timetable" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 20, 2010. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
- ^ "Nassau Inter-County Express - Maps and Schedules". www.nicebus.com. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ^ Hill, Kashmir (November 11, 2012). "Sandy Through The Eyes of YouTube and a Drone: Falling Trees, Fires and Flooding". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
- McClatchy DC, July 25, 2005. Accessed June 23, 2016. "Born: Dec. 28, 1961, in Mineola, N.Y.; raised in Wantagh, N.Y."
- ^ "Can Cyrus Vance, Jr., Nail Trump?". The New Yorker. March 11, 2021.