Northport is a village in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 7,606. Students attend the Northport-East Northport Union Free School District.

The Village of Northport sits along New York State Route 25A in the Town of Huntington, on Long Island's picturesque North Shore. It is known for its bucolic main street which still bears trolley rails from a long discontinued streetcar that brought people to the village from the Long Island Rail Road station in East Northport. Main Street ends at the village dock and village green, site of numerous "concerts in the park" on summer evenings. It has a number of fine restaurants and ice cream parlors, antique stores, as well as an old-style barbershop, and other independent retailers.

History

European Settlement

The original inhabitants of the area now known as Northport were the Matinecocks, one of 13 Native American tribes of Long Island. The Matinecocks called this land "Opcathontyche", which meant "wading place creek".^[1] After Dutch interest a few years earlier, the land was sold by Chief Asharoken, head of the Matinecocks, to three Englishmen in 1656.^[2]

With land that was well suited for farming, the early settlers grazed cattle on pastures around the harbor. The area soon became known as Great Cow Harbor.^[3] (The nearby village of Centerport was known as Little Cow Harbor.)

Growth, Change, and Shipbuilding

Around the Revolutionary War, a concentration of 31 families began settling around where Main Street and Route 25A now intersect. This settlement became known as Red Hook.^[1] Although most people continued calling it Great Cow Harbor, the village was officially known as Red Hook by the early 19th century. This was one of several short-lived name changes for the town, which included Bryant's Landing in 1802, Vernon Valley in 1820, and Crab Meadow soon thereafter.^[3]

By 1837 the village finally became known as Northport^[1], which was at least the seventh known name given to the area.^[3] The reason for this name was never officially documented but coincides with the rapid growth of port-related industries, and the village is on the north shore of Long Island. By 1840 the region had shifted away from its farming roots as shipbuilding became the community's primary industry. Northport's shipbuilding boon lasted a half-century, but waned in the late 1800s as steel-hulled ships began replacing the wooden vessels produced in the village.^[1]

The village of Northport was formally incorporated in 1894^[3], the first village to do so in the Huntington Township.^[1]

Railroads & Trolleys

On April 25, 1868 the Long Island Railroad opened a station within the village of Northport.^[4] This was an essential transportation link for the village, especially for the growing commuter population. However, just a few years later the LIRR decided to move the Northport station to a new location in Larkfield to facilitate further railway extension to Port Jefferson. The new railway station located on Larkfield Road was opened on January 13, 1873^[5] and retained the station name of Northport.

To avoid confusion with the former station located in the village of Northport, train conductors would refer to the station in Larkfield as "East of Northport" because the station was located east of the Northport railway junction which directed trains north to the station located in the village. Despite the fact that Larkfield was primarily south of Northport, the area became known thereafter as East Northport.^[6]

After the old bypassed village station closed in 1899, Northport decided to build a 2½ mile trolley line to take commuters between Main Street and the new Northport station located in Larkfield. The new commuter trolley opened in mid-April of 1902. The trolley would eventually become obsolete with the invention of the automobile and the trolley made its last scheduled commuter run on August 19, 1924.^[7] The tracks remain a defining feature of Main Street to this day.

Modern Northport

After nearly a century of heavy commercial use, the waterfront which had supported the community for generations, had fallen into decay by the 1920s. The village decided to purchase the land along the harbor and created Northport Memorial Park in 1932.^[1]

Today Northport has grown well beyond its roots of rural farming and industrial shipbuilding.

Geography

Northport is located at 40°54′10″N 73°20′39″W / 40.90278°N 73.34417°W / 40.90278; -73.34417Invalid arguments have been passed to the {{#coordinates:}} function (40.902803, -73.344069).Template:GR According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 6.6 km² (2.5 mi²). 6.0 km² (2.3 mi²) of it is land and 0.6 km² (0.2 mi²) of it (9.02%) is water.

Most of the village is made up of the low, steep hills of Long Island's northern terminal moraine. To the west is the highly sheltered Northport Harbor, to the north is Long Island Sound, and to the east are woods and marshland.

A prominent feature of Northport is Steer’s Pit (known simply as "The Pit" to locals^[1]), a large land depression carved into the cliffs adjacent to Northport Harbor and just south of the enormous LIPA smokestacks. This unusual geographic feature is the result of sand mining operations by the Steers and Steers Company. Mining began in 1923 and ceased in the 1950s.^[8] The area has since been utilized for home and condo developments. The mined sand was shipped by barge to New York City where, mixed with Portland cement and rock aggregate, it became the sidewalks of New York.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 7,606 people, 2,952 households, and 2,069 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,271.3/km² (3,287.0/mi²). There were 3,052 housing units at an average density of 510.1/km² (1,319.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 97.04% White, 0.59% African American, 0.05% Native American, 1.25% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.30% from other races, and 0.75% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.09% of the population.

There were 2,952 households out of which 32.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.8% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 23.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.07.

In the village the population was spread out with 24.2% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 28.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.6 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $86,456, and the median income for a family was $104,488. Males had a median income of $78,715 versus $50,119 for females. The per capita income for the village was $43,694. About 1.6% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.7% of those under age 18 and 2.8% of those age 65 or over.

Interesting Facts

• "Cow Harbor Day" is an annual festival in the village consisting of a parade, live music, numerous street vendors, boat races and demonstrations by the U.S. Coast Guard, among other attractions. Each year an appearance is made by the Regimental Band of the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY. Since 1977, there has also been a popular 10 kilometer footrace, the Great Cow Harbor 10K, which takes place every September. The New York Road Runners Club considers the race an important run-up to the annual New York City Marathon, and practicing runners can be seen charging up the local hills starting in August.

• In 1997 the motion picture In & Out was filmed in Northport. The diner in the movie, "Darlene's", was then known as Otto's Shipwreck Diner, and is now known as Tim's Shipwreck Diner. Tim is Otto's son. Main Street was made up to play the role of the fictional small town of Greenleaf, Indiana. To maintain the illusion, camera crews were careful to always shoot away from the harbor at the end of Main Street.

• In 1984 Northport garnered nationwide media attention^[9] as the sight of a gruesome satanic murder by high school dropout Ricky Kasso.^[10] Long after the crime, the unfortunate events have been recounted in books^[11] and movies^[12], from which the village of Northport has unfairly suffered an undeserved negative reputation for satanism.^[12]

• The adjacent small towns of Asharoken, Eatons Neck, and Fort Salonga are often mistaken for being part of Northport [citation needed] since they are all served by the United States Post Office situated in Northport Village and share the same zip code of 11768. However Asharoken, Eatons Neck, and Fort Salonga are each independent villages and hamlets of New York.

• The Northport Trolley which had ceased operations in 1924 enjoyed a revival in the 1970s and 1980s, transporting weekend tourists along the Main Street section of tracks, however, the replica trolley ran on rubber auto tires, not the rails. Unlike it's electrically driven predecessors, the nostalgic streetcar was pulled by two draft horses, Fric and Frac, and was only seen in the daytime during good weather.

Notable residents

Theater

• Patti Lupone - Tony Award-winning broadway and television actress, best known for her role as Eva Peron in Evita.
• Edie Falco - Broadway, movie, and television actress best known for her role as Carmela Soprano on the The Sopranos.
• Elizabeth Hendrickson - Television actress best known for her role as twin sisters Frankie and Maggie Stone on All My Children.
• Gretchen Rau - Academy Award-winning motion picture set decorator.
• Charles Ludlam - Actor and playwright.
• Danny Masterson - Television actor, best known for his role as Steven Hyde on "That '70s Show".

Musicians

• Paul Pesco - Session and stage guitarist for many major artists' world tours, and motion picture musician and composer.
• Paul Zunno - Lead guitarist for rock and roll singer Wilson Pickett.
• Vance Brescia - Lead vocals and guitar for the rock and roll band The Mosquitos.
• Wendy Andreiev (Wendy Wild) - Lead vocalist in the 1980s for several New York-based bands.
• Mariah Carey - Singer and songwriter.^{[citation needed]}
• Ian Matthias Bavitz (Aesop Rock) - Hip-Hop, Rap artist.

Writers

• Jack Kerouac - Novelist and writer commonly credited as the catalyst for the 1960s counterculture movement.^[13]
• Greg Fox - Nationally syndicated comic strip artist/writer (His comic Kyle's Bed & Breakfast takes place in Northport.)
• Edwin G. Burrows - Pullitzer Prize-winning history writer.

Architecture

• Andrew Geller- Renowned architect.

Sports

• Darius Kasparaitis - Former NHL ice hockey player for the New York Rangers.
• Greg Buttle - Former NFL football player for the New York Jets.

See also

• Eatons Neck, New York
• Asharoken, New York
• East Northport, New York

External links

• Northport Village Community Web Site
• Northport Chamber of Commerce
• Northport Historical Society

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References

• Ruther, Frederick (1909). Long Island To-Day. New York: The Essex Press.