Colonial Era The North Shore was inhabited by
Algonquin-speaking tribes, most notably the
Matinecock, along with the
Nesaquake (Nissequogue),
Setauket, and
Corchaug indigenous populations. The subsequent period of settlement was by Europeans in the mid-1600s. Much of the area was initially controlled by the Dutch colony of
New Netherland. Towns in the eastern part of the North Shore were settled by the English under the jurisdiction of the
New Haven Colony and
Connecticut Colony. This arrangement ended in 1664 with the English takeover of New Netherland, when all of Long Island was transferred into the new
Province of New York. In its early days the North Shore was largely agricultural. Whaling was also a component of the early economy, as is commemorated in
Cold Spring Harbor's
Whaling Museum & Education Center.
Gilded Era , former estate of financier
Otto Hermann Kahn , the former estate of
U.S. Steel heir
John Shaffer Phipps and now a
museum home During the
Second Industrial Revolution, great fortunes were made in steel, transportation and other industries. Beginning in the early 1890s, lavish private estates were erected on what became known as the "Gold Coast" of Long Island. In all, over 500 mansions were built during this spree, concentrated in . Among those were expansive faux chateaux and castles belonging to the
Vanderbilts,
Astors,
Whitneys,
Charles Pratt,
J. P. Morgan,
F. W. Woolworth, and others.
Otto Kahn's
Oheka Castle was reputed to be the
second largest private home in the United States, second only to the
Biltmore Estate in
Asheville, North Carolina. Alternatively, some eschewed formal mansions and erected large
shingle-style and clapboard "cottages", such as Theodore Roosevelt's
Sagamore Hill. The greatest architects, landscapers, decorators and firms were employed, including
Stanford White,
John Russell Pope,
Guy Lowell, and
Carrère and Hastings. Architectural styles included
English Tudor, French Chateau, Georgian, Gothic, Mediterranean, Norman, Roman, Spanish, and combinations of these. Rooms, outdoor structures, and entire buildings were dismantled in Europe and reassembled on the North Shore. Complementing the great houses were formal gardens, gazebos, greenhouses, stables, guest houses, gate houses, swimming pools, reflecting pools, ponds, children's playhouses, pleasure palaces, golf courses, and tennis courts. Activities such as horse riding, hunting, fishing, fox hunting, polo, yachting, golf, swimming, tennis, skeet shooting and winter sports, were held at the estates or exclusive clubs nearby such as the Beaver Dam Club, the
Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club (1871),
Meadow Brook Club (1881), Manhasset Bay Yacht Club (1892),
Piping Rock Club (1912), and Creek Club (1923). Privacy was maintained with the huge land holdings, hedges and trees, fences, gates and gate houses, private roads, and lack of maps showing the location of the estates.
Post-War era Following World War II many Gold Coast mansions were demolished and their estates subdivided into
suburban-style developments. Only about 200 of the original 500 survive. As fortunes faded some of the largest or most prominent Gilded Era showpieces, such as
Daniel Guggenheim's
Gould-Guggenheim Estate, Theodore Roosevelt's
Sagamore Hill,
William Vanderbilt II's
Eagle's Nest, the
Alexander P. de Seversky Mansion, Otto Kahn's
Oheka Castle, and
John Shaffer Phipps'
Westbury House were turned into
museum homes, conference centers, and resorts. Others repurposed for non-residential uses include
Herbert L. Pratt's
Glen Cove country home,
The Braes, turned into the
Webb Institute,
Walter Chrysler's
Kings Point estate, "Forker House", turned into the
United States Merchant Marine Academy, and
U.S. Steel heir
Childs Frick's "Clayton" the
Nassau County Museum of Art. ==Geography==