Wantagh ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, New York, United States. The population was 18,613 at the time of the 2020 census.
Wantagh is known as "The Gateway to Jones Beach".
History
thumb|Jerusalem historic marker in Wantagh
thumb|A historic marker noting President [[George Washington's 1790 journey on Babylon Turnpike]]
17th century
The Wantagh area was inhabited by the Merokee (or Merikoke) tribe of the Metoac Indians prior to the first wave of European settlement in the mid-17th century. The Merokee were part of the greater Montauk tribe that loosely ruled Long Island's Native Americans. Wantagh was the sachem (chief) of the Merokee tribe in 1647, and was later the grand sachem of the Montauk tribe from 1651 to 1658. The Dutch settlers came east from their New Amsterdam colony, and English settlers came south from Connecticut and Massachusetts settlements. When the English and Dutch settled their competing claims to Long Island in the 1650 treaty conducted in Hartford, the Dutch partition included all lands west of Oyster Bay and thus the Wantagh area. Long Island then was ceded to the Duke of York in 1663–64, but then fell back into Dutch hands after the Dutch regained New York in 1673. The Treaty of Westminster in 1674 settled the land claims once and for all, incorporating Long Island into the now-British colony of New York.
18th century
Early settler accounts refer to Wantagh as "Jerusalem". The creek running north–south through Wantagh, and which has been covered up in many places but is still visible between the Wantagh Parkway and the housing developments west of Wantagh Avenue, was originally the Jerusalem River. The original post office was built in 1837, for Jerusalem, but mail service from Brooklyn began around 1780. The town's first school was established in 1790. At some time around the 1880s, Jerusalem was renamed Ridgewood, and the town's original LIRR station was named "Ridgewood Station". Later, Ridgewood was renamed Wantagh to avoid confusion with another town in New York State with the same name.
George Washington rode through Jerusalem on April 21, 1790, as part of his 5-day tour of Long Island. The Daughters of the American Revolution have placed a plaque on Hempstead Turnpike to commemorate Washington's travels, which took him from Hempstead on Jerusalem Road (now North Jerusalem Road) to Jerusalem, on to Merrick Road. He then went on to head east, then circle back west on the north shore. During the Revolutionary War, British ships traveled up Jones inlet and came ashore to raid Jerusalem farms.
The oldest original settlers of the Wantagh/Jerusalem area were the Jackson and Seaman families, and their marks are still visible. 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), including:
- Cherrywood, Capt. John Seaman's 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.
The oldest cemetery in Wantagh is the Jackson Cemetery, located just north of the St. Frances de Chantal Roman Catholic Church on Wantagh Avenue. 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 American Revolutionary War.
Climate
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; most of Long Island is situated in zone 7b.
Demographics
thumb|Intersection of Wantagh Avenue and [[Sunrise Highway]]
Racial and ethnic composition
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Wantaugh CDP, New York – Racial and ethnic composition<br><small></small>
!Race / Ethnicity <small>(NH = Non-Hispanic)</small>
!Pop 2000
!Pop 2010
!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |Pop 2020
!% 2000
!% 2010
!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020
|-
|White alone (NH)
|17,829
|17,380
|style='background: #ffffe6; |16,211
|93.98%
|92.10%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |87.10%
|-
|Black or African American alone (NH)
|35
|51
|style='background: #ffffe6; |59
|0.18%
|0.27%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.32%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)
|4
|7
|style='background: #ffffe6; |7
|0.02%
|0.04%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.04%
|-
|Asian alone (NH)
|357
|372
|style='background: #ffffe6; |495
|1.88%
|1.97%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.66%
|-
|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)
|0
|1
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0
|0.00%
|0.01%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%
|-
|Other race alone (NH)
|21
|28
|style='background: #ffffe6; |64
|0.11%
|0.15%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.34%
|-
|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)
|106
|143
|style='background: #ffffe6; |378
|0.56%
|0.76%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.03%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (any race)
|619
|889
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1,399
|3.26%
|4.71%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |7.52%
|-
|Total
|18,971
|18,871
|style='background: #ffffe6; |18,613
|100.00%
|100.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%
|}
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Wantagh had a population of 18,613. The median age was 42.4 years. 22.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 92.8 males age 18 and over.
There were 6,062 households in Wantagh, of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 70.1% were married-couple households, 9.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 17.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 13.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
|-
| White || 16,595 || 89.2%
|-
| Black or African American || 64 || 0.3%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 13 || 0.1%
|-
| Asian || 499 || 2.7%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| Some other race || 294 || 1.6%
|-
| Two or more races || 1,148 || 6.2%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 1,399 || 7.5%
|}
2000 census
As of the census
- Jones Beach State Park
- Mill Pond
- Twin Lakes Preserve
- Wantagh Park
Education
Public high schools
- MacArthur High School
- Wantagh Senior High School
Middle schools
- Wantagh Middle School
Elementary schools
- Forest Lake Elementary School
- Mandalay Elementary School
- Wantagh Elementary School
Wantagh is primarily located in the Wantagh Union Free School District. Students who reside in Wantagh attend public schools in one of these districts depending on the hamlet in which they reside. Express trains to Penn Station average roughly a 45-minute one-way trip.
Bus
Bus service in Wantagh is provided by the n19 (Freeport LIRR–Sunrise Mall), as well as the n54 and n55 (Hempstead Transit Center–Sunrise Mall); these lines are operated by Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE).
Road
Merrick Road, the Seaford–Oyster Bay Expressway, Sunrise Highway, Wantagh Avenue, and the Wantagh State Parkway all traverse and have major intersections or exits/entrances within Wantagh.
- Allen Weisselberg (born 1947), businessman; former Chief Financial Officer of the Trump Organization; longtime resident of Wantagh; pleaded guilty to tax fraud in 2022 and to perjury in 2024 in connection with his role at the Trump Organization
- Alan Zweibel, author and comedy writer
References
External links
- Wantagh.li
- Wantagh Chamber of Commerce
- Wantagh Public Library
- Wantagh/Seaford Homeowners Association
- Wantagh Auxiliary Police
- Wantagh Fire Department
- Wantagh Union Free School District