Manhasset, NY real estate market

Manhasset sits on the Cow Neck Peninsula on Long Island's North Shore, in the Town of North Hempstead. The name came about in 1840, an anglicized version of Manhanset, meaning the island neighborhood. Before that the Matinecock had a village on the bay here they called Sint Sink, place of small stones, and the peninsula itself was known as Cow Neck because it was good grazing ground, with settlers running over 300 cows on it by 1659. The Town of North Hempstead split off from Hempstead in 1784, and its town hall has stood on Plandome Road in Manhasset since 1907, which still makes this hamlet the town seat today.

The place grew slowly as farm country until the Long Island Rail Road reached Manhasset in 1898. That brought commuters looking for country homes with an easy ride into the city, and the commercial center moved from the old Manhasset Valley area up to Plandome Road, near the new station. The 1719 Quaker Meeting House survived the Revolution despite British forces burning and seizing property across Little Cow Neck, and it still stands today next to the public library on Onderdonk Avenue. The Americana Manhasset shopping strip opened on the Miracle Mile in 1956 and remains part of the retail base along with the bakeries, delis, and coffee shops clustered near the train station.

Geographically, Manhasset sits on the Harbor Hill Moraine, the same glacial ridge that runs the length of the North Shore, and it drains toward Leeds Pond and Whitney Pond into Manhasset Bay. The greater Manhasset area also takes in the villages of Munsey Park, Plandome, and Plandome Heights, plus parts of Flower Hill, Plandome Manor, and North Hills, so buyers should check which incorporated line a listing actually falls on before assuming Manhasset services apply.