Manor Houses And Historic Homes Of Long Island And Salen Island

Author : Rufus Rockwell Wilson
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780484732116
Total Pages : 362 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (321 download)

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Download or read book Historic Long Island (Classic Reprint) written by Rufus Rockwell Wilson and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2017-12-25 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Historic Long Island But the distinctive fact in the island's history is that it has been from the first a land Of homes and home-makers. The Dutch and English pioneers had no other thought than to rear in a new land new hearthstones for themselves and their children, and so strong and abiding speedily became their love Of the pleasant country to possess which they had crossed the seas, that all over the island one Will find men and women still holding the rich acres whereon their ancestors settled upward Of two centuries ago. Later times and changed conditions have brought in another and larger army Of home-makers. The Long Island railroad was built to Jamaica in 1836, and four years later extended to Hicksville and thence to Greenport. Since that time the growth Of the island in population and wealth has been steady and some sections marvelously rapid. The chain Of hills on the north side is rapidly being covered with the homes Of a refined population; but the greatest trans formation has been wrought along the south shore, and where, thirty years ago, was nothing save a Wilderness of uninhabited salt meadows and sand beaches and pine and scrub oak plains, is now a chain Of thriving and prosperous villages, and Of splendid homes and hotels. Set opposite the great city Of which its westward reaches now form a part, the island's past shapes its future. Madeeasier Of access by the bridges and tunnels building and to be built, the residents Of over-crowded Manhattan are, with the passage Of the years, to turn to it in steadily increasing numbers as Ofiering the most inviting and available sites on which to build their homes. Another decade Will see a doubling Of its population; and to this increase the man Of large means, and the modest wage-earner will each contribute his share. The present work has, therefore, a double purpose. It aims to give attractive form to the island's wealth Of historic associations; to sketch its varied and active life in the present; and to make clear the part it is to play in the future. The reader who dips into its pages will make acquaintance with the interesting and unfamiliar existence Of the Indians who ranged the island before the coming Of the white man; with the peace-loving burgher and the liberty-loving Puritan who next claimed it for their own; with the homes and ways Of these pioneers; with Kieft and Stuyvesant and the rest Of the long procession Of Dutch and English governors who ruled it in good Old colony times with Washington and the other men Of might and valor who waged and won the fight for freedom; with the island's quickening life in the middle years Of the last century; with the divers activities which now make it one Of the most attractive Of New World communities, and with the forces that are to keep it in the years to come, as in those that are gone, a land Of homes and home-makers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.