Are you thinking about buying a home in Bay Shore, NY?
Below you will find Bay Shore homes for sale and some information about Bay Shore that I think will help you make the decision to move to Bay Shore, NY. Living in Bay Shore enables you to easily enjoy the nearby beaches and the historic heritage of the town all the while being one hour from Manhattan. Home styles in Bay Shore include capes, colonials, ranches, split levels, tudors, victorian.
Where On Long Island Is Bay Shore Located?
Bay Shore is the seven square mile hamlet located in the Town of Islip in Suffolk County on Long Island, NY, 42 miles from New York City and 75 miles from Montauk. It is considered “the heart of the south shore.”
It is surrounded by West Islip, Brightwaters and West Bay Shore to the west, Brentwood, and Deer Park to the north, Islip to the east, and the Great South Bay and Fire Island to the south.
Why Would You Like Living in Bay Shore?
Nearby Parks include Robert Moses State Park and Heckscher State Park. Golf is available at Southward Ho, a private country club on the former Henry Baldwin Hyde estate. Nature lovers can visit the 230-acre Gardiner Park on Montauk Highway, which was originally part of the Sagtikos Manor estate.
Bay Shore town includes a quaint but lively downtown area with many restaurants and the Boulton Center For Performing Arts. There are beaches on the Great South Bay, public parks, and marina facilities. The largest shopping is at the South Shore Mall, as well as The Arches and Bellport Outlets for shopping nearby. Bay Shore does have local bus transportation and is the Bay Shore stop on the Long Island Road’s Montauk branch. There is ferry service to Saltaire, Ocean Beach, Alantique, Kismet, Dunewood, Fair Harbor, Seaview, and Ocean Bay Park
There are two major community events. The Fourth of July celebration witch includes a concert as well as a giant fireworks display. The second is in September, the Arts and Crafts Festival sponsored by the Bay Shore Chamber of Commerce.
Some Historical Information About Bay Shore
Sagtikos Manor, right on Montauk Highway is the Bay Shore’s oldest structure. Built in 1692 by New York City’s first native-born mayor, Stephanus Van Cortlandt. It served as headquarters for the British forces during the American Revolution, and George Washington stopped here on his tour through Long Island in 1790.
Before becoming a suburb of New York City as it is now, Bay Shore enjoyed a life as summer tourist town, in large part because of its location along the Great South Bay and access to Fire Island. It became the home of the affluent Long Islanders looking to erect large estates on the bay.
Bay Shore was part of the “Hidden Gold Coast” on the south shore of Long Island which extended eastward from the Nassau County border to the Bayport / Blue Point along the Great South Bay. The south shore Gold Coast was closely knit, but ethnically and religiously diverse and tolerant. The area was settled predominately by sugar plantation owners, sugar refiners, attorneys, capitalist, investment bankers, merchants, and shipping magnets. South Shore families were associated with Gulden Mustard, Domino Sugar, Entenmann Bakery, Moran Tugboats, Adam and Chicle Chewing Gum, Doxsee Clams, Lorillard and American Tabacco, deMurias and Bachia Cigars, Pinkerton Detective Agency, Abraham and Strauss, Singer Sewing Machine, Bon Ami Cleanser, and Republic Pictures.
Early in motion pictures film stars were drawn to the area because Vitagraph Studios was located at 94 Fourth Avenue. In 1902, Biograph Movie Studios started filming in Bay Shore. The “Keystone Kops” had their start here as did early shows of “Our Gang”. The bright reflected light from the ocean was needed for the film cameras.
An area south of Main Street (also known as South of Montauk) was an area that in the 1880’s through the 1920’s saw the building of large homes and mansions. There are still some that remain from that period, but many have been subdivided, converted to commercial use or demolished.
West of the downtown area are the sections known as Brightwaters, O-Co’nee Estates. O-Co’nee Estates is the most well-known remaining estate section in Bay Shore. This area, with direct access to the bay, is a neighborhood of stately colonials on lots up to four acres interspersed with large modern homes on the picturesque streets of Garner Lane, Lawrence Drive, Manatuck Lane and West Lane. As grand and elaborate as the homes are, they are not as opulent as many of the estates that were demolished and rezoned. It is said that in the town’s heyday, the average Bay Shore estate was approximately 25,000 square feet.
At the east end of Bay Shore has lovely tree-lined streets with larger homes on South Awixa Avenue, Penataquit Avenue, South Montgomery, and Saxon Avenue all south of Montauk Highway.
Some of Awixa Avenue’s historic homes include:
- #32 built in 1897 by William H Wray,
- #47 built in 1904 by Elwood Mildeberger
- #65 built by Dr. J.V. Wooley
- #82 built in 1913 as the Mollenhauer Farm
- #85 built in 1898 for the Mullenhauer family too
- #117 Rudolph Oelsner
- #143 Rafael Gustavino “Tile House”.
Want to Know Who Else Thought Bay Shore was a Great Place to Live?
There have been many famous residents of Bay Shore and here is just a short list of them:
- Fatty Arbuckle, Film Star
- Thomas Adams, Founder of the Adams Chewing Gum Company, now part of Cadbury
- Patti Austin, Recording Artist
- August Belmont, Jr., Financier
- Richard Augustus Bachia, Jr, Industrialist, R A Bachia & Co
- John Edward Baxter, Industrialist and Financier
- Walter Ellwood Bedell, Financier
- Charlie Chaplin, Film Star
- Marie Dressler, Film Star
- Amy Goodman, News Broadcaster and Columnist
- Mabel Normand, Film Star
- Norma Talmadge, Film Star
- Masquetux, the estate of Equitable Life Insurance Company founder, Henry Hyde and Ardmore, the Thomas C Adams Jr estate were merged to form the current Southward Ho Country Club.
- The Admiralty development was originally Thornham, the 200-acre estate of millionaire banker and philanthropist Landon Thorne.
- Simon Rothschild, A & S Department Store
- Robert A. Pinkerton (the last family President at Pinkerton's National Detective Agency Pinkerton Security)
- Author Mario Puzo lived the last part of his life in Bay Shore
- LL Cool J, Recording Artist and actor
- Members of the Gulden Mustard company's founding family lived in Bay Shore and neighboring Islip
- The Entenmann family of the famous Entenmann's baked goods company lived in Bay Shore
- Harro O. Havemeyer, Sugar Baron and Art Collector
- Joe Namath, Football Superstar
- PC Richard, founder of the electronics and appliance store chain
- Spurgeon Tucker, 20th century painter of Long Island scenes and New York City celebrities.
- Harvey Milk, Gay Rights Pioneer and Politician
Charles Lindberg, Aviator- Commodore J. Adolph Mollenhauer
- Juan Manuel Ceballos, Sugar Merchant
- Lewis Mills Gibb, Partner in Frederick Loeser & Co
- H. Cecil Sharp
- H.G. Timmerman, Stockbroker
- Richard Hyde, Theatrical Producer
- Edward Spring Knapp Sr., Capitalist
- John Dunbar Adams, President and Chairman of the Board of Chickle Co
- Thomas B.Asten, Politician and President of New York City Board of Taxes and Assesments
- August Belmont III, Financier and Capitalist
- George W. Burchell, Financier
- Howard Drummond, Financier
- Julian Douglas Fairchild, Financier, Capitalist, Industrialist and Politician
- Rafael Gustavino Jr., Capitalist
- Harry Waldron Havemeyer, Industrialist
- George W. Hodges Sr., Financier
- Henry Baldwin Hyde Sr., President of Equitable Life Assurance Co,
- Edward Francis Hutton, Industrialist
- James Hazen Hyde, Writer, Financier and Capitalist
- James H. Kempster, President of James H. Kempster Printing
- James Lanier Lawrance, Industrialist and Capitalist
- John Mollenhauer, Founder of Mollenhauer Sugar Refining Co,
- Rudolph Oelsner, Restauraneur and Beer Importer
- Walter Hines Page Sr., Journalist, Writer and Publisher
- James R. Hyde, Capitalist
For additional information Bay Shore - Brightwaters Website, Around The Township of Islip, The Town of Islip Website
Bay Shore Homes For Sale
There are a number of beautiful homes for sale in Bay Shore, NY. Below is a slideshow of just a few of the homes currently for sale in Bay Shore, NY. I hope you find something that appeals to you.
Complete List of Homes for Sale in Bay Shore New York
The previous slide show contains just a random sample of the homes for sale in Bay Shore. Follow this link for a complete list of our homes for sale in Bay Shore New York.
Is Bay Shore A Walkable Town?
Do you prefer a walkable lifestyle? Using a set of criteria WalkScore.com rates how easy a town is to navigate on foot. Here you will find Bay Shore's score.
