Wantagh (/ˈwÉ'ntÉ"Ë / WAHN-taw) 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 of Wantagh was 18,871 at the
time of the 2010 census. It is serviced by the Wantagh Station on the
Long Island Rail Road.Wantagh is known as "The Gateway to Jones
Beach".Wantagh is known as "The Gateway to Jones Beach".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 1651-1658. 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.Early settler accounts refer
to Wantagh as "Jerusalem", although earlier accounts refer to the area
as "Wantagh". 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. Wantagh, New York Top Movies & Young Movies