Mount Sinai History

The first settlers of this area were Native Americans, like many areas along the North Shore years ago. They called the area Nonowatuck, meaning the stream that dries up. The wealth of the harbor and upland forests provided food, shelter and firewood. Fresh water flowed freely from springs at the edge of the harbor. It was a wonderful place to live. Carbon fragments found in firepits of these early settlements date back 4000 years. What would those first inhabitants of the area say if they saw Mt. Sinai today?

It is difficult to imagine the way in which people lived back in 1000 B.C., 1000 A.D. or even 1900. Here we are in the year 2000 and Mt. Sinai is still a wonderful place to live! European settlers saw the potential and goodness of the area. They bought land from surviving Native Americans in the mid 1600s. These new settlers started to build houses near the harbor along the roads used to convey travelers and the mail (Old Post Road). These oldest houses, now included in the historical district of Mt. Sinai-Miller Place, are on Old Post Road, Shore Road and North Country Road. These buildings marked the beginnings of "modern" development of the colonial Old Mans. The name changed to Mt. Sinai in 1840 when the citizens of the area applied for their own post office.

The colonial settlers, the new Americans, divided the land into farms, a store or two and a blacksmith shop. The upland forest was cut to supply wood for buildings and burning. Wood was also exported across the Sound or to New York City. The cleared land was farmed. To this day fields are still being harvested but the crops harvested are different. Although a few areas of Mt. Sinai have areas of old trees these are no doubt second or even third growth forests. The development of Mt. Sinai was very slow until the middle of the 1960s.

The harbor was a place used for boating, fishing, swimming and shellfishing. Summer visitors stayed at near by hotels or summer cottages. "Up street" farmers worked their fields and milked their cows. In a sense Mt. Sinai was a suburb of Port Jefferson. In the mid 1850s there was a one room school house that served K - 8 grades. High school students went to Port Jefferson. This pattern continued until 1991. The size of the elementary school increased in size to match the increasing population. As the Long Island Expressway, Nesconset Highway and other roads developed the access to the Mt. Sinai area was made easier. Exit 63 let people drive north to the new developments started on the farm fields in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At the same time people started to build houses on individual lots and in small developments around the community. The net result was that a rural community was changed to a suburban residential community just 30 or so years ago. A piece of rural character still persists on about 400 acres of land now being farmed.

However, all of the land is zoned to be developed with either residential, commercial, nursing home and assisted living development.

The Native Americans built camps and long houses near the harbor 4000 years ago and the first colonists built buildings in the mid 1600s. Now in the year 2000 the stage is set to complete the development of all of the lands in Mt. Sinai. Within 10 to 15 years the development of the last remaining farmland will take place. At that time we will be a true suburban community. When the hamlet of Mt. Sinai is fully developed it will have a population of 14,000 to 15000 people.

Our community will be a blend of residential neighborhoods, planned retirement communities, commercial properties, nursing home, assisted living facility, churches and synagogue, schools, fire department, ambulance facility, post office, golf course and park. The harbor will still provide its many recreational opportunities. Mt. Sinai has changed through time. The past is very different from our present day Mt. Sinai. However Mt. Sinai still is a wonderful place to live.