Huntington Runs From Harbor Deeds to Walt Whitman

Huntington’s story starts at the shore and then reaches a poet’s house. Matinecock people lived near Cold Spring Harbor, Huntington, Centerport, and Crab Meadow, tying the older town map to water and landing places.

The town’s formal European record begins with an April 2, 1653 deed involving Raseokan, Sachem of the Matinecocks. The land ran from Cold Spring Harbor to Northport Harbor and south toward present-day Old Country Road, names that place the deed on today’s map.

Then Huntington adds Walt Whitman. His father built the birthplace around 1819. The farmhouse is a New York State Historic Site and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. NYS Parks uses a Huntington Station mailing address. The Census geocoder places 246 Old Walt Whitman Road in the South Huntington Census place. The postal name and Census boundary answer different questions.

The house has historic nineteenth-century furniture, while its interpretive center holds portraits, letters, and manuscripts. A family house, a writer’s memory, and a Long Island town all meet at the same address.