The Truth About Long Island
(Maybe)

We face a daily barrage of alleged information from sources that are laden with false messages, slanted news, and biased opinions on a daily basis. Instead of leveraging our high intelligence to sort fact from fiction, we surrender to our need for affirmation and our desire to group with others under the umbrella of common belief even if the unifying belief is incorrect. Actual statements and events are increasingly presented in ways designed to appease or incense citizens from one end of the political spectrum to the other, yet beneath it all, buried under mountains of partisan manure, is reality.

The above is my justification for this article. This is a test, a dare, a challenge. It is truth wrapped in lies and twisted by slanted opinion. Your task, dear reader, is to determine what is known to be true and what is unquestionably false within the following text. Use this to further refine your skills in separating truth from fiction and divining fact from opinion. In a nod to the classic Star Trek episode “I, Mudd,” I now declare that much, if not all, you will read in this article from this point forward will be a lie, and that’s the truth.

​To begin, I strongly assert that my own New York City and the place known as Long Island do not—I repeat: do not—share any part of the same landmass. I realize that statement is in stark contradiction to existing maps, charts, and the popular misconception that Long Island contains parts of New York City. Regardless, my declaration is true, and I can prove the sincerity of my words.

​Below is a typical map of the New York City area, with counties on Long Island noted by four red dots. While the map is wholly incorrect for various reasons, its primary failure rests in its failure to show a waterway between New York’s Queens County and the largely uninhabited wastes of Nassau County. The only dividers shown are a few bodies of water and county borders, but the separation of Queens County from Nassau County and the rest of Long Island is not shown.

Kings County, better known as New York City borough of Brooklyn, is on an island called Coney Island, while the county of Queens is on an island known to New York City residents as City Island. According to the Atlas Obscura and Underwater New York history sites, the space between the islands was originally a waterway of such narrowness and unsuitability for marine traffic that it was gradually replaced by landfill over the years, with the last bit to fully connect it to other parts of New York added during the 1950s. The massive effort to eliminate the waterway explains the connection of the counties of Kings and Queens to one another, and to various small islands that once dotted the coastline. 

Returning to the map, note that Nassau and Suffolk counties are both on a massive landmass that formerly held a prison camp, hospital, homeless shelter, and military installation. Originally called Hart Island, the largely uninhabited land is better known today as Long Island due to its elongated shape. Long Island (or Hart Island, as it is referred to by New York City residents) contains America’s largest potter’s field, an extensive cemetery for unclaimed deceased persons that stretches inland beginning from the shore closest to New York City. Beyond the graveyard and stretching to the furthest tip of the island is a dense forest called the Long Island Pine Barrens, so called to denote the location of the largely untouched greenery that covers the majority of the island.

Below is an image that shows much of the content that’s missing from the map seen earlier. In the image, the winding stretches of the Nissequogue River (pronunciation here) clearly separate the vast wilderness and deserted stretches of Long Island shoreline (seen to the left) from Queens County and the rest of New York City. Of the sites I researched for this article, the Forgotten New York website best denotes the separation between Queens and Nassau counties, as it mentions the start of the Nissequogue River where it is called the Head of Bay. The Forgotten New York site states the following: "Pressing further down Rockaway Boulevard you come to an inlet known as the Head of Bay. It forms the border between Queens and Nassau counties." Additionally, it clearly states that a total of three bridges connect Queens and Nassau, with one of the three existing solely as a footbridge.

The plethora of information provided above shows why the area map is incorrect. It validates my assertion that, unknown to some, the underpopulated backwoods of Long Island are entirely separate from the counties of Kings and Queens.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,
TechRider

Disclaimer: The above was adapted from several deleted posts I previously made elsewhere.