The story began hundreds of millions of years ago when continents collided. It evolved over centuries until the rising sea finally encircled a fish-shaped pile of sand that had been pushed together by a retreating glacier as tall as a skyscarper and as wide as a continent.

True stories, fun facts, and photos that reveal the little-known secrets of New York’s Long Island. Long Island’s history is filled with fascinating firsts, magnificent mansions, and colorful characters. From Glenn Curtiss, the first pilot to fly a plane on the island, to Earle Ovington, who carried the country’s first airmail, the area has been known as the cradle of aviation. Millionaire William K. Vanderbilt’s Long Island Motor Parkway, remnants of which still remain, was the nation's first highway. The desolate ruins of an exiled Albanian king’s estate lie in the midst of the woods of the Muttontown Preserve. Captain William Kidd, pirate chaser turned pirate, is rumored to have buried treasure on the island. With these stories and more, Richard Panchyk reveals the rapidly vanishing traces of Long Island’s intriguing history. “Amazing and unknown historical gems.”—Queens Gazette