Ahh, Long Island. Home of great beaches, even better bagels and some very confusing directionals. It’s not just you, here are 13 ways LI makes itself needlessly complicated:
13. East Hills is west of West Hills. 
The names reference different hills, but it hindsight it seems like whoever named these places didn’t know how to operate a compass. Good thing for GPS.
12. West Hills is east of North Hills 
Here we are again.
11. Oceanside is next to the bay. 
If you thought a community with ocean in its name would have a direct view of the Atlantic, you’d be wrong. Oceanside is actually beside Middle Bay. It seems in Oceanside that “side” means over a mile away.
10. East Northport is south of Northport
Back during the 1870s, train conductors would refer to the railroad station at Larkfield Road and Bellerose Avenue as “east of Northport” because it was east of the railway junction. But what made sense to 19th century train conductors didn’t quite make sense as the community’s name, geographically speaking.
9. The Nassau County seat is actually in Garden City, not Mineola.
Garden City’s founders wanted to be the home of the county’s government buildings to increase property values, so they offered the land for free. Although still technically in Garden City, the county’s main buildings fall within neighboring Mineola’s mailing address.
8. Speaking of Garden City, it’s a village, not a city.
Technically, it’s the Village of Garden City. Still sounds better than Garden Village.
7. Kings Point and Kings Park are not the same place.
One of these places lies within the boundaries of Nassau County, the other in Suffolk. One is known as the home of Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald, the other is infamously known as the birthplace of an old insane asylum. They’re easy to mix up, but are definitely not the same place.
6. There’s more than one Heckscher park. 
One is a state park in East Islip and the other a town park in Huntington. Make sure you know the difference before going to either for the first time.
5. Mill Pond is the name of quite a few different ponds.
It seems Long Island’s founders lacked creativity when it comes to naming local bodies of water. They all date to the days when mills were common, but nowadays make sure you know which town someone means when they say, “meet me at mill pond.”
4. Suffolk County jail is said to be in Riverhead, but it’s actually in Riverside.
Confusing things further is the fact that Riverside is actually in the Town of Southampton. The upside is inmates can say they have a place to stay in the Hamptons.
3. Quiogue and Quogue are two different places. 
The name Quiogue was assigned in the 2010 census as a correction, which makes us wonder if the name for Quogue is just a typo too. Someone needs to run a spell check.
2. There’s more than one Long Beach and Cedar Beach. 
Going someone in Long Beach? Make sure it’s the one on the South Shore of Nassau County and not the one on the North Shore of Suffolk County. Multiple Cedar Beaches also grace opposing coasts.
- North Sea is on the South Fork and it’s on the bay, not the ocean.
North Sea, meet Oceanside.
