The Cow Neck Peninsula is a peninsula in

Nassau County, New York Nassau County ( ) is a suburban County (United States), county located on Long Island, immediately to the east of New York City, bordering the Long Island Sound on the north and the open Atlantic Ocean to the south. As of the 2020 United St ...

, on the North Shore of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, in the United States. Manhasset-Bay-NY-1917

Description

The Cow Neck Peninsula was named Cow Neck in the 17th century, in large part due to the fact that it served as a common pasture at the time. The Cow Neck Peninsula is famous for its affluence and historic communities, and was famous for its sand mines along Hempstead Harbor throughout the 20th century. It is believed that 90% of the concrete that built the foundations of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

came from the Port Washington sand mines, and that over 100 million tons of sand were shipped to

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. The Cow Neck Peninsula is also known as Manhasset Neck or simply as Cow Neck.

Geography

On its west side, the Cow Neck Peninsula is bordered by

Manhasset Bay Manhasset Bay, New York, is an embayment in western Long Island off Long Island Sound. Description Manhasset Bay forms the northeastern boundary of the Great Neck Peninsula and the southwestern boundary of the Cow Neck Peninsula ( Port Was ...

. On its east side, it is bordered by Hempstead Harbor. To the north, it is bordered by the

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

. Some places on the Cow Neck Peninsula – notably in Flower Hill and

Manhasset Manhasset is an affluent hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Manhasset area. The population was 8,176 ...

– reach elevations high enough for the skyline of New York City to be seen from ground level.

List of communities

The following towns are located on the Cow Neck Peninsula – either in part or in whole: * Baxter Estates * Flower Hill *

* Manorhaven * Plandome * Plandome Heights * Plandome Manor * Port Washington * Port Washington North * Sands Point The Cow Neck Peninsula is located entirely within the Town of North Hempstead.1873 Beers Map of North Hempstead.

References

{{Long Island region Landforms of Nassau County, New York