Long Island

 What do I mean when I say ‘“I’m from Long Island”?

Long Island is a fish-shaped island, its head just across the East River from Manhattan, its tail (the North Fork and South Fork) 120 miles east, sitting in the Atlantic Ocean.  The island is never more than 23 miles wide.

The island was formed by a glacier.  The North Shore is glacial moraine, very rocky and hilly. Long Island Sound, to the north of the island, was carved out by the retreating glacier.  The South Shore is out wash plain, very flat terrain.

Brooklyn and Queens, two NYC boroughs, occupy the western end of the island.  Most people think of “Long Island” as Nassau and Suffolk Counties.  Nassau is very  suburban, as is western Suffolk.  Eastern Suffolk is more rural, with farms and wineries on the North Fork.  The South Fork is more touristy — think Montauk and the Hamptons.

There are several smaller islands that are included in the general description of “Long Island”.  Jones Island and Fire Island, for example, are barrier beaches along the South Shore.  Shelter Island sits between the North and South Forks ...

When’s Long Islander says “the island”, they mean somewhere in Nassau or Suffolk.  When they say “the city”, they mean Manhattan.

So if I tell you I live on the island but I used to work in the city, you understand my reference points ...

My family lived in central Nassau when I was born, but we moved to northwestern Suffolk when I was 8.  So I’m very much a North Shore girl.  I moved to Brooklyn when I got married, and later we moved to Queens.  Now I live on the South Shore, just a short drive from Jones Beach.

And yes, I have a very distinct Lawn Guyland accent ...