US Post Office Great NeckUS Post Office

Great Neck, a region on the North Shore of Nassau County that encompasses nine villages, is one of the most culturally diverse and historic places in Nassau County. The area has become both an unofficial Chinatown and a little Iran due to high concentration of Iranians and Chinese families. During the Roaring Twenties, Great Neck became one of Long Island’s most wealthy communities, with figures like the Marx Brothers, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Eddie Cantor buying homes in Great Neck. Throughout the area are a mix of old and new buildings, from rustic homes from the beginning of the 20th century to ornately designed synagogues to a recently renovated modernist library. Many of these historic sites can be found on the Great Neck Historical Society’s list of Great Neck Historical Society Plaques. Here is our guide to 10 historic and significant sites to discover on the Great Neck peninsula!

1. Stepping Stones Lighthouse

Stepping Stones Lighthouse

Stepping Stones Light is a Victorian-style lighthouse that sits in the Long Island sound between Kings Point and the Bronx, and its light is in current use. Although it is not open to the public, it can be seen from nearby Steppingstone Park and the US Merchant Marine Academy, which is currently closed during the pandemic, or by boat from the water.

The lighthouse and park get its name from a Siwanoy legend in which the devil tossed huge boulders into the Long Island Sound to escape the tribe’s warrior and magic, and these boulders would be called the devil’s “stepping stones.” The lighthouse is made of red brick in a square shape, and it was added to the National Register for Historic Places in 2005. Since then, the National Park Service and local organizations like the Great Neck Historical Society raised thousands of dollars to restore the lighthouse.