Amityville’s romantic era
by Carolyn James

The Wardle Hotel

It is a romantic era; a time when leisure was an important part of life and many areas of Long Island were getaways for the rich and well-to-do Manhattanites and Brooklynites; when grand hotels dotted the Long Island’s foamy shoreline like beads on lace.

Images are of women with parasols, lifting their long skirts just above their ankles to dip their toes into the foamy waves while their children race around them; of men in three-piece suits with pocket watches and now abandoned masculine rituals like retiring to the drawing room for an after-dinner drink and a cigar.

These Gatsby-like profiles are part of Long Island’s great hotel era, (approx. l890-l920), and Amityville shared in that history with several grand hotels, none of which, unfortunately remain today. Nonetheless, these grand ladies are preserved in history and deserve a remembrance.

The Wardle: This hotel was located on the east side of Broadway, south of Rail Road Avenue. It had 25 rooms and in later years was known as Kieknaus and finally, Hotel Amityville. The hotel was demolished when Route ll0 was widened in l959.

The Alexandria: This hotel was located on the north east corner of Bayview Avenue and Merrick Road. A shed to the rear was used to house racing cars to participate in the Vanderbilt Cup Races along Motor Parkway in the early l900s. A number of the drivers made the hotel their headquarters during racing season.

Hathaway Inn: Located on the south end of Grand Central Avenue on the mouth of Amityville Creek. the Inn, operated during the summer season and contained 60 rooms. Rates were $l5-25 per week.

Amity Inn: The hotel was located on the northwest corner of Broadway and Merrick Road. It contained 54 rooms and rented them for $l0 a week.

Wrights Hotel: Located on the east side of Broadway, just north of Rail Road, this hotel was the site of a meeting to determine the boundary line between Queens, Nassau and Suffolk counties. Following its formation in l872, town meetings were held in Wrights.

Narragansett Inn: This hotel was the ancestor of the Narragansett Inn catering hall now located on Merrick Road in Lindenhurst. It was located on the southeast corner of Ocean Avenue. The Inn was operated by the Fuch’s family. In later years it became a Russian restaurant and hotel known as the Shangri-La.

Ocean Point House: Located on the northeast corner of Ocean Avenue and Richmond Avenue, it was also known as Confields.

Hotel Newpoint: This hotel opened in l892 and overlooked the Great South Bay at the foot of Grand Central Avenue. It contained 60 rooms and operated only during the summer months. A grand hotel, it provided a bath house and beach along with a livery stable. In later years, the building was used as a fresh air camp sponsored by the New York Herald Tribune. This lady was later used as a day camp and destroyed by fire in l962.

Printed: Amityville Record, 1994